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Elastic Compute Service:Storage I/O performance

Last Updated:Oct 31, 2023

Storage I/O performance, also known as storage read/write performance, is the performance that can be delivered when cloud disks are attached to instances of different Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance types. Metrics of storage I/O performance include IOPS and throughput.

Important

This topic is applicable to new-generation enterprise-level instance families, such as hfg7, hfc7, hfr7, g6e, c6e, and r6e. For more information about the instance families, see the Storage I/O performance of new-generation enterprise-level instance families section of this topic. This topic is not applicable to local disks.

I/O size

I/O (input/output or read/write) is random or sequential data requests initiated by an application. I/O request size is also called I/O size, which is measured in KiB. Example: 4 KiB.

When you design the underlying storage architecture or select an instance type, you must consider metrics such as IOPS, I/O size, and throughput. You can use the following formula to calculate throughput based on the I/O size and the IOPS rate: IOPS × I/O size = Throughput. You can choose an optimal combination of Elastic Block Storage devices and instance types based on the I/O request characteristics of applications.

  • For the applications such as offline analysis and data warehouses that require a large I/O size, we recommend that you select the big data instance families that deliver high throughput.

  • For the applications such as online transaction processing (OLTP) databases and enterprise-level applications like SAP that require latency-sensitive, small, random I/O operations, we recommend that you select enhanced SSDs (ESSDs) and standard SSDs that deliver high IOPS.

For more information about IOPS and throughput, see Block storage performance.

Storage I/O performance of instances

New-generation enterprise-level instance families provide isolation of storage I/O performance. Dedicated storage bandwidths are assigned for communication between ECS instances and cloud disks to prevent storage I/O contention among instances. New-generation enterprise-level instance families ensure the consistent storage I/O performance of applications even during peak hours.

If your business application is one of the following I/O-sensitive applications that require consistent storage I/O performance, we recommend that you select a new-generation instance family that provides isolation of storage I/O performance:

  • Large and medium-sized databases, such as Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, and MongoDB databases

  • Enterprise-level applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Relationship between instance types and storage I/O performance

The storage I/O performance of ECS instances varies based on their instance families, instance types, and attached cloud disks. The storage I/O performance of an instance varies based on the instance specifications. In the same category of instance types, higher-specification instance type can deliver higher storage I/O performance (IOPS and throughput). When you understand the relationship between instance storage performance and cloud disk storage performance, you can choose appropriate instance types and Elastic Block Storage devices based on their performance specifications and prevent performance bottlenecks caused by improper configurations.

IOPS of instances

After you create an instance and attach cloud disks to the instance, the final storage I/O performance of the instance is determined as described in the following section:

  • Scenario 1: If the total maximum storage performance of the attached cloud disks exceeds the maximum storage I/O performance that the instance type can deliver, the final storage I/O performance of the instance is limited to the maximum storage I/O performance of the instance type.

  • Scenario 2: If the total maximum storage performance of the attached cloud disks does not exceed the maximum storage I/O performance that the instance type can deliver, the final storage I/O performance of the instance is limited to the total maximum storage I/O performance of the cloud disks.

实例与存储IO性能

The actual storage performance differs when instances of different instance types have ESSDs at different performance levels (PLs) attached. In the following examples, the g7se instance family is used:

  • Example 1: Alex creates an instance of the ecs.g7se.xlarge instance type that has 16 GiB of memory and can deliver a maximum of 60,000 IOPS. Alex attaches an ESSD at PL 2 (PL2 ESSD) to the instance. The ESSD has a capacity of 2,000 GiB and can deliver a maximum of 100,000 IOPS. The maximum IOPS of the instance is limited by the maximum IOPS of the instance type to 60,000.

  • Example 2: Alex creates an instance of the ecs.g7se.4xlarge instance type that has 64 GiB of memory and can deliver a maximum of 150,000 IOPS. Alex attaches three PL2 ESSDs to the instance. Each ESSD has a capacity of 2,000 GiB and can deliver a maximum of 100,000 IOPS. The total maximum IOPS that these ESSDs can deliver is 300,000. The maximum IOPS of the instance is limited by the maximum IOPS of the instance type to 150,000.

  • Example 3: Alex creates an instance of the ecs.g7se.4xlarge instance type that has 64 GiB of memory and can deliver a maximum of 150,000 IOPS. Alex attaches a PL3 ESSD to the instance. The ESSD has a capacity of 2,000 GiB and can deliver a maximum of 101,800 IOPS. The maximum IOPS of the instance is not limited by the maximum IOPS of the instance type, but is limited by the maximum IOPS of the ESSD to 101,800.

