Reservations

Reservations give you exclusive access to the quantum device of your choice. You can schedule a reservation at your convenience, so you know exactly when your workload starts and ends execution. Reservations are available in 1-hour increments and can be cancelled up to 48 hours in advance, at no additional charge. You can choose to queue quantum tasks and hybrid jobs for an upcoming reservation in advance, or submit workloads during your reservation.

The cost of dedicated device access is based on the duration of your reservation, regardless of how many quantum tasks and hybrid jobs you run on the Quantum Processing Unit (QPU).

The following quantum computers are available for reservations:

• IonQ’s Aria

• IQM’s Garnet

• QuEra’s Aquila

• Rigetti’s Aspen-M-3

When to use a reservation

Leveraging dedicated device access with reservations provides you with the convenience and predictability of knowing exactly when your quantum workload starts and ends execution. Compared to submitting tasks and hybrid jobs on-demand, you do not have wait in a queue with other customer tasks. Because you have exclusive access to the device during your reservation, only your workloads run on the device for the entirety of the reservation.

We recommend using on-demand access for the design and prototyping phase of your research, enabling quick and cost-efficient iteration of your algorithms. Once you are ready to produce final experiment results, consider scheduling a device reservation at your convenience to ensure that you can meet project or publication deadlines. We also recommend using reservations when you desire task execution during specific times, such as when you're running a live demo or workshop on a quantum computer.

Create a reservation

To create a reservation, contact the Braket team by following these steps:

1. Open the Amazon Braket console.

2. Choose Braket Direct in the left pane, and then in the Reservations section, choose Reserve device .

3. Select the Device that you would like to reserve.

4. Provide your contact information including Name and Email. Be sure to provide a valid email address that you regularly check.

5. Under Tell us about your workload, provide any details about the workload to run using your reservation. For example, desired reservation length, relevant constraints, or desired schedule.

6. If you are interested in connecting with a Braket expert for a reservation prep session after your reservation is confirmed, optionally select I’m interested in a prep session.

You can also contact us to create a reservation by following these steps:

1. Open the Amazon Braket console.

2. Choose Devices in the left pane and choose the device that you would like to reserve.

3. In the Summary section, choose Reserve device.

4. Follow steps 4-6 in the previous procedure.

After you submit the form, you receive an email from the Braket team with the next steps to create your reservation. Once your reservation is confirmed, you receive the reservation ARN via email.

Note

Your reservation is only confirmed once you receive the reservation ARN.

Reservations are available in minimum 1-hour increments and certain devices might have additional reservation length constraints (including minimum and maximum reservation durations). The Braket team shares any relevant information with you prior to confirming the reservation.

If you indicated interest in a reservation prep session, the Braket team contacts you via email to arrange a 30-minute session with a Braket expert.

Run quantum tasks during a reservation

After obtaining a valid reservation ARN from Create a reservation, you can create quantum tasks to run during the reservation. These tasks remain in the QUEUED state until your reservation begins.

Note

Reservations are AWS account and device-specific. Only the AWS account that created the reservation can use your reservation ARN.

Note

There is no queue visibility for tasks and jobs submitted with a reservation ARN because only your tasks run during your reservation.

You can create quantum tasks using Python SDKs such as Braket, Qiskit, PennyLane, or directly with boto3 (Working with Boto3). To use reservations, you must have version v1.79.0 or higher of the Amazon Braket Python SDK. You can update to the latest Braket SDK, Qiskit provider and PennyLane plugin with the following code.

pip install --upgrade amazon-braket-sdk amazon-braket-pennylane-plugin qiskit-braket-provider

Run tasks with the DirectReservation context manager

The recommended way to run a task within your scheduled reservation is to use the DirectReservation context manager. By specifying your target device and reservation ARN, the context manager ensures that all tasks created within the Python with statement are run with exclusive access to the device.

First, define a quantum circuit and the device. Then use the reservation context and run the task.

from braket.aws import AwsDevice, DirectReservation
from braket.circuits import Circuit
from braket.devices import Devices

bell = Circuit().h(0).cnot(0, 1)
device = AwsDevice(Devices.IonQ.Aria1)

# run the circuit in a reservation
with DirectReservation(device, reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>"):
    task = device.run(bell, shots=100)

You can create quantum tasks in a reservation using PennyLane and Qiskit plugins, as long as the DirectReservation context is active while creating quantum tasks. For example, with the Qiskit-Braket provider, you can run tasks as follows.

from braket.devices import Devices
from braket.aws import DirectReservation
from qiskit import QuantumCircuit
from qiskit_braket_provider import BraketProvider


qc = QuantumCircuit(2)
qc.h(0)
qc.cx(0, 1)

aria = BraketProvider().get_backend("Aria 1")

