Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions,
see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China
(PDF).
The steps for launching, monitoring, and modifying these instances are similar. The key
difference is the default credit specification when they launch.
Each burstable performance instance family comes with the following default credit specification:
-
T3a and T3 instances launch as
unlimited
-
T3 instances on a Dedicated Host can only launch as standard
-
T2 instances launch as standard
You can change the default credit specification for the account.
You can launch your instances as unlimited or
standard using the Amazon EC2 console, an Amazon SDK, a command line tool, or
with an Auto Scaling group. For more information, see Use an Auto Scaling group
to launch a burstable performance instance as Unlimited.
- Console
-
To launch a burstable performance instance as Unlimited or Standard
-
Follow the procedure to launch an instance.
-
Under Instance type, select a T instance type.
-
Expand Advanced details, and for
Credit specification, select a credit
specification. If you do not make a selection, the default is used, which
is standard for T2, and
unlimited for T3a and T3.
-
In the Summary panel, review your instance configuration, and then
choose Launch instance. For more information,
see Launch an instance using the new launch
instance wizard.
- Amazon CLI
-
To launch a burstable performance instance as Unlimited or Standard
Use the run-instances command to launch your instances. Specify the
credit specification using the --credit-specification CpuCredits=
parameter. Valid credit specifications are unlimited and
standard.
-
For T3a and T3, if you do not include
the --credit-specification parameter, the instance launches as
unlimited by default.
-
For T2, if you do not include the --credit-specification
parameter, the instance launches as standard by default.
aws ec2 run-instances \
--image-id ami-abc12345 \
--count 1 \
--instance-type t3.micro \
--key-name MyKeyPair \
--credit-specification "CpuCredits=unlimited"
When burstable performance instances are launched or started, they require CPU credits for a
good bootstrapping experience. If you use an Auto Scaling group to launch your instances, we recommend
that you configure your instances as unlimited. If you do, the instances use surplus
credits when they are automatically launched or restarted by the Auto Scaling group. Using surplus credits
prevents performance restrictions.
You must use a launch template for launching
instances as unlimited in an Auto Scaling group. A launch configuration
does not support launching instances as unlimited.
unlimited mode is not supported for T3 instances that are launched
on a Dedicated Host.
- Console
-
To create a launch template that launches instances as Unlimited
-
Follow the Creating a Launch Template for an Auto Scaling
Group
procedure.
-
In Launch template contents, for Instance
type, choose an instance size.
-
To launch instances as unlimited in an Auto Scaling group,
under Advanced details, for Credit
specification, choose Unlimited.
-
When you've finished defining the launch template parameters, choose
Create launch template. For more information, see Creating a Launch Template for an Auto Scaling
Group in the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling User Guide.
- Amazon CLI
-
To create a launch template that launches instances as Unlimited
Use the create-launch-template command and specify unlimited
as the credit specification.
-
For T3a and T3, if you do not include
the CreditSpecification={CpuCredits=unlimited} value, the instance
launches as unlimited by default.
-
For T2, if you do not include the
CreditSpecification={CpuCredits=unlimited} value, the
instance launches as standard by default.
aws ec2 create-launch-template \
--launch-template-name MyLaunchTemplate \
--version-description FirstVersion \
--launch-template-data ImageId=ami-8c1be5f6,InstanceType=t3.medium,CreditSpecification={CpuCredits=unlimited}
To associate the launch template with an Auto Scaling group, create the Auto Scaling group
using the launch template, or add the launch template to an existing Auto Scaling
group.
- Console
-
To create an Auto Scaling group using a launch template
Open the Amazon EC2 console at
https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.
-
On the navigation bar at the top of the screen, select the same Region
that you used when you created the launch template.
-
In the navigation pane, choose Auto Scaling Groups,
Create Auto Scaling group.
-
Choose Launch Template, select your launch template,
and then choose Next Step.
-
Complete the fields for the Auto Scaling group. When you've finished reviewing
your configuration settings on the Review page, choose
Create Auto Scaling group. For more information, see
Creating an Auto Scaling
Group Using a Launch Template in the
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling User Guide.
- Amazon CLI
-
To create an Auto Scaling group using a launch template
Use the create-auto-scaling-group Amazon CLI command and specify the
--launch-template parameter.
- Console
-
To add a launch template to an existing Auto Scaling group
Open the Amazon EC2 console at
https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.
-
On the navigation bar at the top of the screen, select the same Region
that you used when you created the launch template.
-
In the navigation pane, choose Auto Scaling Groups.
