Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced future-dated Amazon EC2 On-Demand Capacity Reservations, allowing customers to reserve compute capacity for critical future workloads up to 120 days in advance. This feature helps customers ensure seamless performance for their applications during peak demand events like product launches or seasonal sales.
AWS listened to customers who use Amazon EC2 for running all types of workloads, including web hosting, big data processing, high-performance computing (HPC), virtual desktops, live event streaming, and databases. Some of these workloads are mission-critical, and customers requested the ability to reserve capacity for them in advance.
To help customers reserve capacity flexibly, AWS launched EC2 On-Demand Capacity Reservations (ODCRs) in 2018. Since then, customers have used capacity reservations (CRs) to run critical applications like hosting consumer websites, streaming live sporting events, and processing financial transactions.
Now, customers can plan and schedule capacity reservations up to 120 days in advance. To get started, they need to specify the required capacity, the start date, delivery preference, and the minimum duration they commit to using the capacity reservation. There are no upfront charges for scheduling a capacity reservation. After Amazon EC2 evaluates and approves the request, it activates the reservation on the start date, and customers can use it to launch instances immediately.
One key aspect of this feature is that it helps customers avoid unnecessary costs. Instead of provisioning capacity ahead of time and paying for it, customers can now reserve capacity only when they need it. This is particularly useful for events that are difficult to predict, such as product launches or seasonal sales.
Overall, future-dated Amazon EC2 On-Demand Capacity Reservations are a valuable addition to the AWS platform. They help customers ensure seamless performance for their applications during peak demand events while avoiding unnecessary costs. I highly recommend that businesses using Amazon EC2 explore this feature.
