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Launch Spot Instances in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) lets you define a virtual networking environment in a private, isolated section of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. You have complete control of this virtual network and you can use advanced security features and network access control at the instance level and subnet level. For more information about Amazon VPC, go to the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.

If you want to take advantage of the features of Amazon VPC when you use Spot Instances, specify in your Spot Request that your instances are to be launched in Amazon VPC. Before you can specify that your Spot Instances are to be launched in Amazon VPC, you must set up a VPC. For information about setting up an Amazon VPC, see Getting Started with Amazon VPC in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Getting Started Guide.

Quick Look: Launching Spot Instances in Amazon VPC Video

The following video shows how to launch your first Spot Instance in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) using the AWS Management Console. This video includes instructions for creating your Amazon VPC subnet, placing a bid, determining when the instance is fulfilled, and canceling the instance.

The process for making a Spot Instance request that launches in Amazon VPC is the same as the process you follow when you make a Spot Instance request in a non-VPC portion of Amazon EC2. The main differences are that you:

Base your Spot Price bid on Spot Price history of Spot Instances in VPCs.
When you use the DescribeSpotPriceHistory action or the ec2-describe-spot-price-history command, add Amazon VPC to the product-description filter. For example:
```
PROMPT> ec2-describe-spot-price-history -s '2011-09-08T00:00:00Z' -t m1.xlarge -d "Linux/UNIX (Amazon VPC)"
```
Using the AWS Management Console, check the Spot Price History page to see the Spot pricing history for Amazon EC2 instances running in both Amazon EC2 and Amazon VPC.
Specify the VPC subnet in which you want to launch your Spot Instance.
When you use the RequestSpotInstances action or the ec2-request-spot-instances command, specify the ID of the Amazon VPC subnet in which you want to launch the Spot Instance.
```
PROMPT> ec2-request-spot-instances ami-8e1fece7 -t m1.xlarge -p '$0.01' -n 5 -r 'one-time' -s 'subnet-baab943d3'
```
When you launch the Request Instances Wizard from the Spot Instance page of the AWS Management Console, select a subnet after specifying that you're launching the Spot Instance into a VPC.

	Note
	The Request Spot Instances page will show the VPC option only if you have created a VPC and subnet before making the Spot Instance request.

For more information about using Amazon VPC, go to the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.

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