Can I change the reach of an existing instance of EC2 t1.micro?

Question

Sometimes when I try to run my instance of t1.micro EC2, it cannot be prepared, and Amazon recommends trying a different availability zone. Can this be changed for an existing instance?

Answer 1

You cannot directly move an existing EC2 instance to another availability zone.

However, to move an instance to another availability zone, you can indirectly use the following approach:

• Stop (don't finish!) The old instance in the old availability zone.

• Create an AMI based on an old instance.

• Launch a new instance of the new AMI in the new availability zone. This will be a fairly accurate copy of your old copy.

If you are using Elastic IP address, re-associate it with the new instance.

Once you have tested the new instance and know that it works well, complete the old instance in the old availability zone.