The Seventh Generation Memory-Optimized Amazon EC2 Instances – Amazon EC2 R7i

Overview

AWS recently introduced the latest addition to its Amazon EC2 instance lineup – the Seventh Generation Memory-Optimized Amazon EC2 Instances, also known as R7i. These instances mark a significant advancement, leveraging custom 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (Sapphire Rapids) exclusive to AWS. The Amazon R7i instances offer unparalleled compute performance, surpassing comparable fourth-generation Intel processors in the cloud. In this blog, we delve into the key features, benefits, and specifications of the Amazon R7i instances.

Amazon EC2 R7i

These instances are not only SAP Certified but also designed to cater to memory-intensive workloads, making them ideal for high-performance databases, distributed in-memory caches, real-time big data analytics, and various enterprise applications.

Boasting a 15% enhancement in price performance compared to Amazon R6i instances, Amazon R7i instances are the optimal choice for various memory-intensive workloads, including SAP applications, SQL and NoSQL databases, distributed web-scale in-memory caches, in-memory databases such as SAP HANA, and real-time big data analytics like Hadoop and Spark. With larger instance sizes, reaching up to 48xlarge, and featuring the latest DDR5 memory, Amazon R7i instances provide an upgraded user experience. Additionally, customers can attach up to 128 EBS volumes to an R7i instance, a significant increase from the 28 EBS volume attachments available on R6i instances.

Introducing support for Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX), R7i instances accelerate matrix multiplication operations, which is particularly beneficial for CPU-based machine learning applications. Soon to offer two bare-metal sizes, tailored for high-transaction and latency-sensitive workloads, these sizes will support built-in Intel accelerators: Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA), In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), and QuickAssist Technology (QAT). These accelerators empower customers to efficiently offload and accelerate data operations, optimizing performance for their workloads.

R7i instances are currently accessible in select AWS Regions, including the US East (N. Virginia, Ohio), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Ireland, Stockholm, Spain).

Features

• Equipped with 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors – Amazon R7i instances leverage exclusive custom 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, featuring an all-core turbo frequency of 3.2 GHz (with a max core turbo frequency of 3.8 GHz). Uniquely accessible on AWS, these custom processors deliver superior performance to similar Intel processors. Both instances have continuous memory encryption through Intel Total Memory Encryption (TME).
• High-throughput interfaces – Amazon R7i instances leverage DDR5 memory, offering increased bandwidth compared to R6i instances. They boast up to 40 Gbps bandwidth for Amazon EBS and a networking bandwidth of up to 50 Gbps. With Amazon R7i instances, you can attach a maximum of 128 EBS volumes to an instance, a notable enhancement from R6i, which allows up to 28 EBS volume attachments. Additionally, in the 48xlarge size and metal-48xl size, Amazon R7i instances support Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA).
• New accelerators – The 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors have four new integrated accelerators. Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) enhance the speed of matrix multiplication tasks, which is particularly beneficial for CPU-based machine learning applications. The Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA), In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), and QuickAssist Technology (QAT) are exclusive to Amazon R7i bare metal sizes, providing effective offload and acceleration for data operations. This aids in optimizing performance for various workloads such as databases, encryption and compression, and queue management.
• Developed on the AWS Nitro System – The AWS Nitro System offers versatile configurations, enabling AWS to swiftly create and deliver a diverse range of Amazon EC2 instance types featuring expanded compute, storage, memory, and networking choices. Nitro Cards play a crucial role in offloading and accelerating I/O functions, contributing to an enhancement in the overall performance of the system.

Benefits

• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership: Amazon R7i instances demonstrate a superior price-performance ratio, surpassing Amazon R6i instances by up to 15%. Additionally, Amazon R7i instances substantially increase resources, offering up to 1.5 times more virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and memory compared to Amazon R6i instances. This includes the capacity for up to 192 vCPUs and 1,536 GiB of memory, enabling effective workload consolidation on fewer instances.
• Versatility and Options: Including Amazon R7i instances further expands the extensive range of EC2 instances available on AWS. Amazon R7i introduces a selection of 11 sizes, encompassing various configurations of vCPU, memory, networking, and storage, including two bare-metal sizes: r7i.metal-24xl and r7i.metal-48xl.
• Optimized utilization of resources: Constructed on the AWS Nitro System, Amazon R7i instances utilize a blend of specialized hardware and a lightweight hypervisor. The AWS Nitro System efficiently allocates nearly all the compute and memory resources from the host hardware to your instances, enhancing overall performance and security. Amazon EC2 instances leveraging the AWS Nitro System exhibit a throughput performance advantage of over 15% compared to other cloud providers utilizing the same CPU for similar workloads.

The Amazon R7i instances come with the following specifications:

Conclusion

Amazon EC2 R7i instances signify a significant leap forward in cloud computing capabilities. Fueled by custom 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, these seventh-generation memory-optimized instances boast unparalleled performance, making them an optimal choice for memory-intensive workloads. With enhancements in price performance, increased resource capacities, and support for advanced technologies like DDR5 memory and Intel accelerators, the Amazon R7i instances offer a compelling solution for high-performance databases, real-time analytics, and more. Their widespread availability in select AWS regions and benefits, such as reduced Total Cost of Ownership and versatile configuration options, position the Amazon R7i instances as a potent and innovative addition to the Amazon EC2 lineup.

Drop a query if you have any questions regarding Amazon EC2 R7i and we will get back to you quickly.

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