How is capacity reservation priced in OCI?

Capacity reservations in OCI are not charged separately — you only pay for instances that are actually running. However, reserved capacity is guaranteed to be available when you launch instances that match the reservation. This differs from AWS and Azure where reserved capacity may have upfront or ongoing commitment costs. OCI capacity reservations are free to create and maintain; billing only occurs when you consume the reserved capacity by running instances.

What happens if I do not use my reserved capacity?

Unused reserved capacity remains available for your use at no cost. Other tenants cannot consume your reserved capacity. However, if you consistently reserve capacity you do not use, Oracle may reclaim unused reservations after extended periods of non-use in certain scenarios. It is best practice to match reservations to your actual or projected peak usage and adjust them as requirements change.

OCI Capacity Reservation Builder

ComputeOCI

Build capacity reservation configurations for guaranteed compute resources across shapes.

OCI Compute Capacity Reservations Configuration

Build capacity reservation configurations for guaranteed compute resources across shapes.

Required Fields

compartmentIddisplayNameavailabilityDomaininstanceReservationConfigs

{
  "compartmentId": "ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaexample",
  "displayName": "q4-burst-capacity-reservation",
  "availabilityDomain": "Uocm:US-ASHBURN-AD-1",
  "isDefaultReservation": false,
  "instanceReservationConfigs": [
    {
      "instanceShape": "VM.Standard.E4.Flex",
      "instanceShapeConfig": {
        "ocpus": 4,
        "memoryInGBs": 64
      },
      "reservedCount": 10,
      "usedCount": 0,
      "faultDomain": "FAULT-DOMAIN-1",
      "clusterConfig": null
    },
    {
      "instanceShape": "VM.Standard.A1.Flex",
      "instanceShapeConfig": {
        "ocpus": 8,
        "memoryInGBs": 48
      },
      "reservedCount": 20,
      "usedCount": 0,
      "faultDomain": "FAULT-DOMAIN-2",
      "clusterConfig": null
    },
    {
      "instanceShape": "VM.GPU.A10.1",
      "instanceShapeConfig": null,
      "reservedCount": 2,
      "usedCount": 0,
      "faultDomain": "FAULT-DOMAIN-3",
      "clusterConfig": null
    }
  ],
  "reservationSummary": {
    "totalOcpusReserved": 200,
    "totalMemoryInGBsReserved": 1600,
    "totalGpusReserved": 2
  },
  "freeformTags": {
    "purpose": "q4-scaling",
    "budget-code": "CAP-2024-Q4"
  }
}

Generated Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

OCI Capacity Reservations guarantee that Compute capacity is available when you need it by reserving specific shapes in specific availability domains. This is critical for workloads that must scale on demand or during planned events where capacity competition could prevent instance launches. This builder helps you configure capacity reservations with shape selection, fault domain preferences, instance counts, and reservation expiry settings.

When to Use This Tool

•Reserving Compute capacity for a planned product launch to ensure instances can be launched immediately during traffic spikes
•Creating long-term capacity reservations for production workloads that require guaranteed availability of specific GPU shapes
•Building capacity reservations across multiple fault domains for high-availability deployments that cannot tolerate launch failures
•Configuring reservations for disaster recovery instances that must be available on-demand in a secondary region

Frequently Asked Questions

How is capacity reservation priced in OCI?: Capacity reservations in OCI are not charged separately — you only pay for instances that are actually running. However, reserved capacity is guaranteed to be available when you launch instances that match the reservation. This differs from AWS and Azure where reserved capacity may have upfront or ongoing commitment costs. OCI capacity reservations are free to create and maintain; billing only occurs when you consume the reserved capacity by running instances.
What happens if I do not use my reserved capacity?: Unused reserved capacity remains available for your use at no cost. Other tenants cannot consume your reserved capacity. However, if you consistently reserve capacity you do not use, Oracle may reclaim unused reservations after extended periods of non-use in certain scenarios. It is best practice to match reservations to your actual or projected peak usage and adjust them as requirements change.

Related Learning Guides

OCI Compute Shapes & Instances18 min read

Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.

OCI Capacity Reservation Builder

ComputeOCI

Build capacity reservation configurations for guaranteed compute resources across shapes.

OCI Compute Capacity Reservations Configuration

Build capacity reservation configurations for guaranteed compute resources across shapes.

Required Fields

compartmentIddisplayNameavailabilityDomaininstanceReservationConfigs

Generated Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

When to Use This Tool

•Reserving Compute capacity for a planned product launch to ensure instances can be launched immediately during traffic spikes
•Creating long-term capacity reservations for production workloads that require guaranteed availability of specific GPU shapes
•Building capacity reservations across multiple fault domains for high-availability deployments that cannot tolerate launch failures
•Configuring reservations for disaster recovery instances that must be available on-demand in a secondary region

Frequently Asked Questions

How is capacity reservation priced in OCI?: Capacity reservations in OCI are not charged separately — you only pay for instances that are actually running. However, reserved capacity is guaranteed to be available when you launch instances that match the reservation. This differs from AWS and Azure where reserved capacity may have upfront or ongoing commitment costs. OCI capacity reservations are free to create and maintain; billing only occurs when you consume the reserved capacity by running instances.
What happens if I do not use my reserved capacity?: Unused reserved capacity remains available for your use at no cost. Other tenants cannot consume your reserved capacity. However, if you consistently reserve capacity you do not use, Oracle may reclaim unused reservations after extended periods of non-use in certain scenarios. It is best practice to match reservations to your actual or projected peak usage and adjust them as requirements change.

Related Learning Guides

OCI Compute Shapes & Instances18 min read