Amazon EC2 Memory Optimized Instances

How EC2 Memory Optimized Instances Work?

Memory optimized instances are designed to deliver fast performance. They are greatly suitable for companies that aim to execute workloads that process large data sets in memory.

There are 8 different instances for this type:

 

1. R5:

These instances:

– Deliver 5% extra memory per vCPU than what R4 gives

– Its largest size gives 768 GiB of memory

– Provide a 10% price per GiB improvement

– Provide ~20% extra CPU performance over what R4 delivers

 

Its Features include:

• 1 GHz Intel Xeon® Platinum 8175 processors
• Intel Advanced Vector Extension (AVX-512) instruction set
• 768 GiB per instance
• Nitro System (combines dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor)
• R5d instances: local NVMe-based SSDs get physically attached to host server + give block-level storage coupled to lifetime R5 instance
• 8xlarge and 16xlarge sizes available

Instance	vCPU	Memory (GiB)	Instance Storage (GiB)	Networking Performance (Gbps)	EBS Bandwidth (Mbps)
r5.large	2	16	EBS-Only	up to 10	Up to 4,750
r5.xlarge	4	32	EBS-Only	up to 10	Up to 4,750
r5.2xlarge	8	64	EBS-Only	up to 10	Up to 4,750
r5.4xlarge	16	128	EBS-Only	up to 10	4,750
r5.8xlarge	32	256	EBS-Only	10	6,800
r5.12xlarge	48	384	EBS-Only	10	9,500
r5.16xlarge	64	512	EBS Only	20	13,600
r5.24xlarge	96	768	EBS-Only	25	19,000
r5.metal	96*	768	EBS-Only	25	19,000
r5d.large	2	16	1 x 75 NVMe SSD	up to 10	Up to 4,750
r5d.xlarge	4	32	1 x 150 NVMe SSD	up to 10	Up to 4,750
r5d.2xlarge	8	64	1 x 300 NVMe SSD	up to 10	Up to 4,750
r5d.4xlarge	16	128	2 x 300 NVMe SSD	up to 10	4,750
r5d.8xlarge	32	256	2 x 600 NVMe SSD	10	6,800
r5d.12xlarge	48	384	2 x 900 NVMe SSD	10	9,500
r5d.16xlarge	64	512	4 x 600 NVMe SSD	20	13,600
r5d.24xlarge	96	768	4 x 900 NVMe SSD	25	19,000
r5d.metal	96*	768	4 x 900 NVMe SSD	25	19,000

*r5.metal + r5d.metal: give 96 logical processors on 48 physical cores, while running on single servers having 2 physical Intel sockets

Every instance has the below specs:

• 3.1 GHz Intel Xeon Platinum Processor
• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel Turbo
• It is EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

They can be Used in the following Cases:

– Memory intensive applications

– High performance databases

– Distributed web scale in-memory caches

– Mid-size in-memory databases

– Real time big data analytics

– Other enterprise apps

 

 

2. R5a:

These are considered the latest generation of Memory Optimized instances that:

– Are ideal for memory-bound workloads

– Are powered through AMD EPYC 7000 series processors

– Deliver 10% lower cost per GiB memory compared to other instances.

 

Its Features Include:

• AMD EPYC 7000 series processors (all core turbo clock speed (2.5 GHz))
• 20 Gbps network bandwidth (Enhanced Networking)
• 768 GiB (memory per instance)
• Nitro System (combines dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor)
• Instance storage by EBS or NVMe SSDs (physically connected to host server)
• R5ad instances: local NVMe-based SSDs (physically attached to host server + provide block-level storage – coupled to the lifetime of R5a instance)

 