# run the circuit in a reservation
with DirectReservation(Devices.IonQ.Aria1, reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>"):
    aria_task = aria.run(qc, shots=10)

Similarly, the following code runs a circuit during a reservation using the Braket-PennyLane plugin.

from braket.devices import Devices
from braket.aws import DirectReservation
import pennylane as qml


dev = qml.device("braket.aws.qubit", device_arn=Devices.IonQ.Aria1.value, wires=2, shots=10)

@qml.qnode(dev)
def bell_state():
    qml.Hadamard(wires=0)
    qml.CNOT(wires=[0, 1])
    return qml.probs(wires=[0, 1])

# run the circuit in a reservation
with DirectReservation(Devices.IonQ.Aria1, reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>"):
    probs = bell_state()    

Manually setting the reservation context

Alternatively, you can manually set the reservation context with the following code.

# set reservation context 
reservation = DirectReservation(device, reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>").start()

# run circuit during reservation
task = device.run(bell, shots=100)

This is ideal for Jupyter notebooks where the context can be run in the first cell and all subsequent tasks will run in the reservation.

Note

The cell containing the .start() call should only be run once.

To switch back to the on-demand mode: Restart the Jupyter notebook, or call the following to change the context back to on-demand mode.

reservation.stop()  # unset reservation context 

Note

Reservations have a scheduled start and end time (see Create a reservation). The reservation.start() and reservation.stop() methods do not begin or terminate a reservation. These are methods to modify all subsequent quantum tasks to run during the reservation. These methods have no effect on the scheduled reservation time.

Explicitly pass the reservation ARN when creating task

Another way to create tasks during a reservation is to explicitly pass the reservation ARN when calling device.run().

task = device.run(bell, shots=100, reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>")

This method directly associates the quantum task with the reservation ARN, ensuring it runs during the reserved period. For this option, add the reservation ARN to each task you plan to run during a reservation. Additionally, check that tasks created in Qiskit or PennyLane are using the correct reservation ARN. Due to these additional considerations, the prior two ways are recommended.

When directly using boto3, pass the reservation ARN as an association when creating a task.

import boto3

braket_client = boto3.client("braket")


kwargs["associations"] = [
    {
        "arn": "<my_reservation_arn>",
        "type": "RESERVATION_TIME_WINDOW_ARN",
    }
]

response = braket_client.create_quantum_task(**kwargs)

Run hybrid jobs during a reservation

Once you have a Python function to run as a hybrid job, you can run the hybrid job in a reservation by passing the reservation_arn keyword argument. All tasks within the hybrid job use the reservation ARN. Importantly, the hybrid job with reservation_arn only spins up the classical compute once your reservation starts.

Note

A hybrid job running during a reservation only successfully runs quantum tasks on the reserved device. Attempting to use a different on-demand Braket device will result in an error. If you need to run tasks on both an on-demand simulator and the reserved device within the same hybrid job, use DirectReservation instead.

The following code to runs a hybrid job during a reservation.

from braket.aws import AwsDevice
from braket.devices import Devices
from braket.jobs import get_job_device_arn, hybrid_job

@hybrid_job(device=Devices.IonQ.Aria1, reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>")
def example_hybrid_job():
    # declare AwsDevice within the hybrid job
    device = AwsDevice(get_job_device_arn())
    bell = Circuit().h(0).cnot(0, 1)
    
    task = device.run(bell, shots=10)

For hybrid jobs that use a Python script (see Create your first Hybrid Job), you can run them in the reservation by passing the reservation_arn keyword argument

from braket.aws import AwsQuantumJob 
from braket.devices import Devices

job = AwsQuantumJob.create( 
    Devices.IonQ.Aria1, 
    source_module="algorithm_script.py", 
    entry_point="algorithm_script:start_here",
    reservation_arn="<my_reservation_arn>"
)

What happens at the end of your reservation

After your reservation ends, you no longer have dedicated access to the device. Any remaining workloads that are queued with this reservation are automatically canceled.

Note

Any job that was in RUNNING status when the reservation ends is canceled. We recommend using checkpoints to save and restart jobs at your convenience.

An ongoing reservation, such as after reservation start and before reservation end, can't be extended because each reservation represents standalone dedicated device access. For example, two back-to-back reservations are considered separate and any pending tasks from the first reservation are automatically canceled. They do not resume in the second reservation.

Note

Reservations represent dedicated device access for your AWS account. Even if the device remains idle, no other customers can use it. Therefore, you are charged for the length of the reserved time, regardless of the utilized time.

Cancel or reschedule an existing reservation

You can cancel your reservation no less than 48 hours before the scheduled reservation start time. To cancel, respond to the reservation confirmation email you received with your cancellation request.

To reschedule, you have to cancel your existing reservation, and then create a new one.