I'm facing an issue where my account is currently limited to just 1 vCPU, but I want to use an EC2 instance that qualifies for the free tier, which requires at least 2 vCPUs. When I try to request an increase to 2 vCPUs, the web form won't process it since 2 is below the default cap of 5 vCPUs. However, when I attempt to request the default 5 vCPUs, I get a response stating that their policy is to reduce the risk of unexpected billing spikes. This limitation makes it impossible for me to launch a free tier-eligible EC2 instance. What steps can I take to resolve this issue?
3 Answers
If you're on the free tier, you should stick to instance types like T3.micro, T3.small, T4g.micro, and T4g.small. However, I totally get that these use at least 2 vCPUs, which doesn't help your situation. You might want to check if there's a promotional offer for any of these types, but if you’re stuck with 1 vCPU, it's a pain to get around that.
Could you share the exact error messages you're encountering? If you can't request 2 vCPUs because 2 is less than 5, perhaps try asking for a number higher than 5 instead. That might bypass the issue you're having with the request form.
AWS doesn’t let you add vCPUs to an already running instance like some other platforms do. You need to shut down your instance and select a different type with the desired capacity. If you're getting that billing warning, it sounds like there might be some additional settings in your cloud interface, not just AWS directly.
Yeah, exactly. That's why I'm having trouble launching any instances that fit the free tier. It's really frustrating!