Buying Reserved Instances

To purchase a Reserved Instance, search for Reserved Instance offerings from AWS and third-party sellers, adjusting your search parameters until you find the exact match that you're looking for.

When you search for Reserved Instances to buy, you receive a quote on the cost of the returned offerings. When you proceed with the purchase, AWS automatically places a limit price on the purchase price. The total cost of your Reserved Instances won't exceed the amount that you were quoted.

If the price rises or changes for any reason, the purchase is not completed. If, at the time of purchase, there are offerings similar to your choice but at a lower price, AWS sells you the offerings at the lower price.

Before you confirm your purchase, review the details of the Reserved Instance that you plan to buy, and make sure that all the parameters are accurate. After you purchase a Reserved Instance (either from a third-party seller in the Reserved Instance Marketplace or from AWS), you cannot cancel your purchase.

Note To purchase and modify Reserved Instances, ensure that your IAM user account has the appropriate permissions, such as the ability to describe Availability Zones. For information, see Example Policies for Working With the AWS CLI or an AWS SDK and Example Policies for Working in the Amazon EC2 Console.

Choosing a platform

Amazon EC2 supports the following Linux platforms for Reserved Instances:

Linux/UNIX

Linux with SQL Server Standard

Linux with SQL Server Web

Linux with SQL Server Enterprise

SUSE Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

When you purchase a Reserved Instance, you must choose an offering for a platform that represents the operating system for your instance.

For SUSE Linux and RHEL distributions, you must choose offerings for those specific platforms, i.e., for the SUSE Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms.

For all other Linux distributions (including Ubuntu), choose an offering for the Linux/UNIX platform.

If you bring your existing RHEL subscription, you must choose an offering for the Linux/UNIX platform, not an offering for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform.

Important If you purchase a Reserved Instance to apply to an On-Demand Instance that was launched from an AMI with a billing product code, make sure that the Reserved Instance has the matching billing product code. If you purchase a Reserved Instance without the matching billing product code, the Reserved Instance will not be applied to the On-Demand Instance. For more information about how to obtain the AMI billing code, see Obtaining billing information.

If you plan to purchase a Reserved Instance to apply to an On-Demand Instance that was launched from an AWS Marketplace AMI, first check the PlatformDetails field of the AMI. The PlatformDetails field indicates which Reserved Instance to purchase. The platform details of the AMI must match the platform of the Reserved Instance, otherwise the Reserved Instance will not be applied to the On-Demand Instance. For information about how to view the platform details of the AMI, see Obtaining billing information.

For information about the supported platforms for Windows, see Choosing a platform in the Amazon EC2 User Guide for Windows Instances.

Queuing your purchase

By default, when you purchase a Reserved Instance, it is executed immediately. Alternatively, you can queue your purchases for a future date and time. For example, you can queue a purchase for around the time that an existing Reserved Instance expires. This can help you ensure that you have uninterrupted coverage.

You can queue purchases for regional Reserved Instances, but not zonal Reserved Instances or Reserved Instances from other sellers. You can queue a purchase up to three years in advance. On the scheduled date and time, the purchase is executed using the default payment method. After the payment is successful, the billing benefit is applied.

You can view your queued purchases in the Amazon EC2 console. The status of a queued purchase is queued. You can cancel a queued purchase any time before its scheduled time. For details, see Canceling a queued purchase.

Buying Standard Reserved Instances

You can buy Standard Reserved Instances in a specific Availability Zone and get a capacity reservation. Alternatively, you can forego the capacity reservation and purchase a regional Standard Reserved Instance.

To buy Standard Reserved Instances using the console Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ . In the navigation pane, choose Reserved Instances, and then choose Purchase Reserved Instances. For Offering Class, choose Standard to display Standard Reserved Instances. To purchase a capacity reservation, choose Only show offerings that reserve capacity in the top-right corner of the purchase screen. To purchase a regional Reserved Instance, leave the check box unselected. Select other configurations as needed and choose Search. To purchase a Standard Reserved Instance from the Reserved Instance Marketplace, look for 3rd Party in the Seller column in the search results. The Term column displays non-standard terms. Select the Reserved Instances to purchase, enter the quantity, and choose Add to Cart. To see a summary of the Reserved Instances that you selected, choose View Cart. If Order On is Now, the purchase is completed immediately. To queue a purchase, choose Now and select a date. You can select a different date for each eligible offering in the cart. The purchase is queued until 00:00, in the time zone of your browser, on the selected date. To complete the order, choose Order. If, at the time of placing the order, there are offerings similar to your choice but with a lower price, AWS sells you the offerings at the lower price. The status of your order is listed in the State column. When your order is complete, the State value changes from payment-pending to active . When the Reserved Instance is active , it is ready to use.

