PERF02-BP02 Understand the available compute configuration and features - Performance Efficiency Pillar
Implementation guidanceImplementation stepsResources

PERF02-BP02 Understand the available compute configuration and features

Understand the available configuration options and features for your compute service to help you provision the right amount of resources and improve performance efficiency.

Common anti-patterns:

  • You do not evaluate compute options or available instance families against workload characteristics.

  • You over-provision compute resources to meet peak-demand requirements.

Benefits of establishing this best practice: Be familiar with AWS compute features and configurations so that you can use a compute solution optimized to meet your workload characteristics and needs.

Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Medium

Implementation guidance

Each compute solution has unique configurations and features available to support different workload characteristics and requirements. Learn how these options complement your workload, and determine which configuration options are best for your application. Examples of these options include instance family, sizes, features (GPU, I/O), bursting, time-outs, function sizes, container instances, and concurrency. If your workload has been using the same compute option for more than four weeks and you anticipate that the characteristics will remain the same in the future, you can use AWS Compute Optimizer  to find out if your current compute option is suitable for the workloads from CPU and memory perspective.

Implementation steps

  • Understand workload requirements (like CPU need, memory, and latency).

  • Review AWS documentation and best practices to learn about recommended configuration options that can help improve compute performance. Here are some key configuration options to consider:

    Configuration option Examples
    Instance type

    • Compute-optimized instances are ideal for the workloads that require high higher vCPU to memory ratio. 

    • Memory-optimized instances deliver large amounts of memory to support memory intensive workloads.

    • Storage-optimized instances are designed for workloads that require high, sequential read and write access (IOPS) to local storage.

    Pricing model

    • On-Demand Instances let you use the compute capacity by the hour or second with no long-term commitment. These instances are good for bursting above performance baseline needs.

    • Savings Plans offer significant savings over On-Demand Instances in exchange for a commitment to use a specific amount of compute power for a one or three-year period.

    • Spot Instances let you take advantage of unused instance capacity at a discount for your stateless, fault-tolerant workloads. 

    Auto Scaling Use Auto Scaling configuration to match compute resources to traffic patterns.
    Sizing

    • Use Compute Optimizer to get a machine-learning powered recommendations on which compute configuration best matches your compute characteristics.

    • Use AWS Lambda Power Tuning to select the best configuration for your Lambda function.

    Hardware-based compute accelerators

Resources

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