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EC2 Reserved Instances

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  5. EC2 Reserved Instances

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud or Amazon EC2, is

  • A web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud
  • Designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers.

Instance Types

General Purpose –

  • T2 – T2 instances are Burstable Performance Instances that provide a baseline level of CPU performance with the ability to burst above the baseline.
  • M4 – M4 instances are the latest generation of General Purpose Instances. This family provides a balance of compute, memory, and network resources, and it is a good choice for many applications.

Compute Optimised –

  • C4 – C4 instances are the latest generation of Compute-optimized instances, featuring the highest performing processors and the lowest price/compute performance in EC2.

Memory Optimised –

  • X1 – X1 Instances are optimized for large-scale, enterprise-class, in-memory applications and high-performance databases, and have the lowest price per GiB of RAM among Amazon EC2 instance types.
  • R4 – R4 instances are optimized for memory-intensive applications and offer better price per GiB of RAM than R3. The RAM sizes are a step below the X1s.

Accelerated Computing –

  • P2 – P2 instances are intended for general-purpose GPU compute applications.
  • G3 – G3 instances are optimized for graphics-intensive applications. The GPU specs are a step below the P2s.
  • F1 – F1 instances offer customizable hardware acceleration with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

Storage Optimised –

  • I3 – High I/O instances. This family includes the High Storage Instances that provide Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSD backed instance storage optimized for low latency, very high random I/O performance, high sequential read throughput and provide high IOPS at a low cost.
  • D2 – Dense-storage instances. D2 instances feature up to 48 TB of HDD-based local storage, deliver high disk throughput, and offer the lowest price per disk throughput performance on Amazon EC2.

Pricing

Amazon EC2 is free to try. There are four ways to pay for Amazon EC2 instances: On-Demand, Reserved Instances, and Spot Instances. You can also pay for Dedicated Hosts which provide you with EC2 instance capacity on physical servers dedicated for use.

  • On-Demand – With On-Demand instances, you pay for compute capacity by per hour or per second depending on which instances you run. No longer-term commitments or upfront payments are needed.
  • Spot Instances – Amazon EC2 Spot instances allow you to bid on spare Amazon EC2 computing capacity for up to 90% off the On-Demand price. Spot instances are recommended for applications that have flexible start and end times, applications that are only feasible at very low compute prices or users with urgent computing needs for large amounts of additional capacity.
  • Reserved Instances – Reserved Instances provide you with a significant discount (up to 75%) compared to On-Demand instance pricing. For applications that have steady state or predictable usage, require reserved capacity or can commit to using EC2 for a 1 or 3 year period, Reserved Instances can provide significant savings compared to using On-Demand instances.
  • Per-Second Billing – With per-second billing, you pay for only what you use. It takes cost of unused minutes and seconds in an hour off of the bill, so you can focus on improving applications instead of maximising usage to the hour.

Reserved Instance Example

  • a running On-Demand Instance (T2) in account, with On-Demand rates.
  • With a Reserved Instance that matches attributes of running instance, and the billing benefit is immediately applied.
  • purchase a Reserved Instance for C4 instance.
  • Do not have any running instances in account that match attributes of this Reserved Instance.
  • In the final step, launch an instance that matches attributes of the C4 Reserved Instance, and billing benefit is immediately applied.

Instance Attributes

  • EC2 Reserved Instance has 4 instance attributes determining its price.
  • Attributes also decided how the Reserved Instance will be applied to a running instance in account.
  • Four attributes
    • Instance type: composed of instance family (m4) and instance size (large).
    • Scope: the Reserved Instance applies to a Region (regional Reserved Instance) or specific AZ (zonal Reserved Instance).
    • Tenancy: instance runs on shared (default) or single-tenant (dedicated) hardware.
    • Platform: operating system – Windows or Linux/Unix.

Term Commitment

  • One-year: defined as 31536000 seconds (365 days).
  • Three-year: defined as 94608000 seconds (1095 days).

Payment Options

  • All Upfront: Full payment is made at the start of the term, with no other costs regardless of hours used.
  • Partial Upfront: A portion of cost paid upfront and remaining hours in term are billed at a discounted hourly rate, irrespective of usage.
  • No Upfront: a hourly rate for every hour within the term, regardless of usage. No upfront payment.
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