Note If the status goes to retired , AWS may not have received your payment.

To buy a Standard Reserved Instance using the AWS CLI Find available Reserved Instances using the describe-reserved-instances-offerings command. Specify standard for the --offering-class parameter to return only Standard Reserved Instances. You can apply additional parameters to narrow your results. For example, if you want to purchase a regional t2.large Reserved Instance with a default tenancy for Linux/UNIX for a 1-year term only: aws ec2 describe-reserved-instances-offerings \ --instance-type t2.large \ --offering-class standard \ --product-description " Linux/UNIX " \ --instance-tenancy default \ --filters Name=duration,Values= 31536000 Name=scope,Values= Region To find Reserved Instances on the Reserved Instance Marketplace only, use the marketplace filter and do not specify a duration in the request, as the term may be shorter than a 1– or 3-year term. aws ec2 describe-reserved-instances-offerings \ --instance-type t2.large \ --offering-class standard \ --product-description " Linux/UNIX " \ --instance-tenancy default \ --filters Name= marketplace ,Values=true When you find a Reserved Instance that meets your needs, take note of the offering ID. For example: "ReservedInstancesOfferingId": "bec624df-a8cc-4aad-a72f-4f8abc34caf2" Use the purchase-reserved-instances-offering command to buy your Reserved Instance. You must specify the Reserved Instance offering ID you obtained the previous step and you must specify the number of instances for the reservation. aws ec2 purchase-reserved-instances-offering \ --reserved-instances-offering-id bec624df-a8cc-4aad-a72f-4f8abc34caf2 \ --instance-count 1 By default, the purchase is completed immediately. Alternatively, to queue the purchase, add the following parameter to the previous call. --purchase-time " 2020 - 12 - 01 T 00 : 00 : 00 Z" Use the describe-reserved-instances command to get the status of your Reserved Instance. aws ec2 describe-reserved-instances

Alternatively, use the following AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell commands:

After the purchase is complete, if you already have a running instance that matches the specifications of the Reserved Instance, the billing benefit is immediately applied. You do not have to restart your instances. If you do not have a suitable running instance, launch an instance and ensure that you match the same criteria that you specified for your Reserved Instance. For more information, see Using your Reserved Instances.

For examples of how Reserved Instances are applied to your running instances, see How Reserved Instances are applied.

Buying Convertible Reserved Instances

You can buy Convertible Reserved Instances in a specific Availability Zone and get a capacity reservation. Alternatively, you can forego the capacity reservation and purchase a regional Convertible Reserved Instance.

To buy Convertible Reserved Instances using the console Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ . In the navigation pane, choose Reserved Instances, and then choose Purchase Reserved Instances. For Offering Class, choose Convertible to display Convertible Reserved Instances. To purchase a capacity reservation, choose Only show offerings that reserve capacity in the top-right corner of the purchase screen. To purchase a regional Reserved Instance, leave the check box unselected. Select other configurations as needed and choose Search. Select the Convertible Reserved Instances to purchase, enter the quantity, and choose Add to Cart. To see a summary of your selection, choose View Cart. If Order On is Now, the purchase is completed immediately. To queue a purchase, choose Now and select a date. You can select a different date for each eligible offering in the cart. The purchase is queued until 00:00, in the time zone of your browser, on the selected date. To complete the order, choose Order. If, at the time of placing the order, there are offerings similar to your choice but with a lower price, AWS sells you the offerings at the lower price. The status of your order is listed in the State column. When your order is complete, the State value changes from payment-pending to active . When the Reserved Instance is active , it is ready to use.

Note If the status goes to retired , AWS may not have received your payment.

