Managing SPICE memory capacity

SPICE (Super-fast, Parallel, In-memory Calculation Engine) is the robust in-memory engine that QuickSight uses. It's engineered to rapidly perform advanced calculations and serve data. In Enterprise edition, data stored in SPICE is encrypted at rest. For more information, see Data encryption in Amazon QuickSight.

SPICE capacity is allocated separately per AWS Region. For each AWS account, SPICE capacity is shared by all the people using QuickSight in a single AWS Region. The other AWS Regions have no SPICE capacity unless you choose to purchase some.

QuickSight administrators can view how much SPICE capacity you have in each AWS Region and how much of it is currently in use. Administrators can also purchase additional SPICE capacity or release unused SPICE capacity. You can only release SPICE capacity that isn't currently used by a dataset. Datasets in SPICE stay there until someone remove them from SPICE. To change that, you can either delete the datasets or change them so they aren't stored in SPICE.

Purchasing or releasing SPICE capacity only affects the capacity for the currently selected AWS Region. Each AWS account can have a separate QuickSight subscription and can be used in multiple AWS Regions. For information about additional SPICE pricing, see Amazon QuickSight pricing.

Before you make any changes to SPICE capacity, make sure that you're using the correct AWS account and AWS Region. It's possible to be using different AWS accounts or AWS Regions at the same time in different contexts, as follows:

• If you open QuickSight using the http://quicksight.aws.amazon.com URL, QuickSight automatically selects your account and AWS Region. You can't view your AWS account from QuickSight. We recommend using a different method to open QuickSight when you want to work with SPICE capacity.

• If you open QuickSight from the AWS Management Console, QuickSight opens in the account that you used to sign in to that console. However, it opens in the last AWS Region that you selected in QuickSight. The AWS Management Console and the QuickSight console each have an AWS Region selector that works independently from the other. Changing the selected AWS Region in the AWS console doesn't change the AWS Region in QuickSight.

• If you use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to run QuickSight commands, make sure to provide the relevant AWS account for each QuickSight API operation you use. The AWS Region isn't always required, and if you don't provide it, the AWS CLI uses your default AWS Region from your AWS configuration. We recommend that you always explicitly provide the AWS Region, to make sure you apply the command to the correct AWS Region.

You must be signed in as a QuickSight administrator to view or manage SPICE capacity.

Finding your current AWS account and AWS Region

To select the correct AWS account and AWS Region (console)

1. Open the AWS console, using the AWS account that you want to view SPICE information for. If you have only one AWS account, you can skip this step.

   You can verify the account number by following these steps:

   1. On the navigation bar at the top of the page, choose the account name or number at right. If a number displays, this might be your AWS account ID.

   2. Choose My Security Credentials to display your credential-related information and options. Your AWS account ID displays near the top of the page.

   To return to the original page, choose the AWS logo at upper left.

2. Open QuickSight by first entering "quicksight" into the Find Services search box. When the word QuickSight appears following the search box, choose it from the list.

3. In QuickSight, open the profile menu by choosing your profile icon at top right. The AWS name of the AWS Region that QuickSight is using displays in the menu.

   The same AWS Region also displays in the URL, for example: https://us-east-1.quicksight.aws.amazon.com/sn/admin. If this is your URL, the profile menu displays the name N. Virginia.

   To switch AWS Regions, display the list of supported Regions by choosing the Region name from the profile menu. Then choose the Region that you want to use. Switching to a different AWS Region changes the SPICE usage information that you can view. It also changes the QuickSight assets that you can use, for example data sources and dashboards.

Viewing SPICE capacity and usage in an AWS Region

To view current SPICE capacity and usage (console)

1. Open QuickSight. Make sure that you're using the correct AWS account and AWS Region as described previously in Finding your current AWS account and AWS Region.

2. Open the administration page by choosing Manage QuickSight from your profile menu.

3. Choose SPICE capacity from the left navigation pane . The following information displays:

   • The Total SPICE capacity section displays the total amount of used and unused SPICE capacity. A bar graph shows how much of this storage space is in each of the following categories for this AWS account in the AWS Region that's currently selected in QuickSight:

     • Purchased SPICE capacity – This is the additional SPICE capacity.

     • SPICE capacity bundled with QuickSight – This is the total default capacity associated with your paid users.

