2/14/2017 AmazonEC2FAQsAmazonWebServices

AmazonEC2FAQs
LongerEC2,EBS,andStorageGatewayResourceIDs

General

Billing

HardwareInformation

Security

ElasticIP

AvailabilityZones

EnhancedNetworking

AmazonElasticBlockStorage(EBS)

AmazonCloudWatch

AutoScaling

ElasticLoadBalancing

ReservedInstances

ReservedInstanceMarketplace

SpotInstances

MicroInstances

ComputeOptimizedInstances

GPUInstances

ClusterInstances

HighI/OInstances

DensestorageInstances

MemoryOptimizedInstances

T2Instances

BurstablePerformanceInstances

F1Instances

PreviousGenerationInstances

VMImport/Export

AmazonEC2RunningMicrosoftWindowsandOtherThirdPartySoftware

AmazonEC2RunningIBM

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ServiceLevelAgreement(SLA)

ManageYourAWSResources

SignintotheConsole

AWSANDINTEL
LearnhowIntelXeonprocessors&AmazonEC2canmeetyourperformance
needs.

LongerEC2,EBS,andStorageGateway
ResourceIDs
Q:Whatischanging?
EC2instanceandreservationIDs,andvolumeandsnapshotIDsforEBSandStorageGateway,arechanging
toalongerformat.ThetransitiontolongerinstanceandreservationIDsstartedinJanuary2016andwilllast
throughearlyDecember2016,andthetransitiontolongervolumeandsnapshotIDsstartedinApril2016and
willlastthroughearlyDecember2016.Duringthistime,youcanchoosewhichIDformattheseresourcesare
assigned,andyoucanupdateyourmanagementtoolsandscriptstoaddsupportforthelongerformat.After
earlyDecember2016,allnewlycreatedinstances,reservations,volumes,andsnapshotswillberequiredto
usethelongerIDformat.
Thenewformatwillonlyapplytonewlycreatedresourcesyourexistingresourceswontbeaffected.Visit
theAWSBlogforastepbystepoverviewofhowtooptintolongerIDs.
Q:WillIneedtoupgradetoanewversionoftheAWSSDKsorCLI?
TousetheAWSCLIandSDKswithlongerIDs,youmustupgradetothefollowingversions:
PHPv2:Mustupgradetov2.8.27+
PHPv3:Mustupgradetov3.15.0+
CLI:Mustupgradetov1.10.2+
Boto3:Mustupgradetov1.2.1+
Botocore:Mustupgradetov1.3.24+
ThefollowingSDKsarefullycompatiblewithlongerIDsanddonotneedtobeupgraded:PHPv1,Botov1,
Botov2,Rubyv1,Rubyv2,JavaScript,Java,.NET,AWSToolsforWindowsPowerShell,andGo.

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Foralltools,ifyouwishtousethenewModifyIdFormatandDescribeIdFormatAPIs,youwillneedtoupdate
yourtoolstoreceivethenewAPIsstartinginJanuary2016.
Q:Whatwillthenewidentifierformatlooklike?
Thenewidentifierformatwillfollowthepatternofthecurrentidentifierformat,butitwillbelonger.Thenew
formatwillbe<resourceidentifier><17characters>,e.g.i1234567890abcdef0forEC2instancesorsnap
1234567890abcdef0forEBSsnapshots.
AnexampleofthenewinstanceIDformatintheEC2Consoleisshownbelow.

Q:Whyisthisnecessary?
WeneedtodothisgivenhowfastAWSiscontinuingtogrowwewillstarttorunlowonIDsforcertainEC2and
EBSresourceswithinayearorso.Inordertoenablethelongterm,uninterruptedcreationofnewinstances,
reservations,volumes,andsnapshots,weneedtointroducealongerIDformatfortheseresources.Additional
identifiersmightneedtoexpandwithinthenextfewyearsaswell.
Q:Howdoesthisimpactme?
Thereisagoodchancethatyouwontneedtomakeanysystemchangestohandlethenewformat.Ifyouonly
usetheconsoletomanageAWSresources,youmightnotbeimpactedatall,butyoushouldstillupdateyour
settingstousethelongerIDformatassoonaspossible.IfyouinteractwithAWSresourcesviaAPIs,SDKs,or
theAWSCLI,youmightbeimpacted,dependingonwhetheryoursoftwaremakesassumptionsabouttheID
formatwhenvalidatingorpersistingresourceIDs.Ifthisisthecase,youmightneedtoupdateyoursystemsto
handlethenewformat.
Somefailuremodescouldinclude:
IfyoursystemsuseregularexpressionstovalidatetheIDformat,youmighterrorifalongerformatis
encountered.
IfthereareexpectationsabouttheIDlengthinyourdatabaseschemas,youmightbeunabletostorea
longerID.
Dependingonthetoolsyouareusing,youmayneedtoupgradetonewerversionsoftheAWSCLIandSDKs.
Seeaboveforalistofaffectedtoolsandcompatibleversions.
Q:Willthisaffectexistingresources?
Noonlyresourcesthatarecreatedafteryouoptintothelongerformatwillbeaffected.Oncearesourcehas
beenassignedanID(longorshort),thatIDwillneverchange.AnyresourcecreatedwiththeoldIDformatwill

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alwaysretainitsshorterID,andanyresourcecreatedwiththenewformatwillretainitslongerID,evenifyou
optbackout.
Q:Whenwillthishappen?
TherollouttimelineforlongerinstanceandreservationIDsisshownbelow.

StartingonJanuary13,2016,longerEC2instanceandreservationIDsareavailableforoptinviaAPIsandthe
console.BetweenJanuary2016andDecember2016,allaccountscanoptinandoutoflongerinstanceand
reservationIDsasneededfortesting.
StartingonApril28,2016,newaccountsdefaulttolongerEC2instanceandreservationIDsineveryAWS
regionexceptBeijing(China)andAWSGovCloud(US),withtheoptiontorequesttheshorterformatifneeded.
LongerEBSandStorageGatewayvolumeandsnapshotIDsareavailablefromApril25,2016foroptinvia
APIsandtheConsole.NewaccountscreatedinJune2016orlaterwilldefaulttolongersnapshotandvolume
IDs,withtheoptiontooptoutifneeded.
EarlyDecember2016isthedeadlinetoaddsupportforlongerIDs.ThelongerIDstransitionwilloccurone
regionatatime,betweenDecember5,2016andDecember16,2016.Afterthatpoint,theoptiontoswitch
formatswillnolongerbeavailable,andallnewlycreatedinstance,reservation,volume,andsnapshotIDswill
havethelongerformat.
Q:Whyistherolloutperiodsolong?
Wewanttogiveyouasmuchtimeaspossibletotestyoursystemswiththenewformat.Alongtransition
windowoffersmaximumflexibilitytotestandupdateyoursystemsincrementallyandwillhelpminimize
interruptsasyouaddsupportforthenewformat.
Q:WhatifIprefertokeepreceivingtheshorterIDformatafterDecember2016?
Unfortunately,thisisnotpossibleregardlessofyourusersettingsspecified.
Q:Howdoesoptinginwork?Andoptingout?
Throughoutthetransitionperiod(January2016toDecember2016),youcanopttoreceivelongerorshorter
IDsbyusingtheAPIsortheEC2Console.ModifyIdFormatsetstheformatofinstanceandreservationIDs,and
DescribeIdFormatletsyouviewyourIDformatsettings.BothAPIsapplytotheusermakingthecallandare
regionspecific.IDformatsettingscanbemodifiedperIAMuser,region,andresourcetype.AnyIAMuser
withoutexplicitsettingswillfallbacktothesettingsoftherootaccount.Usually,afteryouupdateyourIDformat
settings,itcantakeafewminutesforthesettingstotakeeffect.
Ifyourtestinguncoversissuesthatyouneedtoaddress,youcanoptbackoutofthenew,longerIDformat
untilyoursystemsarepreparedtohandlelongerIDs.ThisoptionwillbeavailableuntilDecember2016.From
December2016,thenew,longerIDformatwillbecomemandatory,andtheshorterformatwillnolongerbe
available.
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Q:HowcanIoptintheentireaccountatonce?
Yes,youcanoptinusingtheAWSCLImodifyidentityidformatanddescribeidentityidformatandspecifythe
desiredARNandresourcetype.Youwillneedtodothisseparatelyforeachresourcetype(instances,volumes,
reservations,andsnapshots).Tooptintheentireaccount,youmustspecifytherootaccountastheAmazon
ResourceName(ARN).Thiswillapplychangesacrosstheaccount,andyouwillnotneedtoseteachindividual
user/rolepreference.Formoreinformation,seetheEC2UserGuideorKnowledgeCenter.
Note:Ifyouoptintherootuser,allusers/roleslaunchinginstancesontheaccountwilladopttherootuser
preferenceunlesstheirspecificuser/role(ARN)optinpreferenceisalreadyexplicitlyset.Youshouldonlyopt
intherootuserifyouareconfidentthatallservicesusingyouraccountsupportslongerIDs.
Q:HowcanIoptinacrossallregionsatonce?
YoucanoptinacrossallregionsatonceusingtheLongerIdConvertertool.Usingthistoolyoucanoptinall
regionsandallresources.ThistoolwillmigratenotonlytherootoradminaccountbutalsoallIAMroles/users
undertherootaccountacrossallregions.Youcanalsousethistooltocheckyouroptinstatusforyour
account.Formoreinformationaboutthistool,refertoREADMEfile.
Note:IfyoursystemsrunintoanissueaftertransitioningtolongerIDs,youcanusethesametooltorevert
backtousingshorterIDsforyouraccountacrossallregions.
Q:CanIoptintolongerIDsperIAMrole?
Yes,youcanusethenewmodifyIdentityidformatanddescribeidentityidformatAPIstocontrolandview
howdifferentidentitiesareoptedintousinglongerIDs.YoucanchoosetooptintolongerIDsonaper
account,perIAMrole,orperIAMuserbasis.OptinginbyIAMuserorrolecanhelpyoutestyoursystems
beforeoptinginyourentireaccount.Formoreinformation,seetheEC2UserGuide.
Note:Inthe20151001versionoftheAmazonEC2API,ifyoucalldescribeidformatormodifyidformat
usingIAMrolecredentials,theresultsapplytotheentireAWSaccount,andnotthespecificIAMrole.Inthe
currentversionoftheAmazonEC2API,theresultswillcorrectlyapplytotheIAMroleonly.
Q:WhatwillhappenifItakenoaction?
Ifyoudonotoptintothenewformatduringthetransitionwindow,youwillbeautomaticallyoptedinatthefinal
deadlineinDecember2016.Wedonotrecommendthisapproachitisbettertoaddsupportforthenew
formatduringthetransitionwindow,whichofferstheopportunityforcontrolledtesting.
Q:WhatisareservationID?DoreservationIDsonlyapplytoReservedInstances?
ReservationIDsapplytoallinstances,andaredifferentfromReservedInstances.Everyinstancelaunchedby
EC2hasareservationID.AreservationIDhasaonetoonerelationshipwithaninstancelaunchrequest,but
canbeassociatedwithmorethanoneinstanceifyoulaunchmultipleinstancesusingthesamelaunchrequest.
ThereservationIDisreturnedbytheDescribeInstancesAPI,anditcanbeviewedintheEC2Management
Consoledescriptionofanygiveninstance(seebelow).

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Q:WhatbestpracticesdoyourecommendasItestmysystemsandaddsupportforthenewIDformats?
IfyoursoftwarecanrunundermultipledistinctAWSaccounts,choose(orcreate)anAWSaccounttotestwith.
Alternatively,ifyoursoftwarerunsunderasingleAWSaccount,choose(orcreate)anIAMusertotestwith.

SetyourchosenaccountorIAMusertoreceivelongerIDs,testyoursoftware,andmakeanynecessary
changes.NotethatifoneIAMuserlaunchesaninstancewithalongerID,allotheruserswillbeabletoseethe
longerIDinsubsequentdescribecalls,regardlessofuserspecificoptinsettings.Onceyouarecomfortable
thatyoursoftwarewilloperateasexpected,youcanoptinallofyouraccountsand/orusers.Ifany
unexpectedissuesarise,youcanoptoutuntiltheissuesareunderstoodandcorrected.Thistestingprocedure
willbepossibleuntiltheDecember2016deadline,whenallnewinstances,reservations,volumes,and
snapshotswillreceivethelongerIDformat.

OnceyoursoftwareisreadyforlongerIDs,optintolongerIDsacrossallofyouraccounts,regionsand
resources.Whenthisiscomplete,youhavetransitionedtothenewformatfullyandwillnotneedtotakefurther
action.
Q:HowdoIknowwhenIvefinishedtheoptinprocessforlongerresourceIDs?
Onceyouaredonewiththetestingprocessdescribedabove,optintolongerIDsacrosseveryregionand
user.Alternatively,youcanoptintherootuserforeveryregionthiswillupdatetheIDformatsettingsforthe
wholeaccount,aslongasnoindividualIAMusersareoptedout.Youwillneedtodothisseparatelyforeach
resourcetype(instances,volumes,reservations,andsnapshots).Oncethisiscomplete,youaredonewiththe
transitionprocessandwillnotneedtomakefurtherchangesfortheseresourcetypes.Notethat,sinceexisting
resourceswillretaintheiroriginalIDs,youmightseeamixoflongIDs(fornewresources)andshortIDs(for
preexistingresources)whenyouaredonewiththeoptinprocess.
Q:WhatwillbethedefaultIDtypefornewaccounts?
Forinstancesandreservations,accountscreatedonApril28,2016orlaterwillbeconfiguredtoreceivethe
longerIDformatbydefaultineveryAWSregionexceptBeijing(China)andAWSGovCloud(US).Ifyouarea
newcustomer,thiswillmakethetransitiontolongerinstanceandreservationIDsreallysimple.Ifyouwould
likeyournewaccounttoassigntheshorterIDformattoyourresources,thensimplyreconfigureyouraccount
forshorterIDsasdescribedabove.Thisworkflowwillbenecessaryuntilyouarereadyforyouraccountsto
receivelongerIDs.
Forvolumesandsnapshots,accountscreatedinJune2016orlaterwillbeconfiguredtoreceivethelongerID
formatbydefault,withtheoptiontooptoutifnecessaryuntilDecember2016.
Q:Willyoubechangingotheridentifiers?

AsAWScontinuesgrowing,itspossiblethatwewillneedtoincreasetheIDlengthofotherresourcesinthe
future.
Q:DoesthisapplytoSpotinstances?

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YesthelongerinstanceandreservationIDformatswillapplytoallEC2instancetypes.
Q:ImanEC2WindowscustomeristhereanythingWindowsspecificIneedtoknow?
IfyouuseEC2instanceIDsaspartofthecomputernameforyourEC2Windowsinstances,pleasenotethat
Windowswillautomaticallytruncatethenameto15characterstoadheretoNetBIOSnamingconventions.Due
tothistruncationbehavior,youmayseeduplicatecomputernamesat15charactersifyoureusingthisnaming
convention.Werecommendchoosingauniquenamingschemetoavoidcomplications.
Q:HowcanIoptinnewAutoScalinginstancestolongerIDs?
AutoScalingreflectsthesettingoftherootuser.ThissupersedeswhathasbeenconfiguredbytheIAMrole.
Q:IuseAWSthroughathirdpartytool,whatdoIneedtodotohandlelongerIDs?
Weareworkingwiththirdpartiestoensurethebestcustomerexperience,butpleaseworkwithyourISVto
determinetheirlevelofsupportforthischangepriortoturningonthelongerIDformatinyouraccount.
Q:WhenwillthelongerIDsfinaltransitionhappen?
ThelongerIDstransitionwilloccuroneregionatatime,betweenDecember5,2016andDecember16,2016.
YoucancheckthescheduledtransitiondateforyoureachregionbyusingtheAWSCLIdescribeidformat.
Q:IfIoptintolongerIDsandthenoptbackoutduringthetransitionwindow,whatwillhappentoresources
thatwerecreatedwithlongerIDs?
OncearesourcehasbeenassignedanIDitwillnotchange,soresourcesthatarecreatedwithlongerIDswill
retainthelongerIDsregardlessoflateractions.Ifyouoptintothelongerformat,createresources,andthen
optout,youwillseeamixoflongandshortresourceIDs,evenafteroptingout.Theonlywaytogetridoflong
IDswillbetodeleteorterminatetherespectiveresources.
Forthisreason,exercisecautionandavoidcreatingcriticalresourceswiththenewformatuntilyouhavetested
yourtoolsandautomation.
Q:WhatshouldIdoifmysystemsarenotworkingasexpectedbeforethefinaltransition,December16th
2016?
Ifyoursystemsarenotworkingasexpectedduringthetransitionperiod,youcantemporarilyoptoutoflonger
formatIDsandremediateyoursystems,howeveryouraccountwillautomaticallybetransitionedbacktousing
longerIDsafterDecember16th,2016.Regardlessofyouraccountsettings,allnewinstances,reservations,
volumes,andsnapshotswillreceivethelongerformatIDs,soitisimportantforyoutotestyoursystemswith
longerformatIDsbeforethefinaltransitionwindowstarts.Bytestingandoptinginearlier,yougiveyourself
valuabletimetomakemodificationstoyourresourceswithshortresourceIDsandyouminimizetheriskofany
impacttoyoursystems.
Q:WhatwillhappenifIlaunchEC2andEBSresourcesinmultipleregionsduringthefinaltransitionwindowin
December2016?
YourresourcesIDlengthwilldependupontheregionyoulaunchyourresources.Iftheregionhasalready
transitionedtousinglongerIDs,resourceslaunchedinthatregionwillhavelongerformatIDsifnot,theywill
haveshorterresourceIDs.Therefore,duringthetransitionwindow,youmayseeamixofshorterandlonger
resourceIDshowever,afterDecember16th2016,allnewresourceswillhavelongerformatIDsinallregions.
Q:IfAWSaddsnewregionsduringthetransitionwindow,willnewregionssupportlongerIDs?
Yes.Allnewregionslaunchinginthesecondhalfof2016andafterwillissuelongerformatinstances,
reservations,volumes,andsnapshotIDsbydefaultforbothnewandexistingaccounts.

General
Q:WhatisAmazonElasticComputeCloud(AmazonEC2)?
AmazonElasticComputeCloud(AmazonEC2)isawebservicethatprovidesresizablecomputecapacityinthe
cloud.Itisdesignedtomakewebscalecomputingeasierfordevelopers.

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Q:WhatcanIdowithAmazonEC2?
JustasAmazonSimpleStorageService(AmazonS3)enablesstorageinthecloud,AmazonEC2enables
computeinthecloud.AmazonEC2ssimplewebserviceinterfaceallowsyoutoobtainandconfigurecapacity
withminimalfriction.Itprovidesyouwithcompletecontrolofyourcomputingresourcesandletsyourunon
Amazonsprovencomputingenvironment.AmazonEC2reducesthetimerequiredtoobtainandbootnew
serverinstancestominutes,allowingyoutoquicklyscalecapacity,bothupanddown,asyourcomputing
requirementschange.AmazonEC2changestheeconomicsofcomputingbyallowingyoutopayonlyfor
capacitythatyouactuallyuse.

Q:HowcanIgetstartedwithAmazonEC2?
TosignupforAmazonEC2,clicktheSignupforThisWebServicebuttonontheAmazonEC2detailpage.
YoumusthaveanAmazonWebServicesaccounttoaccessthisserviceifyoudonotalreadyhaveone,you
willbepromptedtocreateonewhenyoubegintheAmazonEC2signupprocess.Aftersigningup,pleaserefer
totheAmazonEC2documentation,whichincludesourGettingStartedGuide.