Burst IOPS and burst storage bandwidths of instances

Instances of some small 7th- or later-generation instance types can burst beyond their storage IOPS and bandwidth baselines. After you create such an instance and attach cloud disks to it, the final burst IOPS and burst storage bandwidth of the instance are determined as described in the following section:

  • Burst IOPS of an instance

    • Metrics: represent the limits that an instance type have on the storage I/O performance of cloud disks.

      • Baseline IOPS: the maximum IOPS that an instance type can consistently support for cloud disks in compliance with a service level agreement (SLA) commitment.

      • Burst IOPS: the IOPS that an instance type can burst to. Burst IOPS is time-limited and dependent on the amount of I/O resources that an instance provides. No SLA commitments are made for burst IOPS. If an instance provides sufficient I/O resources and cloud disks attached to the instance sustain the highest burst performance supported by the instance type, the default maximum burst duration supported by the instance type varies based on the instance size.

        • large: 5 minutes

        • xlarge: 10 minutes

        • 2xlarge: 20 minutes

        • 3xlarge: 30 minutes

        • 4xlarge: 40 minutes

    • Formulas: When the actual IOPS of an instance falls below the baseline IOPS of its instance type, the instance begins to accrue credits and can spend credits to burst beyond baseline performance anytime. The burst duration of an instance is calculated based on its credit balance. An instance has a relatively long burst duration when its actual storage I/O performance is lower than the maximum burst performance. The following formulas are used to calculate the maximum credit balance that is supported by an instance type and the actual burst duration of an instance of the instance type:

      • Maximum credit balance = (Maximum burst IOPS - Baseline IOPS) × Maximum burst duration

      • Actual burst duration = Maximum credit balance/(Current IOPS - Baseline IOPS)

    • For example, assume that an instance of an ecs.g7 instance type has a cloud disk attached and that the cloud disk can deliver up to 50,000 IOPS. The following table describes the baseline IOPS, maximum burst IOPS, and burst duration of the cloud disk on the instance.

      Instance type

      Baseline IOPS of the cloud disk

      Maximum burst IOPS of the cloud disk

      Maximum burst duration of the cloud disk (in minutes)

      Maximum credit balance of the cloud disk

      Actual burst duration of the cloud disk (in minutes)

      g7.large

      20,000

      110,000

      5

      (11 - 2) × 5 = 45

      45/(5 - 2) = 15

      ecs.g7.xlarge

      40,000

      110,000

      10

      (11 - 4) × 10 = 70

      70/(5 - 4)= 70

      ecs.g7.2xlarge

      50,000

      110,000

      20

      (11 - 5) × 20 = 120

      The performance of the cloud disk is equal to its baseline performance and does not need to burst.

      ecs.g7.3xlarge

      70,000

      110,000

      30

      (11 - 7) × 30 = 120

      The performance of the cloud disk is lower than its baseline performance and does not need to burst.

      ecs.g7.4xlarge

      80,000

      110,000

      40

      (11 - 8) × 40 = 120

      The performance of the cloud disk is lower than its baseline performance and does not need to burst.

      For information about ecs.g7 instance types, see g7, general-purpose instance family.

  • Burst storage bandwidth of an instance

    • Metrics: represent the limits that an instance type have on the storage bandwidths of cloud disks.

      • Baseline storage bandwidth: the maximum storage bandwidth that an instance type can consistently support for cloud disks in compliance with an SLA commitment.

      • Burst bandwidth: the storage bandwidth that an instance type can burst to. Burst storage bandwidths are time-limited and dependent on the amount of storage bandwidth resources that an instance provides. No SLA commitments are made for burst storage bandwidths. If an instance provides sufficient storage bandwidth resources and cloud disks attached to the instance sustain the highest burst performance supported by the instance type, the default maximum burst duration supported by the instance type varies based on the instance size.

        • large: 5 minutes

        • xlarge: 10 minutes

        • 2xlarge: 20 minutes

        • 3xlarge: 30 minutes

        • 4xlarge: 40 minutes

    • Formulas: The burst duration of an instance is calculated based on its credit balance. An instance has a relatively long burst duration when its actual storage I/O performance is lower than the maximum burst performance. The following formulas are used to calculate the maximum credit balance that is supported by an instance type and the actual burst duration of an instance of this instance type:

      • Maximum credit balance = (Maximum burst storage bandwidth - Baseline storage bandwidth) × Maximum burst duration

      • Actual burst duration = Maximum credit balance/(Current storage bandwidth - Baseline storage bandwidth)

    • For example, assume that an instance of an ecs.g7 instance type has a cloud disk attached and that the cloud disk can deliver a bandwidth of up to 3 Gbit/s. The following table describes the baseline bandwidth, maximum burst bandwidth, and burst duration of the cloud disk on the instance.

