Change the instance type - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Which instructions to follow?Considerations for compatible instance typesChange the instance type of an existing EBS-backed instanceChange the instance type by launching a new instance
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Change the instance type

As your needs change, you might find that your instance is over-utilized (the instance type is too small) or under-utilized (the instance type is too large). If this is the case, you can resize your instance by changing its instance type. For example, if your t2.micro instance is too small for its workload, you can increase its size by changing it to a bigger T2 instance type, such as t2.large. Or you can change it to another instance type, such as m5.large. You might also want to change from a previous generation to a current generation instance type to take advantage of some features, such as support for IPv6.

If you want a recommendation for an instance type that is best able to handle your existing workload, you can use Amazon Compute Optimizer. For more information, see Get recommendations for an instance type.

When you change the instance type, you'll start paying the rate of the new instance type. For the on-demand rates of all instance types, see Amazon EC2 On-Demand Pricing.

If you want to add additional storage to your instance without changing the instance type, see Attach an Amazon EBS volume to an instance.

Which instructions to follow?

There are different instructions for changing the instance type. The instructions to use depend on the instance's root volume, and whether the instance type is compatible with the instance's current configuration. For information about how compatibility is determined, see Compatibility for changing the instance type.

Use the following table to determine which instructions to follow.

Root volume Compatibility Use these instructions
EBS Compatible Change the instance type of an existing EBS-backed instance
EBS Not compatible Change the instance type by launching a new instance
Instance store Not applicable Change the instance type of an instance store-backed instance

Considerations for compatible instance types

Consider the following when changing the instance type of an existing instance:

  • You must stop your Amazon EBS-backed instance before you can change its instance type. Ensure that you plan for downtime while your instance is stopped. Stopping the instance and changing its instance type might take a few minutes, and restarting your instance might take a variable amount of time depending on your application's startup scripts. For more information, see Stop and start your instance.

  • When you stop and start an instance, we move the instance to new hardware. If your instance has a public IPv4 address, we release the address and give your instance a new public IPv4 address. If you require a public IPv4 address that does not change, use an Elastic IP address.

  • You can't change the instance type if hibernation is enabled for the instance.

  • You can't change the instance type of a Spot Instance.

  • If your instance is in an Auto Scaling group, the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling service marks the stopped instance as unhealthy, and may terminate it and launch a replacement instance. To prevent this, you can suspend the scaling processes for the group while you're changing the instance type. For more information, see Suspending and resuming a process for an Auto Scaling group in the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling User Guide.

  • When you change the instance type of an instance with NVMe instance store volumes, the updated instance might have additional instance store volumes, because all NVMe instance store volumes are available even if they are not specified in the AMI or instance block device mapping. Otherwise, the updated instance has the same number of instance store volumes that you specified when you launched the original instance.

  • The maximum number of Amazon EBS volumes that you can attach to an instance depends on the instance type and instance size. You can't change to an instance type or instance size that does not support the number of volumes that are already attached to your instance. For more information, see Instance volume limits.

Change the instance type of an existing EBS-backed instance

Use the following instructions to change the instance type of an EBS-backed instance if the instance type that you need is compatible with the instance's current configuration.

To change the instance type of an Amazon EBS-backed instance

  1. (Optional) If the new instance type requires drivers that are not installed on the existing instance, you must connect to your instance and install the drivers first. For more information, see Compatibility for changing the instance type.

  2. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

  3. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

  4. Select the instance and choose Instance state, Stop instance. When prompted for confirmation, choose Stop. It can take a few minutes for the instance to stop.

  5. With the instance still selected, choose Actions, Instance settings, Change instance type. This option is grayed out if the instance state is not stopped.

  6. On the Change instance type page, do the following:

    1. For Instance type, select the instance type that you want.

      If the instance type is not in the list, then it's not compatible with the configuration of your instance. Instead, use the following instructions: Change the instance type by launching a new instance.

    2. (Optional) If the instance type that you selected supports EBS optimization, select EBS-optimized to enable EBS optimization, or deselect EBS-optimized to disable EBS optimization. If the instance type that you selected is EBS optimized by default, EBS-optimized is selected and you can't deselect it.

    3. Choose Apply to accept the new settings.

  7. To start the instance, select the instance and choose Instance state, Start instance. It can take a few minutes for the instance to enter the running state. If your instance won't start, see Troubleshoot changing the instance type.

Change the instance type by launching a new instance

If the current configuration of your EBS-backed instance is incompatible with the new instance type that you want, then you can't change the instance type of the original instance. Instead, you must launch a new instance with a configuration that is compatible with the new instance type that you want, and then migrate your application to the new instance. For example, if you launched your original instance from a PV AMI, but want to change to a current generation instance type that is only supported by an HVM AMI, you'll need to launch a new instance from an HVM AMI. For information about how compatibility is determined, see Compatibility for changing the instance type.

To migrate your application to a new instance, do the following:

  • Back up the data on your original instance.

  • Launch a new instance with a configuration that is compatible with the new instance type that you want, and attach any EBS volumes that were attached to your original instance.

  • Install your application and any software on your new instance.

  • Restore any data.

  • If your original instance has an Elastic IP address, and you want to ensure that your users can continue uninterrupted to use the applications on your new instance, you must associate the Elastic IP address with your new instance. For more information, see Elastic IP address.

To change the instance type for a new instance configuration

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

  2. Back up data that you need to keep, as follows:

  3. In the navigation pane, choose Instances.

  4. Choose Launch instances. When you configure the instance, do the following:

    1. Select an AMI that will support the instance type that you want. Note that current generation instance types require an HVM AMI.

    2. Select the new instance type that you want. If the instance type that you want isn't available, then it's not compatible with the configuration of the AMI that you selected.

    3. If you're using an Elastic IP address, select the VPC that the original instance is currently running in.

    4. If you want to allow the same traffic to reach the new instance, select the security group that is associated with the original instance.

    5. When you're done configuring your new instance, complete the steps to select a key pair and launch your instance. It can take a few minutes for the instance to enter the running state.

  5. If required, attach any new EBS volumes based on the snapshots that you created, or any EBS volumes that you detached from the original instance, to the new instance.

  6. Install your application and any required software on the new instance.

  7. Restore any data that you backed up from the instance store volumes of the original instance.

  8. If you are using an Elastic IP address, assign it to the new instance as follows:

    1. In the navigation pane, choose Elastic IPs.

    2. Select the Elastic IP address that is associated with the original instance and choose Actions, Disassociate Elastic IP address. When prompted for confirmation, choose Disassociate.

    3. With the Elastic IP address still selected, choose Actions, Associate Elastic IP address.

    4. For Resource type, choose Instance.

    5. For Instance, choose the new instance with which to associate the Elastic IP address.

    6. (Optional) For Private IP address, specify a private IP address with which to associate the Elastic IP address.

    7. Choose Associate.

  9. (Optional) You can terminate the original instance if it's no longer needed. Select the instance, verify that you are about to terminate the original instance and not the new instance (for example, check the name or launch time), and then choose Instance state, Terminate instance.