Q:WhyamIaskedtoverifymyphonenumberwhensigningupforAmazonEC2?

AmazonEC2registrationrequiresyoutohaveavalidphonenumberandemailaddressonfilewithAWSin
caseweeverneedtocontactyou.Verifyingyourphonenumbertakesonlyacoupleofminutesandinvolves
receivingaphonecallduringtheregistrationprocessandenteringaPINnumberusingthephonekeypad.
Q:Whatcandevelopersnowdothattheycouldnotbefore?
Untilnow,smalldevelopersdidnothavethecapitaltoacquiremassivecomputeresourcesandensurethey
hadthecapacitytheyneededtohandleunexpectedspikesinload.AmazonEC2enablesanydeveloperto
leverageAmazonsownbenefitsofmassivescalewithnoupfrontinvestmentorperformancecompromises.
Developersarenowfreetoinnovateknowingthatnomatterhowsuccessfultheirbusinessesbecome,itwillbe
inexpensiveandsimpletoensuretheyhavethecomputecapacitytheyneedtomeettheirbusiness
requirements.
TheElasticnatureoftheserviceallowsdeveloperstoinstantlyscaletomeetspikesintrafficordemand.
Whencomputingrequirementsunexpectedlychange(upordown),AmazonEC2caninstantlyrespond,
meaningthatdevelopershavetheabilitytocontrolhowmanyresourcesareinuseatanygivenpointintime.
Incontrast,traditionalhostingservicesgenerallyprovideafixednumberofresourcesforafixedamountof
time,meaningthatusershavealimitedabilitytoeasilyrespondwhentheirusageisrapidlychanging,
unpredictable,orisknowntoexperiencelargepeaksatvariousintervals.

Q:HowdoIrunsystemsintheAmazonEC2environment?
OnceyouhavesetupyouraccountandselectorcreateyourAMIs,youarereadytobootyourinstance.You
canstartyourAMIonanynumberofOnDemandinstancesbyusingtheRunInstancesAPIcall.Yousimply
needtoindicatehowmanyinstancesyouwishtolaunch.Ifyouwishtorunmorethan20OnDemand
instances,completetheAmazonEC2instancerequestform.
IfAmazonEC2isabletofulfillyourrequest,RunInstanceswillreturnsuccess,andwewillstartlaunchingyour
instances.YoucancheckonthestatusofyourinstancesusingtheDescribeInstancesAPIcall.Youcanalso
programmaticallyterminateanynumberofyourinstancesusingtheTerminateInstancesAPIcall.
IfyouhavearunninginstanceusinganAmazonEBSbootpartition,youcanalsousetheStopInstancesAPI
calltoreleasethecomputeresourcesbutpreservethedataonthebootpartition.Youcanusethe
StartInstancesAPIwhenyouarereadytorestarttheassociatedinstancewiththeAmazonEBSbootpartition.
Inaddition,youhavetheoptiontouseSpotInstancestoreduceyourcomputingcostswhenyouhaveflexibility
inwhenyourapplicationscanrun.ReadmoreaboutSpotInstancesforamoredetailedexplanationon
howSpotInstanceswork.

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Ifyouprefer,youcanalsoperformalltheseactionsfromtheAWSManagementConsoleorthroughthe
commandlineusingourcommandlinetools,whichhavebeenimplementedwiththiswebserviceAPI.

Q:WhatisthedifferencebetweenusingthelocalinstancestoreandAmazonElasticBlockstorage(Amazon
EBS)fortherootdevice?

WhenyoulaunchyourAmazonEC2instancesyouhavetheabilitytostoreyourrootdevicedataonAmazon
EBSorthelocalinstancestore.ByusingAmazonEBS,dataontherootdevicewillpersistindependentlyfrom
thelifetimeoftheinstance.Thisenablesyoutostopandrestarttheinstanceatasubsequenttime,whichis
similartoshuttingdownyourlaptopandrestartingitwhenyouneeditagain.
Alternatively,thelocalinstancestoreonlypersistsduringthelifeoftheinstance.Thisisaninexpensivewayto
launchinstanceswheredataisnotstoredtotherootdevice.Forexample,somecustomersusethisoptionto
runlargewebsiteswhereeachinstanceisaclonetohandlewebtraffic.

Q:Howquicklywillsystemsberunning?
Ittypicallytakeslessthan10minutesfromtheissueoftheRunInstancescalltothepointwhereallrequested
instancesbegintheirbootsequences.Thistimeisdependantonanumberoffactorsincluding:thesizeofyour
AMI,thenumberofinstancesyouarelaunching,andhowrecentlyyouhavelaunchedthatAMI.Images
launchedforthefirsttimemaytakeslightlylongertoboot.

Q:HowdoIloadandstoremysystemswithAmazonEC2?
AmazonEC2allowsyoutosetupandconfigureeverythingaboutyourinstancesfromyouroperatingsystem
uptoyourapplications.AnAmazonMachineImage(AMI)issimplyapackagedupenvironmentthatincludes
allthenecessarybitstosetupandbootyourinstance.YourAMIsareyourunitofdeployment.Youmighthave
justoneAMIoryoumightcomposeyoursystemoutofseveralbuildingblockAMIs(e.g.,webservers,
appservers,anddatabases).AmazonEC2providesanumberoftoolstomakecreatinganAMIeasy.Onceyou
createacustomAMI,youwillneedtobundleit.Ifyouarebundlinganimagewitharootdevicebackedby
AmazonEBS,youcansimplyusethebundlecommandintheAWSManagementConsole.Ifyouarebundling
animagewithabootpartitionontheinstancestore,thenyouwillneedtousetheAMIToolstouploaditto
AmazonS3.AmazonEC2usesAmazonEBSandAmazonS3toprovidereliable,scalablestorageofyourAMIs
sothatwecanbootthemwhenyouaskustodoso.
Or,ifyouwant,youdonthavetosetupyourownAMIfromscratch.Youcanchoosefromanumberofglobally
availableAMIsthatprovideusefulinstances.Forexample,ifyoujustwantasimpleLinuxserver,youcan
chooseoneofthestandardLinuxdistributionAMIs.

Q:HowdoIaccessmysystems?

TheRunInstancescallthatinitiatesexecutionofyourapplicationstackwillreturnasetofDNSnames,onefor
eachsystemthatisbeingbooted.Thisnamecanbeusedtoaccessthesystemexactlyasyouwouldifitwere
inyourowndatacenter.Youownthatmachinewhileyouroperatingsystemstackisexecutingonit.

Q:IsAmazonEC2usedinconjunctionwithAmazonS3?
Yes,AmazonEC2isusedjointlywithAmazonSimpleStorageService(AmazonS3)forinstanceswithroot
devicesbackedbylocalinstancestorage.ByusingAmazonS3,developershaveaccesstothesamehighly
scalable,reliable,fast,inexpensivedatastorageinfrastructurethatAmazonusestorunitsownglobalnetwork
ofwebsites.InordertoexecutesystemsintheAmazonEC2environment,developersusethetoolsprovided
toloadtheirAmazonMachineImages(AMIs)intoAmazonS3andtomovethembetweenAmazonS3and
AmazonEC2.SeeHowdoIloadandstoremysystemswithAmazonEC2?formoreinformationaboutAMIs.
WeexpectdeveloperstofindthecombinationofAmazonEC2andAmazonS3tobeveryuseful.AmazonEC2
providescheap,scalablecomputeinthecloudwhileAmazonS3allowsuserstostoretheirdatareliably.
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Q:HowmanyinstancescanIruninAmazonEC2?
Youarelimitedtorunningupto20OnDemandinstances,purchasing20ReservedInstances,andrequesting
SpotInstancesperyourdynamicSpotlimitperregion.NewAWSaccountsmaystartwithlimitsthatarelower
thanthelimitsdescribedhere.Certaininstancetypesarefurtherlimitedperregionasfollows:

OnDemand Reserved
InstanceType SpotLimit
Limit Limit

m4.4xlarge 10 20 Dynamic
SpotLimit

m4.10xlarge 5 20 Dynamic
SpotLimit

Dynamic
m4.16xlarge 5 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
c4.4xlarge 10 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
c4.8xlarge 5 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
cg1.4xlarge 2 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
hi1.4xlarge 2 20
SpotLimit

hs1.8xlarge 2 20 Notoffered

Dynamic
cr1.8xlarge 2 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
p2.xlarge 1 20
SpotLimit

p2.8xlarge 1 20 Dynamic
SpotLimit

Dynamic
p2.16xlarge 1 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
g2.2xlarge 5 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
g2.8xlarge 2 20
SpotLimit

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r4.large 20 20 Dynamic
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r4.xlarge 20 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r4.2xlarge 20 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r4.4xlarge 10 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r4.8xlarge 5 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r4.16xlarge 1 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r3.4xlarge 10 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
r3.8xlarge 5 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
i2.xlarge 8 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
i2.2xlarge 8 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
i2.4xlarge 4 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
i2.8xlarge 2 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
d2.4xlarge 10 20
SpotLimit

Dynamic
d2.8xlarge 5 20
SpotLimit

t2.nano 20 20 Notoffered

t2.micro 20 20 Notoffered

t2.small 20 20 Notoffered

t2.medium 20 20 Notoffered

t2.large 20 20 Notoffered

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t2.xlarge 20 20 Notoffered

t2.2xlarge 20 20 Notoffered

Dynamic
AllOtherInstanceTypes 20 20
SpotLimit

Notethatcc2.8xlarge,cg1.4xlarge,hi1.4xlarge,hs1.8xlarge,cr1.8xlarge,G2,D2,andI2instancesarenot
availableinallregions.

Ifyouneedmoreinstances,completetheAmazonEC2instancerequestformwithyourusecaseandyour
instanceincreasewillbeconsidered.Limitincreasesaretiedtotheregiontheywererequestedfor.
Q:ArethereanylimitationsinsendingemailfromEC2instances?
Yes.InordertomaintainthequalityofEC2addressesforsendingemail,weenforcedefaultlimitsonthe
amountofemailthatcanbesentfromEC2accounts.IfyouwishtosendlargeramountsofemailfromEC2,
youcanapplytohavetheselimitsremovedfromyouraccountbyfillingoutthisform.
Q:HowquicklycanIscalemycapacitybothupanddown?
AmazonEC2providesatrulyelasticcomputingenvironment.AmazonEC2enablesyoutoincreaseor
decreasecapacitywithinminutes,nothoursordays.Youcancommissionone,hundredsoreventhousandsof
serverinstancessimultaneously.Whenyouneedmoreinstances,yousimplycallRunInstances,andAmazon
EC2willtypicallysetupyournewinstancesinamatterofminutes.Ofcourse,becausethisisallcontrolledwith
webserviceAPIs,yourapplicationcanautomaticallyscaleitselfupanddowndependingonitsneeds.
Q:Whatoperatingsystemenvironmentsaresupported?
AmazonEC2currentlysupportsavarietyofoperatingsystemsincluding:AmazonLinux,Ubuntu,Windows
Server,RedHatEnterpriseLinux,SUSELinuxEnterpriseServer,Fedora,Debian,CentOS,GentooLinux,
OracleLinux,andFreeBSD.Wearelookingforwaystoexpandittootherplatforms.
Q:DoesAmazonEC2useECCmemory?
Inourexperience,ECCmemoryisnecessaryforserverinfrastructure,andallthehardwareunderlying
AmazonEC2usesECCmemory.
Q:Howisthisservicedifferentthanaplainhostingservice?
Traditionalhostingservicesgenerallyprovideapreconfiguredresourceforafixedamountoftimeandata
predeterminedcost.AmazonEC2differsfundamentallyintheflexibility,controlandsignificantcostsavingsit
offersdevelopers,allowingthemtotreatAmazonEC2astheirownpersonaldatacenterwiththebenefitof
Amazon.comsrobustinfrastructure.

Whencomputingrequirementsunexpectedlychange(upordown),AmazonEC2caninstantlyrespond,
meaningthatdevelopershavetheabilitytocontrolhowmanyresourcesareinuseatanygivenpointintime.
Incontrast,traditionalhostingservicesgenerallyprovideafixednumberofresourcesforafixedamountof
time,meaningthatusershavealimitedabilitytoeasilyrespondwhentheirusageisrapidlychanging,
unpredictable,orisknowntoexperiencelargepeaksatvariousintervals.
Secondly,manyhostingservicesdontprovidefullcontroloverthecomputeresourcesbeingprovided.Using
AmazonEC2,developerscanchoosenotonlytoinitiateorshutdowninstancesatanytime,theycan
completelycustomizetheconfigurationoftheirinstancestosuittheirneedsandchangeitatanytime.Most
hostingservicescatermoretowardsgroupsofuserswithsimilarsystemrequirements,andsoofferlimited
abilitytochangethese.
Finally,withAmazonEC2,developersenjoythebenefitofpayingonlyfortheiractualresourceconsumption
andatverylowrates.Mosthostingservicesrequireuserstopayafixed,upfrontfeeirrespectiveoftheiractual
computingpowerused,andsousersriskoverbuyingresourcestocompensatefortheinabilitytoquicklyscale
upresourceswithinashorttimeframe.

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Billing
Q:HowwillIbechargedandbilledformyuseofAmazonEC2?
Youpayonlyforwhatyouuseandthereisnominimumfee.Pricingisperinstancehourconsumedforeach
instancetype.Partialinstancehoursconsumedarebilledasfullhours.DatatransferredbetweenAWS
servicesindifferentregionswillbechargedasInternetDataTransferonbothsidesofthetransfer.Usagefor
otherAmazonWebServicesisbilledseparatelyfromAmazonEC2.
ForEC2pricinginformation,pleasevisitthepricingsectionontheEC2detailpage.

Q:WhendoesbillingofmyAmazonEC2systemsbeginandend?
BillingcommenceswhenAmazonEC2initiatesthebootsequenceofanAMIinstance.Billingendswhenthe
instanceterminates,whichcouldoccurthroughawebservicescommand,byrunning"shutdownh",or
throughinstancefailure.Whenyoustopaninstance,weshutitdownbutdon'tchargehourlyusagefora
stoppedinstance,ordatatransferfees,butwedochargeforthestorageforanyAmazonEBSvolumes.To
learnmore,visittheAWSDocumentation.

Q:WhatdefinesbillableEC2instancehours?
Instancehoursarebilledforanytimeyourinstancesareina"running"state.Ifyounolongerwishtobe
chargedforyourinstance,youmust"stop"or"terminate"theinstancetoavoidbeingbilledforadditional
instancehours.Billingstartswhenaninstancetransitionsintotherunningstate.

Q:IfIhavetwoinstancesindifferentavailabilityzones,howwillIbechargedforregionaldatatransfer?
Eachinstanceischargedforitsdatainanddataout.Therefore,ifdataistransferredbetweenthesetwo
instances,itischargedoutforthefirstinstanceandinforthesecondinstance.

Q.IfIhavetwoinstancesindifferentregions,howwillIbechargedfordatatransfer?
EachinstanceischargedforitsdatainanddataoutatInternetDataTransferrates.Therefore,ifdatais
transferredbetweenthesetwoinstances,itischargedatInternetDataTransferOutforthefirstinstanceandat
InternetDataTransferInforthesecondinstance.
Q:Doyourpricesincludetaxes?

Exceptasotherwisenoted,ourpricesareexclusiveofapplicabletaxesandduties,includingVATand
applicablesalestax.ForcustomerswithaJapanesebillingaddress,useofAWSservicesissubjectto
JapaneseConsumptionTax.Learnmore.

HardwareInformation
Q:Whatkindofhardwarewillmyapplicationstackrunon?
VisitAmazonEC2Pricingforalistofinstancesavailablebyregion.
Q:HowdoIselecttherightinstancetype?
AmazonEC2instancesaregroupedinto5families:GeneralPurpose,ComputeOptimized,MemoryOptimized,
GPU,andStorageOptimizedinstances.GeneralPurposeInstanceshavememorytoCPUratiossuitablefor
mostgeneralpurposeapplicationsandcomewithfixedperformance(M4andM3instances)orburstable
performance(T2)ComputeOptimizedinstances(C4andC3instances)haveproportionallymoreCPU
resourcesthanmemory(RAM)andarewellsuitedforscaleoutcomputeintensiveapplicationsandHigh
PerformanceComputing(HPC)workloadsMemoryOptimizedInstances(R3andR4instances)offerlarger
memorysizesformemoryintensiveapplications,includingdatabaseandmemorycachingapplicationsGPU
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Computeinstances(P2)takeadvantageoftheparallelprocessingcapabilitiesofNVIDIATeslaGPUsforhigh
performanceparallelcomputingGPUGraphicsinstances(G2)offerhighperformance3Dgraphicscapabilities
forapplicationsusingOpenGLandDirectXStorageOptimizedInstancesincludeI2instancesthatprovidevery
high,lowlatency,I/OcapacityusingSSDbasedlocalinstancestorageforI/OintensiveapplicationsandD2,
Densestorageinstances,thatprovidehighstoragedensityandsequentialI/Operformancefordata
warehousing,Hadoopandotherdataintensiveapplications.Whenchoosinginstancetypes,youshould
considerthecharacteristicsofyourapplicationwithregardstoresourceutilization(i.e.CPU,Memory,Storage)
andselecttheoptimalinstancefamilyandinstancesize.
Q:M1andM3standardinstanceshavethesameratioofCPUandmemory.WhenshouldIuseoneinstance
overtheother?
M3instancesprovidebetter,moreconsistentperformancethanM1instancesformostusecases.M3
instancesalsoofferSSDbasedinstancestoragethatdelivershigherI/Operformance.M3instancesarealso
lessexpensivethanM1instances.Forthesereasons,werecommendM3forapplicationsthatrequiregeneral
purposeinstanceswithabalanceofcompute,memory,andnetworkresources.However,ifyouneedmore
diskstoragethanwhatisprovidedinM3instances,youmaystillfindM1instancesusefulforrunningyour
applications.

Q:WhatisanEC2ComputeUnitandwhydidyouintroduceit?
Transitioningtoautilitycomputingmodelfundamentallychangeshowdevelopershavebeentrainedtothink
aboutCPUresources.Insteadofpurchasingorleasingaparticularprocessortouseforseveralmonthsor
years,youarerentingcapacitybythehour.BecauseAmazonEC2isbuiltoncommodityhardware,overtime
theremaybeseveraldifferenttypesofphysicalhardwareunderlyingEC2instances.Ourgoalistoprovidea
consistentamountofCPUcapacitynomatterwhattheactualunderlyinghardware.
AmazonEC2usesavarietyofmeasurestoprovideeachinstancewithaconsistentandpredictableamountof
CPUcapacity.InordertomakeiteasyfordeveloperstocompareCPUcapacitybetweendifferentinstance
types,wehavedefinedanAmazonEC2ComputeUnit.TheamountofCPUthatisallocatedtoaparticular
instanceisexpressedintermsoftheseEC2ComputeUnits.Weuseseveralbenchmarksandteststomanage
theconsistencyandpredictabilityoftheperformancefromanEC2ComputeUnit.TheEC2ComputeUnit
(ECU)providestherelativemeasureoftheintegerprocessingpowerofanAmazonEC2instance.Overtime,
wemayaddorsubstitutemeasuresthatgointothedefinitionofanEC2ComputeUnit,ifwefindmetricsthat
willgiveyouaclearerpictureofcomputecapacity.
Q:WhatistheregionalavailabilityofAmazonEC2instancetypes?
Foralistofallinstancesandregionalavailability,visitAmazonEC2Pricing.

