Batch Processing Workloads on AWS: Cost-Effective Instance Types

Cost-Effective Instance Types for Offloading Batch Processing Workloads on AWS

Question

Your company is planning to offload some of the batch processing workloads on to AWS.

These jobs can be interrupted and resumed at any time.

Which of the following instance types would be the most cost-effective to use for this purpose?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

Answer - B.

The AWS documentation mentions the following:

Spot Instances are a cost-effective choice if you can be flexible about when your applications run and if your applications can be interrupted.

For example, Spot Instances are well-suited for data analysis, batch jobs, background processing, and optional tasks.

For more information on AWS Spot Instances, please refer to the below URL:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-spot-instances.html

The most cost-effective instance type for batch processing workloads that can be interrupted and resumed at any time would be Spot instances.

Spot instances allow you to bid on unused EC2 instances, and you pay the market price for the instances you use. The price for Spot instances is often significantly lower than the On-Demand or Reserved instances, making them an ideal choice for workloads that can tolerate interruptions and can be resumed later.

On-Demand instances are the most expensive option, as you pay for the instances by the hour with no upfront commitment. These instances are best suited for workloads that require consistent, uninterrupted performance.

Reserved instances can be either Full Upfront or Partial Upfront Reserved, which require an upfront commitment for a term of 1 or 3 years. While these instances offer significant cost savings over On-Demand instances, they are not a good fit for workloads that are highly variable and can be interrupted at any time.

In summary, Spot instances would be the most cost-effective option for batch processing workloads that can be interrupted and resumed at any time. However, it is important to note that Spot instances may be terminated if the market price for instances rises above your bid price, so you should be prepared to handle interruptions and implement a strategy for handling interrupted workloads.