Posted On: Nov 21, 2019
Today, Amazon AppStream 2.0 introduces new streaming instances based on the EC2 z1d family. EC2 z1d instances deliver high single-thread performance using custom Intel® Xeon® processors with a sustained all-core frequency of up to 4.0 GHz, the fastest of any cloud instance. Z1d provides both high compute and high memory performance, which is ideal for electronic design automation (EDA), gaming, and software with high per-core licensing costs. Z1D instances are also built on the new AWS Nitro System, which offloads many traditional virtualization functions to dedicated hardware to improve performance, availability, and security.
AppStream 2.0 offers six different z1d instance sizes, ranging from 2 vCPUs and 16 GiB of memory to 48 vCPUs and 384 GiB of memory. All instance sizes offer NVMe solid state drives for instance storage. AppStream 2.0 z1d-based instances are available in all AWS Regions where AppStream 2.0 is offered, with the exception of the AWS GovCloud (US-West) Region. Also, beginning with z1d-based instances, new AppStream 2.0 instance types will now include the name and size of the underlying EC2 instance type. The following AppStream 2.0 z1d-based instances are available:
stream.memory.z1d.large
stream.memory.z1d.xlarge
stream.memory.z1d.2xlarge
stream.memory.z1d.3xlarge
stream.memory.z1d.6xlarge
stream.memory.z1d.12xlarge
Although z1d instances offer both both high compute and high memory performance, AppStream 2.0 z1d-based instances are classified as memory-optimized in both the AppStream 2.0 pricing page and the AppStream 2.0 console.
To get started, open the AppStream 2.0 console. You can provision a fleet of z1d-based instances using an existing non-graphics image or launch a new image builder from a non-graphics base image. AppStream 2.0 z1d-based instances must be provisioned from images that were created from AppStream 2.0 base images published on or after June 12, 2018.
AppStream 2.0 offers pay-as-you-go pricing. See Amazon AppStream 2.0 Pricing for more information. If you are new to AppStream 2.0, you can try already-installed applications by visiting the AppStream 2.0 website.