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Lately, I have been struggling to understand what is my network speed (downlink) between nodes on AWS (in a multi-homed cluster, computers in different regions).

I have a lot of fluctuations when I measure it with a script which I have written (based on this link and SCP) or with Iperf. I believe it is based on network use which changes rapidly (mostly between regions), but I still don't understand AWS documentation about what is the performance I am paying for, a minimum and a maximum downlink rate for example (aws instances).

At first, I have tried the T2 type, and as I saw it had burst CPU performance, I thought that maybe the NIC performance is also bursty so I have moved to M4 type, but I have got the same problems with M4. Is there any way to know my NIC downlink rate based on the type and flavor?

*I have asked a similar question on the AWS forum, but I haven't got a response (https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=296389).

Or Raz
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There is no way to get a better indication that your measuring. AWS does not publish anything indicating this performance, and unless we are talking the larger instance where network performance is actually specifically given. I.e. m5.12xlarge having 10 gbps. Most likely network performance does have a burst component for smaller instance types.

There are pages with other peoples benchmarks, but you won't find any official answer for any of this.

colde
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  • Ok, thus changing from T2 to M4 won't necessarily produce a better network performance although there confusing tags (Medium and High)? As mentioned here (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18507405/ec2-instance-typess-exact-network-performance) knowing the bandwidth in EC2 instances beforehand is indeed a tricky issue. – Or Raz Jan 14 '19 at 21:17
  • @OrRaz I suspect something named "high" likely has a larger number of burst credits or similar. But if you are looking for sustained throughput, i would go with one of the instances that has a specific throughput mentioned. Also, you are usually better off going with the newest version of your instance type (i.e. m5 instead of m4) – colde Jan 15 '19 at 11:04
  • @clode those are some excellent advice! Thanks, I will try what you just have suggested. – Or Raz Jan 16 '19 at 09:41