     Hover over any section of the meter to see details on that capacity type.

   • The SPICE usage section displays the total amount of the used and unused SPICE capacity. A bar graph shows how much of this storage space is in each of the following categories for this AWS account in the AWS Region that's currently selected in QuickSight:

     • Used SPICE capacity – This is the used portion of the default SPICE capacity that you get for each user.

     • Unused SPICE capacity – This is the unused portion of the default SPICE capacity that you get for each user.

     • Releasable unused capacity – This is the purchased capacity that isn't in use, and so can be released to reduce costs.

Purchasing SPICE capacity in an AWS Region

To purchase more SPICE capacity (console)

1. Open QuickSight. Make sure that you're using the correct AWS account and AWS Region as described previously in Finding your current AWS account and AWS Region.

2. Open the administration page by choosing Manage QuickSight from your profile menu.

3. Choose SPICE capacity from the left navigation pane .

4. Choose the Purchase more capacity button.

5. Enter a number of gigabytes of SPICE capacity to purchase for the AWS Region that is currently selected in QuickSight.

6. To confirm your choice, choose Purchase SPICE capacity. To exit without making any changes, choose Cancel.

Turning SPICE auto capacity purchasing on

Turn on SPICE auto capacity purchasing to allow Amazon QuickSight to automatically manage your QuickSight account's SPICE capacity. When you turn auto capacity purchasing on, QuickSight evaluates how much capacity is needed based on your account's usage. As your account uses more SPICE storage, automatically purchases SPICE capacity as needed on your behalf. This allows users to ingest data as needed without the need to estimate usage or manually purchase SPICE data. Auto capacity purchasing makes it easier for new customers, ISVs, and larger companies to directly access SPICE without needing to understand, track, or manually purchase their account's SPICE capacity. QuickSight admins can still purchase and release SPICE capacity manually.

Auto capacity purchasing doesn't support auto-decrement. If users want to reduce their SPICE usage, capacity release must be done manually.

By default, all new QuickSight accounts that are created in the console have auto capacity purchasing turned on in the region that their capacity is located. To turn on auto capacity purchasing for other regions, QuickSight account admins can manually turn on auto capacity from the SPICE capacity management page.

By default, all new QuickSight accounts that were created with the QuickSight API and all existing QuickSight accounts have auto capacity purchasing turned off. To turn on auto capacity purchasing, QuickSight account admins can manually turn on auto capacity from the SPICE capacity management page.

To turn SPICE capacity purchasing on or off

1. From any page in the QuickSight console, choose your profile name, and then choose Manage QuickSight.

   The Manage QuickSight menu is only available to QuickSight admins. If you are unable to acces this menu, contact your QuickSight account admin for assistance.

2. Choose SPICE capacity.

3. On the SPICE Capacity page that opens, toggle the Auto-purchase capacity on, as shown in the image below.

   

To turn auto capacity purchasing off, follow the procedure above and toggle Auto-purchase capacity off. When auto purchase capacity is turned off, ingestions or refreshes that exceed the account's SPICE capacity automatically fail.

QuickSight admins can turn auto capacity pricing on or off at any time. If you turn auto capacity purchasing off after it's been in use, your account's current capacity becomes your account's purchased capacity. If your account has no ramining capacity when you turn auto purchase off, the next ingestion or refresh will fail.

If your account already exceeds its SPICE capacity when you turn auto capacity purchasing on, QuickSight automatically matches your account's capacity to your current usage. After QuickSight matches your account's capacity, the auto-purchase logic starts.

Releasing SPICE capacity in an AWS Region

To release unused SPICE capacity (console)

1. Open QuickSight. Make sure that you're using the correct AWS account and AWS Region as described previously in Finding your current AWS account and AWS Region.

2. Open the administration page by choosing Manage QuickSight from your profile menu.

3. Choose SPICE capacity from the left navigation pane .

4. Choose Release unused purchased capacity.

5. Do one of the following:

   • To release all SPICE capacity from the AWS Region that is currently selected in QuickSight, choose Release all.

   • To release some of gigabytes of SPICE capacity from the AWS Region that is currently selected in QuickSight, enter the number of gigabytes to release.

6. To confirm your choice, choose Release SPICE capacity. To exit without making any changes, choose Cancel.