An instance is the smallest unit that provides compute services for your business. Different instance types offer different compute capabilities. This topic describes the ENS-supported instance families, their features, available instance types, and scenarios.
ENS instance families
Family | Definition | Specifications | Supported storage | Supported networks | Supported billing methods | Scenarios |
X86 Compute | Offers high performance, stable compute capabilities, and balanced network performance. Suitable for enterprise scenarios requiring high business stability. | General-purpose X86 virtual machine instance types:
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X86 Bare Metal | Combines the advantages of physical servers and cloud servers. It offers powerful and stable compute capabilities without virtualization overhead. Suitable for deploying traditional non-virtualized applications to the cloud. | General-purpose X86 bare metal instance types | Local disk | VPC network | subscription |
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Heterogeneous Computing | Heterogeneous computing primarily includes Elastic GPU Service instances. These instances use specialized hardware to serve specific business scenarios, offering significantly higher cost-effectiveness and efficiency than standard cloud servers. | Heterogeneous computing instance types |
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Instance specifications and metrics
Instance specification metrics are verified in a pure forwarding test environment. In actual business scenarios, instance performance may vary due to factors such as instance load type, packet length, long-lived and short-lived connections, image version, and networking model. Perform stress testing to understand instance performance and select the appropriate instance type.
C refers to vCPU, and G refers to memory. For example, Compute-optimized 1C2G means 1 vCPU core and 2 GB of memory.
Network bandwidth capability and packet forwarding refer to the total capability of all network interface controllers (NICs) for that instance type.
Specifications | Name | Network bandwidth capability (Gbps) | Packet forwarding (PPS) | Queue count |
ens.sn1.tiny | Compute-optimized 2C4G | Up to 1 | Up to 300,000 | 2 |
ens.sn1.small | Compute-optimized 4C8G | Up to 1.5 | Up to 500,000 | 4 |
ens.sn1.medium | Compute-optimized 8C16G | Up to 2 | Up to 800,000 | 8 |
ens.sn1.xmedium | Compute-optimized 12C24G | Up to 2.5 | Up to 900,000 | 12 |
ens.sn1.large | Compute-optimized 16C32G | Up to 3 | Up to 1,000,000 | 16 |
ens.sn1.mlarge | Compute-optimized 24C48G | Up to 4.5 | Up to 1,500,000 | 16 |
ens.sn1.xlarge | Compute-optimized 32C64G | Up to 6 | Up to 2,000,000 | 16 |
ens.sm1.tiny | General-purpose 2C8G | Up to 1 | Up to 300,000 | 2 |
ens.sm1.small | General-purpose 4C16G | Up to 1.5 | Up to 500,000 | 4 |
ens.sm1.medium | General-purpose 8C32G | Up to 2 | Up to 800,000 | 8 |
ens.sm1.large | General-purpose 16C64G | Up to 3 | Up to 1,000,000 | 16 |
ens.sm1.mlarge | General-purpose 24C96G | Up to 4.5 | Up to 1,500,000 | 16 |
ens.sm1.xlarge | General-purpose 32C128G | Up to 6 | Up to 2,000,000 | 16 |
ens.se1.tiny | Memory-optimized 2C16G | Up to 1 | Up to 300,000 | 2 |
ens.se1.small | Memory-optimized 4C32G | Up to 1.5 | Up to 500,000 | 4 |
ens.se1.medium | Memory-optimized 8C64G | Up to 2 | Up to 800,000 | 8 |
ens.se1.large | Memory-optimized 16C128G | Up to 3 | Up to 1,000,000 | 16 |
Instance statuses
You can query instance status using the ENS console or by calling the DescribeInstances API. Instance statuses are categorized as stable or intermediate. An intermediate status is a temporary state an instance is in before reaching a stable state. If an instance remains in an intermediate state for an extended period, it indicates an exception.
The following table lists possible instance statuses during an instance's lifecycle:
Instance console status | Instance API status | Status | Status description |
Creating | Creating | Intermediate | A newly created instance is about to start. |
Running | Running | Steady state | The instance is running. |
Stopped | Stopped | Stable state | The instance is stopped. |
Expired | Expired | Steady State | A subscription instance has expired, or a pay-as-you-go instance is stopped due to overdue payment. The instance will be released soon. |
Starting | Starting | Intermediate | An existing instance is starting or restarting and will soon enter the Running state. |
Stopping | Stopping | Intermediate | The instance is stopping and will soon enter the Stopped state. |
Releasing | Releasing | Intermediate | The instance is being released and will soon be released. |
Image downloading | ImageDownloading | Intermediate | When creating or resetting an instance, if the node does not have the specified image file, this status indicates that the image is being downloaded to the node. After the download completes, the instance enters the Creating state. |
Transferring | Transferring | Intermediate | The instance is being migrated. After migration, it enters the Running state. |
Resetting | Resetting | Intermediate | The instance is being reset. |
Instance status changes during instance management:
Create an instance: The instance first enters the Starting state, then the Running state. At this point, the instance can accept access. For example, connect to the instance to manage operating system settings, or access a website deployed on the instance using a browser.
Stop an instance: The instance first enters the Stopping state, then the Stopped state. Before performing some operations, stop the instance, such as changing the operating system or upgrading/downgrading the instance type.
Start an instance: The instance first enters the Starting state, then the Running state.
Restart an instance: The instance first enters the Stopping state, then the Starting state, and finally the Running state. After performing some operations, restart the instance for them to take effect.
Release an instance: You can only release instances in the Stopped state. Directly releasing unexpired subscription instances is not supported. To release a subscription instance before its expiration, submit a ticket. After an instance is released, its instance ID, static public IP address, system disk, and data disks configured to be released with the instance are also released and cannot be recovered. Independent resources, such as elastic IP addresses (EIPs) and data disks not configured to be released with the instance, are automatically detached. Exercise caution when releasing instances. To prevent accidental instance release, enable release protection for the instance.