Security
Q:HowdoIpreventotherpeoplefromviewingmysystems?

Youhavecompletecontroloverthevisibilityofyoursystems.TheAmazonEC2securitysystemsallowyouto
placeyourrunninginstancesintoarbitrarygroupsofyourchoice.Usingthewebservicesinterface,youcan
thenspecifywhichgroupsmaycommunicatewithwhichothergroups,andalsowhichIPsubnetsonthe
Internetmaytalktowhichgroups.Thisallowsyoutocontrolaccesstoyourinstancesinourhighlydynamic
environment.Ofcourse,youshouldalsosecureyourinstanceasyouwouldanyotherserver.
Q:CanIgetahistoryofallEC2APIcallsmadeonmyaccountforsecurityanalysisandoperational
troubleshootingpurposes?
Yes.ToreceiveahistoryofallEC2APIcalls(includingVPCandEBS)madeonyouraccount,yousimplyturn
onCloudTrailintheAWSManagementConsole.Formoreinformation,visittheCloudTrailhomepage.

Q:WherecanIfindmoreinformationaboutsecurityonAWS?

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FormoreinformationonsecurityonAWSpleaserefertoourAmazonWebServices:OverviewofSecurity
ProcesseswhitepaperandtoourAmazonEC2runningWindowsSecurityGuide.

ElasticIP
Q:WhyamIlimitedto5ElasticIPaddressesperregion?
Public(IPV4)internetaddressesareascarceresource.ThereisonlyalimitedamountofpublicIPspace
available,andAmazonEC2iscommittedtohelpingusethatspaceefficiently.
Bydefault,allaccountsarelimitedto5ElasticIPaddressesperregion.Ifyouneedmorethe5ElasticIP
addresses,weaskthatyouapplyforyourlimittoberaised.Wewillaskyoutothinkthroughyourusecaseand
helpusunderstandyourneedforadditionaladdresses.YoucanapplyformoreElasticIPaddresshere.Any
increaseswillbespecifictotheregiontheyhavebeenrequestedfor.
Q:WhyamIchargedwhenmyElasticIPaddressisnotassociatedwitharunninginstance?
InordertohelpensureourcustomersareefficientlyusingtheElasticIPaddresses,weimposeasmallhourly
chargeforeachaddresswhenitisnotassociatedtoarunninginstance.
Q:DoIneedoneElasticIPaddressforeveryinstancethatIhaverunning?
No.YoudonotneedanElasticIPaddressforallyourinstances.Bydefault,everyinstancecomeswitha
privateIPaddressandaninternetroutablepublicIPaddress.Theprivateaddressisassociatedexclusively
withtheinstanceandisonlyreturnedtoAmazonEC2whentheinstanceisstoppedorterminated.Thepublic
addressisassociatedexclusivelywiththeinstanceuntilitisstopped,terminatedorreplacedwithanElasticIP
address.TheseIPaddressesshouldbeadequateformanyapplicationswhereyoudonotneedalonglived
internetroutableendpoint.Computeclusters,webcrawling,andbackendservicesareallexamplesof
applicationsthattypicallydonotrequireElasticIPaddresses.
Q:HowlongdoesittaketoremapanElasticIPaddress?

TheremapprocesscurrentlytakesseveralminutesfromwhenyouinstructustoremaptheElasticIPuntilit
fullypropagatesthroughoursystem.
Q:CanIconfigurethereverseDNSrecordformyElasticIPaddress?
Yes,youcanconfigurethereverseDNSrecordofyourElasticIPaddressbyfillingoutthisform.Notethata
correspondingforwardDNSrecordpointingtothatElasticIPaddressmustexistbeforewecancreatethe
reverseDNSrecord.

AvailabilityZones

Q:HowisolatedareAvailabilityZonesfromoneanother?
EachAvailabilityZonerunsonitsownphysicallydistinct,independentinfrastructure,andisengineeredtobe
highlyreliable.Commonpointsoffailureslikegeneratorsandcoolingequipmentarenotsharedacross
AvailabilityZones.Additionally,theyarephysicallyseparate,suchthatevenextremelyuncommondisasters
suchasfires,tornadosorfloodingwouldonlyaffectasingleAvailabilityZone.

Q:IsAmazonEC2runninginmorethanoneregion?
Yes.PleaserefertoRegionalProductsandServicesformoredetailsofourproductandserviceavailabilityby
region.
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Q:HowcanImakesurethatIaminthesameAvailabilityZoneasanotherdeveloper?
WedonotcurrentlysupporttheabilitytocoordinatelaunchesintothesameAvailabilityZoneacrossAWS
developeraccounts.OneAvailabilityZonename(forexample,useast1a)intwoAWScustomeraccountsmay
relatetodifferentphysicalAvailabilityZones.

Q:IfItransferdatabetweenAvailabilityZonesusingpublicIPaddresses,willIbechargedtwiceforRegional
DataTransfer(oncebecauseitsacrosszones,andasecondtimebecauseImusingpublicIPaddresses)?
No.RegionalDataTransferratesapplyifatleastoneofthefollowingistrue,butisonlychargedoncefora
giveninstanceevenifbotharetrue:
TheotherinstanceisinadifferentAvailabilityZone,regardlessofwhichtypeofaddressisused.

PublicorElasticIPaddressesareused,regardlessofwhichAvailabilityZonetheotherinstanceisin.

EnhancedNetworking
Q:Whatnetworkingcapabilitiesareincludedinthisfeature?
WecurrentlysupportenhancednetworkingcapabilitiesusingSRIOV(SingleRootI/OVirtualization).SRIOVis
amethodofdevicevirtualizationthatprovideshigherI/OperformanceandlowerCPUutilizationcomparedto
traditionalimplementations.ForsupportedAmazonEC2instances,thisfeatureprovideshigherpacketper
second(PPS)performance,lowerinterinstancelatencies,andverylownetworkjitter.

Q:WhyshouldIuseEnhancedNetworking?
Ifyourapplicationsbenefitfromhighpacketpersecondperformanceand/orlowlatencynetworking,Enhanced
Networkingwillprovidesignificantlyimprovedperformance,consistenceofperformanceandscalability.
Q:HowcanIenableEnhancedNetworkingonsupportedinstances?
Inordertoenablethisfeature,youmustlaunchanHVMAMIwiththeappropriatedrivers.R4,X1,P2and
m4.16xlargeinstancesprovidetheElasticNetworkAdapter(ENA)interface(whichusestheenaLinuxdriver)
forEnhancedNetworking.C3,C4,R3,I2,M4(exceptm4.16xlarge)andD2instancesuseIntel82599gVirtual
FunctionInterface(whichusestheixgbevfLinuxdriver).AmazonLinuxAMIincludesbothofthesedriversby
default.ForAMIsthatdonotcontainthesedrivers,youwillneedtodownloadandinstalltheappropriate
driversbasedontheinstancetypesyouplantouse.YoucanuseLinuxorWindowsinstructionstoenable
EnhancedNetworkinginAMIsthatdonotincludetheSRIOVdriverbydefault.EnhancedNetworkingisonly
supportedinAmazonVPC.
Q:DoIneedtopayanadditionalfeetouseEnhancedNetworking?
No,thereisnoadditionalfeeforEnhancedNetworking.TotakeadvantageofEnhancedNetworkingyouneed
tolaunchtheappropriateAMIonasupportedinstancetypeinaVPC.

Q:WhyisEnhancedNetworkingonlysupportedinAmazonVPC?
AmazonVPCallowsustodelivermanyadvancednetworkingfeaturestoyouthatarenotpossibleinEC2
Classic.EnhancedNetworkingisanotherexampleofacapabilityenabledbyAmazonVPC.
Q:WhichinstancetypessupportEnhancedNetworking?
R4,X1,P2,andm4.16xlargeinstancesprovidetheElasticNetworkAdapter(ENA)interfaceforEnhanced
Networking.C3,C4,R3,I2,M4(exceptm4.16xlarge)andD2instances,useIntel82599VirtualFunction
Interface.

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AmazonElasticBlockStorage(EBS)
Q:Whathappenstomydatawhenasystemterminates?
Thedatastoredonalocalinstancestorewillpersistonlyaslongasthatinstanceisalive.However,datathatis
storedonanAmazonEBSvolumewillpersistindependentlyofthelifeoftheinstance.Therefore,we
recommendthatyouusethelocalinstancestorefortemporarydataand,fordatarequiringahigherlevelof
durability,werecommendusingAmazonEBSvolumesorbackingupthedatatoAmazonS3.Ifyouareusing
anAmazonEBSvolumeasarootpartition,youwillneedtosettheDeleteOnTerminateflagto"N"ifyouwant
yourAmazonEBSvolumetopersistoutsidethelifeoftheinstance.

Q:WhatkindofperformancecanIexpectfromAmazonEBSvolumes?
AmazonEBSprovidesthreevolumetypes:GeneralPurpose(SSD)volumes,ProvisionedIOPS(SSD)volumes,
andMagneticvolumes.Thesevolumetypesdifferinperformancecharacteristicsandprice,allowingyouto
tailoryourstorageperformanceandcosttotheneedsofyourapplications.Formoreperformanceinfomation
seetheEBSproductdetailspage.
ForadditionalinformationonAmazonEBSperformance,seetheAmazonEC2UserGuidesEBSsection.
Q:WhatistheEBSGeneralPurpose(SSD)volumetype?
TheEBSGeneralPurpose(SSD)volumesarebackedbythesametechnologyfoundinEBSProvisionedIOPS
(SSD)volumes.TheEBSGeneralPurpose(SSD)volumetypeisdesignedfor99.999%availability,anda
broadrangeofusecasessuchasbootvolumes,smallandmediumsizedatabases,anddevelopmentandtest
environments.GeneralPurpose(SSD)volumesdeliveraratioof3IOPSperGB,offersingledigitmillisecond
latencies,andalsohavetheabilitytoburstupto3000IOPSforshortperiods.
Q:WhichvolumetypeshouldIchoose?
CustomerscannowchoosebetweenthreeEBSvolumetypestobestmeettheneedsoftheirworkloads:
GeneralPurpose(SSD),ProvisionedIOPS(SSD),andMagnetic.GeneralPurpose(SSD)isthenew,SSD
backed,generalpurposeEBSvolumetypethatwerecommendasthedefaultchoiceforcustomers.General
Purpose(SSD)volumesaresuitableforabroadrangeofworkloads,includingsmalltomediumsized
databases,developmentandtestenvironments,andbootvolumes.ProvisionedIOPS(SSD)volumesoffer
storagewithconsistentandlowlatencyperformance,andaredesignedforI/Ointensiveapplicationssuchas
largerelationalorNoSQLdatabases.MagneticvolumesprovidethelowestcostpergigabyteofallEBSvolume
types.Magneticvolumesareidealforworkloadswheredataisaccessedinfrequently,andapplicationswhere
theloweststoragecostisimportant.

Q:Doyousupportmultipleinstancesaccessingasinglevolume?
Whileyouareabletoattachmultiplevolumestoasingleinstance,attachingmultipleinstancestoonevolume
isnotsupportedatthistime.

Q:WillIbeabletoaccessmyEBSsnapshotsusingtheregularAmazonS3APIs?
No,EBSsnapshotsareonlyavailablethroughtheAmazonEC2APIs.

Q:Dovolumesneedtobeunmountedinordertotakeasnapshot?Doesthesnapshotneedtocomplete
beforethevolumecanbeusedagain?

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No,snapshotscanbedoneinrealtimewhilethevolumeisattachedandinuse.However,snapshotsonly
capturedatathathasbeenwrittentoyourAmazonEBSvolume,whichmightexcludeanydatathathasbeen
locallycachedbyyourapplicationorOS.Inordertoensureconsistentsnapshotsonvolumesattachedtoan
instance,werecommendcleanlydetachingthevolume,issuingthesnapshotcommand,andthenreattaching
thevolume.ForAmazonEBSvolumesthatserveasrootdevices,werecommendshuttingdownthemachine
totakeacleansnapshot.

Q:Aresnapshotsversioned?CanIreadanoldersnapshottodoapointintimerecovery?

Eachsnapshotisgivenauniqueidentifier,andcustomerscancreatevolumesbasedonanyoftheirexisting
snapshots.


Q:WhatchargesapplywhenusingAmazonEBSsharedsnapshots?
Ifyoushareasnapshot,youwontbechargedwhenotherusersmakeacopyofyoursnapshot.Ifyoumakea
copyofanotheruserssharedvolume,youwillbechargednormalEBSrates.

Q:CanusersofmyAmazonEBSsharedsnapshotschangeanyofmydata?
Userswhohavepermissiontocreatevolumesbasedonyoursharedsnapshotswillfirstmakeacopyofthe
snapshotintotheiraccount.Userscanmodifytheirowncopiesofthedata,butthedataonyouroriginal
snapshotandanyothervolumescreatedbyotherusersfromyouroriginalsnapshotwillremainunmodified.

Q:HowcanIdiscoverAmazonEBSsnapshotsthathavebeensharedwithme?
YoucanfindsnapshotsthathavebeensharedwithyoubyselectingPrivateSnapshotsfromtheviewing
dropdownintheSnapshotssectionoftheAWSManagementConsole.Thissectionwilllistbothsnapshotsyou
ownandsnapshotsthathavebeensharedwithyou.

Q:HowcanIfindwhatAmazonEBSsnapshotsaresharedglobally?
YoucanfindsnapshotsthathavebeensharedgloballybyselectingPublicSnapshotsfromtheviewing
dropdownintheSnapshotssectionoftheAWSManagementConsole.
Q:DoyouofferencryptiononAmazonEBSvolumesandsnapshots?
Yes.EBSoffersseamlessencryptionofdatavolumesandsnapshots.EBSencryptionbetterenablesyouto
meetsecurityandencryptioncompliancerequirements.

Q:HowcanIfindalistofAmazonPublicDataSets?
AllinformationonPublicDataSetsisavailableinourPublicDataSetsResourceCenter.Youcanalsoobtaina
listingofPublicDataSetswithintheAWSManagementConsolebychoosingAmazonSnapshotsfromthe
viewingdropdownintheSnapshotssection.
Q:WherecanIlearnmoreaboutEBS?
YoucanvisittheEBSFAQpage.

AmazonCloudWatch
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Q:WhatistheminimumtimeintervalgranularityforthedatathatAmazonCloudWatchreceivesand
aggregates?
Metricsarereceivedandaggregatedat1minuteintervals.
Q:WhichoperatingsystemsdoesAmazonCloudWatchsupport?

AmazonCloudWatchreceivesandprovidesmetricsforallAmazonEC2instancesandshouldworkwithany
operatingsystemcurrentlysupportedbytheAmazonEC2service.
Q:WillIlosethemetricsdataifIdisablemonitoringforanAmazonEC2instance?
YoucanretrievemetricsdataforanyAmazonEC2instanceupto2weeksfromthetimeyoustartedtomonitor
it.After2weeks,metricsdataforanAmazonEC2instancewillnotbeavailableifmonitoringwasdisabledfor
thatAmazonEC2instance.Ifyouwanttoarchivemetricsbeyond2weeksyoucandosobycallingmonget
statscommandfromthecommandlineandstoringtheresultsinAmazonS3orAmazonSimpleDB.
Q:CanIaccessthemetricsdataforaterminatedAmazonEC2instanceoradeletedElasticLoadBalancer?
Yes.AmazonCloudWatchstoresmetricsforterminatedAmazonEC2instancesordeletedElasticLoad
Balancersfor2weeks.

Q:DoestheAmazonCloudWatchmonitoringchargechangedependingonwhichtypeofAmazonEC2
instanceImonitor?
No,theAmazonCloudWatchmonitoringchargedoesnotvarybyAmazonEC2instancetype.
Q:WhydoesthegraphingofthesametimewindowlookdifferentwhenIviewin5minuteand1minute
periods?
Ifyouviewthesametimewindowina5minuteperiodversusa1minuteperiod,youmayseethatdatapoints
aredisplayedindifferentplacesonthegraph.Fortheperiodyouspecifyinyourgraph,AmazonCloudWatch
willfindalltheavailabledatapointsandcalculatesasingle,aggregatepointtorepresenttheentireperiod.In
thecaseofa5minuteperiod,thesingledatapointisplacedatthebeginningofthe5minutetimewindow.In
thecaseofa1minuteperiod,thesingledatapointisplacedatthe1minutemark.Werecommendusinga1
minuteperiodfortroubleshootingandotheractivitiesthatrequirethemostprecisegraphingoftimeperiods.

AutoScaling
Q:CanIscaleupmyAmazonEC2capacityfastbutscaleitdownslowly?
Yes.Forexample,youcandefineascaleupconditiontoincreaseyourAmazonEC2capacityby10%anda
scaledownconditiontodecreaseitby5%.
Q:WhathappensifascalingactivitycausesmetoreachmyAmazonEC2limitofinstances?
AutoScalingServicecannotscalepasttheAmazonEC2limitofinstancesthatyoucanrun.Ifyouneedmore
AmazonEC2instances,completetheAmazonEC2instancerequestform.
Q:WhathappenstomyAmazonEC2instancesifIdeletemyAutoScalingGroup?
IfyouhaveanAutoScalinggroupwithrunninginstancesandyouchoosetodeletetheAutoScalinggroup,the
instanceswillbeterminatedandtheAutoScalinggroupwillbedeleted.

ElasticLoadBalancing
Q:WhatloadbalancingoptionsdoestheElasticLoadBalancingserviceoffer?

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ElasticLoadBalancingofferstwotypesofloadbalancersthatbothfeaturehighavailability,automaticscaling,
androbustsecurity.TheseincludetheClassicLoadBalancerthatroutestrafficbasedoneitherapplicationor
networklevelinformation,andtheApplicationLoadBalancerthatroutestrafficbasedonadvancedapplication
levelinformationthatincludesthecontentoftherequest.
Q:WhenshouldIusetheClassicLoadBalancerandwhenshouldIusetheApplicationLoadBalancer?
TheClassicLoadBalancerisidealforsimpleloadbalancingoftrafficacrossmultipleEC2instances,whilethe
ApplicationLoadBalancerisidealforapplicationsneedingadvancedroutingcapabilities,microservices,and
containerbasedarchitectures.PleasevisitElasticLoadBalancingformoreinformation.

ReservedInstances
Q:WhatisaReservedInstance?
ReservedInstancesprovideyouwithadiscountonusageofEC2instances,andacapacityreservationwhen
theyareappliedtoaspecificAvailabilityZone,givingyouadditionalconfidencethatyouwillbeabletolaunch
theinstancesyouhavereservedwhenyouneedthem.
Q:WhatisthedifferencebetweenaReservedInstanceandanOnDemandinstance?
WhenaninstanceisrunningOnDemand,youarepayingtheOnDemandratesforit.WhenaReserved
Instanceappliestoaninstance,youpaytheReservedInstancediscountedhourlyrateforyourinstanceusage,
andacapacityreservationiscreatedforaninstanceifyourReservedInstanceisappliedtoaspecific
AvailabilityZone.
Q:CanyouexplainthecapacitybenefitofaReservedInstance?
WhenaReservedInstanceappliestoaspecificAvailabilityZone,itisreservinginstancecapacitymatchingthe
ReservedInstanceconfiguration.Thisbenefitprovidesyouadditionalconfidenceinyourabilitytolaunch
instancesinaspecificAvailabilityZone,whenyouneedthem.

