What is an instance type in AWS

What is an instance type in AWS

Simplified definition:
The instance type is the CPU (compute power) of your instance.

AWS Definition:
When you launch an instance, the instance type that you specify determines the hardware of the host computer used for your instance. Each instance type offers different compute, memory, and storage capabilities and are grouped in instance families based on these capabilities. Select an instance type based on the requirements of the application or software that you plan to run on your instance.

Instance types components:

1.Family:
- a way of categorizing instance types based on what they are optimized to do.

2.Type
-subcategory for each family type

3.vCPUs:
-the number of virtual CPUs the instance type uses

4.Memory (GiB):
-the amount of RAM the type uses

5.EBS optimized available:
-indicates is EBS-optimized is an option for the instance type.

6.Network performance
-network performance rating based on its data transfer rate (bandwidth capability)