Microsoft SQL Server is not supported for the instance type 'g5.xlarge'?

Question

I have created an instance of g5.xlarge with the Microsoft WIndows 2019 Server and MSSQL Server Standard 2019 AMI.  When I tried to launch the instance, it failed at launch initiation with the message: "Microsoft SQL Server is not supported for the instance type 'g5.xlarge'".  Does this just mean that the AMI is incompatible with g5.xlarge and I just need to select the Windows 2019 AMI launch it and then install MSSQL server myself or, will it not run on a g5.xlarge instance?  If not, are there any options to use an alternative configuration such as a Fail Over Cluster Instance?

Answer

Go to https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/ and select Windows with SQL Standard as the OS and it will list what instance types are able to be used with this AMI.

It appears that G5 instances (and indeed, any Accelerated Computing instance types https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/#Accelerated_Computing ) are not supported.

Best to look for an instance type with a similar spec to the g5.xlarge among the instance types that are supported.

Answer

Windows is not supported ton Graviton instances, but it is on Nitro.

If you are using linux you can use Graviton instances and Run SQL Server on it.

You can use [Always On Failover Cluster Instances (FCI)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/always-on-failover-cluster-instances-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver16) for instance-level failover using Amazon FSx providing shared storage. For more information, please see the implementation using [FSx for Windows](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/storage/simplify-your-microsoft-sql-server-high-availability-deployments-using-amazon-fsx-for-windows-file-server/) and[ FSx for NetApp ONTAP](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/modernizing-with-aws/sql-server-high-availability-amazon-fsx-for-netapp-ontap/)

Microsoft SQL Server is not supported for the instance type 'g5.xlarge'?

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