Q:AreReservedInstancesactualinstances?
No,ReservedInstancesarenotphysicalinstances,sotheydon'thavetobelaunched.ReservedInstancesare
anEC2offeringthatprovidesadiscountonyourinstanceusageandacapacityreservationwhenassignedto
aspecificAvailabilityZone.
Q:DoReservedInstancesapplytoSpotInstancesorinstancesrunningonaDedicatedHost?
No,ReservedInstancesdonotapplytoSpotInstancesorinstancesrunningonDedicatedHosts.Tolowerthe
costofusingDedicatedHosts,purchaseDedicatedHostReservations.
Q:HowdoIpurchaseaReservedInstance?
YoucanpurchaseaReservedInstanceusingtheAWSManagementConsoleorusingtheAWSCLI.Visit
theGettingStartedpagetolearnmore.

Q:HowdoIpurchaseaReservedInstanceforarunninginstance?
YoucanpurchaseaReservedInstanceforarunninginstancebypurchasingaReservedInstancematching
theattributesofyourrunninginstance.Theattributesthatneedtoalignaretheinstancetype,regionor
AvailabilityZone,tenancy,andplatformdescription.VisittheGettingStartedpagetolearnmore.
Q:WhenshouldIpurchaseaReservedInstanceforaspecificAvailabilityZone?
YoushouldpurchaseaReservedInstanceforaspecificAvailabilityZoneifyouneedacapacityreservation.
Otherwise,youshouldassignyourReservedInstancetoaregiontobenefitfromabroaderapplicationofthe
ReservedInstancerate.
Q:IownReservedInstancesassignedtospecificAvailabilityZones.HowdoIassignthemtoaregion?

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YoucanassignyourReservedInstancestoaregionusingtheEC2ManagementConsoleandmodifyingthe
ScopeoftheReservedInstancefromAvailabilityZonetoRegion.WhenyouarepurchasingnewReserved
InstancesintheAWSconsole,bydefaultyouwillseeReservedInstanceswithascopeofRegion.
Q:HowdoesAWSassignmyReservedInstanceratetoinstanceusageindifferentAvailabilityZones?
WhenyourReservedInstanceisassignedtoaregion,AWSappliesyourReservedInstanceratetousageona
firstinbasis.

Q:DoIcontrolwhichinstancesarebilledatthelowerrate?
No,AWSautomaticallyoptimizeswhichinstancesarechargedatthelowerratetoensureyoualwayspaythe
lowestamount.Forinformationabouthourlybilling,andhowitappliestoReservedInstances,seeBilling
BenefitsandPaymentOptions.
Q:CanIreassignmyStandardReservedInstancefromoneinstancetype(e.g.,c1.xlarge)toanother(e.g.,
m1.large)?
No.AStandardReservedInstanceisassociatedwithaspecificinstancetypeforthedurationofitsterm
however,youcanchangefromoneinstancesize(e.g.,c3.large)toanother(e.g.,c3.xlarge)inthesametype,
ifitisaLinux/UNIXReservedInstance.Ifyoudliketohaveflexibilityamonginstancetypes,werecommend
purchasingaConvertibleReservedInstance.PleaserefertotheConvertibleReservedInstancessectionofthe
FAQforadditionalinformation.
Q:WhenIlaunchinstancesanddonotspecifyanAvailabilityZone,willmyReservedInstanceapplytomy
instance?
IfyouvepurchasedaReservedInstanceanditsassignedtoaregion,yourinstancecanbenefitfromthe
ReservedInstancerate.IfyouveassignedyourReservedInstancetoaspecificAvailabilityZoneandthe
AvailabilityZoneofyourReservedInstancedoesnotalignwiththeAvailabilityZoneofyourinstance,the
ReservedInstancewillnotapplytotheinstance.
Q:Howdothepaymentoptionsimpactmybill?
WhenyoupurchaseReservedInstancesundertheAllUpfrontpaymentoption,youpayfortheentiretermof
thereservationinoneupfrontpayment.
Ifyouhaveanaccountwithasuccessfulbillinghistory,youcanchoosetheNoUpfrontoption.Theentirevalue
ofthereservationisspreadacrosseveryhourinthetermandyouwillbebilledforeveryhourintheterm,
regardlessofusage.
ThePartialUpfrontpaymentoptionisahybridoftheAllUpfrontandNoUpfrontoptions.Youmakeasmall
upfrontpayment,andyouarebilledalowhourlyrateforeveryhourinthetermregardlessofusage.
Q:WhenareReservedInstancesactivated?

Thebillingdiscountandcapacityreservationisactivatedonceyourpaymenthassuccessfullybeenauthorized.
Youcanviewthestatus(pending|active|retired)ofyourreservationsonthe"ReservedInstances"pageof
theAmazonEC2Console.
Q:CanIusemyReservedInstanceswithWindowstorunaWindowswithSQLStandardServerAMI?
Yes.ReservationsforinstancesrunningMicrosoftWindowsServerandMicrosoftSQLServerareavailablein
everyregion.Togetpricinginformationandadditionaldetails,pleasevisittheAmazonEC2RunningMicrosoft
WindowsServer&SQLServerpage.
Q:HowdoReservedInstancesworkwithConsolidatedBilling?
TheaccountyouusetopurchaseReservedInstanceswillreceivethecapacityreservation.Oursystem
automaticallyoptimizeswhichinstancesarechargedatthelowerratetoensurethatthepayeraccountalways
paysthelowestamount.

Intermsofvolumediscounttiers,ifyouleverageConsolidatedBilling,AWSwillusetheaggregatetotallist
priceofactivereservationsacrossallofyourconsolidatedaccountstodeterminewhichvolumediscounttierto
apply.Volumediscounttiersaredeterminedatthetimeofpurchase,soyoushouldactivateConsolidated

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BillingpriortopurchasingReservedInstancestoensurethatyoubenefitfromthelargestpossiblevolume
discounttierthatyourconsolidatedaccountsareeligibletoreceive.
Q:Howdothevolumediscounttierswork?
WhenyoupurchaseReservedInstancesinaregion,andtheirvaluesaddsuptoavaluedeterminedbyAWS,
youautomaticallyreceivediscountsonyourupfrontfeesandhourlyfeesforfuturepurchasesofReserved
Instancesinthatregion.

Thesediscountsaredeterminedbasedonthetotallistvalue(nondiscountedprice)ofupfrontfeesforthe
activereservationsyouhaveperregion.Yourtotallistvalueisthesumofallexpectedpaymentsfora
reservationwithintheterm,includingboththeupfrontandrecurringhourlypayments.Thefollowingarethe
volumediscounttiers:
$0$500K:Upfront0%,Hourly0%

$500K$4M:Upfront5%,Hourly5%

$4M$10M:Upfront10%,Hourly10%

$10M+:ContactUs

WhenyouhaveactiveReservedInstanceswithalistvaluetotalingmorethan$500,000inasingleregion,you
willautomaticallyreceivea5%discountonbothupfrontandhourlyfeesforallfuturepurchasesinthatregion.
Discountswillcontinuetoapplytonewreservationsaslongasyoucontinuetoqualifyforthisvolumediscount
tier.
Toillustrate,let'sassumeyoucurrentlyhave$400,000worthofactiveReservedInstancesinuseast1.You
wanttopurchase75Reservedinstanceswithalistvalueof$2000each.Thatwouldbeatotalof$150,000
withoutanydiscounttiers.
Thefirst$100,000ofthispurchasewouldbediscountedat0percent.Theremaining$50,000ofthispurchase
wouldbediscountedby5percent,soyouwouldonlybecharged$47,500overthetermforthepurchase,and
youwouldpaydiscountedhourlyfeesonthosereservations.
Tolearnmoreaboutvolumediscounttiers,pleasevisittheUnderstandingReservedInstanceDiscountPricing
TiersportionoftheAmazonEC2UserGuide.

Q:DoConvertibleReservedInstancesqualifyforVolumeDiscounts?

No,howeverthevalueofeachConvertibleReservedInstancethatyoupurchasecontributestoyourvolume
discountstanding.

Q:HowdoIcalculatethelistvalueofanReservedInstance?
Hereisasamplelistvaluecalculationfor3yrPartialUpfrontReservedInstances:

3yrPartialUpfrontVolumeDiscountValueinUSEast

Recurring RecurringHourly List

Upfront$ Hourly$ Value Value

m3.xlar
ge $1,345 $0.060 $1,577 $2,922

c3.xlar
ge $1,016 $0.045 $1,183 $2,199

Assume26,280Hoursina3yrTerm
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RecurringHourlyValue=RecurringHourly$*HoursinTerm
ListValue=Upfront$+RecurringHourlyValue

Q:IreceivepurchasingdiscountsformyReservedInstances,willIalsoreceivevolumediscounts?
No.DiscountsbasedonvolumetiersarenotcumulativewithotherdiscountsforReservedInstancepurchases.
Q:WillthecostofmyReservedInstanceschange,ifmyfuturevolumequalifiesmeforotherdiscounttiers?

Volumediscountsaredeterminedatthetimeofpurchase.Newpurchaseswillbediscountedaccordingtoyour
eligible,volumediscounttier.ReservedInstancesarebilledatthesamerateforthedurationoftheirterm.
Forexample,ifyouhave$520KworthofReservedInstances,andsellreservationsworth$50kinthe
ReservedInstanceMarketplace,youwouldcontinuetopaythediscountedratefortheremaining$470Kworth
ofreservationsforthedurationoftheterm.Ifyouhave$470Kworthofreservationsandpurchasean
additional$50Kworth,youwouldreceiveavolumetierdiscountonallReservedInstancesover$500K.
Q:WillAmazonRDSpurchasescounttowardAmazonEC2volumediscounttiers(andviceversa)?
No.OnlyAmazonEC2ReservedInstancespurchasesapplytowardstheAmazonEC2volumediscounttiers.
Q:WhatdoIneedtodoatpurchasetimetoreceivevolumediscounts?

Noactionisrequiredonyourpart.Youwillautomaticallyreceivevolumediscountswhenyouusetheexisting
PurchaseReservedInstanceAPIorEC2ManagementConsoleinterfacetopurchaseReservedInstances.If
youpurchasemorethan$10MworthofReservedInstances,contactusaboutreceivingdiscountsbeyond
thosethatareautomaticallyprovided.
Q:HowdoIdeterminewhichvolumediscounttierappliestome?
Todetermineyourcurrentvolumediscounttier,pleaseconsulttheUnderstandingReservedInstanceDiscount
PricingTiersportionoftheAmazonEC2UserGuide.
Q:IhavepurchasedaReservedInstanceforaninstancetypethatisavailableasanEBSOptimizedinstance.
CanIrelaunchthatinstanceasanEBSOptimizedinstance?DoIstillgetthelowerate?
IfyoualreadyownareservationforaninstancetypethatsupportsEBSOptimization,youcanrelaunchthe
instanceasanEBSOptimizedinstance.YouwillpaytheadditionalhourlychargeforEBSOptimization,in
additiontoyourhourlyinstancecost.

ConvertibleReservedInstances
Q:WhatisaConvertibleReservedInstance?
AConvertibleReservedInstanceisatypeofReservedInstancewithattributesthatcanbechangedduringthe
term.
Q:WhenshouldIpurchaseaConvertibleReservedInstanceinsteadofaStandardReservedInstance?
TheConvertibleReservedInstanceisusefulforcustomerswhocancommittousingEC2instancesfora3
yearterminexchangeforasignificantdiscountontheirEC2usage,areuncertainabouttheirinstanceneeds
inthefuture,orwanttobenefitfromchangesinprice.
Q:CanIexchangemyConvertibleReservedInstancetobenefitfromaConvertibleReservedInstance
matchingadifferentinstancetype,operatingsystem,tenancy,orpaymentoption?
Yes,youcanselectanewinstancetype,operatingsystem,tenancy,orpaymentoptionwhenyouexchange
yourConvertibleReservedInstances.
Q:CanItransferaConvertibleorStandardReservedInstancefromoneregiontoanother?
No,aReservedInstanceisassociatedwithaspecificregion,whichisfixedforthedurationofthereservation's
term.
Q:HowdoIchangetheconfigurationofaConvertibleReservedInstance?
YoucanchangetheconfigurationofyourConvertibleReservedInstanceusingtheEC2ManagementConsole
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ortheExchangeReservedInstanceAPI.
Q:DoIneedtopayafeewhenIexchangemyConvertibleReservedInstances?
No,youdonotpayafeewhenyouexchangeyourReservedInstances.Howevermayneedtopayaonetime
trueupchargethataccountsfordifferencesinpricingbetweentheConvertibleReservedInstancesthatyou
haveandtheConvertibleReservedInstancesthatyouwant.
Q:DoestheenddatechangewhenIexchangeaConvertibleReservedInstance?
No,theenddateoftheoriginalReservedInstanceistransferredtotheReservedInstancesyoureceiveafter
theexchange.

Q:HowdoConvertibleReservedInstanceexchangeswork?
WhenyouexchangeoneConvertibleReservedInstanceforanother,EC2ensuresthatthetotalvalueofthe
ConvertibleReservedInstancesismaintainedthroughaconversion.So,ifyouareconvertingyourReserved
Instancewithatotalvalueof$1000foranotherReservedInstance,youwillreceiveaquantityofConvertible
ReservedInstanceswithavaluethatsequaltoorgreaterthan$1000.YoucannotconvertyourConvertible
ReservedInstanceforConvertibleReservedInstance(s)ofalessertotalvalue.
Q:Canyoudefinetotalvalue?
ThetotalvalueisthesumofallexpectedpaymentsthatyoudmakeduringthetermfortheReservedInstance.
Q:CanyouwalkmethroughhowthetrueupcostiscalculatedforaconversionbetweentwoAllUpfront
ConvertibleReservedInstances?
Sure,letssayyoupurchasedanAllUpfrontConvertibleReservedInstancefor$1000upfront,andhalfway
throughthetermyoudecidetochangetheattributesoftheReservedInstance.Sinceyourehalfwaythrough
theReservedInstanceterm,youhave$500leftofproratedvalueremainingontheReservedInstance.TheAll
UpfrontConvertibleReservedInstancethatyouwanttoconvertintocosts$1,200upfronttoday.Sinceyouonly
havehalfofthetermleftonyourexistingConvertibleReservedInstance,thereis$600ofvalueremainingon
thedesirednewConvertibleReservedInstance.Thetrueupchargethatyoullpaywillbethedifferencein
upfrontvaluebetweenoriginalanddesiredConvertibleReservedInstances,or$100($600$500).
Q:CanyouwalkmethroughaconversionbetweenNoUpfrontConvertibleReservedInstances?
UnlikeconversionsbetweenConvertibleReservedInstanceswithanupfrontvalue,sinceyoureconverting
betweenReservedInstanceswithoutanupfrontcost,therewillnotbeatrueupcharge.However,theamount
youpayonanhourlybasisbeforetheexchangewillneedtobegreaterthanorequaltotheamountyoupay
onatotalhourlybasisaftertheexchange.
Forexample,letssayyoupurchasedoneNoUpfrontConvertibleReservedInstance(A)witha$0.10/hrrate,
andyoudecidetoexchangeConvertibleReservedInstanceAforanotherReservedInstance(B)thatcosts
$0.06/hr.Whenyouconvert,youwillreceivetwoReservedInstancesofBbecausetheamountthatyoupayon
anhourlybasismustbegreaterthanorequaltotheamountyourepayingforAonanhourlybasis.

Q:CanIcustomizethenumberofinstancesthatIreceiveasaresultofaConvertibleReservedInstance
exchange?
No,EC2usesthevalueoftheConvertibleReservedInstancesyouretradingintocalculatetheminimal
numberofConvertibleReservedInstancesyoullreceivewhileensuringtheresultoftheexchangegivesyou
ConvertibleRIsofequalorgreatervalue.
Q:ArethereexchangelimitsforConvertibleReservedInstances?
No,therearenoexchangelimitsforConvertibleReservedInstances.
Q:DoIhavethefreedomtochooseanyinstancetypewhenIexchangemyConvertibleReservedInstances?
No,youcanonlyexchangeintoConvertibleReservedInstancesthatarecurrentlyofferedbyAWS.
Q:CanIupgradethepaymentoptionassociatedwithmyConvertibleReservedInstance?
Yes,youcanupgradethepaymentoptionassociatedwithyourReservedInstance.Forexample,youcan
exchangeyourNoUpfrontReservedInstancesforPartialorAllUpfrontReservedInstancestobenefitfrom
betterpricing.YoucannotchangethepaymentoptionfromAllUpfronttoNoUpfront,andcannotchangefrom
PartialUpfronttoNoUpfront.
Q:DoConvertibleReservedInstancesallowmetobenefitfrompricereductionswhentheyhappen?
Yes,youcanexchangeyourReservedInstancestobenefitfromlowerpricing.Forexample,ifthepriceofnew
ConvertibleReservedInstancesreducesby10%,youcanexchangeyourConvertibleRIsandbenefitfromthe
10%reductioninprice.

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ReservedInstanceMarketplace
Q.WhatistheReservedInstanceMarketplace?
TheReservedInstanceMarketplaceisanonlinemarketplacethatprovidesAWScustomerstheflexibilitytosell
theirAmazonElasticComputeCloud(AmazonEC2)ReservedInstancestootherbusinessesand
organizations.CustomerscanalsobrowsetheReservedInstanceMarketplacetofindanevenwiderselection
ofReservedInstancetermlengthsandpricingoptionssoldbyotherAWScustomers.
Q.WhencanIlistaReservedInstanceontheReservedInstanceMarketplace?

YoucanlistaReservedInstancewhen:
You'veregisteredasasellerintheReservedInstanceMarketplace.

You'vepaidforyourReservedInstance.

You'veownedtheReservedInstanceforlongerthan30days.

Q.HowwillIregisterasasellerfortheReservedInstanceMarketplace?
ToregisterfortheReservedInstanceMarketplace,youcanentertheregistrationworkflowbysellinga
ReservedInstancefromtheEC2ManagementConsoleorsettingupyourprofilefromthe"AccountSettings"
pageontheAWSportal.Nomattertheroute,youwillneedtocompletethefollowingsteps:
1.Startbyreviewingtheoverviewoftheregistrationprocess.

2.LogintoyourAWSAccount.

3.Enterinthebankaccountintowhichyouwantustodisbursefunds.Onceyouselect"Continue",wewillset
thatbankaccountasthedefaultdisbursementoption.

4.Intheconfirmationscreen,choose"ContinuetoConsoletoStartListing".

Ifyouexceed$20,000insalesofReservedInstances,orplantosell50ormoreReservedInstances,youwill
needtoprovidetaxinformationbeforeyoucanlistyourReservedInstances.Choose"ContinuewithTax
Interview".Duringthetaxinterviewpipeline,youwillbepromptedtoenteryourcompanyname,contactname,
address,andTaxIdentificationNumberusingtheTIMSworkflow.
Additionally,ifyouplantosellReservedInstancesworthmorethan$50,000peryearyouwillalsoneedtofilea
limitincrease.

