Renewing AWS savings plans and instance reservations

How to safely navigate AWS for the scary task of committing for future spent

Problem

You receive alerts for CkiSavingsPlans or CkiReservedInstances.

Steps

  1. Take a look at the Grafana dashboard to determine the savings plan/instance reservation that is going to expire. Confirm this in the AWS web UI for savings plans and reserved instances.

  2. If this is a shared AWS account, obtain agreement of all stakeholders about the way forward. Options include

    • renew the savings plan or instance reservation
    • convert the instance reservation into a savings plan
    • move the covered workloads off the AWS account
    • let the savings plan or instance reservation expire, e.g. because covered workloads will change within the next year
  3. For renewing a savings plan, select the appropriate savings plan in the list. Click on “Actions” -> “Renew savings plan”. Sanity-check the displayed amount, and then click on “Submit order”.

  4. For renewing an instance reservation, select the appropriate instance reservation in the list. Record the instance count associated with the reservation. Click on “Actions” -> “Renew reserved instances” and correct the quantity to the previously recorded instance count. Sanity-check the displayed average monthly recurring costs, and then click on “Order all”.

  5. Both savings plans and instance reservations can be deleted before they come into effect, i.e. as long as they are in state queued.