      Instance type

      Baseline bandwidth of the cloud disk (Gbit/s)

      Maximum burst bandwidth of the cloud disk (Gbit/s)

      Maximum burst duration of the cloud disk (in minutes)

      Maximum credit balance of the cloud disk

      Actual burst duration of the cloud disk (in minutes)

      g7.large

      1.5

      6

      5

      (6 - 1.5) × 5 = 22.5

      22.5/(3 - 1.5) = 15

      ecs.g7.xlarge

      2

      6

      10

      (6 - 2) × 10 = 40

      40/(3 - 2) = 40

      ecs.g7.2xlarge

      3

      6

      20

      (6 - 3) × 20 = 60

      The performance of the cloud disk is equal to its baseline performance and does not need to burst.

      ecs.g7.3xlarge

      4

      6

      30

      (6 - 4) × 30 = 60

      The performance of the cloud disk is lower than its baseline performance and does not need to burst.

      ecs.g7.4xlarge

      5

      6

      40

      (6 - 5) × 40 = 40

      The performance of the cloud disk is lower than its baseline performance and does not need to burst.

      For information about ecs.g7 instance types, see g7, general-purpose instance family.

Storage I/O performance of new-generation enterprise-level instance families

The following tables describe the storage I/O performance of the new-generation enterprise-level instance families. For information about other specifications of the instance families, see Overview of instance families.

Note

In these tables, the maximum IOPS is measured at an I/O size of 4 KiB and the maximum throughput is measured at an I/O size of 1,024 KiB. For information about the test methods, see Test the performance of block storage devices.

Table 1. Storage I/O performance of g7se

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.g7se.large

3

3

375

ecs.g7se.xlarge

6

4

500

ecs.g7se.2xlarge

10

6

750

ecs.g7se.3xlarge

12

8

1,000

ecs.g7se.4xlarge

15

10

1,250

ecs.g7se.6xlarge

20

12

1,500

ecs.g7se.8xlarge

30

16

2,000

ecs.g7se.16xlarge

50

32

4,000

ecs.g7se.32xlarge

100

64

8,000

Table 2. Storage I/O performance of hfg7

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.hfg7.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.hfg7.xlarge

3.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.hfg7.2xlarge

4.5

2.0

250

ecs.hfg7.3xlarge

6.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.hfg7.4xlarge

7.5

3.0

375

ecs.hfg7.6xlarge

9.0

4.0

500

ecs.hfg7.8xlarge

10.5

5.0

625

ecs.hfg7.12xlarge

15.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.hfg7.24xlarge

30.0

16.0

2,000

Table 3. Storage I/O performance of hfc7

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.hfc7.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.hfc7.xlarge

3.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.hfc7.2xlarge

4.5

2.0

250

ecs.hfc7.3xlarge

6.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.hfc7.4xlarge

7.5

3.0

375

ecs.hfc7.6xlarge

9.0

4.0

500

ecs.hfc7.8xlarge

10.5

5.0

625

ecs.hfc7.12xlarge

15.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.hfc7.24xlarge

30.0

16.0

2,000

Table 4. Storage I/O performance of hfr7

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.hfr7.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.hfr7.xlarge

3.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.hfr7.2xlarge

4.5

2.0

250

ecs.hfr7.3xlarge

6.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.hfr7.4xlarge

7.5

3.0

375

ecs.hfr7.6xlarge

9.0

4.0

500

ecs.hfr7.8xlarge

10.5

5.0

625

ecs.hfr7.12xlarge

15.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.hfr7.24xlarge

30.0

16.0

2,000

Table 5. Storage I/O performance of g6t

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.g6t.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.g6t.xlarge

4.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.g6t.2xlarge

5.0

2.0

250

ecs.g6t.4xlarge

8.0

3.0

375

ecs.g6t.8xlarge

15.0

5.0

625

ecs.g6t.13xlarge

24.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.g6t.26xlarge

48.0

16.0

2,000

Table 6. Storage I/O performance of c6t

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.c6t.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.c6t.xlarge

4.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.c6t.2xlarge

5.0

2.0

250

ecs.c6t.4xlarge

8.0

3.0

375

ecs.c6t.8xlarge

15.0

5.0

625

ecs.c6t.13xlarge

24.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.c6t.26xlarge

48.0

16.0

2,000

Table 7. Storage I/O performance of g6e

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.g6e.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.g6e.xlarge

