An EC2 instance (t3.large) running a test web app consistently shows high CPU usage. The team determines the app would perform better on a compute-optimized large instance. What is the proper procedure for the SysOps admin to change the instance type?

Stopping the EC2 instance is necessary to change its instance type. When an instance is stopped, its underlying hardware is released, allowing AWS to provision new hardware with the desired instance type specifications. After the instance type is modified, starting the instance will launch it on the new hardware. Using AWS VM Import/Export is for migrating virtual machine images from on-premises environments to AWS or between AWS regions, not for changing an existing instance's type. Hibernation preserves the in-memory state, but changing the instance type still requires a stop/start cycle. Changing the instance type while the EC2 instance is running is not possible because it requires a change in the underlying hardware configuration.