Aws Memory Optimized classes vs Burstable classes

July 13, 2021 . 9 MIN READ

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Concepts.DBInstanceClass.html

DB instance classes

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The DB instance class determines the computation and memory capacity of an Amazon RDS DB instance. The DB instance class you need depends on your processing power and memory requirements.

For more information about instance class pricing, see Amazon RDS pricing.

Topics

  • DB instance class types
  • Supported DB engines for DB instance classes
  • Determining DB instance class support in AWS Regions
  • Hardware specifications for DB instance classes for Aurora

DB instance class types

Amazon Aurora supports two types of instance classes: Memory Optimized and Burstable Performance. For more information about Amazon EC2 instance types, see Instance types in the Amazon EC2 documentation.

The following are the Memory Optimized DB instance classes available:

  • db.r6g – Instance classes powered by AWS Graviton2 processors. These are ideal for running memory-intensive workloads in open-source databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL.
  • db.r5 – Latest generation instance classes optimized for memory-intensive applications. These offer improved networking performance. They are powered by the AWS Nitro System, a combination of dedicated hardware and lightweight hypervisor.
  • db.r4 – Instance classes optimized for memory-intensive applications. These offer improved networking performance.
  • db.r3 – Instance classes that provide memory optimization.

The following are the Burstable Performance DB instance classes available:

  • db.t3 – Next generation instance classes that provide a baseline performance level, with the ability to burst to full CPU usage. These instance classes provide more computing capacity than the previous db.t2 instance classes. They are powered by the AWS Nitro System, a combination of dedicated hardware and lightweight hypervisor.
  • db.t2 – Instance classes that provide a baseline performance level, with the ability to burst to full CPU usage. We recommend using these instance classes only for development and test servers, or other nonproduction servers.

For DB instance class hardware specifications, see Hardware specifications for DB instance classes for Aurora.

Supported DB engines for DB instance classes

The following are DB engine considerations for DB instance classes:

  • Aurora support for db.r6g
    • Aurora MySQL versions 2.09.2 and higher support the db.r6g instance classes.
    • Aurora PostgreSQL versions 12.4 and higher and versions 11.9 and higher support the db.r6g instance classes.
  • Aurora support for db.t3
    • Aurora MySQL supports the db.t3.medium and db.t3.small instance classes for Aurora MySQL 1.15 and higher, and all Aurora MySQL 2.x versions.
    • For Aurora MySQL db.r5, db.r4, and db.t3 DB instance classes, no instances in the cluster can have pending instance-level system updates. To see pending system updates, use the following AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) command. 
      aws rds describe-pending-maintenance-actions
    • Aurora PostgreSQL supports the following db.t3 instance classes:
      • The db.t3.medium instance class is supported for versions compatible with PostgreSQL 10.7 and higher.
      • The db.t3.large instance class is supported for versions compatible with PostgreSQL versions 10.11 and higher and 11.6 and higher.

In the following table, you can find details about supported Amazon Aurora DB instance classes for the Aurora DB engines.

Instance class Aurora MySQL Aurora PostgreSQL
db.r6g – Memory-optimized instance classes powered by AWS Graviton2 processors
db.r6g.16xlarge 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r6g.12xlarge 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r6g.8xlarge 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r6g.4xlarge 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r6g.2xlarge 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r6g.xlarge 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r6g.large 2.09.2 and higher 12.4 and higher, 11.9 and higher
db.r5 – Latest generation memory-optimized instance classes
db.r5.24xlarge 1.22 and higher, 2.06 and higher Yes
db.r5.16xlarge 1.22 and higher, 2.06 and higher Yes
db.r5.12xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r5.8xlarge 1.22 and higher, 2.06 and higher Yes
db.r5.4xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r5.2xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r5.xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r5.large 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r4 – Memory-optimized instance classes
db.r4.16xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r4.8xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r4.4xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r4.2xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r4.xlarge 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r4.large 1.14.4 and higher Yes
db.r3 – Memory-optimized instance classes
db.r3.8xlarge Yes No
db.r3.4xlarge Yes No
db.r3.2xlarge Yes No
db.r3.xlarge Yes No
db.r3.large Yes No
db.t3 – Next generation burstable performance instance classes
db.t3.2xlarge No No
db.t3.xlarge No No
db.t3.large 2.10 and higher 11.6 and higher, 10.11 and higher
db.t3.medium 1.14.4 and higher 10.7 and higher
db.t3.small 1.14.4 and higher No
db.t3.micro No No
db.t2 – Burstable performance instance classes
db.t2.medium Yes No
db.t2.small Yes No

Determining DB instance class support in AWS Regions

To determine the DB instance classes supported by each DB engine in a specific AWS Region, you can use the AWS Management Console, the Amazon RDS Pricing page, or the describe-orderable-db-instance-options AWS CLI command.

