Question

A SysOps administrator runs a small web application on a t3.medium instance in the default (Standard) burstable mode. During business hours the application experiences sustained CPU usage well above the instance's baseline, and users report slow response times. CloudWatch shows the CPUCreditBalance dropping to zero during these periods, after which CPU is throttled. The team wants to eliminate the throttling while keeping costs as low as possible for an unpredictable, occasionally sustained workload. What is the MOST cost-effective way to address this?

Accepted Answer

Enable T3 Unlimited mode on the instance so it can sustain high CPU beyond the baseline, paying for surplus credits only when they are consumed

Answer

Migrate the workload to a compute-optimized c5.large instance to guarantee consistent CPU performance

Answer

Purchase a Standard Reserved Instance for the t3.medium to increase its baseline CPU allocation

Answer

Attach a larger EBS gp3 volume with higher provisioned IOPS to relieve the CPU bottleneck