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JordanBelf
JordanBelf

Reputation: 3338

What happens if I decide to terminate an instance for which I paid upfront?

I am trying to understand Amazon EC2 reserved instances pricing structure. It is my understanding that the Reserved Instances are no more than a different pricing for my instances.

My question is what happens if I pay upfront for an instance and later for whatever reason I need to terminate it before all of the period of the instance is completed? Can I use the remaining money paid on another instance or that is gone?

Any clarification will be appreciated,

Thanks!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1628

Answers (1)

E.J. Brennan
E.J. Brennan

Reputation: 46859

Yes, when you pay for a reserved instance, you will be billed wether you use it or not, and you could theoretically terminate and create a new instance ever day (week, month, hour etc), and still only pay for the single instance that you previously agreed to pay for, for the term you agreed to pay.

Its a bit tricky, but you need to wrap your mind around the fact that a Reserved Instance is a billing construct only - it has nothing to do with any particular instance you may have running. Paying upfront gives you the right to run an instance, at a pre-agreed for price.

If you buy a single RI, and then spinup 2 of them, one will automatically get 'billed' under the RI contract you have, the other will be billed at an On Demand hourly rate. If you delete one of them (either of them), the hourly on demand billing goes away and you continue to get billed on the RI only.

Also, if you decide you are never going to need the RI you terminated you can sell (thru amazon) the unused portion of your RI if you find you no longer need it; I get most of my reserved instances this way and you can usually save a bit of money (as the buyer), and recoup some of your losses as the seller.

Upvotes: 6

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