Question: What do I need to do before migrating my EC2 instance to a sixth generation instance to make sure that I get maximum network performance?

I want to know what steps I must take before I migrate my Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance to a sixth generation instance.

Short descriptionSixth generation instances (except C6g, M6g, and R6g instances) might require an updated driver for the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA). Running earlier ENA drivers with sixth generation instances might lead to suboptimal performance or elastic network interface attachment failure. Before migrating to sixth generation instances, make sure that your AMI includes compatible drivers. Or, if you plan to launch the instance with a new AMI, make sure that you select the correct AMI version with embedded compatible drivers.

ResolutionLinux-based operating systemsTo make sure that the appropriate driver is installed before migration, do the following:1.    If you're using Amazon Linux 2, then run the following command to verify the ENA driver version. Also, run this command if you ever updated the ENA driver from the Amazon ENA GitHub repository for any OS.modinfo ena2.    Use the command results and the following table to verify that your ENA driver is updated. If the results show an earlier version than the value in the Version column of the table, then update the driver.EnvironmentVersionLinux ENA GitHubENA driver version v2.2.9Linux upstreamKernel version 5.9Amazon Linux 2Kernel 4.14.186Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)RHEL 8.3 kernel 4.18.0-240.1.1.el8_3.ARCHSUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)SLE 12 SP4 kernel 4.12.14-95.99.3, SLE 12 SP5 kernel 4.12.14-122.116.1, SLE 15 kernel 4.12.14-150000.150.92.2, SLE 15 SP1 kernel 4.12.14-150100.197.114.2, SLE 15 SP2 kernel 5.3.18-24.15.1 and all later SLE version kernelsLinux Ubuntu20.04 kernel 5.4.0-1025-awsDPDKv20.11FreeBSDv2.3.1Note: The following earlier ENA driver versions result in elastic network interface attachment failure with sixth generation instances.ENA Linux: Earlier than v1.2.0ENA DPDK: Earlier than v1.1.1ENA VMware ESXi: Earlier than 1.6.0ENA FreeBSD: Earlier than v2.3.1Windows-based operating systemsNote: Only Windows Server 2008 R2 or later is compatible with sixth generation instances.To make sure that the appropriate driver is installed before migration, do the following:1.    Open PowerShell in the EC2 Windows instance that you want to migrate to sixth generation. Then, run the following command:Get-WmiObject Win32_PnPSignedDriver| select devicename, driverversion | where {$_.devicename -like "*Amazon Elastic Network*"}The following is an example of the command output:devicename   driverversion----------        -------------Amazon Elastic Network Adapter 2.1.4.02.    If the preceding command's output indicates that the driver version is earlier than v2.0.0, then update the driver. Driver versions earlier than v2.0.0 result in elastic network interface attachment failure with sixth generation instances.If the command has no output, then a driver isn't present. For information on installing a driver, see Turn on enhanced networking on Windows.

Related informationTurn on enhanced networking with the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) on Windows instances