Most applications don't use the CPU at full capacity all the time. For example, web applications often experience varying demand, rarely needing 100% CPU utilization.
Graph depicting typical application CPU utilization with low-to-moderate use and occasional peaks.
Amazon EC2 M7i-flex instances, introduced last August, provide a cost-effective way to handle such workloads. They are lower-priced versions of M7i instances, offering similar next-generation specs for general-purpose computing, making them ideal for reducing operational costs without compromising performance.
Building on the success of M7i-flex, AWS is now launching Amazon EC2 C7i-flex instances. These instances offer similar cost and performance benefits for compute-intensive workloads. They are lower-priced variants of the C7i instances, providing baseline CPU performance with the ability to scale up to full performance 95% of the time.
C7i-flex Instances
C7i-flex instances come in five common sizes, ranging from large to 8xlarge, and deliver 19% better price performance than C6i instances.
Instance Name vCPU Memory (GiB) Storage Network Bandwidth (Gbps) EBS Bandwidth (Gbps)
c7i-flex.large 2 4 EBS-only up to 12.5 up to 10
c7i-flex.xlarge 4 8 EBS-only up to 12.5 up to 10
c7i-flex.2xlarge 8 16 EBS-only up to 12.5 up to 10
c7i-flex.4xlarge 16 32 EBS-only up to 12.5 up to 10
c7i-flex.8xlarge 32 64 EBS-only up to 12.5 up to 10
Choosing Between C7i-flex and C7i
Both C7i-flex and C7i are compute-optimized instances powered by custom 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, exclusive to AWS, offering up to 15% better performance compared to similar processors from other cloud providers. They use DDR5 memory and have a 2:1 memory-to-vCPU ratio, making them suitable for applications like web servers, databases, and caches.
Usage Pattern
C7i-flex instances: Ideal for workloads that don't need full compute power continuously, providing 5% better price performance and lower costs. Suitable for most applications.
C7i instances: Better for applications requiring constant high CPU usage, such as batch processing, distributed analytics, HPC, ad serving, scalable multiplayer gaming, and video encoding.
Instance Sizes
C7i-flex instances: Available up to 8xlarge.
C7i instances: Include sizes up to 48xlarge and two bare metal options (metal-24xl and metal-48xl) for higher specifications.
Network Bandwidth
C7i-flex instances: Offer up to 12.5 Gbps network bandwidth and 10 Gbps EBS bandwidth, suitable for most applications.
C7i instances: Larger sizes offer higher bandwidths for more demanding requirements.
Additional Information
Regions: Check AWS Services by Region to see if C7i-flex instances are available in your preferred regions.
Purchasing Options: Both C7i-flex and C7i instances are available in On-Demand, Savings Plan, Reserved Instance, and Spot options. C7i instances also offer Dedicated Host and Dedicated Instance forms.
Source :- https://aws.amazon.com/it/blogs/aws/new-compute-optimized-c7i-flex-amazon-ec2-flex-instances/