Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the general availability of a new addition to its Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) High Memory family: the U7inh instance. This instance, developed in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), is hosted on the advanced 16-socket HPE Compute Scale-up Server 3200. Built on the AWS Nitro System, the U7inh instance promises a seamless and managed experience consistent with other EC2 instances.
Introduction to U7inh Instance
The U7inh instance is powered by Intel’s fourth-generation Xeon Scalable processors, known as Sapphire Rapids. This robust technology supports an impressive 32 terabytes (TB) of memory and 1920 virtual CPUs (vCPUs). Such specifications make the U7inh instance the most powerful in terms of compute performance and memory size available in the AWS Cloud. It is specifically designed to handle large, mission-critical database workloads, including SAP HANA, which requires significant memory and processing power.
Evolution of EC2 High Memory Instances
In May 2024, AWS introduced U7i instances to the market, providing up to 896 vCPUs and 32 TB of memory. These instances enabled enterprise customers to migrate their sizeable in-memory databases to AWS, leveraging the platform’s flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. As businesses continue to expand their applications and require more robust computing resources, the demand for high-performance instances like U7inh has grown. Customers seek the combined performance of additional CPUs and memory, along with SAP certification, to generate real-time business insights. Moreover, those running on-premises systems with HPE servers have expressed interest in migrating to AWS to benefit from the cloud’s advantages while maintaining their existing HPE hardware.
Technical Specifications of U7inh Instance
The U7inh instance, specifically the U7inh-32tb.480xlarge model, is equipped with:
- 1920 vCPUs
- 32,768 GiB of DDR5 memory
- 160 Gbps of Elastic Block Store (EBS) bandwidth
- 200 Gbps of network bandwidth
This configuration provides double the vCPUs and 1.6 times the EBS bandwidth compared to the largest U7i instance, making it suitable for the most demanding in-memory database workloads, such as SAP HANA. Additionally, it facilitates seamless migration of workloads running on HPE hardware to AWS.
Operating System and Certification
The U7inh instance supports various operating systems, including Amazon Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Enterprise Linux Server. For SAP HANA workloads, the supported operating systems on High Memory instances are SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 for SAP and above, as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6/9.0 for SAP and above.
Importantly, the U7inh instance is SAP certified to run Business Suite on HANA (SoH), Business Suite S/4HANA, Business Warehouse on HANA (BW), and SAP BW/4HANA in production environments. It is also certified for scale-out SAP HANA OLTP workloads, such as S/4HANA, allowing customers to deploy up to four U7inh instances (128TB) in a cluster for even larger SAP HANA workloads.
Migration and Support
For businesses looking to migrate their SAP HANA workloads to the U7inh instance, AWS provides comprehensive guides and tools. The "Migrating SAP HANA on AWS to an EC2 High Memory Instance" guide in the SAP HANA on AWS Guides and the AWS Launch Wizard for SAP in the AWS Launch Wizard User Guide offer detailed instructions to facilitate the migration process.
Availability and Feedback
The Amazon EC2 U7inh instance is now available in the US East (N. Virginia) and US West (Oregon) AWS Regions. Businesses interested in learning more about the U7inh instance can visit the U7i instance product page. Feedback can be submitted through AWS re:Post for EC2 or via usual AWS Support contacts.
Conclusion
The introduction of the U7inh instance marks a significant advancement in AWS’s capabilities to support high-memory, compute-intensive applications. By collaborating with HPE and utilizing Intel’s cutting-edge processors, AWS has delivered a solution that meets the growing demands of enterprise customers. The U7inh instance offers unparalleled memory and processing power, ideal for running large, mission-critical database workloads in the cloud. Businesses looking to migrate from on-premises HPE systems to AWS can do so with confidence, knowing they are using certified, high-performance hardware that integrates seamlessly with existing AWS infrastructures.
For further details and updates, businesses can follow AWS’s official channels and stay informed about future developments in cloud computing and high-memory instance offerings. This new release underscores AWS’s commitment to providing scalable, reliable, and efficient cloud solutions for enterprises worldwide.
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