To buy a Convertible Reserved Instance using the AWS CLI Find available Reserved Instances using the describe-reserved-instances-offerings command. Specify convertible for the --offering-class parameter to return only Convertible Reserved Instances. You can apply additional parameters to narrow your results; for example, if you want to purchase a regional t2.large Reserved Instance with a default tenancy for Linux/UNIX : aws ec2 describe-reserved-instances-offerings \ --instance-type t2.large \ --offering-class convertible \ --product-description " Linux/UNIX " \ --instance-tenancy default \ --filters Name=scope,Values= Region When you find a Reserved Instance that meets your needs, take note of the offering ID. For example: "ReservedInstancesOfferingId": "bec624df-a8cc-4aad-a72f-4f8abc34caf2" Use the purchase-reserved-instances-offering command to buy your Reserved Instance. You must specify the Reserved Instance offering ID you obtained the previous step and you must specify the number of instances for the reservation. aws ec2 purchase-reserved-instances-offering \ --reserved-instances-offering-id bec624df-a8cc-4aad-a72f-4f8abc34caf2 \ --instance-count 1 By default, the purchase is completed immediately. Alternatively, to queue the purchase, add the following parameter to the previous call. --purchase-time " 2020 - 12 - 01 T 00 : 00 : 00 Z" Use the describe-reserved-instances command to get the status of your Reserved Instance. aws ec2 describe-reserved-instances

Alternatively, use the following AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell commands:

If you already have a running instance that matches the specifications of the Reserved Instance, the billing benefit is immediately applied. You do not have to restart your instances. If you do not have a suitable running instance, launch an instance and ensure that you match the same criteria that you specified for your Reserved Instance. For more information, see Using your Reserved Instances.

For examples of how Reserved Instances are applied to your running instances, see How Reserved Instances are applied.

Viewing your Reserved Instances

You can view the Reserved Instances you've purchased using the Amazon EC2 console, or a command line tool.

To view your Reserved Instances in the console Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ . In the navigation pane, choose Reserved Instances. Your active and retired Reserved Instances are listed. The State column displays the state. If you are a seller in the Reserved Instance Marketplace the My Listings tab displays the status of a reservation that's listed in the Reserved Instance Marketplace. For more information, see Reserved Instance listing states.

To view your Reserved Instances using the command line describe-reserved-instances (AWS CLI)

Get-EC2ReservedInstance (Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Canceling a queued purchase

You can queue a purchase up to three years in advance. You can cancel a queued purchase any time before its scheduled time.

To cancel a queued purchase Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ . In the navigation pane, choose Reserved Instances. Select one or more Reserved Instances. Choose Actions, Delete Queued Reserved Instances. When prompted for confirmation, choose Yes, Delete.

To cancel a queued purchase using the command line delete-queued-reserved-instances (AWS CLI)

Remove-EC2QueuedReservedInstance (Tools for Windows PowerShell)

Renewing a Reserved Instance

You can renew a Reserved Instance before it is scheduled to expire. Renewing a Reserved Instance queues the purchase of a Reserved Instance with the same configuration until the current Reserved Instance expires.

To renew an Reserved Instance using a queued purchase Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ . In the navigation pane, choose Reserved Instances. Select one or more Reserved Instances. Choose Actions, Renew Reserved Instances. To complete the order, choose Order.

Using your Reserved Instances

Reserved Instances are automatically applied to running On-Demand Instances provided that the specifications match. If you have no running On-Demand Instances that match the specifications of your Reserved Instance, the Reserved Instance is unused until you launch an instance with the required specifications.

If you're launching an instance to take advantage of the billing benefit of a Reserved Instance, ensure that you specify the following information during launch:

Platform: You must choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) that matches the platform (product description) of your Reserved Instance. For example, if you specified Linux/UNIX , you can launch an instance from an Amazon Linux AMI or an Ubuntu AMI.

Instance type: Specify the same instance type as your Reserved Instance; for example, t2.large .

Availability Zone: If you purchased a Reserved Instance for a specific Availability Zone, you must launch the instance into the same Availability Zone. If you purchased a regional Reserved Instance, you can launch your instance into any Availability Zone.

Tenancy: The tenancy of your instance must match the tenancy of the Reserved Instance; for example, dedicated or shared . For more information, see Dedicated Instances.

For more information, see Launching an instance using the Launch Instance Wizard. For examples of how Reserved Instances are applied to your running instances, see How Reserved Instances are applied.

You can use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling or other AWS services to launch the On-Demand Instances that use your Reserved Instance benefits. For more information, see the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling User Guide.