Note

When you perform operations with the AWS CLI, such as creating or modifying a DB cluster, it automatically shows the supported DB instance classes for a specific DB engine, DB engine version, and AWS Region.

Contents

  • Using the Amazon RDS pricing page to determine DB instance class support in AWS Regions
  • Using the AWS CLI to determine DB instance class support in AWS Regions
    • Listing the DB instance classes that are supported by a specific DB engine version in an AWS Region
    • Listing the DB engine versions that support a specific DB instance class in an AWS Region

Using the Amazon RDS pricing page to determine DB instance class support in AWS Regions

You can use the Amazon RDS Pricing page to determine the DB instance classes supported by each DB engine in a specific AWS Region.

To use the pricing page to determine the DB instance classes supported by each engine in a Region

  1. Go to Amazon RDS Pricing.
  2. Choose Amazon Aurora.
  3. In DB Instances, open MySQL-Compatible Edition or PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition.
  4. To see the DB instance classes available in an AWS Region, choose the AWS Region in Region in the appropriate subsection.

Using the AWS CLI to determine DB instance class support in AWS Regions

You can use the AWS CLI to determine which DB instance classes are supported for specific DB engines and DB engine versions in an AWS Region.

To use the AWS CLI examples in this section, make sure that you enter valid values for the DB engine, DB engine version, DB instance class, and AWS Region. The following table shows the valid DB engine values.

Engine name Engine value in CLI commands More information about versions
MySQL 5.6-compatible Aurora aurora Database engine updates for Amazon Aurora MySQL 1.1
MySQL 5.7-compatible Aurora aurora-mysql Database engine updates for Amazon Aurora MySQL 2.0
Aurora PostgreSQL aurora-postgresql Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL releases and engine versions

For information about AWS Region names, see AWS Regions Availability Zones.

The following examples demonstrate how to determine DB instance class support in an AWS Region using the describe-orderable-db-instance-options AWS CLI command.

Topics

  • Listing the DB instance classes that are supported by a specific DB engine version in an AWS Region
  • Listing the DB engine versions that support a specific DB instance class in an AWS Region

Listing the DB instance classes that are supported by a specific DB engine version in an AWS Region

To list the DB instance classes that are supported by a specific DB engine version in an AWS Region, run the following command.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine engine --engine-version version \ --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{DBInstanceClass:DBInstanceClass,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" \ --output table \ --region region

For Windows:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine engine --engine-version version ^ --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{DBInstanceClass:DBInstanceClass,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" ^ --output table ^ --region region

The output also shows the engine modes that are supported for each DB instance class.

For example, the following command lists the supported DB instance classes for version 12.4 of the Aurora PostgreSQL DB engine in US East (N. Virginia).

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine aurora-postgresql --engine-version 12.4 \
    --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{DBInstanceClass:DBInstanceClass,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" \
    --output table \
    --region us-east-1

For Windows:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine aurora-postgresql --engine-version 12.4 ^
    --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{DBInstanceClass:DBInstanceClass,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}"  ^
    --output table ^
    --region us-east-1

Listing the DB engine versions that support a specific DB instance class in an AWS Region

To list the DB engine versions that support a specific DB instance class in an AWS Region, run the following command.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine engine --db-instance-class DB_instance_class \ --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" \ --output table \ --region region

For Windows:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine engine --db-instance-class DB_instance_class ^ --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" ^ --output table ^ --region region

The output also shows the engine modes that are supported for each DB engine version.

For example, the following command lists the DB engine versions of the Aurora PostgreSQL DB engine that support the db.r5.large DB instance class in US East (N. Virginia).

