Which instance types support changes - Elastic Compute Service

This topic describes the pre-checks to perform before you change an instance type and provides solutions for common issues.

Pre-change check process

1. Check if the current instance type can be changed and if it can be changed to the target instance type

You must first confirm that the instance type of your current instance can be changed and that the target instance type is a valid option.

Confirm that the current instance type is not in the list of instance types that do not support changes.
In the list of supported instance type changes, find the instance family of the current instance and confirm that the target instance family is supported.
You can also call the DescribeResourcesModification API operation to query the list of instance types to which the current instance can be changed.

2. Check operating system compatibility

Some instance types, especially those based on different CPU architectures such as AMD, Intel, and Yitian, have specific operating system requirements. If the operating system of the current instance is not compatible with the target instance type, the change fails.

Use the following official compatibility lists to ensure that the operating system of the current instance is supported by the target instance type.

If they are not compatible but you still need to change the instance type, you can request that the restriction be lifted.

How to request that the restriction be lifted

Important

This change applies to all regions and cannot be canceled.

On the Custom Launch page of the ECS console, set Image Type to Custom Images and click the checks link.
Review the threat information, select the check box to request that the restriction be lifted, and then click OK. The change takes effect in about one minute.

3. Check NVMe driver compatibility with the target instance type

ECS instances of the 8th generation and later, such as g8i, c8i, r8i, u2i, g8a, c8a, r8a, and u2a, use the NVMe protocol to communicate with disks. These instances require the NVMe driver to be installed. You must check the NVMe driver of the source instance in the following scenarios:

Scenario 1: Changing from a 7th-generation or earlier instance type to an 8th-generation or later instance type
The source ECS instance must have the NVMe driver installed, or the image of the instance must support NVMe driver installation.
Scenario 2: The source instance is an 8th-generation or later instance type
The source ECS instance must have the NVMe driver installed.

You can determine the generation of an instance type from its family name. For more information, see Instance type naming convention

How to check and install the NVMe driver

In the ECS console, find the instance that you want to change. Choose > Configure NVMe Driver Status.
If the NVMe driver is installed, the status is Installed.
If the driver is not installed, click Install to install the NVMe driver. The system automatically changes the NVMe driver status to Installed.

Related API operations

To query whether an instance type supports NVMe: Call DescribeInstanceTypes. If NVMe is supported, NvmeSupport=required.
To query whether an image supports NVMe: Call DescribeImages. If NVMe is supported, NvmeSupport=supported.

4. Check disk type compatibility

Different instance types support different disk types. For example, the g7 instance family supports only ESSD-series disks. If the current instance has an attached disk that is not supported by the target instance type, you cannot change the instance type.

On the instance type change page, if a disk compatibility issue exists, the system automatically detects it and prompts you to also change the disk type. Review the prompts and note any cost changes, as shown in the following figure.

Supported instance type changes

When you change an instance type, you can change from the following source instance types to the target instance types:

Note

You can call the DescribeResourcesModification API operation to query the supported instance type changes for an existing instance.

Table 1. Entry-level x86 compute-optimized instance families

Source instance family	Supported target instance families
e	g7, c7, r7, g7ne, g7nex, c7nex, hfg7, hfc7, hfr7 g6, c6, r6, g6e, c6e, r6e, hfg6, hfc6, hfr6, re6 u1 e t6
t6	g7, c7, r7, hfg7, hfc7, hfr7, g7ne g6, c6, r6, hfg6, hfc6, hfr6, g6e, c6e, r6e, re6 t6
t5	g6, c6, r6, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, g6a, c6a, r6a, re6 g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5, t6
n4, mn4, xn4, e4	g6, c6, r6, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, g6a, c6a, r6a, re6 g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5, t6 n1, n2, e3, sn1, sn2 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4
t1, s1, s2, s3, m1, m2, c1, c2	g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5 n1, n2, e3, sn1, sn2 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4
n1, n2, e3	g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5 n1, n2, e3, sn1, sn2 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4