Instance Size	vCPU	Memory (GiB)	Instance Storage (GiB)	Networking Performance (Gbps)	EBS Bandwidth (Mbps)
r5a.large	2	16	EBS-Only	Up to 10	Up to 2,880
r5a.xlarge	4	32	EBS-Only	Up to 10	Up to 2,880
r5a.2xlarge	8	64	EBS-Only	Up to 10	Up to 2,880
r5a.4xlarge	16	128	EBS-Only	Up to 10	2,880
r5a.8xlarge	32	256	EBS-Only	Up to 10	4,750
r5a.12xlarge	48	384	EBS-Only	10	6,780
r5a.16xlarge	64	512	EBS-Only	12	9,500
r5a.24xlarge	96	768	EBS-Only	20	13,750
r5ad.large	2	16	1 x 75 NVMe SSD	Up to 10	Up to 2,880
r5ad.xlarge	4	32	1 x 150 NVMe SSD	Up to 10	Up to 2,880
r5ad.2xlarge	8	64	1 x 300 NVMe SSD	Up to 10	Up to 2,880
r5ad.4xlarge	16	128	2 x 300 NVMe SSD	Up to 10	2,880
r5ad.12xlarge	48	384	2 x 900 NVMe SSD	10	6,780
r5ad.24xlarge	96	768	4 x 900 NVMe SSD	20	13,750

Every instance has the below specs:

• AMD EPYC 7000 series processors (2.5 GHz)
• It is EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

It is Used in the following Cases:

– Memory intensive apps

– High performance databases

– Distributed web scale in-memory caches

– Mid-size in-memory databases

– Real time big data analytics

– Other enterprise apps

 

 

3. R5n:

Perfect for memory-bound workloads

– High performance databases

– Distributed web scale in-memory caches

– Mid-sized in-memory database

– Real time big data analytics

– Other enterprise apps.

R5n and R5dn (higher bandwidth) instance variants are: perfect for apps in favor of enhanced network throughput + packet rate performance.

Its Features Include:

• Second generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
• Sustained all-core Turbo CPU frequency (3.1 GHz)
• Maximum single core turbo frequency (3.5 GHz)
• Intel Vector Neural Network Instructions (AVX-512 VNNI) for the speeding up of machine learning operations (convolution) + enhance inference performance for a vast range of deep learning workloads
• 25 Gbps: peak bandwidth (smaller instance sizes)
• 100 Gbps: network bandwidth (largest instance size)
• Needs HVM AMIs (drivers for ENA and NVMe)
• AWS Nitro System (combines dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor)
• Instance storage provided by EBS or NVMe SSDs (physically connected to host server)
• R5dn instances: local NVMe-based SSDs (physically attached to host server + provide block-level storage coupled to lifetime of the R5 instance)

 

Instance	vCPU	Memory (GiB)	Instance Storage (GiB)	Networking Performance (Gbps)	EBS Bandwidth (Mbps)
r5n.large	2	16	EBS-Only	Up to 25	Up to 4,750
r5n.xlarge	4	32	EBS-Only	Up to 25	Up to 4,750
r5n.2xlarge	8	64	EBS-Only	Up to 25	Up to 4,750
r5n.4xlarge	16	128	EBS-Only	Up to 25	4,750
r5n.8xlarge	32	256	EBS-Only	25	6,800
r5n.12xlarge	48	384	EBS-Only	50	9,500
r5n.16xlarge	64	512	EBS Only	75	13,600
r5n.24xlarge	96	768	EBS-Only	100	19,000
r5dn.large	2	16	1 x 75 NVMe SSD	Up to 25	Up to 4,750
r5dn.xlarge	4	32	1 x 150 NVMe SSD	Up to 25	Up to 4,750
r5dn.2xlarge	8	64	1 x 300 NVMe SSD	Up to 25	Up to 4,750
r5dn.4xlarge	16	128	2 x 300 NVMe SSD	Up to 25	4,750
r5dn.8xlarge	32	256	2 x 600 NVMe SSD	25	6,800
r5dn.12xlarge	48	384	2 x 900 NVMe SSD	50	9,500
r5dn.16xlarge	64	512	4 x 600 NVMe SSD	75	13,600
r5dn.24xlarge	96	768	4 x 900 NVMe SSD	100	19,000

