Discover the most cost-effective Amazon EC2 purchasing option for a 6-month interruptible workload. Compare Spot, Savings Plans, On-Demand and Reserved Instances.
Table of Contents
Question
A developer has a workload that will run for a total of 6 months and can withstand interruptions. What would be the most cost-efficient Amazon EC2 purchasing option?
A. Spot Instances
B. Savings Plans Instances
C. On-Demand Instances
D. Reserved Instances
Answer
A. Spot Instances
Explanation
Because the application can endure interruptions, Spot Instances would be the best choice. Spot Instances offer up to 90 percent of the On-Demand Instance price.
Spot Instances would be the most cost-efficient Amazon EC2 purchasing option for a workload that will run for 6 months total and can withstand interruptions.
Spot Instances allow you to request spare Amazon EC2 computing capacity for up to 90% off the On-Demand price. The only drawback is that Spot Instances can be interrupted by EC2 with two minutes of notification when EC2 needs the capacity back. However, for this use case, the workload is able to tolerate interruptions, making Spot Instances a great fit.
The workload is also relatively short-term, running for only 6 months total. Savings Plans and Reserved Instances offer discounts of up to 72% in exchange for committing to use EC2 over a 1 or 3 year term. For a 6 month workload, it’s usually better to use Spot and only pay for the exact capacity needed without having to make a longer-term commitment.
On-Demand Instances provide the most flexibility since they can be provisioned and terminated at any time and you only pay for what you use. However, they are also the most expensive option. For a cost-sensitive but interruption-tolerant workload, Spot Instances will be much more cost-effective than On-Demand.
So in summary, for a workload that is short-term (6 months) and can handle interruptions, Spot Instances will provide the lowest EC2 costs, making it the best choice compared to On-Demand, Reserved Instances or Savings Plans.
The key points are:
- Spot Instances allow requesting spare EC2 capacity at up to a 90% discount
- Spot Instances can be interrupted, but that’s okay for this interruptible workload
- Savings Plans/Reserved Instances require a 1-3 year commitment which is too long for a 6-month project
- On-Demand offers the most flexibility but is also the most expensive option
- For a short-term, cost-sensitive, interruption-tolerant workload, Spot Instances are the most cost-efficient
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