EC2 Instance Update – Two More Sizes Of M5 & R5 Instances

When I introduced the Nitro system last year I said:

The Nitro system is a rich collection of building blocks that can be assembled in many different ways, giving us the flexibility to design and rapidly deliver EC2 instance types with an ever-broadening selection of compute, storage, memory, and networking options. We will deliver new instance types more quickly than ever in the months to come, with the goal of helping you to build, migrate, and run even more types of workloads.

Today I am happy to make good on that promise, with the introduction of two additional sizes of the Intel and AMD-powered M5 and R5 instances, including optional NVMe storage. These additional sizes will make it easier for you to find an instance size that is a perfect match for your workload.

M5 Instances These instances are designed for general-purpose workloads such as web servers, app servers, dev/test environments, gaming, logging, and media processing. Here are the specs:

Instance Name	vCPUs	RAM	Storage	EBS-Optimized Bandwidth	Network Bandwidth
m5.8xlarge	32	128 GiB	EBS Only	5 Gbps	10 Gbps
m5.16xlarge	64	256 GiB	EBS Only	10 Gbps	20 Gbps
m5a.8xlarge	32	128 GiB	EBS Only	3.5 Gbps	Up to 10 Gbps
m5a.16xlarge	64	256 GiB	EBS Only	7 Gbps	12 Gbps
m5d.8xlarge	32	128 GiB	2 x 600 GB NVMe SSD	5 Gbps	10 Gbps
m5d.16xlarge	64	256 GiB	4 x 600 GB NVMe SSD	10 Gbps	20 Gbps

If you are currently using m4.10xlarge or m4.16xlarge instances, you now have several upgrade paths.

To learn more, read M5 – The Next Generation of General-Purpose EC2 Instances, New Lower-Cost, AMD-Powered M5a and R5a EC2 Instances, and EC2 Instance Update – M5 Instances with Local NVMe Storage.

R5 Instances These instances are designed for data mining, in-memory analytics, caching, simulations, and other memory-intensive workloads. Here are the specs:

Instance Name	vCPUs	RAM	Storage	EBS-Optimized Bandwidth	Network Bandwidth
r5.8xlarge	32	256 GiB	EBS Only	5 Gbps	10 Gbps
r5.16xlarge	64	512 GiB	EBS Only	10 Gbps	20 Gbps
r5a.8xlarge	32	256 GiB	EBS Only	3.5 Gbps	Up to 10 Gbps
r5a.16xlarge	64	512 GiB	EBS Only	7 Gbps	12 Gbps
r5d.8xlarge	32	256 GiB	2 x 600 GB NVMe SSD	5 Gbps	10 Gbps
r5d.16xlarge	64	512 GiB	4 x 600 GB NVMe SSD	10 Gbps	20 Gbps

If you are currently using r4.8xlarge or r4.16xlarge instances, you now have several easy and powerful upgrade paths.

To learn more, read Amazon EC2 Instance Update – Faster Processors and More Memory.

Things to Know Here a couple of things to keep in mind when you use these new instances:

Processor Choice – You can choose between Intel and AMD EPYC processors (instance names include an “a”). Read my post, New Lower-Cost AMD-Powered M5a and R5a EC2 Instances, to learn more.

AMIs – You can use the same AMIs that you use with your existing M5 and R5 instances.

Regions – The new sizes are available in all AWS Regions where the existing sizes are already available.

Local NVMe Storage – On “d” instances with local NVMe storage, the devices are encrypted using the XTS-AES-256 block cipher and a unique key. Each key is destroyed when the instance is stopped or terminated. The local devices have the same lifetime as the instance they are attached to, and do not stick around after the instance has been stopped or terminated.

Available Now The new sizes are available in On-Demand, Spot, and Reserved Instance form and you can start using them today!

— Jeff;