📝 AWS EC2 Instance is underutilized 🟢

• Contextual name: 📝 Instance is underutilized 🟢
• ID: /ce/ca/aws/ec2/instance-underutilized
• Located in: 📁 AWS EC2

Flags

• 🟢 Policy with categories
• 🟢 Policy with type
• 🟢 Production policy

Our Metadata

• Policy Type: COMPLIANCE_POLICY
• Policy Category:
  • COST
  • PERFORMANCE

Logic

• 🧠 prod.logic.yaml 🟢
  • 📕 AWS EC2 Instance
  • 🔌 AWS EC2 Instance - object.extracts.yaml
  • 🧪 test-data.json

Description

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Description

Identify Amazon EC2 instances that are underutilized, meaning they consistently have average CPU utilization below 40% and maximum CPU utilization does not spike above 50% over a 14-day period. Underutilized instances are often oversized for their workloads, leading to unnecessary costs. By right-sizing or consolidating workloads, organizations can improve cost efficiency and ensure effective use of compute resources.

Rational

Underutilized EC2 instances consume resources inefficiently, leading to higher costs without proportional benefits. These instances may indicate improper sizing or unused capacity. Addressing this issue helps optimize AWS spending, improves performance allocation, and aligns resources with actual usage requirements. Right-sizing or terminating these instances also contributes to more sustainable cloud practices by reducing resource consumption.

Impact

Resizing, consolidating, or shutting down underutilized instances reduces waste but requires careful planning to avoid performance degradation for active workloads.

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Remediation

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Remediation

Right-Size Underutilized Instances

Change the Instance Type

Key Requirements

You can only change the instance type of an EC2 instance if:

• It is an EBS-backed instance.
• Its configuration is compatible with the new instance type.

Steps From Command Line

1. Stop the EC2 Instance

   Before changing the instance type, the instance must be stopped. Use the following command:

   aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids {{instance-id}}

   Replace {{instance-id}} with the actual EC2 instance ID.

2. Modify the Instance Type

   After stopping the instance, use the command below to change its type:

   aws ec2 modify-instance-attribute --instance-id {{instance-id}} --instance-type "{\"Value\": \"{{new-instance-type}}\"}"

   Replace {{new-instance-type}} with the desired instance type.

Migrate to a New Instance Type

If your instance's configuration is incompatible with the new instance type, or if it is an instance store-backed instance, consider these migration steps:

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policy.yaml

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Linked Framework Sections

Section	Sub Sections	Internal Rules	Policies	Flags
💼 Cloudaware Framework → 💼 Resource Right-Sizing			2
💼 Cloudaware Framework → 💼 Workload Efficiency			3