AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)Billing, Pricing, and SupportMedium

A financial services firm has variable but predictable long-term compute needs and wants to change instance families or regions over the next three years while still receiving a significant discount compared to On-Demand pricing. Which Reserved Instance type best fits this need?

  1. AConvertible Reserved Instances
  2. BZonal Reserved Instances
  3. CStandard Reserved Instances
  4. DScheduled Reserved Instances
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A. Convertible Reserved Instances

Convertible Reserved Instances allow customers to change instance families, operating systems, and tenancies during the term in exchange for a somewhat lower discount than Standard RIs, making them ideal when future needs may shift. Standard RIs offer a bigger discount but cannot be modified across instance families.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. There is no distinct 'Zonal Reserved Instance' product; this is a distractor term.
  • C. Standard RIs offer the highest discount but lock in instance family, limiting flexibility.
  • D. Scheduled Reserved Instances are not a current AWS RI offering.

Convertible Reserved Instances

A Reserved Instance type that allows exchanging attributes like instance family during the term for a smaller discount than Standard RIs.

  • 1 or 3-year terms
  • Can exchange for different instance types
  • Lower discount than Standard RI but more flexible

Memory trick: Convertible = Change it up

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