AWS high memory instance type : Good for Oracle Databases on AWS

The r3.8xlarage has 244 GiB of memory, 32 vCPUs, and 2 - 320 GB SSD drives. The cost is $2.80 per hour for on-demand instances.  More details here:

http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2014/04/10/r3-announcing-the-next-generation-of-amazon-ec2-memory-optimized-instances/

Prior to this you had to use the i2.8xlarge instance type which also has 244 GiB of memory and 32 vCPUs. But also has 8 - 800 GB SSD drives which you will most likely not use for your Oracle Database.  The cost of i2.8xlage is $6.82 per hour for on-demand instances.  The other highest memory option is the cr1.8xlarge with 32 vCPUs and 244 GIB with 2 -120 GB SSD drives.  The cost of this option is $3.50 per hour for on-demand instances.

The R3 instances include the following features:

• Intel Xeon E5-2670 v2 "Ivy Bridge" Processors

• Hardware Virtualization (HVM) only

• SSD-backed instance storage, including TRIM support

• Enhanced Networking with lower latency, low jitter, and high packet-per-second performance

One caveat here that Oracle has not released any HVM-based instance types.  There are undocumented methods to create an HVM AMI from a PVM AMI but this new AMI may not be supported by Oracle.

HVM and PVM : Oracle AMIs

AWS AMIs are either Para Virtual Machine (PVM) or Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM) images. All of the AMIs from Oracle are currently only PVM-based. Therefore, they will not run on cluster compute or i2 instance types.

More information on HVM-based instances types:
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using_cluster_computing.html#concepts_cluster_compute_hvmAMI
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/#Does_use_of_Cluster_Compute_Instances_differ_from_other_Amazon_EC2_instance_types

Currently, the new i2 instance types are HVM only:
http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2013/12/19/announcing-the-next-generation-of-amazon-ec2-high-i/o-instance/

More on HVM and PVM can be found here:
http://serverfault.com/questions/222010/difference-between-xen-pv-xen-kvm-and-hvm

If you are looking to run Oracle solutions on Oracle Enterprise Linux and require more then 68 GB of memory, you would have to run on hs1.8xlarge (117 GiB) as all other instance types with more then 68 GB are HVM. See more here: http://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-ami/instance-type-matrix/

Instance types and network throughput

Network throughout is a very good metrics to know when running an Oracle Database on AWS or for any time you are moving data from different AWS services other AWS services. Maximum throughput for different Amazon EC2 instance types can be found here:
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EBSOptimized.html

This 2013 AWS reInvent session also has details http://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices/stg302-28617072 (Slide 19)

The m1.xlarge instance maximum network through put is 128 MBPS / 1K Mbps. The CC2.8xlarge, CR1.8xlarge, hi1.4xlarge, and cg1.xlarge (http://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices/stg302-28617072) can provide up to 800 MPBS.

Oracle Database on SSD

New options for running the Oracle Database on EC2 using SSD storage for your database. The I2 instances feature the latest generation of Intel Ivy Bridge processors - each virtual CPU (vCPU) is a hardware hyperthread from an Intel Xeon E5-2670 v2 (Ivy Bridge) processor. I2 instances are available in four sizes as listed in the table below. Instance Type vCPUs ECU Rating Memory (GiB) Instance Storage SSD (GB) Note           i2.xlarge 4 14 30.5 1 x 800 800 GB of SSD i2.2xlarge 8 27 61 2 x 800 1.6 TB of SSD i2.4xlarge 16 53 122 4 x 800 3.2 TB of SSD. hi.4xlarge with 2 TB  of SSD was previously largest SSD instance type i2.8xlarge 32 104 244 8 x 800 6.4 TB of SSD The i2.8xlarge instance size is capable of providing over 365,000 4 kilobyte (KB) random read IOPS and over 315,000 4 KB random write IOPS.   Great for Oracle databases that have high IO requirements.  This document has more on configuring Oracle Databases on EC2 and using SSD based instances : http://cloudconclave.blogspot.com/2013/11/aws-database-reference-implementation.html

AWS EC2 instances and 32 bit

Some legacy applications including pre 11 Oracle COTS software only run on 32 bit.  Keep this in mind when moving a 32 bit based application to EC2:   These are the instance types that support 32 bit:

1. m1.small : Memory 1.7 GB CPU : 1
2. m1.medium : Memory 3.75 CPU : 2
3. c1.medium : Memory 1.7 GB CPU : 5 ECU
4. t1.micro : Memory .615 GB CPU: 1 ECU variable

 ON Windows,  WoW64 on Windows Server x64 can be used to run a 32 bit application.

Oracle OEL AMIs running on cluster compute instances

AWS cluster compute instances types (cc1.4xlarge,cg1.4xlarge, cr1.8xlarge, cc2.8xlarge), all require to be run as HVM instances.  Currently, all the AMIs from Oracle are PVM only. Windows EC2 instances can only be HVM as PV does not support windows, so Windows AMIs or HVM based Linux AMIs can be used.

OVM based Oracle AMIs can also not be run on cluster compute instance types.