Table 2. Enterprise-level compute-optimized instance families

Source instance type (family)	Supported target instance families
g9a, c9a, r9a, g9ae, c9ae, r9ae, u2a	g9a, c9a, r9a, g9ae, c9ae, r9ae, u2a
g9i, c9i, r9i, hfg9i, hfc9i, hfr9i	g9i, c9i, r9i, hfg9i, hfc9i, hfr9i, u2i
g8i, c8i, r8i hfg8i, hfc8i, hfr8i	g9i, c9i, r9i, hfg9i, hfc9i, hfr9i, u2i g8i, c8i, r8i, hfg8i, hfc8i, hfr8i
g8a, c8a, r8a g8ae, c8ae, r8ae	g9a, c9a, r9a, g9ae, c9ae, r9ae, u2a g8a, c8a, r8a, g8ae, c8ae, r8ae
g8y, c8y, r8y	g8y, c8y, r8y
g7se, c7se, r7se	g8i, c8i, r8i g7se, c7se, r7se
g7a, c7a, r7a	g9a, c9a, r9a, g9ae, c9ae, r9ae, u2a g8a, c8a, r8a, g8ae, c8ae, r8ae g7a, c7a, r7a, g7, c7, r7 g6a, c6a, r6a
ebmg7a, ebmc7a, ebmr7a	ebmg7a, ebmc7a, ebmr7a
ebmhfc7, ebmhfg7, ebmhfr7	ebmhfc7, ebmhfg7, ebmhfr7
g7, c7, r7	g9i, c9i, r9i u2i g8i, c8i, r8i, hfg8i, hfc8i, hfr8i g7, c7, r7, g7ne, g7nex, c7nex, hfc7, hfg7, hfr7
ebmg7, ebmc7, ebmr7	ebmg7, ebmc7, ebmr7
g7ne hfc7, hfg7, hfr7 g6e, c6e, r6e	g9i, c9i, r9i, hfg9i, hfc9i, hfr9i g8i, c8i, r8i, hfg8i, hfc8i, hfr8i g7, c7, r7, g7ne, g7nex, c7nex, hfc7, hfg7, hfr7 g6e, c6e, r6e
g7nex, c7nex	g8i, c8i, r8i, hfg8i, hfc8i, hfr8i g7, c7, r7, g7ne, g7nex, c7nex, hfc7, hfg7, hfr7 Important ecs.g7nex.32xlarge can only be changed to ecs.c7nex.32xlarge.
g6r, c6r	g8y, c8y, r8y g6r, c6r
g6, c6, r6 hfg6, hfc6, hfr6	g7, c7, r7, hfg7, hfc7, hfr7, g7ne g6, c6, r6, hfg6, hfc6, hfr6, g6e, c6e, r6e, re6 t6
g6a, c6a, r6a	g9a, c9a, r9a, g9ae, c9ae, r9ae, u2a g8a, c8a, r8a, g8ae, c8ae, r8ae g7, c7, r7, g7a, c7a, r7a g6, c6, r6, g6a, c6a, r6a
g6t	g6t
c6t	c6t
ebmg6a, ebmc6a, ebmr6a	ebmg6a, ebmc6a, ebmr6a
g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5	g7, c7, r7 g6, c6, r6, g6a, c6a, r6a, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, re6 g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5, ebmg5s t5, t6
hfc5, hfg5	g7, c7, r7 g6, c6, r6, g6a, c6a, r6a, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, re6 u1 hfc5, hfg5, g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, t5 e t6
u2i	u2i
u1	g7, c7, r7, hfg7, hfc7, hfr7 u1, u2i, u2a
sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne	g7, c7, r7 g6, c6, r6, g6a, c6a, r6a, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, re6 u1 g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 e t5, t6 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4
se1	g7, c7, r7 u1 g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5 n1, n2, e3, sn1, sn2 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4
re6	g6, c6, r6, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, re6, ebmre6-6t re4, re4e
re4e	g7, c7, r7 u1 re6, ebmre6-6t re4e, re4
re4	g7, c7, r7 u1 g6, c6, r6, g6a, c6a, r6a, hfg6, hfc6, hfr6, re6, ebmre6-6t e g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5, t6 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4
gn8v	gn8v
gn8v-tee	gn8v-tee
sgn8ia	sgn8ia
gn8is	gn8is
sgn7i-vws	sgn7i-vws
vgn7i-vws	vgn7i-vws
gn7e	gn7e
gn7s	gn7s
gn7i	gn7i
gn7	gn7
gn6i	gn6i
vgn6i	vgn6i, vgn6i-vws, sgn7i-vws
vgn6i-vws	vgn6i-vws
gn6e	gn6e
gn6v	gn6v
gn5i	gn5i
sn1, sn2, se1	g7, c7, r7 u1 g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5 n1, n2, e3, sn1, sn2 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4
c4, ce4, cm4	g6, c6, r6, g6a, c6a, r6a, hfc6, hfg6, hfr6, re6 e g5, g5ne, r5, c5, ic5, hfc5, hfg5 t5, t6 se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, ce4, cm4, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, e4

Instance types that do not support changes

Important

On the instance type change page in the ECS console, if the instance type of the current instance cannot be changed, the operation button is typically disabled and a prompt appears.

Instance types in the following instance families cannot be changed:

Instance family type	Instance family
Enterprise-level x86 compute-optimized instance families	Persistent memory-optimized: re6p, re6p-redis Security-enhanced: g7t, c7t, r7t Big data: d3s, d3c, d2c, d2s, d1, d1ne Local SSD-equipped: i1, i2, i2g, i2ne, i2gne, i3, i3g, i4, i4g, i4r, i4p, i5g, i5ge, i5, i5e
Enterprise-level heterogeneous computing instance family	GPU-accelerated compute-optimized: gn5 vGPU-accelerated: vgn5i FPGA-accelerated compute-optimized: f1, f3
ECS Bare Metal Instance family	ebmgn8v, ebmgn8is, ebmgn7e, ebmgn7i, ebmgn7, ebmgn6ia, ebmgn6e, ebmgn6v, ebmgn6i ebmg8i, ebmc8i, ebmg8y, ebmc8y, ebmr8y, ebmg6, ebmg5s, ebmg5, ebmc6me, ebmc6, ebmc5s, ebmc4, ebmre6p, ebmre6-6t, ebmr6, ebmr5s ebmhfg6, ebmhfg5, ebmhfc6, ebmhfr6
High-performance computing (HPC) & Super Computing Cluster (SCC) instance families	Super Computing Cluster (SCC) sccgn6e, sccgn6 sccg5, scch5 scchfg6, scchfc6, scchfr6

FAQ

If you encounter the following issues when changing an instance type, refer to the corresponding solutions.

Issue	Description	Solution
Specification not found	The target instance type does not exist.	Select another target instance type. For more information, see Instance families.
Instance type is retired	The target instance type is retired.	Select another target instance type. For more information, see Instance families.
No inventory in the region	The target instance type is out of stock in the current region.	Select another instance type that is in stock, or change the instance type across zones (only changes within the same instance family are supported). View purchasable regions for an instance type Call an API operation to query the inventory of an instance type in a specific zone.
Only changes within the same instance family are supported	For some instance types, you can only change to another instance type within the same family.	Select a target instance type that is in the same family as the source instance. For example, when you change a gn7e instance, you can only select an instance type from the gn7e family.
The target instance family does not match the source instance family	The selected target instance type is not in a family that is compatible with the source instance family.	Refer to Supported instance type changes and select a target instance type that is compatible with the source instance family.
The architecture of the target instance type does not match the source instance	The architecture (ARM or x86) of the selected target instance does not match that of the source instance.	Select a target instance type that has the same architecture as the source instance.
The number of CPU cores or the memory size of the target instance type is not supported	The number of CPU cores or the memory size of the selected target instance is not supported by the operating system of the source instance. For information about the limits on the number of CPU cores and memory size for Windows operating systems, see Memory Limits for Windows and Windows Server Releases.	Select a target instance type with a compatible number of CPU cores or memory size.
The boot mode of the target instance type does not match the current instance	For example, if the selected target instance is a security-enhanced instance type that supports only the UEFI boot mode, the source instance must also support the UEFI boot mode.	Select a target instance type that has a boot mode compatible with the source instance.