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Account Instance Limit

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Knowledge Base Best practice rules for Amazon Web Services AWS EC2 Best Practices Account Instance Limit
Performance
efficiency
Risk level: Medium (should be achieved)
Rule ID: EC2-011

Determine if the number of EC2 instances provisioned per region is close to the limit number established by AWS EC2 Service Limit and request limit increase in order to avoid encountering resources limitations on future provisioning sessions.

This rule can help you with the following compliance standards:

  • APRA
  • MAS

This rule can help you work with the AWS Well-Architected Framework

This rule resolution is part of the Cloud Conformity Security & Compliance tool for AWS

Monitoring your EC2 instances limits will help you to manage better your AWS compute power and avoid resource starvation in case your application need to scale up or in case you just need to provision multiple instances in a short period of time.

Audit

When you create your account, AWS sets limits for the number of EC2 instances on a per-region basis in order to protect both you and AWS from fraudulent activity. To determine if your account is going to reach the EC2 instance limit soon, perform the following:

Note: Checking the limit quota for EC2 instances using the AWS API via Command Line Interface (CLI) is not currently supported.

Using AWS Console

01 Sign in to the AWS Management Console.

02 Navigate to EC2 dashboard at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

03 Based on the purchasing model used, choose one of the following options to verify the number of provisioned instances:

  1. For On-Demand instances:
    • In the navigation panel, under INSTANCES section, choose Instances.
    • Click inside the EC2 attributes filter box located under the dashboard top menu, choose Instance Type from the dropdown list and select one of the instance types available in the list. This filtering method will help you to determine how many On-Demand instances are currently provisioned for the selected instance type. Repeat this step for the other instance types used within the AWS region.
  2. For Reserved instances:
    • In the navigation panel, under INSTANCES section, choose Reserved Instances.
    • Click inside the EC2 attributes filter box located under the dashboard top menu, choose Instance Type from the dropdown list and select one of the instance types available in the list. This filtering method will help you to determine how many Reserved instances are currently provisioned for the selected instance type. Repeat the step for the other instance types available in the current region.
  3. For Spot instances:
    • In the navigation panel, under INSTANCES section, choose Spot Requests.
    • Click inside the EC2 attributes filter box located under the dashboard top menu, choose Instance Type from the dropdown list and select one of the instance types available in the list. This filtering method will help you to determine how many Spot instances are currently provisioned for the selected instance type. Repeat this step for the other instance types used within the AWS region.
  4. For Dedicated Hosts:
    • In the navigation panel, under INSTANCES section, choose Dedicated Hosts.
    • Click inside the EC2 attributes filter box located under the dashboard top menu, choose Instance Type from the dropdown list and select one of the instance types available in the list. This filtering method will help you to determine how many Dedicated Hosts are currently provisioned for the selected instance type. Repeat the step for the other host/instance types available in the current region.

04 In the left navigation panel, under Reports section, select Limits.

05 In the Current Limit column, search for the limit value corresponding to the instance type provisioned in the selected AWS region. Check the corresponding limit value based on the purchasing model used. If the number of EC2 instances for a certain type is going to reach soon the limit quota set by AWS, follow the instructions provided in the Remediation/Resolution section to request a limit increase.

06 Change the AWS region from the navigation bar and repeat the entire process for the other regions.

Remediation / Resolution

To request an increase for EC2 instances limits based on your requirements, perform the following:

Note: Requesting to increase the limit for the number of EC2 instances per region using the AWS API via Command Line Interface (CLI) is not currently supported.

Using AWS Console

01 Sign in to the AWS Management Console.

02 Navigate to AWS Support Center page at http://aws.amazon.com/contact-us/ec2-request/.

03 On the Create Case support page, perform the following:

  1. Under Regarding, select Service Limit Increase.
  2. Choose EC2 Instances from the Limit Type dropdown list as the type of limit to increase.
  3. In the Request section, perform the following actions:
    • Select the AWS region where an EC2 limit increase is required from the Region dropdown list.
    • Select the necessary EC2 instance type from the Primary Instance Type dropdown list.
    • Select Instance Limit from the Limit dropdown list.
    • In the New limit value box, enter the limit value to request for the selected instance type.
  4. If you need to add multiple limit requests, click the Add another request button to add as many requests as needed.
  5. In the Use Case Description textbox, enter a small description for the use cases requiring the limit increase so AWS support can evaluate your request.
  6. Under Contact method, select a preferred contact method that AWS support team can use to respond to your request.
  7. Click Submit to send the limit request to AWS. A customer support representative will contact you shortly.

References

Publication date Jun 8, 2016

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