Resizing an EC2 instance

Changing an instance's size means stopping it and starting it again, and a stop is not a reboot. 2501 carries the change through from start to finish and confirms the instance is back at its new size, all within limits you set.

An instance needs to be larger. It looks like a few clicks, but a stop has consequences: temporary local storage is wiped and a public address that was not reserved changes, while the main disk, its data and the private address stay. A resize interrupted halfway leaves the instance stopped: an outage caused by maintenance.

What 2501 does

The AWS specialty stops the instance, changes its size and brings it back up, waiting for each step to complete before moving to the next. It confirms the instance is running at the new size before reporting the change on the ticket. Asked only to investigate, it reports the current size, the target, and what the stop would cost, without stopping anything.

You stay in control

• You choose the level: investigate only, act after a person confirms, or act on its own within your rules. The level is set per specialty, not per ticket.
• The access you give it is the hard limit: it can only do what the AWS permissions you grant it allow.
• Your rules apply: change windows, which instances may be stopped unattended, and which never may. A resize is a planned outage, however short.
• Some actions are never allowed: blacklisted commands and hosts stay out of reach, so a resize can never become a deletion.

Frequently asked

Can I resize an instance without stopping it? No. It has to be stopped for the size to change, and a reboot is not enough.

What is lost when an instance is stopped? Anything on temporary local storage, and a public address that was not reserved. The main disk, its data and the private address remain.

Does the instance stay in the same network? Yes. A stop and start does not move it.

Related

• AWS Central
• Guardrails: what an agent may never touch