Every instance has the below specs:

• Second generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (Custom)
• Sustained all-core Turbo CPU frequency (3.1 GHz)
• Maximum single core turbo frequency (3.5 GHz)
• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel AVX-512 + Intel Turbo + Intel DL Boost
• It is EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

It is Used in the following Cases:

– High performance databases

– Distributed web scale in-memory caches

– Mid-sized in-memory database

– Real time big data analytics

– Other enterprise apps

 

4. R4:

They are made for memory-intensive apps + provide enhanced price per GiB of RAM than that which R3 gives.

Its Features include:

• Intel Xeon E5-2686 v4 (Broadwell) processors [High frequency]
• It has DDR4 Memory
• It supports Enhanced Networking

 

Instance	vCPU	Mem (GiB)	Storage	Networking Performance (Gbps)
r4.large	2	15.25	EBS-Only	Up to 10
r4.xlarge	4	30.5	EBS-Only	Up to 10
r4.2xlarge	8	61	EBS-Only	Up to 10
r4.4xlarge	16	122	EBS-Only	Up to 10
r4.8xlarge	32	244	EBS-Only	10
r4.16xlarge	64	488	EBS-Only	25

Every instance has the below specs:

• Intel Xeon E5-2686 v4 Processor [2.3 GHz]
• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel Turbo
• Its EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

It’s Used in the following Cases

– High performance databases

– Data mining & analysis

– In-memory databases

– Distributed web scale in-memory caches

– Apps performing real-time processing of unstructured big data

– Hadoop/Spark clusters

– Other enterprise apps

 

 

5. X1e:

They are made for:

– High-performance databases

– In-memory databases

– Other memory intensive enterprise apps

X1e instances provide lowest price possible per GiB of RAM from all other EC2 instance types.

Its Features include:

• Intel Xeon E7-8880 v3 (Haswell) processors (high frequency)
• Lowest price per GiB of RAM
• 3,904 GiB DRAM-based instance memory
• SSD instance storage (temporary block-level storage) + EBS-optimized for free
• Possibility for controlling processor C-state and P-state configurations (x1e.32xlarge + x1e.16xlarge + x1e.8xlarge instances)

 

Instance	vCPU	Mem (GiB)	SSD Storage (GB)	Dedicated EBS Bandwidth (Mbps)	Networking Performance
x1e.xlarge	4	122	1 x 120	500	Up to 10 Gigabit
x1e.2xlarge	8	244	1 x 240	1,000	Up to 10 Gigabit
x1e.4xlarge	16	488	1 x 480	1,750	Up to 10 Gigabit
x1e.8xlarge	32	976	1 x 960	3,500	Up to 10 Gigabit
x1e.16xlarge	64	1,952	1 x 1,920	7,000	10 Gigabit
x1e.32xlarge	128	3,904	2 x 1,920	14,000	25 Gigabit

Every instance has the below specs:

• Intel Xeon E7-8880 v3 Processor (2.3 GHz)
• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2
• Its EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

x1e.16xlarge & x1e.32xlarge have: Intel Turbo

Used for the following Cases:

High performance databases

– In-memory databases (SAP HANA)

– Memory intensive apps.

x1e.32xlarge instance certified by SAP to run the following:

– Next-generation Business Suite S/4HANA

– Business Suite on HANA (SoH)

– Business Warehouse on HANA (BW)

– Data Mart Solutions on HANA on the AWS cloud.

 

 

6. X1:

Optimized for: large-scale + enterprise-class + in-memory apps

They provide the lowest price per GiB of RAM than that provided by other EC2 instance types.

