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EC2 Instance Launch Types

EC2 Instances Purchasing Options

  • On-demand Instances: short workload, predictable pricing
  • Reserved: minimum 1 year
    • Reserved Instances: long workloads
    • Convertible Reserved Instances: long workloads with flexible instances (can be converted to another size)
    • Scheduled Reserve Instances: example - every Thursday between 3 and 6pm
  • Spot Instances: short workloads, cheap, can lose instances (less reliable)
  • Dedicated Hosts: book an entire physical server, control instance placement

EC2 on demand

  • Pay for what you use:
    • Linux - billing per second, after the first minute
    • All other OSes - billing per hour
  • Has the highest cost but no upfront payment
  • No long-term commitment

Recommended for short-term and un-interrupted workloads, where you can't predict how the application will behave.

EC2 Reserved Instances

  • Up to 75% discount compared to on-demand
  • Reservation period: 1 year = + discount | 3 years = +++ discount
  • Purchasing options: no upfront | partial upfront = + | All upfront = ++ discount
  • Reserve a specific instance type
  • Recommended for steady-state usage applications (like databases)
  • Convertible Reserved Instance
    • can change the EC2 instance type
    • Up to 54% discount
  • Scheduled Reserved Instances
    • launch within time window you reserve
    • When you require a fraction of day / week / month
    • Still commitment over 1 to 3 years

EC2 Spot Instances

  • Can get a discount of up to 90% compared to on-demand
  • Instances that you can "lose" at any point of time if your max price is less than the current spot price.
  • The MOST cost-efficient instance in AWS
  • Useful for workloads that are resilient to failure
    • Batch jobs
    • data analysis
    • Image processing
    • Any distributed workloads
    • Workloads with a flexible start and end time
  • not suited for critical jobs or databases

EC2 Dedicated Hosts

  • An Amazon EC2 Decicated Host is a physical server with EC2 instance capability fully dedicated to your use. Dedicated Hosts can help you address compliance requirements and reduce costs by allowing you to use your existing server-bound software licenses.
  • Allocated for your account for a 3-year period reservation.

  • More expensive

  • Useful for software that have complicated licensing model (BYOL - Bring Your Own License)

  • Or for companies that have strong regulatory or compliance needs

EC2 Dedicated Instances

  • Instances running on hardware that's dedicated to you.
  • May share hardware with other instances in same account.
  • No control over instance placement (can move hardware after Stop/Start)