This CloudFix feature identifies Amazon EBS volumes that can be cost-optimized by converting them from io1/io2 volume types to gp3, while maintaining equivalent performance. The conversion process is automated and requires no downtime, offering significant cost savings with minimal risk.

Contents

Overview

The EBS Retype IO1/IO2 to Gp3 Volumes feature identifies opportunities to optimize your AWS storage costs by converting high-performance io1/io2 volumes to more cost-effective gp3 volumes when appropriate. This conversion maintains equivalent performance while potentially reducing costs by up to 60%.

AWS Services Affected

Amazon EBS
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)

Identification Criteria

CloudFix identifies EBS volumes that meet the following criteria for potential conversion:

  • Current volume type is io1 or io2
  • Provisioned IOPS is 16,000 or less (maximum supported by gp3)
  • Volume has been in use for at least 7 days
  • Volume is attached to a single instance (multi-attach volumes are excluded)
  • io2 Block Express volumes are excluded

Potential Cost Savings

The cost savings from converting io1/io2 volumes to gp3 can be substantial:

  • GP3 volumes are 36% cheaper than io1/io2 volumes in storage size
  • GP3 includes 3,000 provisioned IOPS at no additional cost
  • Additional IOPS on GP3 are up to 13x cheaper than on io1/io2

For example, a 1TB volume in the US East 1 region with 10,000 provisioned IOPS and 1000MiBps throughput costs:

  • GP3: $1,590 per year
  • IO1/IO2: $9,300 per year
  • Potential savings: 87%

Implementation Process

When the CloudFix Fixer is executed, it:

  1. Takes a snapshot of the volume as a precautionary measure
  2. Retypes the volume from io1/io2 to GP3
  3. Configures equivalent provisioned IOPS and throughput settings
  4. Deletes the snapshot after successful conversion

The entire process is performed without any service disruption or downtime, as AWS supports live volume type modifications for volumes with the Elastic Volumes feature (supported for all volumes attached after November 3, 2016).

Rollback Options

If needed, you have two rollback options:

  • Manual retype back to the original io1/io2 type without service disruption
  • In rare failure cases, restore from the snapshot taken before the conversion