Q.HowwillIknowwhenIcanstartsellingontheReservedInstanceMarketplace?
YoucanstartsellingontheReservedInstanceMarketplaceafteryouhaveaddedabankaccountthroughthe
registrationpipeline.Onceactivationiscomplete,youwillreceiveaconfirmationemail.However,itisimportant
tonotethatyouwillnotbeabletoreceivedisbursementsuntilweareabletoreceiveverificationfromyour
bank,whichmaytakeuptotwoweeks,dependingonthebankyouuse.
Q.HowdoIlistaReservedInstanceforsale?
TolistaReservedInstance,simplycompletethesestepsintheAmazonEC2Console:
1.SelecttheReservedInstancesyouwishtosell,andchoose"SellReservedInstances".Ifyouhavenot
completedtheregistrationprocess,youwillbepromptedtoregisterusingtheregistrationpipeline.

2.ForeachReservedInstancetype,setthenumberofinstancesyoudliketosell,andthepricefortheone
timefeeyouwouldliketoset.Notethatyoucansettheonetimepricetodifferentamountsdependingon
theamountoftimeremainingsothatyoudonthavetokeepadjustingyouronetimepriceifyourReserved
Instancedoesntsellquickly.Bydefaultyoujustneedtosetthecurrentpriceandwewillautomatically
decreasetheonetimepricebythesameincrementeachmonth.

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3.Onceyouhaveconfiguredyourlisting,afinalconfirmationscreenwillappear.Choose"SellReserved
Instance".

Q.WhichReservedInstancescanIlistforsale?
YoucanlistanyReservedInstancesthathavebeenactiveforatleast30days,andforwhichwehavereceived
payment.Typically,thismeansthatyoucanlistyourreservationsoncetheyareintheactivestate.Itis
importanttonotethatifyouareaninvoicecustomer,yourReservedInstancecanbeintheactivestatepriorto
AWSreceivingpayment.Inthiscase,yourReservedInstancewillnotbelisteduntilwehavereceivedyour
payment.
Q.HowarelistedReservedInstancesdisplayedtobuyers?
ReservedInstances(boththirdpartyandthoseofferedbyAWS)thathavebeenlistedontheReserved
InstanceMarketplacecanbeviewedinthe"ReservedInstances"sectionoftheAmazonEC2Console.Youcan
alsousetheDescribeReservedInstancesListingsAPIcall.
ThelistedReservedInstancesaregroupedbasedonthetype,termremaining,upfrontprice,andhourlyprice.
ThismakesiteasierforbuyerstofindtherightReservedInstancestopurchase.
Q.HowmuchofmyReservedInstancetermcanIlist?
YoucansellaReservedInstanceforthetermremaining,roundeddowntothenearestmonth.Forexample,if
youhad9monthsand13daysremaining,youwilllistitforsaleasa9monthtermReservedInstance.
Q.CanIremovemyReservedInstanceafterIvelisteditforsale?

Yes,youcanremoveyourReservedInstancelistingsatanypointuntilasaleispending(meaningabuyerhas
boughtyourReservedInstanceandconfirmationofpaymentispending).
Q.WhichpricingdimensionscanIsetfortheReservedInstancesIwanttolist?
UsingtheReservedInstanceMarketplace,youcansetanupfrontpriceyoudbewillingtoaccept.Youcannot
setthehourlyprice(whichwillremainthesameaswassetontheoriginalReservedInstance),andyouwillnot
receiveanyfundscollectedfrompaymentsassociatedwiththehourlyprices.
Q.CanIstillusemyreservationwhileitislistedontheReservedInstanceMarketplace?
Yes,youwillcontinuetoreceivethecapacityandbillingbenefitofyourreservationuntilitissold.Oncesold,
anyrunninginstancethatwasbeingchargedatthediscountedratewillbechargedattheOnDemandrate
untilandunlessyoupurchaseanewreservation,orterminatetheinstance.
Q.CanIresellaReservedInstancethatIpurchasedfromtheReservedInstanceMarketplace?
Yes,youcanresellReservedInstancespurchasedfromtheReservedInstanceMarketplacejustlikeanyother
ReservedInstance.
Q.ArethereanyrestrictionswhensellingReservedInstances?
Yes,youmusthaveaUSbankaccounttosellReservedInstancesintheReservedInstanceMarketplace.
SupportfornonUSbankaccountswillbecomingsoon.Also,youmaynotsellReservedInstancesintheUS
GovCloudregion.
Q.CanIsellReservedInstancespurchasedfromthepublicvolumepricingtiers?
No,thiscapabilityisnotyetavailable.
Q.IsthereachargeforsellingReservedInstancesontheReservedInstanceMarketplace?
Yes,AWSchargesaservicefeeof12%ofthetotalupfrontpriceofeachReservedInstanceyousellinthe
ReservedInstanceMarketplace.
Q.CanAWSsellsubsetsofmylistedReservedInstances?
Yes,AWSmaypotentiallysellasubsetofthequantityofReservedInstancesthatyouhavelisted.Forexample,
ifyoulist100Reservedinstances,wemayonlyhaveabuyerinterestedinpurchasing50ofthem.Wewillsell

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those50instancesandcontinuetolistyourremaining50ReservedInstancesuntilandunlessyoudecidenot
tolistthemanylonger.
Q.HowdobuyerspayforReservedInstancesthatthey'vepurchased?
PaymentforcompletedReservedInstancesalesaredoneviaACHwiretransferstoaUSbankaccount.
Q.WhenwillIreceivemymoney?
OnceAWShasreceivedfundsfromthecustomerthathasboughtyourreservation,wewilldisbursefundsvia
wiretransfertothebankaccountyouspecifiedwhenyouregisteredfortheReservedInstanceMarketplace.
Then,wewillsendyouanemailnotificationlettingyouknowthatwevewiredyouthefunds.Typically,funds
willappearinyouraccountwithin35daysofwhenyourReservedInstancewasbeensold.
Q.IfIsellmyReservedInstanceintheReservedInstanceMarketplace,willIgetrefundedforthePremium
SupportIwaschargedtoo?
No,youwillnotreceiveaproratedrefundfortheupfrontportionoftheAWSPremiumSupportFee.
Q.WillIbenotifiedaboutReservedInstanceMarketplaceactivities?
Yes,youwillreceiveasingleemailonceadaythatdetailsyourReservedInstanceMarketplaceactivity
wheneveryoucreateorcancelReservedInstancelistings,buyerspurchaseyourlistings,orAWSdisburses
fundstoyourbankaccount.
Q.Whatinformationisexchangedbetweenthebuyerandsellertohelpwiththetransactiontaxcalculation?
Thebuyerscity,state,zip+4,andcountryinformationwillbeprovidedtothesellerviaadisbursementreport.
Thisinformationwillenablesellerstocalculateanynecessarytransactiontaxestheyneedtoremittothe
government(e.g.,salestax,valueaddedtax,etc.).Thelegalentitynameofthesellerwillalsobeprovidedon
thepurchaseinvoice.
Q.ArethereanyrestrictionsonthecustomerswhenpurchasingthirdpartyReservedInstances?
Yes,youcannotpurchaseyourownlistedReservedInstances,includingthoseinanyofyourlinkedaccounts
(viaConsolidatedBilling).
Q.DoIhavetopayforPremiumSupportwhenpurchasingReservedInstancesfromtheReservedInstance
Marketplace?
Yes,ifyouareaPremiumSupportcustomer,youwillbechargedforPremiumSupportwhenyoupurchasea
ReservedInstancethroughtheReservedInstanceMarketplace.

SpotInstances
Q.WhatisaSpotInstance?
SpotinstancesareanewwaytopurchaseandconsumeAmazonEC2Instances.Theyallowcustomerstobid
onunusedEC2capacityandrunthoseinstancesforaslongastheirbidexceedsthecurrentSpotPrice.The
SpotPricechangesperiodicallybasedonsupplyanddemand,andcustomerswhosebidsmeetorexceedit
gainaccesstotheavailableSpotinstances.SpotinstancesarecomplementarytoOnDemandinstancesand
ReservedInstances,providinganotheroptionforobtainingcomputecapacity.
Q.HowisaSpotinstancedifferentthananOnDemandinstanceorReservedInstance?
Spotinstancesprovidetheabilityforcustomerstopurchasecomputecapacitywithnoupfrontcommitment,at
hourlyratesusuallylowerthantheOnDemandrate.Spotinstancesallowyoutospecifythemaximumhourly
pricethatyouarewillingtopaytorunaparticularinstancetype.AmazonEC2setsaSpotPriceforeach
instancetypeineachavailabilityzone,whichisthehourlypriceallcustomerswillpaytorunaSpotinstancefor

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thatgivenperiod.TheSpotPricefluctuatesbasedonsupplyanddemandforinstances,butcustomerswill
neverpaymorethanthemaximumpricetheyhavespecified.IftheSpotPricemoveshigherthanacustomers
maximumprice,thecustomersinstancewillbeshutdownbyAmazonEC2.Otherthanthosedifferences,Spot
instancesperformexactlythesameasOnDemandorReservedInstances.SeehereformoredetailsonSpot
instances.
Q.HowdoIpurchaseandstartupaSpotinstance?
SpotinstancescanberequestedusingtheEC2ManagementConsoleorAmazonEC2APIs.Tostartwiththe
EC2ManagementConsole:
1.LogintotheEC2ManagementConsole.

2.Choose"SpotRequests"intheleftnavigationpane.

3.Choose"RequestSpotInstances".

4.CompletetheLaunchInstanceWizardprocess,choosinganAMI,regionandinstancesizeandtype.

5.EnterthenumberofSpotinstancesyouwouldliketorequest,yourmaximumprice,andwhetherthe
requestispersistentornot.

6.Afterchoosingyourkeypairandsecuritygroup(s),youarereadytosubmityourSpotinstancerequest.

FordetailonhowtorequestSpotinstancesthroughtheAmazonEC2API,seetheAmazonEC2API
Reference.
ForamoredetailedwalkthroughofusingSpotinstancesandmoreinformationonhowtogetthemostoutof
Spotinstances,seeIntroductiontoSpotInstances.
Q.HowmanySpotinstancescanIrequest?
YouarelimitedtorequestingSpotinstancesperyourdynamicSpotlimitforeachregion.Notethatnotall
instancetypesareavailableonSpot,andnewAWSaccountsmightstartwithalowerlimit.Tolearnmoreabout
Spotinstancelimits,pleaserefertotheAmazonEC2UserGuide.

Ifyouwouldlikeahigherlimit,completetheAmazonEC2instancerequestformwithyourusecaseandyour
instanceincreasewillbeconsidered.Limitincreasesaretiedtotheregiontheywererequestedfor.

Q.HowcanIdeterminethestatusofmySpotrequest?
YoucandeterminethestatusofyourSpotrequestintheinstanceprovisioninglifecyclebyinspectingitsSpot
BidStatuscodeandmessage.ByreviewingSpotbidstatuses,youcanseewhyyourSpotrequestsstatehas
orhasnotchangedandyoucanlearnhowtooptimizeyourSpotrequeststogetthemfulfilled.Youcanaccess
SpotBidStatusinformationontheSpotInstancepageoftheEC2consoleoftheAWSManagementConsole,
aswellasthroughtheDescribeSpotInstanceRequestsAPIactionandtheec2describespotinstancerequests
CLIcommand.Formoreinformation,pleasevisittheAmazonEC2Developerguide.

Q.AreSpotinstancesavailableforallinstancefamiliesandsizesandinallregions?
Instancetypessupportedineachregionarelistedhere.SpotinstanceAPIsareavailableinallregionsexcept
theUSGovCloudregion.

Q.WhichoperatingsystemsareavailableasSpotinstances?
Linux/UNIXandWindowsServerareavailable.WindowsServerwithSQLServerisnotcurrentlyavailable.

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Q.ArethereanyfeaturesorservicesofAmazonWebServicesthatarenotsupportedforusewithSpot
instances?
AmazonDevPayisnotsupportedforusewithSpotinstances.

Q.CanIuseaSpotinstancewithapaidAMIforthirdpartysoftware(suchasIBMssoftwarepackages)?
Notatthistime.

Q.WillIbechargedifmySpotinstanceisterminatedbyAmazonEC2beforethehourisup?

No.IftheSpotinstanceisterminatedbyAmazonEC2,youwillnotbechargedforapartialhourofusage.
However,ifyouterminatetheinstanceyourself,youwillbechargedforanyhourinwhichtheinstanceran.

Q.HowoftenshouldIexpecttheSpotpricetochange?
AmazonEC2willchangetheSpotpriceperiodicallyasnewrequestsarereceivedandasavailableSpot
capacitychanges(e.g.,duetoinstanceterminations).WhiletheSpotpricemaychangeanytime,ingeneralit
willchangeonceperhourandinmanycaseslessfrequently.WepublishthecurrentSpotpriceandhistorical
pricesforSpotinstancesthroughtheAPI,andtheycanalsobeviewedusingtheAWSManagementConsole.
ThiscanhelpyouassessthelevelsandtimingoffluctuationsintheSpotpriceovertime.

Q.WillallSpotinstancesstartedatthesametimebechargedthesameprice?

Yes.

Q.WillthepriceImchargedforarunningSpotinstancechangeduringitsinstancehourastheSpotprice
changes?
No.ThepriceperinstancehourforaSpotinstanceissetatthebeginningofeachinstancehourfortheentire
hour.AnychangestotheSpotpricewillnotbereflecteduntilthenextinstancehourbegins.

Q.WherecanIseemyusagehistoryforSpotinstancesandseehowmuchIwasbilled?
TheAWSManagementConsolemakesadetailedbillingreportavailablewhichshowsSpotinstancestartand
terminationtimesforallinstances.CustomerscancheckthebillingreportagainsthistoricalSpotpricesviathe
APItoverifythattheSpotpricetheywerebillediscorrect.
Q.WhydoSpotpricesdifferacrossaccountsforthesameinstancetype,operatingsystem,andAvailability
Zone?
ToensurethatresourcesaredistributedacrossAvailabilityZonesforaregion,AvailabilityZonesare
independentlymappedtoidentifiersforeachaccount.Forexample,yourAvailabilityZoneuseast1amightnot
bethesamelocationasuseast1aforanotheraccount.So,SpotpricesforthesameAvailabilityZone
identifiermaybedifferentindifferentaccounts.Notethatthere'snowayforyoutocoordinateAvailability
Zonesbetweenaccounts.
Q.WhatisaSpotfleet?

ASpotfleetallowsyoutoautomaticallybidonandmanagemultipleSpotinstancesthatprovidethelowest
priceperunitofcapacityforyourclusterorapplication,likeabatchprocessingjob,aHadoopworkflow,oran
HPCgridcomputingjob.Youcanincludetheinstancetypesthatyourapplicationcanuse,anddefineatarget
capacitybasedonyourapplicationneeds(inunitsincludinginstances,vCPUs,memory,storage,ornetwork

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throughput).Spotfleetsenableyoutolaunchandmaintainthetargetcapacity,andtoautomaticallyrequest
resourcestoreplaceanythataredisruptedormanuallyterminated.LearnmoreaboutSpotfleets.
Q.IsthereanyadditionalchargeformakingSpotfleetrequests?
No,thereisnoadditionalchargeforSpotfleetrequests.

Q.WhatlimitsapplytoaSpotfleetrequest?
VisittheSpotFleetLimitssectionoftheAmazonEC2UserGuidetolearnaboutthelimitsthatapplytoyour
Spotfleetrequest.
Q.WhathappensifmySpotfleetrequesttriestolaunchSpotinstancesbutexceedsmyregionalSpotrequest
limit?
IfyourSpotfleetrequestexceedsyourregionalSpotinstancerequestlimit,individualSpotinstancerequests
willfailwithaSpotrequestlimitexceededbidstatus.YourSpotfleetrequestshistorywillshowanySpot
requestlimiterrorsthatthefleetrequestreceived.VisittheMonitoringYourSpotFleetsectionoftheAmazon
EC2UserGuidetolearnhowtodescribeyourSpotfleetrequest'shistory.
Q.WhathappensifmySpotfleetrequestbidpriceexceedsmySpotbidpricelimitforoneoftheinstancetypes
Iamrequesting?

IfyourSpotfleetrequestbidpriceexceedsyourSpotbidpricelimits,wewillsubmitSpotrequestsforthat
instancetypeatyourcurrentSpotbidpricelimit.YourSpotfleetrequestshistorywillshowifanyofyourfleets
instanceswereaffectedbyyourSpotbidpricelimit.VisittheMonitoringYourSpotFleetsectionoftheAmazon
EC2UserGuidetolearnhowtodescribeyourSpotfleetrequest'shistory.
Q.AreSpotfleetrequestsguaranteedtobefulfilled?
No.SpotfleetrequestsallowyoutoplacemultipleSpotinstancebidssimultaneously,andaresubjecttothe
sameavailabilityandpricesasasingleSpotinstancerequest.Forexample,ifnoresourcesareavailableat
yourSpotfleetrequestbidprice,wemaybeunabletofulfillyourrequestpartiallyorinfull.
Q.CanIsubmitamultiAvailabilityZonefleetrequest?
Yes,visittheSpotFleetExamplessectionoftheAmazonEC2UserGuidetolearnhowtosubmitamulti
AvailabilityZoneSpotfleetrequest.
Q.CanIsubmitamultiregionSpotfleetrequest?
No,wedonotsupportmultiregionfleetrequests.
Q.HowdoesSpotfleetallocateresourcesacrossthevariousSpotinstancepoolsspecifiedinthelaunch
specifications?
TheRequestSpotFleetAPIprovidestwoallocationstrategies:lowestPriceanddiversified.ThelowestPrice
strategyallowsyoutoprovisionyourSpotfleetresourcesininstancepoolsthatprovidethelowestpriceper
unitofcapacityatthetimeoftherequest.ThediversifiedstrategyallowsyoutoprovisionyourSpotfleet
resourcesacrossmultipleSpotinstancepools.Thisenablesyoutomaintainyourfleetstargetcapacityand
increaseyourapplicationsavailabilityasSpotcapacityfluctuates.
RunningyourapplicationsresourcesacrossdiverseSpotinstancepoolsalsoallowsyoutofurtherreduceyour
fleetsoperatingcostsovertime.VisittheAmazonEC2UserGuidetolearnmore.
Q.CanItagaSpotfleetrequest?
WecurrentlydonotsupporttaggingSpotfleetrequests.
Q.HowcanIseewhichSpotfleetownsmySpotinstances?
YoucanidentifytheSpotinstancesassociatedwithyourSpotfleetbydescribingyourfleetrequest.Fleet
requestsareavailablefor48hoursafterallitsSpotinstanceshavebeenterminated.SeetheAmazonEC2
UserGuidetolearnhowtodescribeyourSpotfleetrequest.
Q.CanImodifymySpotfleetrequest?

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Currently,youcanonlymodifythetargetcapacityofyourSpotfleetrequest.Youmayneedtocancelthe
requestandsubmitanewonetochangeotherrequestconfigurationparameters.
Q.CanIspecifyadifferentAMIforeachinstancetypethatIwanttouse?

Yes,simplyspecifytheAMIyoudliketouseineachlaunchspecificationyouprovideinyourSpotfleetrequest.

Q.CanIuseSpotfleetwithElasticLoadBalancing,AutoScaling,orElasticMapReduce?
No,ElasticLoadBalancing,AutoScaling,orElasticMapReducedonotdirectlytriggerSpotfleetrequests.
Q.DoesaSpotfleetrequestterminateSpotinstanceswhentheyarenolongerrunninginthelowestpriced
Spotpoolsandrelaunchtheminthelowestpricedpools?
No,Spotfleetrequestsdonotautomaticallyterminateandrelaunchinstanceswhiletheyarerunning.
However,ifyouterminateaSpotinstance,SpotfleetwillreplenishitwithanewSpotinstanceinthenewlowest
pricedpool.
Q:AreSpotblocks(FixedDurationSpotinstances)everinterrupted?

