Amazon EC2 AMIs Now Support Instance Type Restrictions

Amazon EC2 has introduced a feature allowing AMI owners to specify compatible and incompatible instance types for their AMIs. According to AWS What's New's official changelog, this ensures that any launch attempt on a non-permitted instance type is automatically blocked, reducing the risk of failed launches due to incompatibilities. By default, AMIs can still be launched on any instance type unless restrictions are explicitly set, ensuring existing workflows are not disrupted. This feature is available globally and comes at no additional cost.

Operators should review their AMI configurations and assess whether specifying instance type restrictions is necessary for their workloads. While this feature can prevent compatibility issues, it may also inadvertently block valid instance types if restrictions are misconfigured. Testing and documentation of supported instance types for each AMI are recommended before applying restrictions to avoid operational disruptions.