Reserved Instances and Savings Plans in AWS - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is a Reserved Instance (RI) in AWS?

A Reserved Instance is a billing discount that you get when you commit to using a specific instance type in a region for a 1 or 3 year term. It helps save money compared to on-demand pricing.

intermediate

How do Savings Plans differ from Reserved Instances?

Savings Plans offer flexible pricing discounts based on your overall compute usage, not tied to specific instance types or regions, unlike Reserved Instances which are more specific.

intermediate

What are the two main types of Savings Plans?

The two main types are Compute Savings Plans, which apply to any EC2 usage regardless of region or instance family, and EC2 Instance Savings Plans, which apply to specific instance families in a region.

beginner

Why would a company choose Reserved Instances over On-Demand instances?

Because Reserved Instances provide a significant discount (up to 75%) when you commit to a long-term usage, helping reduce costs if your usage is predictable.

advanced

Can Reserved Instances be modified or exchanged?

Yes, Standard Reserved Instances can be exchanged for other Standard RIs of equal or greater value, and Convertible Reserved Instances can be exchanged for different instance types with different configurations.

What is the main benefit of purchasing a Reserved Instance?

A Free data transfer

B Access to more instance types

C Ability to pause instances

D Lower hourly cost by committing to long-term usage

Reserved Instances offer a lower hourly rate when you commit to using an instance for 1 or 3 years.

Which Savings Plan type offers the most flexibility across instance types and regions?

A EC2 Instance Savings Plan

B Standard Reserved Instance

C Compute Savings Plan

D Convertible Reserved Instance

Compute Savings Plans apply discounts across any EC2 instance regardless of region or family.

How long are typical commitment terms for Reserved Instances?

A 1 month or 6 months

B 1 year or 3 years

C 6 months or 2 years

D No commitment term

Reserved Instances require a 1 or 3 year commitment.

Which of the following is NOT true about Convertible Reserved Instances?

A They offer less flexibility than Standard RIs

B They require a long-term commitment

C They can be exchanged for different instance types

D They provide cost savings compared to On-Demand

Convertible RIs offer more flexibility than Standard RIs because they can be exchanged for different instance types.

Savings Plans discounts apply to which AWS service?

A Amazon EC2 compute usage

B Amazon S3 storage

C AWS Lambda executions

D Amazon RDS databases

Savings Plans provide discounts on Amazon EC2 compute usage.

Explain the difference between Reserved Instances and Savings Plans in AWS.

Think about commitment specificity and flexibility.

Describe when a company should consider using Reserved Instances.

Consider cost savings and usage patterns.