Instance Types

• A typical name has three parts:

  • Letter describing the instance family (R, M, C, T, G, D, I, P, X).

  • Number describing the generation (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

  • Optionally any additional capabilities (a, e, n, d, g).

  • String describing the size within that instance class and generation (small, medium, large, xlarge, 2xlarge, 4xlarge, 8xlarge, 10xlarge, 16xlarge, 32xlarge).

• For example, "r3.4xlarge" is instance type R, generation 3, and size 4xlarge.

• T for Turbo/Burstable Instances - They provide a burst of power to handle spikes in workloads.

• M for Most Scenarios

  • General scenarios.

• C for Compute

  • Compute/Databases.

• R for RAM

  • In-memory cache.

• I for I/O

  • Databases.

• G for GPU

  • Video rendering/machine learning.