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine aurora-postgresql --db-instance-class db.r5.large \
    --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" \
    --output table \
    --region us-east-1

For Windows:

aws rds describe-orderable-db-instance-options --engine aurora-postgresql --db-instance-class db.r5.large ^
    --query "OrderableDBInstanceOptions[].{EngineVersion:EngineVersion,SupportedEngineModes:SupportedEngineModes[0]}" ^
    --output table ^
    --region us-east-1

Hardware specifications for DB instance classes for Aurora

The following terminology is used to describe hardware specifications for DB instance classes:

vCPU
The number of virtual central processing units (CPUs). A virtual CPU is a unit of capacity that you can use to compare DB instance classes. Instead of purchasing or leasing a particular processor to use for several months or years, you are renting capacity by the hour. Our goal is to make a consistent and specific amount of CPU capacity available, within the limits of the actual underlying hardware.
ECU
The relative measure of the integer processing power of an Amazon EC2 instance. To make it easy for developers to compare CPU capacity between different instance classes, we have defined an Amazon EC2 Compute Unit. The amount of CPU that is allocated to a particular instance is expressed in terms of these EC2 Compute Units. One ECU currently provides CPU capacity equivalent to a 1.0–1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor.
Memory (GiB)
The RAM, in gibibytes, allocated to the DB instance. There is often a consistent ratio between memory and vCPU. As an example, take the db.r4 instance class, which has a memory to vCPU ratio similar to the db.r5 instance class. However, for most use cases the db.r5 instance class provides better, more consistent performance than the db.r4 instance class.
Max. Bandwidth (Mbps)
The maximum bandwidth in megabits per second. Divide by 8 to get the expected throughput in megabytes per second.

Note

This figure refers to I/O bandwidth for local storage within the DB instance. It doesn’t apply to communication with the Aurora cluster volume.

Network Performance
The network speed relative to other DB instance classes.

In the following table, you can find hardware details about the Amazon RDS DB instance classes for Aurora.

For information about Aurora DB engine support for each DB instance class, see Supported DB engines for DB instance classes.

Instance class vCPU ECU Memory (GiB) Max. bandwidth (mbps) of local storage Network performance
db.r6g – Memory-optimized instance classes powered by AWS Graviton2 processors
db.r6g.16xlarge 64 – 512 19,000 25 Gbps
db.r6g.12xlarge 48 – 384 13,500 20 Gbps
db.r6g.8xlarge 32 – 256 9,000 12 Gbps
db.r6g.4xlarge 16 – 128 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r6g.2xlarge 8 – 64 Up to 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r6g.xlarge 4 – 32 Up to 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r6g.large 2 – 16 Up to 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r5 – Latest generation memory-optimized instance classes
db.r5.24xlarge 96 347 768 19,000 25 Gbps
db.r5.16xlarge 64 264 512 13,600 20 Gbps
db.r5.12xlarge 48 173 384 9,500 10 Gbps
db.r5.8xlarge 32 132 256 6,800 10 Gbps
db.r5.4xlarge 16 71 128 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r5.2xlarge 8 38 64 Up to 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r5.xlarge 4 19 32 Up to 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r5.large 2 10 16 Up to 4,750 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r4 – Memory-optimized instance classes
db.r4.16xlarge 64 195 488 14,000 25 Gbps
db.r4.8xlarge 32 99 244 7,000 10 Gbps
db.r4.4xlarge 16 53 122 3,500 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r4.2xlarge 8 27 61 1,700 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r4.xlarge 4 13.5 30.5 850 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r4.large 2 7 15.25 425 Up to 10 Gbps
db.r3 – Memory-optimized instance classes
db.r3.8xlarge 32 104 244 — 10 Gbps
db.r3.4xlarge 16 52 122 2,000 High
db.r3.2xlarge 8 26 61 1,000 High
db.r3.xlarge 4 13 30.5 500 Moderate
db.r3.large 2 6.5 15.25 — Moderate
db.t3 – Next generation burstable performance instance classes
db.t3.2xlarge 8 Variable 32 Up to 2,048 Up to 5 Gbps
db.t3.xlarge 4 Variable 16 Up to 2,048 Up to 5 Gbps
db.t3.large 2 Variable 8 Up to 2,048 Up to 5 Gbps
db.t3.medium 2 Variable 4 Up to 1,536 Up to 5 Gbps
db.t3.small 2 Variable 2 Up to 1,536 Up to 5 Gbps
db.t3.micro 2 Variable 1 Up to 1,536 Up to 5 Gbps
db.t2 – Burstable performance instance classes
db.t2.medium 2 Variable 4 — Moderate
db.t2.small 1 Variable 2 — Low

** The r3.8xlarge instance doesn’t have dedicated EBS bandwidth and therefore doesn’t offer EBS optimization. On this instance, network traffic and Amazon EBS traffic share the same 10-gigabit network interface.

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