Spotblocksaredesignednottobeinterruptedandwillruncontinuouslyforthedurationyouselect,
independentofSpotmarketprice.Inraresituations,SpotblocksmaybeinterruptedduetoAWScapacity
needs.Inthesecases,wewillprovideatwominutewarningbeforeweterminateyourinstance(termination
notice),andyouwillnotbechargedfortheaffectedinstance(s).

MicroInstances
Q.HowmuchcomputepowerdoMicroinstancesprovide?
MicroinstancesprovideasmallamountofconsistentCPUresourcesandallowyoutoburstCPUcapacityupto
2ECUswhenadditionalcyclesareavailable.Theyarewellsuitedforlowerthroughputapplicationsandweb
sitesthatconsumesignificantcomputecyclesperiodicallybutverylittleCPUatothertimesforbackground
processes,daemons,etc.Learnmoreaboutuseofthisinstancetype.
Q.HowdoesaMicroinstancecompareincomputepowertoaStandardSmallinstance?
Atsteadystate,MicroinstancesreceiveafractionofthecomputeresourcesthatSmallinstancesdo.
Therefore,ifyourapplicationhascomputeintensiveorsteadystateneedswerecommendusingaSmall
instance(orlarger,dependingonyourneeds).However,Microinstancescanperiodicallyburstupto2ECUs
(forshortperiodsoftime).ThisisdoublethenumberofECUsavailablefromaStandardSmallinstance.
Therefore,ifyouhavearelativelylowthroughputapplicationorwebsitewithanoccasionalneedtoconsume
significantcomputecycles,werecommendusingMicroinstances.

Q.HowcanItellifanapplicationneedsmoreCPUresourcesthanaMicroinstanceisproviding?
TheCloudWatchmetricforCPUutilizationwillreport100%utilizationiftheinstanceburstssomuchthatit
exceedsitsavailableCPUresourcesduringthatCloudWatchmonitoredminute.CloudWatchreporting100%
CPUutilizationisyoursignalthatyoushouldconsiderscalingmanuallyorviaAutoScalinguptoalarger
instancetypeorscaleouttomultipleMicroinstances.
Q.AreallfeaturesofAmazonEC2availableforMicroinstances?
CurrentlyAmazonDevPayisnotavailableforMicroinstances.

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ComputeOptimizedInstances
Q.WhenshouldIuseComputeoptimizedinstances?
Computeoptimizedinstancesaredesignedforapplicationsthatbenefitfromhighcomputepower.These
applicationsincludehighperformancefrontendfleets,webservers,batchprocessing,distributedanalytics,
highperformancescienceandengineeringapplications,adserving,MMOgaming,videoencoding,and
distributedanalytics.
Q.CanIlaunchC4instancesasAmazonEBSoptimizedinstances?

EachC4instancetypeisEBSoptimizedbydefault.C4instances500Mbpsto4,000MbpstoEBSaboveand
beyondthegeneralpurposenetworkthroughputprovidedtotheinstance.Sincethisfeatureisalwaysenabled
onC4instances,launchingaC4instanceexplicitlyasEBSoptimizedwillnotaffecttheinstance'sbehavior.
Q.HowcanIusetheprocessorstatecontrolfeatureavailableonthec4.8xlargeinstance?
Thec4.8xlargeinstancetypeprovidestheabilityforanoperatingsystemtocontrolprocessorCstatesandP
states.ThisfeatureiscurrentlyavailableonlyonLinuxinstances.YoumaywanttochangeCstateorPstate
settingstoincreaseprocessorperformanceconsistency,reducelatency,ortuneyourinstanceforaspecific
workload.Bydefault,AmazonLinuxprovidesthehighestperformanceconfigurationthatisoptimalformost
customerworkloadshowever,ifyourapplicationwouldbenefitfromlowerlatencyatthecostofhighersingle
ordualcorefrequencies,orfromlowerfrequencysustainedperformanceasopposedtoburstyTurboBoost
frequencies,thenyoushouldconsiderexperimentingwiththeCstateorPstateconfigurationoptionsthatare
availabletotheseinstances.Foradditionalinformationonthisfeature,seetheAmazonEC2UserGuide
sectiononProcessorStateControl.

AcceleratedComputingInstances
Q:WhatareAcceleratedComputingInstances?
AcceleratedComputingInstancefamilyisafamilyofinstanceswhichusehardwareaccelerators,orco
processors,toperformsomefunctions,suchasfloatingpointnumbercalculationandgraphicsprocessing,
moreefficientlythanispossibleinsoftwarerunningonCPUs.AmazonEC2providestwotypesofAccelerated
ComputingInstancesGPUComputeInstancesforgeneralpurposecomputingandGPUGraphicsInstances
forgraphicsintensiveapplications.
Q.WhenshouldIuseGPUGraphicsandComputeinstances?
GPUinstancesworkbestforapplicationswithmassiveparallelism,forexampleworkloadsusingthousandsof
threads.Graphicsprocessingisanexamplewithhugecomputationalrequirements,whereeachofthetasksis
relativelysmall,thesetofoperationsperformedformapipeline,andthethroughputofthispipelineismore
importantthanthelatencyoftheindividualoperations.Tobeablebuildapplicationsthatexploitthislevelof
parallelismoneneedsGPUdevicespecificknowledgebyunderstandinghowtoprogramagainstvarious
graphicsAPIs(DirectX,OpenGL)orGPUcomputeprogrammingmodels(CUDA,OpenCL).
Q.HowareG2instancesdifferentfromCG1instances?
CG1instancesuseNVIDIATeslaGPUsandaredesignedforgeneralpurposeGPUcomputingusingtheCUDA
orOpenCLprogrammingmodels.CG1instancesprovidecustomerswithhighbandwidth10Gbpsnetworking,
doubleprecisionfloatingpointcapabilities,anderrorcorrectingcode(ECC)memory,makingthemidealfor
HighPerformanceComputing(HPC)applications.G2instancesuseNVIDIAGRIDGPUsandprovideacost
effective,highperformanceplatformforgraphicsapplicationsusingDirectXorOpenGL.NVIDIAGRIDGPUs
alsosupportNVIDIAsfastcaptureandencodeAPIs.Exampleapplicationsincludevideocreationservices,3D
visualizations,streaminggraphicsintensiveapplications,andotherserversideworkloadsrequiringmassive
parallelprocessingpower.Inaddition,Graphicsinstancescanalsobeusedforgeneralpurposecomputing
usingCUDAorOpenCL,butarenotrecommendedfornetworkintensiveHPCapplications.
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Q.HowareP2instancesdifferentfromG2instances?
P2instancesuseNVIDIATeslaK80GPUsandaredesignedforgeneralpurposeGPUcomputingusingthe
CUDAorOpenCLprogrammingmodels.P2instancesprovidecustomerswithhighbandwidth20Gbps
networking,powerfulsingleanddoubleprecisionfloatingpointcapabilities,anderrorcorrectingcode(ECC)
memory,makingthemidealfordeeplearning,highperformancedatabases,computationalfluiddynamics,
computationalfinance,seismicanalysis,molecularmodeling,genomics,rendering,andotherserversideGPU
computeworkloads.G2instancesuseNVIDIAGRIDGPUsandprovideacosteffective,highperformance
platformforgraphicsapplicationsusingDirectXorOpenGL.NVIDIAGRIDGPUsalsosupportNVIDIAsfast
captureandencodeAPIs.Exampleapplicationsincludevideocreationservices,3Dvisualizations,streaming
graphicsintensiveapplications,andotherserversidegraphicsworkloads.
Q.WhatAPIsandprogrammingmodelsaresupportedbyGPUGraphicsandComputeinstances?
Withtheinitialdriverrelease,G2instancessupportDirectX9,10,and11,OpenGL4.3,CUDA5.5,OpenCL
1.1,andDirectCompute.Withthelatestdriverrelease,CG1instancessupportCUDA5.5,OpenCL1.1,and
DirectCompute.Withthelatestdriverrelease,P2instancessupportCUDA7.5andOpenCL1.2.
Q.WheredoIgetNVIDIAdriversforCG1,G2andP2instances?
TherearetwomethodsbywhichNVIDIAdriversmaybeobtained.NVIDIAhaslistingsontheAWS
MarketplacewhichofferAmazonLinuxAMIsandWindowsServerAMIswiththeNVIDIAdriverspreinstalled.
Youmayalsolaunch64bit,HVMAMIsandinstallthedriversyourself.YoumustvisittheNVIDIAdrivers
websiteandsearchfortheNVIDIATeslaK80fortheP2,NVIDIAGRIDK520fortheG2,andtheTeslaM2050
fortheCG1.
Q.WhichAMIscanIusewithP2andG2instances?
YoucancurrentlyuseWindowsServer,SUSEEnterpriseLinux,Ubuntu,andAmazonLinuxAMIsonP2andG2
instances.IfyouwanttolaunchAMIswithoperatingsystemsnotlistedhere,contactAWSCustomer
SupportwithyourrequestorreachoutthroughEC2Forums.
Q.WheredoIgettheNVIDIAGRIDSDK?
TheNVIDIAGRIDSDKisavailablefromNVIDIAdirectly.Pleasevisithttp://www.nvidia.com/object/cloudget
started.htmlforinformationaboutobtainingthefullSDK.NVENC,theframecaptureandencodingportionof
theGRIDSDK,isavailableontheNVIDIADevelopersZoneathttps://developer.nvidia.com/nvidiavideocodec
sdk.
Q.DoestheuseofG2instancesrequirethirdpartylicenses?
AsidefromtheNVIDIAdriversandGRIDSDK,theuseofG2instancesdoesnotnecessarilyrequireanythird
partylicenses.However,youareresponsiblefordeterminingwhetheryourcontentortechnologyusedonG2
instancesrequiresanyadditionallicensing.Forexample,ifyouarestreamingcontentyoumayneedlicenses
forsomeorallofthatcontent.Ifyouareusingthirdpartytechnologysuchasoperatingsystems,audioand/or
videoencoders,anddecodersfromMicrosoft,Thomson,FraunhoferIIS,SisvelS.p.A.,MPEGLA,andCoding
Technologies,pleaseconsulttheseproviderstodetermineifalicenseisrequired.Forexample,ifyouleverage
theonboardh.264videoencoderontheNVIDIAGRIDGPUyoushouldreachouttoMPEGLAforguidance,
andifyouusemp3technologyyoushouldcontactThomsonforguidance..
Q.WhyamIunabletoseetheGPUwhenusingMicrosoftRemoteDesktop?
WhenusingRemoteDesktop,GPUsusingtheWDDMdrivermodelarereplacedwithanonaccelerated
RemoteDesktopdisplaydriver.InordertoaccessyourGPUhardware,youneedtoutilizeadifferentremote
accesstool,suchasVNC.

ClusterInstances
Q.WhatisaClusterComputeInstance?

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ClusterComputeInstancescombinehighcomputeresourceswithahighperformancenetworkingforHigh
PerformanceCompute(HPC)applicationsandotherdemandingnetworkboundapplications.ClusterCompute
InstancesprovidesimilarfunctionalitytootherAmazonEC2instancesbuthavebeenspecificallyengineeredto
providehighperformancenetworking.
AmazonEC2clusterplacementgroupfunctionalityallowsuserstogroupClusterComputeInstancesinclusters
allowingapplicationstogetthelowlatencynetworkperformancenecessaryfortightlycouplednodetonode
communicationtypicalofmanyHPCapplications.ClusterComputeInstancesalsoprovidesignificantly
increasednetworkthroughputbothwithintheAmazonEC2environmentandtotheInternet.Asaresult,these
instancesarealsowellsuitedforcustomerapplicationsthatneedtoperformnetworkintensiveoperations.
LearnmoreaboutuseofthisinstancetypeforHPCapplications.
Q.WhatkindofnetworkperformancecanIexpectwhenIlaunchinstancesinclusterplacementgroup?
ThebandwidthanEC2instancecanutilizeinaclusterplacementgroupdependsontheinstancetypeandits
networkingperformancespecification.Whenlaunchedinaplacementgroup,selectEC2instancescanutilize
upto10Gbpsforsingleflowand20Gbpsformultiflowtrafficineachdirection(fullduplex).Networktraffic
outsideaclusterplacementgroup(e.g.totheInternet)islimitedto5Gbps(fullduplex).
Q.WhatisaClusterGPUInstance?
ClusterGPUInstancesprovidegeneralpurposegraphicsprocessingunits(GPUs)withproportionallyhighCPU
andincreasednetworkperformanceforapplicationsbenefitingfromhighlyparallelizedprocessingthatcanbe
acceleratedbyGPUsusingtheCUDAandOpenCLprogrammingmodels.Commonapplicationsinclude
modelingandsimulation,renderingandmediaprocessing.
ClusterGPUInstancesgivecustomerswithHPCworkloadsanoptionbeyondClusterComputeInstancesto
furthercustomizetheirhighperformanceclustersinthecloudforapplicationsthatcanbenefitfromtheparallel
computingpowerofGPUs.
ClusterGPUInstancesusethesameclusterplacementgroupfunctionalityasClusterComputeInstancesfor
groupinginstancesintoclustersallowingapplicationstogetthelowlatency,highbandwidthnetwork
performancerequiredfortightlycouplednodetonodecommunicationtypicalofmanyHPCapplications.
LearnmoreaboutHPConAWS.
Q.WhatisaHighMemoryClusterInstance?
HighMemoryClusterInstancesprovidecustomerswithlargeamountsofmemoryandCPUcapabilitiesper
instanceinadditiontohighnetworkcapabilities.Theseinstancetypesareidealformemoryintensive
workloadsincludinginmemoryanalyticssystems,graphanalysisandmanyscienceandengineering
applications
HighMemoryClusterInstancesusethesameclusterplacementgroupfunctionalityasClusterCompute
Instancesforgroupinginstancesintoclustersallowingapplicationstogetthelowlatency,highbandwidth
networkperformancerequiredfortightlycouplednodetonodecommunicationtypicalofmanyHPCandother
networkintensiveapplications.

Q.DoesuseofClusterComputeandClusterGPUInstancesdifferfromotherAmazonEC2instancetypes?
ClusterComputeandClusterGPUInstancesusediffersfromotherAmazonEC2instancetypesintwoways.
First,ClusterComputeandClusterGPUInstancesuseHardwareVirtualMachine(HVM)basedvirtualization
andrunonlyAmazonMachineImages(AMIs)basedonHVMvirtualization.ParavirtualMachine(PVM)based
AMIsusedwithotherAmazonEC2instancetypescannotbeusedwithClusterComputeorClusterGPU
Instances.
Second,inordertofullybenefitfromtheavailablelowlatency,fullbisectionbandwidthbetweeninstances,
ClusterComputeandClusterGPUInstancesmustbelaunchedintoaclusterplacementgroupthroughthe
AmazonEC2APIorAWSManagementConsole.
Q.Whatisaclusterplacementgroup?

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Aclusterplacementgroupisalogicalentitythatenablescreatingaclusterofinstancesbylaunchinginstances
aspartofagroup.Theclusterofinstancesthenprovideslowlatency,fullbisection10GigabitEthernet
bandwidthconnectivitybetweeninstancesinthegroup.Clusterplacementgroupsarecreatedthroughthe
AmazonEC2APIorAWSManagementConsole.
Q.AreallfeaturesofAmazonEC2availableforClusterComputeandClusterGPUInstances?
Currently,AmazonDevPayisnotavailableforClusterComputeorClusterGPUInstances.
Q.IstherealimitonthenumberofClusterComputeorClusterGPUInstancesIcanuseand/orthesizeof
clusterIcancreatebylaunchingClusterComputeInstancesorClusterGPUintoaclusterplacementgroup?
ThereisnolimitspecificforClusterComputeInstances.ForClusterGPUInstances,youcanlaunch2
Instancesonyourown.Ifyouneedmorecapacity,pleasecompletetheAmazonEC2instancerequest
form(selectingtheappropriateprimaryinstancetype).
Q.ArethereanywaystooptimizethelikelihoodthatIreceivethefullnumberofinstancesIrequestformy
clusterviaaclusterplacementgroup?
Werecommendthatyoulaunchtheminimumnumberofinstancesrequiredtoparticipateinaclusterina
singlelaunch.Forverylargeclusters,youshouldlaunchmultipleplacementgroups,e.g.twoplacementgroups
of128instances,andcombinethemtocreatealarger,256instancecluster.
Q.CanClusterGPUandClusterComputeInstancesbelaunchedintoasingleclusterplacementgroup?
Whileitmaybepossibletolaunchdifferentclusterinstancetypesintoasingleplacementgroup,atthistimewe
onlysupporthomogenousplacementgroups.
Q.Ifaninstanceinaclusterplacementgroupisstoppedthenstartedagain,willitmaintainitspresenceinthe
clusterplacementgroup?
Yes.Astoppedinstancewillbestartedaspartoftheclusterplacementgroupitwasinwhenitstopped.If
capacityisnotavailableforittostartwithinitsclusterplacementgroup,thestartwillfail.

HighI/OInstances
Q.WhatisaHighI/Oinstance?
HighI/OinstancesuseSSDbasedlocalinstancestoragetodeliververyhigh,lowlatency,I/Ocapacityto
applications,andareoptimizedforapplicationsthatrequiretensofthousandsofIOPS.LikeClusterinstances,
HighI/Oinstancescanbeclusteredviaclusterplacementgroupsforhighbandwidthnetworking.
Q.AreallfeaturesofAmazonEC2availableforHighI/Oinstances?
HighI/OinstancesupportallAmazonEC2featureswiththeexceptionofSpotInstances.Currentlyyoucan
onlypurchaseHighI/OinstancesasOnDemandorReservedInstances.
Q.IstherealimitonthenumberofHighI/OinstancesIcanuse?
Currently,youcanlaunch2hi1.4xlargeinstancesbydefault.Ifyouwishtorunmorethan2OnDemand
instances,pleasecompletetheAmazonEC2instancerequestform.
Q.HowmanyIOPScanhi1.4xlargeinstancesdeliver?
UsingLinuxPVAMIs,HighI/Oinstancescandelivermorethan120,0004KrandomreadIOPSand10,000
85,0004KrandomwriteIOPS(dependingonactiveLBAspan)toapplicationsacross2*1TiBdatavolumes.
ForHVMandWindowsAMIs,performancewillbearound90,0004KrandomreadIOPSand9,00075,0004K
randomwriteIOPS.
Q.Whatisthesequentialthroughputofhi1.4xlargeinstances?
SequentialthroughputonallAMItypes(LinuxPV,LinuxHVMandWindows)isapproximately2GB/sreadand
1.1GB/swrite.
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Q.AWShasotherdatabaseandBigDataofferings.WhenorwhyshouldIuseHighI/Oinstances?
HighI/OinstancesareidealforapplicationsthatrequireaccesstotensofthousandsoflowlatencyIOPS,and
canleveragedatastoresandarchitecturesthatmanagedataredundancyandavailability.Example
applicationsare:
NoSQLdatabaseslikeCassandraandMongoDB

Clustereddatabases

OLTPsystems

Q.DoHighI/Oinstancesprovideanyfailovermechanismsorredundancy?

