Why Amazon EC2 High Memory (U-1) Instances?

EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances offer 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 TiB of memory in an instance. These instances are purpose-built to run large in-memory databases, including production deployments of the SAP HANA in-memory database, in the cloud. EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances allow you to run large in-memory databases and business applications that rely on these databases in the same, shared Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), reducing the management overhead associated with complex networking and ensuring predictable performance.

EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances are EBS-Optimized by default, and offer up to 38 Gbps of dedicated storage bandwidth to encrypted and unencrypted EBS volumes. These instances deliver high networking throughput and low-latency with up to 100 Gbps of aggregate network bandwidth using Amazon Elastic Network Adapter (ENA)-based Enhanced Networking. EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances with 3, 6, 9, and 12 TiB are powered by an 8-socket platform with Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8176M (Skylake) or 8280L (Cascade Lake) processors. EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances with 18 TiB and 24 TiB are the first Amazon EC2 instances powered by an 8-socket platform with 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors.

Amazon EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances are certified by SAP for running Business Suite on HANA, the next-generation Business Suite S/4HANA, Data Mart Solutions on HANA, Business Warehouse on HANA, and SAP BW/4HANA in production environments.

To get started, reach out your AWS account team or contact us here.

Overview of EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances

Now available in virtualized sizes

High Memory (U-1) instances are now available in virtualized sizes with 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 TiB of memory.

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Features

AWS offers a wide range of memory optimized instances ranging from 8 GiB on R6g instances up to 24 TiB High Memory (U-1) instances. Amazon EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances have up to 24 TiB of memory. These instances are purpose-built for large in-memory databases like SAP HANA. EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances are certified by SAP for running Business Suite on HANA (SoH), the next-generation Business Suite S/4HANA, Data Mart Solutions on HANA, Business Warehouse on HANA (BW), and SAP BW/4HANA in production environments. AWS Launch Wizard allows you to deploy and scale fully functional HANA-based systems aligned with AWS and SAP best practices in just a few hours.

The AWS Nitro System is a rich collection of building blocks that offloads many of the traditional virtualization functions to dedicated hardware and software to deliver high performance, high availability, and high security while also reducing virtualization overhead.

EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances with 18 TiB and 24 TiB are the first ever EC2 instances built on 8-socket hosts powered by 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors. These instances take advantage of the innovation of the AWS Nitro System, a combination of purpose-built hardware and software components that provide the unparalleled performance, security, isolation, elasticity, and efficiency of the infrastructure that powers Amazon EC2 instances.

Product Details

Name Logical Processors* Memory (GiB) Instance Storage (GB) Network Bandwidth (Gbps)  EBS Bandwidth (Gbps)
u-3tb1.56xlarge 224 3,072 EBS-Only 50 19
u-6tb1.56xlarge 224 6,144 EBS-Only 100 38
u-6tb1.112xlarge 448 6,144 EBS-Only 100 38
u-6tb1.metal** 448 6,144 EBS-Only 100 38
u-9tb1.112xlarge 448 9,216 EBS-Only 100 38
u-9tb1.metal** 448 9,216 EBS-Only 100 38
u-12tb1.112xlarge 448 12,288 EBS-Only 100 38
u-12tb1.metal** 448 12,288 EBS-Only 100 38
u-18tb1.112xlarge 448 18,432 EBS-Only 100 38
u-18tb1.metal 448 18,432 EBS-Only 100 38
u-24tb1.112xlarge 448 24,576 EBS-Only 100 38
u-24tb1.metal 448 24,576 EBS-Only 100 38

**Some instances launched before March 12, 2020 might offer lower Network and EBS bandwidth, please reach out to your account team to upgrade your instance (at no additional cost) for higher performance

* Each logical processor is a hyperthread on 224 cores

Customer testimonials

Here is an example of how customers and partners have achieved their business agility, price performance, cost savings, and sustainability goals with Amazon EC2 High Memory (U-1) instances.

  • SAP

    SAP uses High-Memory instances from AWS to power its extensive RISE with SAP offering. Our customers continue to benefit from the reliability and performance these instances offer, and we look forward to the next generation leveraging Intel Sapphire Rapids processors that can provide customers with up to 32TB of memory for SAP S/4HANA Cloud as part of RISE with SAP.

    Juergen Mueller, Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE