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Lab 5: Cost Optimization (Spot Instances)

Goal: Deploy a highly optimized compute instance for fault-tolerant batch processing using heavily discounted Spot instances, which can save up to 90% over On-Demand pricing.

# Request a Spot Instance for fault-tolerant workloads
awslocal ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id $AMI_ID \
  --instance-type c5.large \
  --subnet-id $SUBNET_1 \
  --instance-market-options '{"MarketType":"spot"}' \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=BatchProcessorSpot}]' \
  --query 'Instances[0].InstanceId' --output text
aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id $AMI_ID \
  --instance-type c5.large \
  --subnet-id $SUBNET_1 \
  --instance-market-options '{"MarketType":"spot"}' \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=BatchProcessorSpot}]' \
  --query 'Instances[0].InstanceId' --output text

🧠 Key Concepts & Importance

  • EC2 Spot Instances: Allow you to take advantage of unused EC2 capacity in the AWS cloud. Spot instances are available at up to a 90% discount compared to On-Demand prices.
  • Interruptible Nature: AWS can reclaim Spot instances with a two-minute notification if it needs the capacity back. This makes them ideal for workloads that are fault-tolerant, stateless, or flexible.
  • Ideal Use Cases:
    • Batch processing and data analysis.
    • Containerized workloads (ECS/EKS).
    • High-performance computing (HPC).
    • CI/CD pipelines and testing environments.
  • Spot Price: The price for a Spot instance fluctuates based on supply and demand for the instance type in the specific Availability Zone.
  • Market Options: By specifying MarketType: spot, you tell AWS to provision the instance from the Spot pool rather than the On-Demand pool.

🛠️ Command Reference

  • ec2 run-instances: Launches a new EC2 instance with specified parameters.
    • --image-id: The AMI ID to use.
    • --instance-type: The type of instance (e.g., c5.large).
    • --subnet-id: The subnet to launch into.
    • --instance-market-options: Specifies market options, such as MarketType: spot for discounted instances.
    • --tag-specifications: Adds tags to the instance at launch.
    • --query: Filters the output to return specific fields.
    • --output: Sets the output format (e.g., text).

💡 Pro Tip: Using aws instead of awslocal

If you prefer using the standard aws CLI without the awslocal wrapper or repeating the --endpoint-url flag, you can configure a dedicated profile in your AWS config files.

1. Configure your Profile

Add the following to your ~/.aws/config file:

[profile localstack]
region = us-east-1
output = json
# This line redirects all commands for this profile to LocalStack
endpoint_url = http://localhost:4566

Add matching dummy credentials to your ~/.aws/credentials file:

[localstack]
aws_access_key_id = test
aws_secret_access_key = test

2. Use it in your Terminal

You can now run commands in two ways:

Option A: Pass the profile flag

aws iam create-user --user-name DevUser --profile localstack

Option B: Set an environment variable (Recommended) Set your profile once in your session, and all subsequent aws commands will automatically target LocalStack:

export AWS_PROFILE=localstack
aws iam create-user --user-name DevUser

Why this works

  • Precedence: The AWS CLI (v2) supports a global endpoint_url setting within a profile. When this is set, the CLI automatically redirects all API calls for that profile to your local container instead of the real AWS cloud.
  • Convenience: This allows you to use the standard documentation commands exactly as written, which is helpful if you are copy-pasting examples from AWS labs or tutorials.