LikeotherAmazonEC2instancetypes,instancestorageonhi1.4xlargeinstancespersistsduringthelifeofthe
instance.Customersareexpectedtobuildresilienceintotheirapplications.Werecommendusingdatabases
andfilesystemsthatsupportredundancyandfaulttolerance.Customersshouldbackupdataperiodicallyto
AmazonS3forimproveddatadurability.
Q.DoHighI/OinstancessupportTRIM?
TheTRIMcommandallowstheoperatingsystemtoinformSSDswhichblocksofdataarenolonger
consideredinuseandcanbewipedinternally.IntheabsenceofTRIM,futurewriteoperationstotheinvolved
blockscanslowdownsignificantly.Currentlyhi1.4xlargeinstancesdonotsupportTRIM,butTRIMsupportwill
bedeployedwithinthenextfewmonths.CustomerswithextremelyintensivefullLBArandomwriteworkloads
shouldplanaccordingly.PleasenotethatthecurrentdiskprovisioningschemeforHighI/Oinstancesminimizes
theimpactofwriteamplificationandmostcustomerswillnotexperienceanyissues.

BurstablePerformanceInstances
Q:HowareBurstablePerformanceInstancesdifferent?
AmazonEC2allowsyoutochoosebetweenFixedPerformanceInstances(e.g.M3,C3,andR3)andBurstable
PerformanceInstances(e.g.T2).BurstablePerformanceInstancesprovideabaselinelevelofCPU
performancewiththeabilitytoburstabovethebaseline.T2instancesareforworkloadsthatdontusethefull
CPUoftenorconsistently,butoccasionallyneedtoburst.
T2instancesbaselineperformanceandabilitytoburstaregovernedbyCPUCredits.EachT2instance
receivesCPUCreditscontinuously,therateofwhichdependsontheinstancesize.T2instancesaccrueCPU
Creditswhentheyareidle,anduseCPUcreditswhentheyareactive.ACPUCreditprovidestheperformance
ofafullCPUcoreforoneminute.Thefollowingtableshowsthemaximumcreditbalanceandbaseline
performanceforeachT2instancesize.EachvCPUofaT2instancecanconsumeCPUCreditsatamaximum
rateof60perhourwhenburstingtofullcoreperformance.

Model vCP CPU Maximum BaselineCPU

Us Credits CPU Performance
/hour Credit
Balance

t2.nano 1 3 72 5%ofacore

t2.micro 1 6 144 10%ofacore

t2.small 1 12 288 20%ofacore

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t2.mediu 2 24 576 40%ofacore*

m

t2.large 2 36 864 60%ofacore**

t2.xlarge 4 54 1,296 90%ofacore***

t2.2xlarge 8 81 1,944 135%ofacore****

*Forthet2.medium,singlethreadedapplicationscanuse40%of1core,orifneeded,multithreaded
applicationscanuse20%eachof2cores.
**Forthet2.large,singlethreadedapplicationscanuse60%of1core,orifneeded,multithreadedapplications
canuse30%eachof2cores.
***Forthet2.xlarge,singlethreadedapplicationscanuse90%of1core,orifneeded,multithreaded
applicationscanuse45%eachof2coresor22.5%ofall4cores.
****Forthet2.large,singlethreadedapplicationscanuseallof1core,orifneeded,multithreadedapplications
canuse67.5%eachof2coresor16.875%ofall8cores.
Forexample,at2.smallinstancereceivescreditscontinuouslyatarateof12CPUCreditsperhour.This
capabilityprovidesbaselineperformanceequivalentto20%ofaCPUcore.Ifatanymomenttheinstancedoes
notneedthecreditsitreceives,itstorestheminitsCPUCreditbalanceforupto24hours.Ifandwhenyour
t2.smallneedstobursttomorethan20%ofacore,itdrawsfromitsCPUCreditbalancetohandlethissurge
seamlessly.Overtime,ifyoufindyourworkloadneedsmoreCPUCreditsthatyouhave,oryourinstancedoes
notmaintainapositiveCPUCreditbalance,werecommendeitheralargerT2size,suchasthet2.medium,or
aFixedPerformanceInstancetype.
Manyapplicationssuchaswebservers,developerenvironmentsandsmalldatabasesdontneedconsistently
highlevelsofCPU,butbenefitsignificantlyfromhavingfullaccesstoveryfastCPUswhentheyneedthem.T2
instancesareengineeredspecificallyfortheseusecases.IfyouneedconsistentlyhighCPUperformancefor
applicationssuchasvideoencoding,highvolumewebsitesorHPCapplications,werecommendyouuseFixed
PerformanceInstances.T2instancesaredesignedtoperformasiftheyhavededicatedhighspeedIntelcores
availablewhenyourapplicationreallyneedsCPUperformance,whileprotectingyoufromthevariable
performanceorothercommonsideeffectsyoumighttypicallyseefromoversubscriptioninother
environments.

Q.HowdoIchoosetherightAmazonMachineImage(AMI)formyt2.nanoinstances?
T2.nano,oursmallestBurstablePerformanceInstancesize,offers512MiBofmemoryandisdesignedtooffer
thefullperformanceofahighfrequencyIntelCPUcoreaslongasyoumaintainaCPUcreditbalance.Your
t2.nanomaintainsapositivecreditbalanceifyourworkloadutilizeslessthan5%ofthecoreonaverageover
24hours.Ifyourworkloadusesmorethan5%CPUonaverage,consideralargert2instancesize,suchasthe
t2.micro.Youwillwanttoverifythattheminimummemoryrequirementsofyouroperatingsystemand
applicationsarewithin512MiB.OperatingsystemswithGraphicalUserInterfaces(GUI)thatconsume
significantmemoryandCPU,forexampleMicrosoftWindows,mightneedat2.microorlargerinstancesizefor
manyusecases.YoucanfindAMIssuitableforthet2.nanoinstancetypeonAWSMarketplace.Windows
customerswhodonotneedtheGUIcanusetheMicrosoftWindowsServer2012R2CoreAMI.
Q:WhenshouldIchooseaBurstablePerformanceInstance,suchasT2?

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WorkloadsidealforBurstablePerformanceInstances(e.g.,webservers,developerenvironments,andsmall
databases)dontusethefullCPUoftenorconsistently,butoccasionallyneedtoburst.Ifyourapplication
requiressustainedhighCPUperformance,werecommendourFixedPerformanceInstances,suchasM3,C3,
andR3.
Q:HowcanIseetheCPUCreditbalanceforeachT2instance?
YoucanseetheCPUCreditbalanceforeachT2instanceinEC2perInstancemetricsinAmazonCloudWatch.
T2instanceshavetwonewmetrics,CPUCreditUsageandCPUCreditBalance.CPUCreditUsageindicatesthe
amountofCPUCreditsused.CPUCreditBalanceindicatesthebalanceofCPUCredits.
Q:WhathappenstoCPUperformanceifmyT2instanceisrunninglowoncredits(CPUCreditbalanceisnear
zero)?
IfyourT2instancehasazeroCPUCreditbalance,performancewillremainatbaselineCPUperformance.For
example,thet2.microprovidesbaselineCPUperformanceof10%ofaphysicalCPUcore.Ifyourinstances
CPUCreditbalanceisapproachingzero,CPUperformancewillbeloweredtobaselineperformanceovera15
minuteinterval.
Q:DoesmyT2instancecreditbalancepersistastop/start?
No,astoppedinstancedoesnotretainitspreviouslyearnedcreditbalance.
Q:CanT2instancesbepurchasedasReservedInstancesorSpotInstances?
OnDemandinstancesandReservedInstancesaretheonlypurchaseoptionsavailableforT2instances.
Q:HowisT2differentfromtheT1?
Comparedtothet1.micro,thet2.microfeaturesbetterCPUperformance,morememory,andlowerprices.The
T2familyalsooffersmorethanonesize.

DensestorageInstances
Q.WhatisaDensestorageInstance?
Densestorageinstancesaredesignedforworkloadsthatrequirehighsequentialreadandwriteaccesstovery
largedatasets,suchasHadoopdistributedcomputing,massivelyparallelprocessingdatawarehousing,and
logprocessingapplications.TheDensestorageinstancesofferthebestprice/GBstorageandprice/disk
throughputacrossotherEC2instances.
Q.HowdoDensestorageinstancescomparetoHighI/Oinstances?

HighI/Oinstances(I2)aretargetedatworkloadsthatdemandlowlatencyandhighrandomI/Oinadditionto
moderatestoragedensityandprovidethebestprice/IOPSacrossotherEC2instancetypes.Densestorage
instances(D2)areoptimizedforapplicationsthatrequirehighsequentialread/writeaccessandlowcost
storageforverylargedatasetsandprovidethebestprice/GBstorageandprice/diskthroughputacrossother
EC2instances.

Q.HowmuchdiskthroughputcanDensestorageinstancesdeliver?
ThelargestcurrentgenerationofDensestorageinstances,d2.8xlarge,candeliverupto3.5GBpsreadand
3.1GBpswritediskthroughputwitha2MiBblocksize.Toensurethebestdiskthroughputperformancefrom
yourD2instancesonLinux,werecommendthatyouusethemostrecentversionoftheAmazonLinuxAMI,or
anotherLinuxAMIwithakernelversionof3.8orlaterthatsupportspersistentgrantsanextensiontotheXen
blockringprotocolthatsignificantlyimprovesdiskthroughputandscalability.
Q.DoDensestorageinstancesprovideanyfailovermechanismsorredundancy?

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TheprimarydatastorageforDensestorageinstancesisHDDbasedinstancestorage.Likeallinstance
storage,thesestoragevolumespersistonlyforthelifeoftheinstance.Hence,werecommendthatyoubuilda
degreeofredundancy(e.g.RAID1/5/6)orusefilesystems(e.g.HDFSandMapRFS)thatsupport
redundancyandfaulttolerance.Youcanalsobackupdataperiodicallytomoredurabledatastoragesolutions
suchasAmazonSimpleStorageService(S3)foradditionaldatadurability.PleaserefertoAmazonS3for
reference.
Q.HowdoDensestorageinstancesdifferfromAmazonEBS?
AmazonEBSofferssimple,elastic,reliable(replicated),andpersistentblocklevelstorageforAmazonEC2
whileabstractingthedetailsoftheunderlyingstoragemediainuse.AmazonEC2instancestorageprovides
directlyattachednonpersistent,highperformancestoragebuildingblocksthatcanbeusedforavarietyof
storageapplications.Densestorageinstancesarespecificallytargetedatcustomerswhowanthighsequential
read/writeaccesstolargedatasetsonlocalstorage,e.g.forHadoopdistributedcomputingandmassively
parallelprocessingdatawarehousing.

Q.CanIlaunchD2instancesasAmazonEBSoptimizedinstances?
EachD2instancetypeisEBSoptimizedbydefault.D2instances500Mbpsto4,000MbpstoEBSaboveand
beyondthegeneralpurposenetworkthroughputprovidedtotheinstance.Sincethisfeatureisalwaysenabled
onD2instances,launchingaD2instanceexplicitlyasEBSoptimizedwillnotaffecttheinstance'sbehavior.
Q.AreDensestorageinstancesofferedinEC2Classic?
ThecurrentgenerationofDensestorageinstances(D2instances)canbelaunchedinbothEC2Classicand
AmazonVPC.However,bylaunchingaDensestorageinstanceintoaVPC,youcanleverageanumberof
featuresthatareavailableonlyontheAmazonVPCplatformsuchasenablingenhancednetworking,
assigningmultipleprivateIPaddressestoyourinstances,orchangingyourinstances'securitygroups.For
moreinformationaboutthebenefitsofusingaVPC,seeAmazonEC2andAmazonVirtualPrivate
Cloud(AmazonVPC).YoucantakestepstomigrateyourresourcesfromEC2ClassictoAmazonVPC.For
moreinformation,seeMigratingaLinuxInstancefromEC2ClassictoaVPC.

MemoryOptimizedInstances
Q.WhenshouldIuseMemoryoptimizedinstances?
Memoryoptimizedinstancesofferlargememorysizeformemoryintensiveapplicationsincludinginmemory
applications,inmemorydatabases,inmemoryanalyticssolutions,HighPerformanceComputing(HPC),
scientificcomputing,andothermemoryintensiveapplications.
Q.WhenshouldIuseX1instances?
X1instancesareidealforrunninginmemorydatabaseslikeSAPHANA,bigdataprocessingengineslike
ApacheSparkorPresto,andhighperformancecomputing(HPC)applications.X1instancesarecertifiedby
SAPtorunproductionenvironmentsofthenextgenerationBusinessSuiteS/4HANA,BusinessSuiteonHANA
(SoH),BusinessWarehouseonHANA(BW),andDataMartSolutionsonHANAontheAWScloud.

Q.WhatarethekeyspecificationsofIntelE7HaswellprocessorsthatpowerX1instances?
X1isthefirstAmazonEC2instancetypethatispoweredbyfour2.3GHzIntelXeonE78880v3(Haswell)
processors,whichareoptimizedforenterpriseanddatabaseworkloads.TheE7processorshaveahighcore
counttosupportworkloadsthatscaleefficientlyonlargenumberofcores.TheIntelE7processorsalsofeature
highmemorybandwidthandlargerL3cachestoboosttheperformanceofinmemoryapplications.Inaddition,
theIntelE7processor:
EnablesincreasedcryptographicperformanceviathelatestIntelAESNIfeature.
SupportsTransactionalSynchronizationExtensions(TSX)toboosttheperformanceofinmemory
transactionaldataprocessing.
SupportsAdvancedVectorExtensions2(IntelAVX2)processorinstructionstoexpandmostinteger
commandsto256bits.
Q.DoX1instancesenableCPUpowermanagementstatecontrol?
Yes.YoucanconfigureCstatesandPstatesonbothx1.32xlargeandx1.16xlarge.YoucanuseCstatesto
enablehigherturbofrequencies(asmuchas3.1Ghzwithoneortwocoreturbo).YoucanalsousePstatesto
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lowerperformancevariabilitybypinningallcoresatP1orhigherPstates,whichissimilartodisablingTurbo,
andrunningconsistentlyatthebaseCPUclockspeed.
Q:WhatoperatingsystemsaresupportedonX1instances?
X1instancesprovidehighnumberofvCPUs,whichmightcauselaunchissuesinsomeLinuxoperating
systemsthathavealowervCPUlimit.WestronglyrecommendthatyouusethelatestAMIswhenyoulaunch
X1instances.ThefollowingLinuxAMIssupportlaunchingX1instances:AmazonLinuxAMI2016.03(HVM),
UbuntuServer14.04LTS(HVM),andRedHatEnterpriseLinux7.1(HVM),andSUSELinux12SP1.

AMIsupportforSAPHANAworkloadsinclude:SUSELinux12,SUSELinux12SP1,SLESforSAP12SP1(due
tokernelrequirementof3.10orhigher).ForSAPNetWeaveronAnyDB,thelatestRHEL7.ximagesare
currentlysupported.
x1.32xlargewillalsosupportWindowsServer2012R2,2012RTMand2008R264bit(WindowsServer2008
SP2andolderversionswillnotbesupported)andx1.16xlargewillsupportWindowsServer2012R2,2012
RTM,2008R264bit,2008SP264bit,and2003R264bit(WindowsServer32bitversionswillnotbe
supported).
Q.WhatstorageoptionsareavailableforX1customers?
X1instancesofferSSDbasedinstancestore,whichisidealfortemporarystorageofinformationsuchaslogs,
buffers,caches,temporarytables,temporarycomputationaldata,andothertemporarycontent.X1instance
storeprovidesthebestI/OperformancewhenyouuseaLinuxkernelthatsupportspersistentgrants,an
extensiontotheXenblockringprotocol.
X1instancesareEBSoptimizedbydefaultandofferupto10GbpsofdedicatedbandwidthtoEBSvolumes.
EBSoffersmultiplevolumetypestosupportawidevarietyofworkloads.FormoreinformationseetheEC2
UserGuide.
Q.HowdoIbuildcosteffectivefailoversolutiononX1instances?
YoucandesignsimpleandcosteffectivefailoversolutionsonX1instancesusingAmazonEC2AutoRecovery,
anAmazonEC2featurethatisdesignedtobettermanagefailoveruponinstanceimpairment.Youcanenable
AutoRecoveryforX1instancesbycreatinganAWSCloudWatchalarm.ChoosetheEC2StatusCheckFailed
(System)metricandselecttheRecoverthisinstanceaction.Instancerecoveryissubjecttounderlying
limitations,includingthosereflectedintheInstanceRecoveryTroubleshootingdocumentation.Formore
informationvisitAutoRecoverydocumentationandCreatingAmazonCloudWatchAlarmsrespectively.

Q.AretherestandardSAPHANAreferencedeploymentframeworksavailablefortheX1instanceandtheAWS
cloud?
YoucanusetheAWSQuickStartreferenceHANAdeploymentstorapidlydeployallthenecessaryHANA
buildingblocksonX1instancesfollowingSAPsrecommendationsforhighperformanceandreliability.AWS
QuickStartsaremodularandcustomizable,soyoucanlayeradditionalfunctionalityontopormodifythemfor
yourownimplementations.ForadditionalinformationondeployingHANAonAWS,pleaserefertoSAPHANA
onAWSCloud:QuickStartReferenceDeploymentGuide.

F1Instances
Q.WhatareFPGAsandwhydoIneedthem?
FPGAsareprogrammableintegratedcircuitsthatyoucanconfigureusingsoftware.ByusingFPGAsyoucan
accelerateyourapplicationsupto30xwhencomparedwithserversthatuseCPUsalone.And,FPGAsare
reprogrammable,soyougettheflexibilitytoupdateandoptimizeyourhardwareaccelerationwithouthavingto
redesignthehardware.
Q.WhatisAmazonEC2F1?
AmazonEC2F1isanewcomputeinstancewithprogrammablehardwareyoucanuseforapplication
acceleration.ThenewF1instancetypeprovidesahighperformance,easytoaccessFPGAfordevelopingand
deployingcustomhardwareaccelerations.
Q.HowdoesF1comparewithtraditionalFPGAsolutions?

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F1isanAWSinstancewithprogrammablehardwareforapplicationacceleration.WithF1,youhaveaccessto
FPGAhardwareinafewsimpleclicks,reducingthetimeandcostoffullcycleFPGAdevelopmentandscale
deploymentfrommonthsoryearstodays.WhileFPGAtechnologyhasbeenavailablefordecades,adoptionof
applicationaccelerationhasstruggledtobesuccessfulinboththedevelopmentofacceleratorsandthe
businessmodelofsellingcustomhardwarefortraditionalenterprises,duetotimeandcostindevelopment
infrastructure,hardwaredesign,andatscaledeployment.Withthisoffering,customersavoidthe
undifferentiatedheavyliftingassociatedwithdevelopingFPGAsinonpremisesdatacenters.
Q:WhatisanAmazonFPGAImage(AFI)?
ThedesignthatyoucreatetoprogramyourFPGAiscalledanAmazonFPGAImage(AFI).AWSprovidesa
servicetoingest,manage,andencryptAFIs.AfteranAFIisregistered,itcanbeassociatedtoanAmazon
MachineImage(AMI)orarunningF1instance.&nbspYoucanassociatemultipleAFIstothesameF1instance
orAMIconcurrently,andaninstancecanswitchbetweenAFIsinruntimewithoutreboot.Thisletsyouquickly
testandrunmultiplehardwareaccelerationsinrapidsequence.OnceanAFIisassociatedwithanAMI,you
canalsoofferyourFPGAaccelerationtoothercustomersontheAWSMarketplace.
Q.WhatisavailablewithF1instances?
Fordevelopers,AWSisprovidingaHardwareDevelopmentKit(HDK)tohelpacceleratedevelopmentcycles,
anFPGADeveloperAMIfordevelopmentinthecloud,anSDKforAMIsrunningtheF1instance,andaservice
toingest,manage,andsecureAFIs.BothdevelopersandcustomershaveaccesstotheAWSMarketplace
whereAFIscanbelistedandpurchasedforuseinapplicationaccelerations.
Q.DoIneedtobeanFPGAexperttouseanF1instance?
AWScustomerssubscribingtoanF1optimizedAMIfromAWSMarketplacedonotneedtoknowanything
aboutFPGAstotakeadvantageoftheaccelerationsprovidedbytheF1instanceandtheAWSMarketplace.
SimplypurchaseanF1optimizedAMIfromtheAWSMarketplacewithanaccelerationthatmatchesthe
workload.TheAMIcontainsallthesoftwarenecessaryforusingtheFPGAacceleration.Customersneedonly
writesoftwaretothespecificAPIforthatacceleratorandstartusingtheaccelerator.
Q.ImanFPGAdeveloper,howdoIgetstartedwithF1instances?

