Using the New EC2 Instance Types

Amazon has now enabled different types of EC2 instances. In addition to the original instance type (now called m1.small) there are two addition types of instances, m1.large and m1.xlarge (see this) for more details.

To accommodate this new feature, a new parameter has been added to the run_instances method of EC2Connection object in boto as well as to the run method of the Image object. This new string parameter, called instance_type defaults to a value of "m1.small" for backward compatibility. However, passing a value of "m1.large" or "m1.xlarge" will create instances of the new Instance Types.

Because the new Instance Types are 64-bit architectures, you need to be sure that the AMI you are using is compatible with the new instance. AWS has provided some sample, public AMI's based on 64-bit Linux images and you can follow the same procedure as before to modify and rebundle these or create your own AMI from a loopback device on a local machine.

The 0.9c release of boto incorporates this initial support of Instance Types. Future releases may refine the support.