Its Features include:

• Intel Xeon E7-8880 v3 (Haswell) processors [high frequency]
• Lowest prices per GiB of RAM
• 1,952 GiB of DRAM-based instance memory
• SSD instance storage: temporary block-level storage + EBS-optimized for free
• Possibility for controlling processor C-state and P-state configuration

 

Instance	vCPU	Mem (GiB)	SSD Storage (GB)	Dedicated EBS Bandwidth (Mbps)	Network Performance
x1.16xlarge	64	976	1 x 1,920	7,000	10 Gigabit
x1.32xlarge	128	1,952	2 x 1,920	14,000	25 Gigabit

Every instance has the below specs:

• Intel Xeon E7-8880 v3 Processor (2.3 GHz)
• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel Turbo
• It is EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

Used in the following Cases:

In-memory databases (e.g. SAP HANA)

– Big data processing engines (Apache Spark or Presto)

– High performance computing (HPC)

Certified by SAP to run the following:

– Business Warehouse on HANA (BW)

– Data Mart Solutions on HANA

– Business Suite on HANA (SoH)

– Business Suite S/4HANA

 

 

7. High Memory:

Purposely built for running large in-memory databases (production deployments of SAP HANA) in the cloud

Its Features Include:

• 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 TiB of instance memory (largest of any EC2 instance)
• Nitro System: combines dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor
• Bare metal performance [direct access to host hardware]
• EBS-optimized for free
• Available in VPCs

 

Name	Logical Processors*	RAM (GiB)	Network Perf (Gbps)	Dedicated EBS Bandwidth (Gbps)
u-6tb1.metal	448	6144	25	19
u-9tb1.metal	448	9216	25	19
u-12tb1.metal	448	12288	25	19
u-18tb1.metal	448	18432	100	28
u-24tb1.metal	448	24576	100	28

[ Every logical processor: hyperthread on 224 cores ]

• 6 TB, 9 TB, and 12 TB instances: 2.1 GHz (with Turbo Boost to 3.80 GHz) Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8176M (Skylake) processors
• 18 TB and 24 TB instances: Second Generation 2.7 GHz (with Turbo Boost to 4.0 GHz) Intel® Xeon® Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors

Every instance has the below specs:

• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel Turbo
• Its EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

Used for the following Cases:

– Large enterprise databases

– Production installations of SAP HANA in-memory database in the cloud

Certified by SAP for running the following:

– Business Suite on HANA

– Next-generation Business Suite S/4HANA

– Data Mart Solutions on HANA

– Business Warehouse on HANA

– SAP BW/4HANA in production environments

 

 

8. Z1d:

Provide: high compute capacity + high memory footprint.

High frequency z1d instances: Offer sustained all core frequency [4.0 GHz], the fastest of instances.

Its Features Include:

• Custom Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor [sustained all core frequency of 4.0 GHz]
• 8TB instance storage
• High memory 384 GiB of RAM
• Nitro System: combinates dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor
• Z1d instances: local NVMe-based SSDs [physically attached to host server + provide block-level storage coupled to lifetime of the z1d instance

 

Instance	vCPU	Mem (GiB)	Networking Performance	SSD Storage (GB)
z1d.large	2	16	Up to 10 Gigabit	1 x 75 NVMe SSD
z1d.xlarge	4	32	Up to 10 Gigabit	1 x 150 NVMe SSD
z1d.2xlarge	8	64	Up to 10 Gigabit	1 x 300 NVMe SSD
z1d.3xlarge	12	96	Up to 10 Gigabit	1 x 450 NVMe SSD
z1d.6xlarge	24	192	10 Gigabit	1 x 900 NVMe SSD
z1d.12xlarge	48	384	25 Gigabit	2 x 900 NVMe SSD
z1d.metal	48*	384	25 Gigabit	2 x 900 NVMe SSD

z1d.metal: 48 logical processors [24 physical cores]

Every instance has the below specs:

• 4.0 GHz Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors
• Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel Turbo
• It is EBS Optimized
• It has Enhanced Networking

Used in the following Cases:

– Electronic design automation (EDA)

– Relational database workloads [high per-core licensing costs]

Types of EC2 placement groups