DeveloperscangetstartedontheF1instancebycreatinganAWSaccountanddownloadingtheAWS
HardwareDevelopmentKit(HDK).TheHDKincludesdocumentationonF1,internalFPGAinterfaces,and
compilerscriptsforgeneratingAFI.DeveloperscanstartwritingtheirFPGAcodetothedocumentedinterfaces
includedintheHDKtocreatetheiraccelerationfunction.DeveloperscanlaunchAWSinstanceswiththeFPGA
DeveloperAMI.ThisAMIincludesthedevelopmentstoolsneedtocompileandsimulatetheFPGAcode.The
DeveloperAMIisbestrunonthelatestC4orC5EC2instances.Developersshouldhaveexperienceinthe
programminglanguagesusedforcreatingFPGAcode(i.e.VerilogorVHDL)andanunderstandingofthe
operationtheywishtoaccelerate.
Q.ImnotanFPGAdeveloper,howdoIgetstartedwithF1instances?
CustomerscangetstartedwithF1instancesbyselectinganacceleratorfromtheAWSMarketplace,provided
byAWSMarketplacesellers,andlaunchinganF1instancewiththatAMI.TheAMIincludesallofthesoftware
andAPIsforthataccelerator.AWSmanagesprogrammingtheFPGAwiththeAFIforthataccelerator.
CustomersdonotneedanyFPGAexperienceorknowledgetousetheseaccelerators.Theycanwork
completelyatthesoftwareAPIlevelforthataccelerator.
Q.DoesAWSprovideadeveloperkit?
Yes.TheHardwareDevelopmentKit(HDK)includessimulationtoolsandsimulationmodelsfordevelopersto
simulate,debug,build,andregistertheiraccelerationcode.TheHDKincludescodesamples,compilescripts,
debuginterfaces,andmanyothertoolsyouwillneedtodeveloptheFPGAcodeforyourF1instances.Youcan
usetheHDKeitherinanAWSprovidedAMI,orinyouronpremisesdevelopmentenvironment.Thesemodels
andscriptsareavailablepublicallywithanAWSaccount.
Q.CanIaddanFPGAtoanyEC2instancetype?
No.Today,theF1instancecomesintwoinstancesizesf1.2xlargeandf1.16xlarge.Fordetailed
specificationsclickhere.

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PreviousGenerationInstances
Q:WhydontIseeM1,C1,CC2,HI1,CG1,andHS1instancesonthepricingpagesanymore?
ThesehavebeenmovedtothePreviousGenerationInstancepage.

Q:ArethesePreviousGenerationinstancesstillbeingsupported?
Yes.PreviousGenerationinstancesarestillfullysupported.

Q:CanIstilluse/addmorePreviousGenerationinstances?
Yes.PreviousGenerationinstancesarestillavailableasOnDemand,ReservedInstances,andSpotInstance,
fromourAPIs,CLI,andEC2ManagementConsoleinterface.

Q:AremyPreviousGenerationinstancesgoingtobedeleted?
No.YourM1,C1,CC2,HI1,CG1,andHS1instancesarestillfullyfunctionalandwillnotbedeletedbecauseof
thischange.

Q:ArePreviousGenerationinstancesbeingdiscontinuedsoon?
Currently,therearenoplanstoendoflifePreviousGenerationinstances.However,withanyrapidlyevolving
technologythelatestgenerationwilltypicallyprovidethebestperformanceforthepriceandweencourageour
customerstotakeadvantageoftechnologicaladvancements.

Q:WillmyPreviousGenerationinstancesIpurchasedasaReservedInstancebeaffectedorchanged?
No.YourReservedInstanceswillnotchange,andthePreviousGenerationinstancesarenotgoingaway.

VMImport/Export
Q.WhatisVMImport/Export?
VMImport/ExportenablescustomerstoimportVirtualMachine(VM)imagesinordertocreateAmazonEC2
instances.CustomerscanalsoexportpreviouslyimportedEC2instancestocreateVMs.Customerscanuse
VMImport/ExporttoleveragetheirpreviousinvestmentsinbuildingVMsbymigratingtheirVMstoAmazon
EC2.
Q.Whatoperatingsystemsaresupported?
VMImport/ExportcurrentlysupportsWindowsandLinuxVMs,includingWindowsServer2003,Windows
Server2003R2,WindowsServer2008,WindowsServer2012R1,RedHatEnterpriseLinux(RHEL)5.16.5
(usingCloudAccess),Centos5.16.5,Ubuntu12.04,12.10,13.04,13.10,andDebian6.0.06.0.8,7.0.07.2.0.
FormoredetailsonVMImport,includingsupportedfileformats,architectures,andoperatingsystem
configurations,pleaseseetheVMImport/ExportsectionoftheAmazonEC2UserGuide.
Q.Whatvirtualmachinefileformatsaresupported?
YoucanimportVMwareESXVMDKimages,CitrixXenVHDimages,MicrosoftHyperVVHDimagesandRAW
imagesasAmazonEC2instances.YoucanexportEC2instancestoVMwareESXVMDK,VMwareESXOVA,

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MicrosoftHyperVVHDorCitrixXenVHDimages.Forafulllistofsupportoperatingsystems,pleaseseeWhat
operatingsystemsaresupported?.
Q.WhatisVMDK?
VMDKisafileformatthatspecifiesavirtualmachineharddiskencapsulatedwithinasinglefile.Itistypically
usedbyvirtualITinfrastructuressuchasthosesoldbyVMware,Inc.
Q.HowdoIprepareaVMDKfileforimportusingtheVMwarevSphereclient?
TheVMDKfilecanbepreparedbycallingFileExportExporttoOVFtemplateinVMwarevSphereClient.The
resultingVMDKfileiscompressedtoreducetheimagesizeandiscompatiblewithVMImport/Export.No
specialpreparationisrequiredifyouareusingtheAmazonEC2VMImportConnectorvAppforVMware
vCenter.
Q.WhatisVHD?
VHD(VirtualHardDisk)isafileformatthatthatspecifiesavirtualmachineharddiskencapsulatedwithina
singlefile.TheVHDimageformatisusedbyvirtualizationplatformssuchasMicrosoftHyperVandCitrixXen.
Q.HowdoIprepareaVHDfileforimportfromCitrixXen?

OpenCitrixXenCenterandselectthevirtualmachineyouwanttoexport.UndertheToolsmenu,choose
"VirtualApplianceTools"andselect"ExportAppliance"toinitiatetheexporttask.Whentheexportcompletes,
youcanlocatetheVHDimagefileinthedestinationdirectoryyouspecifiedintheexportdialog.
Q.HowdoIprepareaVHDfileforimportfromMicrosoftHyperV?
OpentheHyperVManagerandselectthevirtualmachineyouwanttoexport.IntheActionspaneforthe
virtualmachine,select"Export"toinitiatetheexporttask.Oncetheexportcompletes,youcanlocatetheVHD
imagefileinthedestinationdirectoryyouspecifiedintheexportdialog.
Q.ArethereanyotherrequirementswhenimportingaVMintoAmazonEC2?
ThevirtualmachinemustbeinastoppedstatebeforegeneratingtheVMDKorVHDimage.TheVMcannotbe
inapausedorsuspendedstate.Wesuggestthatyouexportthevirtualmachinewithonlythebootvolume
attached.YoucanimportadditionaldisksusingtheImportVolumecommandandattachthemtothevirtual
machineusingAttachVolume.Additionally,encrypteddisks(e.g.BitLocker)andencryptedimagefilesarenot
supported.Youarealsoresponsibleforensuringthatyouhaveallnecessaryrightsandlicensestoimportinto
AWSandrunanysoftwareincludedinyourVMimage.
Q.DoesthevirtualmachineneedtobeconfiguredinanyparticularmannertoenableimporttoAmazonEC2?
EnsureRemoteDesktop(RDP)orSecureShell(SSH)isenabledforremoteaccessandverifythatyourhost
firewall(Windowsfirewall,iptables,orsimilar),ifconfigured,allowsaccesstoRDPorSSH.Otherwise,youwill
notbeabletoaccessyourinstanceaftertheimportiscomplete.PleasealsoensurethatWindowsVMsare
configuredtousestrongpasswordsforallusersincludingtheadministratorandthatLinuxVMsandconfigured
withapublickeyforSSHaccess.
Q.HowdoIimportavirtualmachinetoanAmazonEC2instance?
YoucanimportyourVMimagesusingtheAmazonEC2APItools:
ImporttheVMDK,VHDorRAWfileviatheec2importinstanceAPI.Theimportinstancetaskcapturesthe
parametersnecessarytoproperlyconfiguretheAmazonEC2instanceproperties(instancesize,Availability
Zone,andsecuritygroups)anduploadsthediskimageintoAmazonS3.

Ifec2importinstanceisinterruptedorterminateswithoutcompletingtheupload,useec2resumeimportto
resumetheupload.Theimporttaskwillresumewhereitleftoff.

Usetheec2describeconversiontaskscommandtomonitortheimportprogressandobtaintheresulting
AmazonEC2instanceID.

Onceyourimporttaskiscompleted,youcanboottheAmazonEC2instancebyspecifyingitsinstanceIDto
theec2runinstancesAPI.

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Finally,usetheec2deletediskimagecommandlinetooltodeleteyourdiskimagefromAmazonS3asitis
nolongerneeded.

Alternatively,ifyouusetheVMwarevSpherevirtualizationplatform,youcanimportyourvirtualmachineto
AmazonEC2usingagraphicaluserinterfaceprovidedthroughAWSManagementPortalforvCenter.Please
refertoGettingStartedGuideinAWSManagementPortalforvCenter.AWSManagementPortalforvCenter
includesintegratedsupportforVMImport.OncetheportalisinstalledwithinvCenter,youcanrightclickona
VMandselectMigratetoEC2tocreateanEC2instancefromtheVM.Theportalwillhandleexportingthe
VMfromvCenter,uploadingittoS3,andconvertingitintoanEC2instanceforyou,withnoadditionalwork
required.YoucanalsotracktheprogressofyourVMmigrationswithintheportal.
Q.HowdoIexportanAmazonEC2instancebacktomyonpremisevirtualizationenvironment?
YoucanexportyourAmazonEC2instanceusingtheAmazonEC2CLItools:

Exporttheinstanceusingtheec2createinstanceexporttaskcommand.Theexportcommandcapturesthe
parametersnecessary(instanceID,S3buckettoholdtheexportedimage,nameoftheexportedimage,
VMDK,OVAorVHDformat)toproperlyexporttheinstancetoyourchosenformat.Theexportedfileis
savedinanS3bucketthatyoupreviouslycreated

Useec2describeexporttaskstomonitortheexportprogress

Useec2cancelexporttasktocancelanexporttaskpriortocompletion

Q.ArethereanyotherrequirementswhenexportinganEC2instanceusingVMImport/Export?
YoucanexportrunningorstoppedEC2instancesthatyoupreviouslyimportedusingVMImport/Export.Ifthe
instanceisrunning,itwillbemomentarilystoppedtosnapshotthebootvolume.EBSdatavolumescannotbe
exported.EC2instanceswithmorethanonenetworkinterfacecannotbeexported.
Q.CanIexportAmazonEC2instancesthathaveoneormoreEBSdatavolumesattached?
Yes,butVMImport/ExportwillonlyexportthebootvolumeoftheEC2instance.

Q.Whatdoesitcosttoimportavirtualmachine?
YouwillbechargedstandardAmazonS3datatransferandstoragefeesforuploadingandstoringyourVM
imagefile.OnceyourVMisimported,standardAmazonEC2instancehourandEBSservicefeesapply.Ifyou
nolongerwishtostoreyourVMimagefileinS3aftertheimportprocesscompletes,usetheec2deletedisk
imagecommandlinetooltodeleteyourdiskimagefromAmazonS3.
Q.Whatdoesitcosttoexportavirtualmachine?
YouwillbechargedstandardAmazonS3storagefeesforstoringyourexportedVMimagefile.Youwillalsobe
chargedstandardS3datatransferchargeswhenyoudownloadtheexportedVMfiletoyouronpremise
virtualizationenvironment.Finally,youwillbechargedstandardEBSchargesforstoringatemporarysnapshot
ofyourEC2instance.Tominimizestoragecharges,deletetheVMimagefileinS3afterdownloadingittoyour
virtualizationenvironment.
Q.WhenIimportaVMofWindowsServer2003or2008,whoisresponsibleforsupplyingtheoperating
systemlicense?
WhenyoulaunchanimportedVMusingMicrosoftWindowsServer2003or2008,youwillbechargedstandard
instancehourratesforAmazonEC2runningtheappropriateWindowsServerversion,whichincludestheright
toutilizethatoperatingsystemwithinAmazonEC2.Youareresponsibleforensuringthatallotherinstalled
softwareisproperlylicensed.

Sothen,whathappenstomyonpremiseMicrosoftWindowslicensekeywhenIimportaVMofWindows
Server2003or2008?SinceyouronpremiseMicrosoftWindowslicensekeythatwasassociatedwiththatVM
isnotusedwhenrunningyourimportedVMasanEC2instance,youcanreuseitforanotherVMwithinyour
onpremiseenvironment.

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Q.CanIcontinuetousetheAWSprovidedMicrosoftWindowslicensekeyafterexportinganEC2instance
backtomyonpremisevirtualizationenvironment?
No.AfteranEC2instancehasbeenexported,thelicensekeyutilizedintheEC2instanceisnolonger
available.YouwillneedtoreactivateandspecifyanewlicensekeyfortheexportedVMafteritislaunchedin
youronpremisevirtualizationplatform.
Q.WhenIimportaVMwithRedHatEnterpriseLinux(RHEL),whoisresponsibleforsupplyingtheoperating
systemlicense?
WhenyouimportRedHatEnterpriseLinux(RHEL)VMimages,youcanuselicenseportabilityforyourRHEL
instances.Withlicenseportability,youareresponsibleformaintainingtheRHELlicensesforimported
instances,whichyoucandousingCloudAccesssubscriptionsforRedHatEnterpriseLinux.Pleasecontact
RedHattolearnmoreaboutCloudAccessandtoverifyyoureligibility.
Q.Howlongdoesittaketoimportavirtualmachine?
Thelengthoftimetoimportavirtualmachinedependsonthesizeofthediskimageandyournetwork
connectionspeed.Asanexample,a10GBWindowsServer2008SP2VMDKimagetakesapproximately2
hourstoimportwhenitstransferredovera10Mbpsnetworkconnection.Ifyouhaveaslowernetwork
connectionoralargedisktoupload,yourimportmaytakesignificantlylonger.
Q.InwhichAmazonEC2regionscanIuseVMImport/Export?
VisittheRegionTablepagetoseeproductserviceavailabilitybyregion.
Q.HowmanysimultaneousimportorexporttaskscanIhave?
Eachaccountcanhaveuptofiveactiveimporttasksandfiveexporttasksperregion.
Q.CanIrunimportedvirtualmachinesinAmazonVirtualPrivateCloud(VPC)?
Yes,youcanlaunchimportedvirtualmachineswithinAmazonVPC.
Q.CanIusetheAWSManagementConsolewithVMImport/Export?
No.VMImport/ExportcommandsareavailableviaEC2CLIandAPI.YoucanalsousetheAWSManagement
PortalforvCentertoimportVMsintoAmazonEC2.Onceimported,theresultinginstancesareavailableforuse
viatheAWSManagementConsole.

AmazonEC2RunningMicrosoft
WindowsandOtherThirdPartySoftware
Q.CanIusemyexistingWindowsServerlicensewithEC2?
Yesyoucan.AfteryouveimportedyourownWindowsServermachineimagesusingtheImportImagetool,you
canlaunchinstancesfromthesemachineimagesonEC2DedicatedHostsandeffectivelymanageinstances
andreportusage.Microsofttypicallyrequiresthatyoutrackusageofyourlicensesagainstphysicalresources
suchassocketsandcoresandDedicatedHostshelpsyoutodothis.VisittheDedicatedHostsdetailpagefor
moreinformationonhowtouseyourownWindowsServerlicensesonAmazonEC2DedicatedHosts.
Q.WhatsoftwarelicensescanIbringtotheWindowsenvironment?
Specificsoftwarelicensetermsvaryfromvendortovendor.Therefore,werecommendthatyoucheckthe
licensingtermsofyoursoftwarevendortodetermineifyourexistinglicensesareauthorizedforuseinAmazon
EC2.

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2/14/2017 AmazonEC2FAQsAmazonWebServices

AmazonEC2RunningIBM
Q.HowamIbilledformyuseofAmazonEC2runningIBM?
Youpayonlyforwhatyouuseandthereisnominimumfee.Pricingisperinstancehourconsumedforeach
instancetype.Partialinstancehoursconsumedarebilledasfullhours.DatatransferforAmazonEC2running
IBMisbilledandtieredseparatelyfromAmazonEC2.ThereisnoDataTransferchargebetweentwoAmazon
WebServiceswithinthesameregion(i.e.betweenAmazonEC2USWestandanotherAWSserviceintheUS
West).DatatransferredbetweenAWSservicesindifferentregionswillbechargedasInternetDataTransferon
bothsidesofthetransfer.

ForAmazonEC2runningIBMpricinginformation,pleasevisitthepricingsectionontheAmazonEC2running
IBMdetailpage.
Q.CanIuseAmazonDevPaywithAmazonEC2runningIBM?
No,youcannotuseDevPaytobundleproductsontopofAmazonEC2runningIBMatthistime.

ServiceLevelAgreement(SLA)
Q.WhatdoesyourAmazonEC2ServiceLevelAgreementguarantee?
OurSLAguaranteesaMonthlyUptimePercentageofatleast99.95%forAmazonEC2andAmazonEBSwithin
aRegion.
Q.HowdoIknowifIqualifyforaSLAServiceCredit?
YouareeligibleforaSLAcreditforeitherAmazonEC2orAmazonEBS(whicheverwasUnavailable,orbothif
bothwereUnavailable)iftheRegionthatyouareoperatinginhasanMonthlyUptimePercentageoflessthan
99.95%duringanymonthlybillingcycle.ForfulldetailsonallofthetermsandconditionsoftheSLA,aswellas
detailsonhowtosubmitaclaim,pleaseseehttp://aws.amazon.com/ec2/sla/

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