-
From the Auto Scaling group list, select an Auto Scaling group, and choose
Actions, Edit.
-
On the Details tab, for Launch
Template, choose a launch template, and then choose
Save.
- Amazon CLI
-
To add a launch template to an existing Auto Scaling group
Use the update-auto-scaling-group Amazon CLI command and specify the
--launch-template parameter.
You can view the credit specification (unlimited or
standard) of a running or stopped instance.
- Console
-
To view the credit specification of a burstable instance
Open the Amazon EC2 console at
https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.
-
In the left navigation pane, choose Instances.
-
Select the instance.
-
Choose Details and view the Credit
specification field. The value is either unlimited
or standard.
- Amazon CLI
-
To describe the credit specification of a burstable performance instance
Use the describe-instance-credit-specifications command. If you do not specify
one or more instance IDs, all instances with the credit specification of
unlimited are returned, as well as instances that were previously
configured with the unlimited credit specification. For
example, if you resize a T3 instance to an M4 instance, while it is configured as
unlimited, Amazon EC2 returns the M4 instance.
aws ec2 describe-instance-credit-specifications --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0
The following is example output.
{
"InstanceCreditSpecifications": [
{
"InstanceId": "i-1234567890abcdef0",
"CpuCredits": "unlimited"
}
]
}
You can switch the credit specification of a running or stopped instance
at any time between unlimited and standard.
Note that in unlimited mode, an instance can spend surplus credits,
which might incur an additional charge. For more information, see Surplus credits can incur charges.
- Console
-
To modify the credit specification of a burstable performance instance
Open the Amazon EC2 console at
https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.
-
In the left navigation pane, choose Instances.
-
Select the instance. To modify the credit specification for several
instances at one time, select all applicable instances.
-
Choose Actions, Instance settings,
Change credit specification. This option is enabled only
if you selected a burstable performance instance.
-
To change the credit specification to unlimited, select
the check box next to the instance ID. To change the credit specification
to standard, clear the check box next to the instance ID.
- Amazon CLI
-
To modify the credit specification of a burstable performance instance (Amazon CLI)
Use the modify-instance-credit-specification command. Specify the instance and
its credit specification using the --instance-credit-specification
parameter. Valid credit specifications are unlimited and
standard.
aws ec2 modify-instance-credit-specification \
--region us-east-1 \
--instance-credit-specification "InstanceId=i-1234567890abcdef0,CpuCredits=unlimited"
The following is example output.
{
"SuccessfulInstanceCreditSpecifications": [
{
"InstanceId": "i- 1234567890abcdef0"
}
],
"UnsuccessfulInstanceCreditSpecifications": []
}
Each burstable performance instance family comes with a default credit specification.
You can change the default credit specification for each burstable performance instance
family at the account level per Amazon Region.
If you use the launch instance wizard in the EC2 console to launch instances, the
value you select for the credit specification overrides the account-level default credit
specification. If you use the Amazon CLI to launch instances, all new burstable performance
instances in the account launch using the default credit specification. The credit
specification for existing running or stopped instances is not affected.
Consideration
The default credit specification for an instance family can be modified only once in
a rolling 5-minute period, and up to four times in a rolling 24-hour period.
- Console
-
To set the default credit specification at the account level per Region
Open the Amazon EC2 console at
https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.
-
To change the Amazon Web Services Region, use the Region selector in the upper-right corner of the page.
-
On the left navigation pane, choose EC2 Dashboard.
-
From Account attributes, choose Default credit
specification.
-
Choose Manage.
-
For each instance family, choose Unlimited or
Standard, and then choose
Update.
- Amazon CLI
-
To set the default credit specification at the account level (Amazon CLI)
Use the modify-default-credit-specification command. Specify the Amazon Region,
instance family, and the default credit specification using the
--cpu-credits parameter. Valid default credit specifications are
unlimited and standard.
aws ec2 modify-default-credit-specification \
--region us-east-1 \
--instance-family t2 \
--cpu-credits unlimited
You can view the default credit specification of a burstable performance instance
family at the account level per Amazon Region.
- Console
-
To view the default credit specification at the account level (console)
Open the Amazon EC2 console at
https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.
-
To change the Amazon Web Services Region, use the Region selector in the upper-right corner of the page.
-
On the left navigation pane, choose EC2 Dashboard.
-
From Account attributes, choose Default credit
specification.
- Amazon CLI
-
To view the default credit specification at the account level (Amazon CLI)
Use the get-default-credit-specification command. Specify the Amazon Region and
instance family.
aws ec2 get-default-credit-specification --region us-east-1 --instance-family t2