How do I modify a Reserved Instance or convert a running instance to a Reserved Instance?

Resolution

Note: Reserved Instances aren't physical instances. Reserved Instances are a billing discount that's applied to your existing EC2 instances in your AWS account.

Modify an existing Reserved Instance

Important: Make sure that you review all of the requirements and restrictions for modification.

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console.
2. Select Reserved Instances.
3. Choose the Reserved Instance that you want to modify.
4. Select Actions, Modify Reserved Instances
   Note: If your Reserved Instance isn't in the active state or can't be modified, then the Modify Reserved Instances option is greyed out. As a workaround, you can sell Standard Reserved Instances in the Reserved Instance Marketplace. For more information on restrictions and limitations, see Sell in the Reserved Instance Marketplace.

For detailed instructions, see Modify Reserved Instances.

Modify a Convertible Reserved Instance

If you purchased a Convertible Reserved Instance, then consider exchanging the Reserved Instance for another Convertible Reserved Instance with a different configuration. For more information, see Exchange Convertible Reserved Instances.

Convert an existing instance to a Reserved Instance

You can't directly convert an existing instance to a Reserved Instance. Instead, purchase a Reserved Instance that exactly matches your existing instance's attributes. After purchasing Reserved Instances, your existing On-Demand Instances that meet the Reserved Instance attributes automatically receive the billing discount. For more information, see How Reserved Instances are applied.

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console.
2. Select Reserved Instances.
3. Select Purchase Reserved Instance.
4. Determine the instance attributes that align with the existing instance. The Reserved Instance attributes must exactly match the existing On-Demand instance. For example, assume you have a running On-Demand m5.xlarge EC2 Windows instance in the us-east-1f Availability Zone. The Reserved Instance must also be a Windows m5.xlarge instance in us-east-1f.
5. Complete the term, payment option, and offering class per your use case. Then, select Add to cart.
6. Review the shopping cart and select Order all.
7. The Reserved Instance's state might be pending immediately after purchase. Within a few minutes, the state changes to active, meaning that the Reserved Instance purchased was successful.

For detailed instructions, see Buy Reserved Instances.

Note: You can view the Reserved Instance's expiration date under Expires information in Instance details.

Related information

Reserved Instances

Use your Reserved Instances

Reserved Instance quotas

Differences between Standard and Convertible Reserved Instances