4.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.g6e.2xlarge

5.0

2.0

250

ecs.g6e.4xlarge

8.0

3.0

375

ecs.g6e.8xlarge

15.0

5.0

625

ecs.g6e.13xlarge

24.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.g6e.26xlarge

48.0

16.0

2,000

Table 8. Storage I/O performance of c6e

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.c6e.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.c6e.xlarge

4.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.c6e.2xlarge

5.0

2.0

250

ecs.c6e.4xlarge

8.0

3.0

375

ecs.c6e.8xlarge

15.0

5.0

625

ecs.c6e.13xlarge

24.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.c6e.26xlarge

48.0

16.0

2,000

Table 9. Storage I/O performance of r6e

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.r6e.large

2.0

1.0

125

ecs.r6e.xlarge

4.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.r6e.2xlarge

5.0

2.0

250

ecs.r6e.4xlarge

8.0

3.0

375

ecs.r6e.8xlarge

15.0

5.0

625

ecs.r6e.13xlarge

24.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.r6e.26xlarge

48.0

16.0

2,000

Table 10. Storage I/O performance of g6

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.g6.large

1.0

1.0

125

ecs.g6.xlarge

2.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.g6.2xlarge

2.5

2.0

250

ecs.g6.3xlarge

3.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.g6.4xlarge

4.0

3.0

375

ecs.g6.6xlarge

5.0

4.0

500

ecs.g6.8xlarge

6.0

5.0

625

ecs.g6.13xlarge

10.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.g6.26xlarge

20.0

16.0

2,000

Table 11. Storage I/O performance of c6

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.c6.large

1.0

1.0

125

ecs.c6.xlarge

2.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.c6.2xlarge

2.5

2.0

250

ecs.c6.3xlarge

3.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.c6.4xlarge

4.0

3.0

375

ecs.c6.6xlarge

5.0

4.0

500

ecs.c6.8xlarge

6.0

5.0

625

ecs.c6.13xlarge

10.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.c6.26xlarge

20.0

16.0

2,000

Table 12. Storage I/O performance of r6

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.r6.large

1.0

1.0

125

ecs.r6.xlarge

2.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.r6.2xlarge

2.5

2.0

250

ecs.r6.3xlarge

3.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.r6.4xlarge

4.0

3.0

375

ecs.r6.6xlarge

5.0

4.0

500

ecs.r6.8xlarge

6.0

5.0

625

ecs.r6.13xlarge

10.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.r6.26xlarge

20.0

16.0

2,000

Table 13. Storage I/O performance of hfg6

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.hfg6.large

1.0

1.0

125

ecs.hfg6.xlarge

2.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.hfg6.2xlarge

2.5

2.0

250

ecs.hfg6.3xlarge

3.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.hfg6.4xlarge

4.0

3.0

375

ecs.hfg6.6xlarge

5.0

4.0

500

ecs.hfg6.8xlarge

6.0

5.0

625

ecs.hfg6.10xlarge

10.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.hfg6.16xlarge

12.0

10.0

1,250

ecs.hfg6.20xlarge

20.0

16.0

2,000

Table 14. Storage I/O performance of hfc6

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.hfc6.large

1.0

1.0

125

ecs.hfc6.xlarge

2.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.hfc6.2xlarge

2.5

2.0

250

ecs.hfc6.3xlarge

3.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.hfc6.4xlarge

4.0

3.0

375

ecs.hfc6.6xlarge

5.0

4.0

500

ecs.hfc6.8xlarge

6.0

5.0

625

ecs.hfc6.10xlarge

10.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.hfc6.16xlarge

12.0

10.0

1,250

ecs.hfc6.20xlarge

20.0

16.0

2,000

Table 15. Storage I/O performance of hfr6

Instance type

Maximum IOPS (4 KiB I/O)

Maximum storage bandwidth (Gbit/s)

Maximum throughput (MB/s, 1,024 KiB I/O)

ecs.hfr6.large

1.0

1.0

125

ecs.hfr6.xlarge

2.0

1.5

187.5

ecs.hfr6.2xlarge

2.5

2.0

250

ecs.hfr6.3xlarge

3.0

2.5

312.5

ecs.hfr6.4xlarge

4.0

3.0

375

ecs.hfr6.6xlarge

5.0

4.0

500

ecs.hfr6.8xlarge

6.0

5.0

625

ecs.hfr6.10xlarge

10.0

8.0

1,000

ecs.hfr6.16xlarge

12.0

10.0

1,250

ecs.hfr6.20xlarge

20.0

16.0

2,000