- Secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud
- Like a VM, only hosted in AWS
- Designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier
- the capacity you want, when you need it
- You are in control of your own instances (patching, etc)
- You only pay for what you use
- Scale capacity as needed
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On-Demand
- Pay by the hour or second based on the instance you are running
- Flexible - No long term commitment
- Use Case:
- Applications with short term, spiky, or unpredictable workloads that can't be interrupted
- Applications being developed or tested on Amazon EC2 for the first time
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Reserved
- Reserve capacity for 1-3 years. Up to a 72% discount on the hourly charge
- You can pay upfront to futher reduce total computing costs
- Reserved instances operate at a regional level, so you can transfer a RI to a different region
- Can be used with Lambda and Fargate
- Types of reserved instances
- Standard
- Up to 72% off on-demand price
- Convertible
- Up to 54% off on-demand price
- Has the option to change to a different reserved instance type of equal or greater value
- Scheduled
- Instance launches within the time window you define
- Match your capacity reservation to a predictable recurring schedue
- Standard
- Use Case:
- Applications with predictable usage
- Applications that require a reserved capacity
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Spot
- Purchase unused capacity at a discount of up to 90%. Prices fluctuate with supply and demand
- Use Case:
- Applications that have flexible start and end times
- Applications that are only feasible at very low compute prices
- Urgent need for large amounts of computing capacity
- Image Rendering
- Genomic Sequencing
- Alogrithmic Trading engines
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Dedicated Hosts
- A physical EC2 server dedicated to your use. The most expensive option
- Can be purchased on-demand or hourly
- Use Case:
- Compliance
- Regulatory requirements that may not support multi-tenant virtualization
- Licensing
- Applications or licensing that does not support multi-tenancy or cloud deployments
- Compliance