By: Albert McQuiston | Updated: 2024-12-03 | Comments | Related: > Amazon AWS
Problem
Every organization looks to save on its cloud expenses to align with business objectives. With the following tips, you can optimize your Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud expenditure and review the key aspects where you can save more effectively.
Solution
Cloud infrastructure today has become a household name, so fine-tuning it is also pretty important. This article is a sure-shot guide to carry out best practices for cloud cost optimization. We assure you by following these strategies you won't only save in terms of cost but successfully eliminate unused resources as well. Of course, a few years ago, managing cloud usage was a very tedious task. But, with evolving innovative approaches, it can be a smooth process.
What is AWS Cloud Optimization and why is it so important?
Cloud optimization is a procedure of meticulously selecting, provisioning, and, above all, right-sizing all the computer resources to work in sync with the existing application. The ultimate goal is to successfully reduce wastage, streamline the workload, and optimize efficiency to a great extent. Reduce overspending, increase transparency, and increase productivity - why shouldn't the concept be taken advantage of?
Before the concept of cloud optimization, the senseless usage of domain expertise for just estimating the baseline performance was driving us insane. However, with the integration of machine learning, such procedures have given us great relief. Still not convinced about conducting cloud optimization?
What if I say conducting proper cloud optimization can enhance overall software quality, assure cross-team collaboration, and boost application performance all at once? And when you achieve all this, isn't it obvious that the return on investment will also increase here? So, yes, in one way or another, cloud optimization ensures a wide range of benefits, be it short-term or long-term.
One of the major issues observed across the globe is cloud spending. It is said that the IT spending market has increased from 9% to 14% and there are no signs of it slowing down. Concepts such as containerization, edge computing, and virtualization have played a crucial role in cloud spending. Cloud technology is no longer a want but a need. One cannot do anything about it. The good news is that costs can be controlled to a great extent. All you need to do is understand the technicalities required and come up with the right set of strategies and best practices.
Moving on, we will be now focusing on some of the best practices to consider for AWS cloud cost optimization.
AWS Cost Optimization Tips
AWS has become one of the leading cloud computing platforms offering a plethora of services: storing, computing, networking, managing databases, and orchestration. So, not considering these services is a huge loss at the same time optimizing AWS's costs is equally important.
Now, you must be wondering what exactly leads to unplanned spending in the AWS architecture. Some of the common or potential cost pitfalls of cloud overspending are:
- Lack of dedicated cloud team.
- Underutilization of Amazon EC2.
- Complex AWS environment.
- No use of saving plans.
- Overwhelming number of services.
- Auto-scaling is not optimal at all.
Fret not, below you will come across some of the most insane opportunities to reduce costs. Are you ready to implement these recommended AWS cloud cost optimization strategies?
Minimize Data Transfer Costs
Tell me something: Are object storage and computer services available in the same region? Now you must be wondering what kind of question is that. Well, when you have object storage and computer services in the same region, data transfer is free. You may also be interested to know that AWS charges $0.02/GB to download the file from another AWS region.
So, what happens when you do too many cross-region transfers? At first, you might find it cheaper to replicate the object storage to a completely different region or space. But, if you look at the big picture, things might not turn out to be as cost-effective as expected.
Identify Underutilized Amazon EC2 Instances
Another interesting cloud optimization strategy to consider is looking for underutilized Amazon EC2 instances. Fortunately, we have AWS Cost Explorer which in some way assists in managing the overall cost of Amazon services. In the end, you will find a Resource Optimization report where you can find idle and underutilized EC2 instances.
Apart from that, here are a few interesting tools that must be considered immediately:
- AWS Instance Scheduler - A pre-integrated Amazon solution mainly considered to stop instances automatically on the set time and date. This is possible within business hours as well as outside.
- AWS Operations Conductor - This tool has the potential to automatically resize EC2 instances based on recommendations offered by Cost Explorer.
- AWS Compute Optimizer – This identifies the most appropriate instance type depending on the workload. And you no longer need to scale down, especially among the group of instances. So, what happens when the goal is about downsizing? Well, it's great that the chances of eliminating performance-based bottlenecks automatically increase.
Utilize Cost-Allocation Tags
It's fine if you are still unaware of AWS Cost Allocation Tags since the concept is underutilized. In the future, there will be more scope and hype. These are amazing tools that have the potential to provide businesses with a high level of detail within their cost reports. With the help of such tools, it is very easy to transform the financial situation greatly.
Of course, these AWS resources can be attached to EC2 instances, S3 buckets, or Lambda functions. Once activated, all your cost reports can be well-sorted according to chosen tags. Other reasons to choose these tags include:
- Identify the exact resources and services that are highly responsible.
- Try allocating the cost of specific departments, projects, or applications for precise accountability and budgeting.
- Assistance with analyzing tagged resource usage patterns for identifying underutilized and overprovisioned instances.
- Make simpler adjustments.
Choosing such strategies or technologies is the sure-shot way to ensure you are not overspending more than you require.
Delete Unused Elastic Block Store EBS Volumes
Decluttering is extremely important here. To limit costs for unutilized resources, it is also important to keep track of unused EBS volumes and delete the ones contributing to AWS spend. Do you think EBS volumes are dependent on Amazon EC2 computer instances? Of course not! It is possible even when the associated EC2 is terminated, the EBS volumes tend to remain present.
Choose the "delete on termination" option right at the launch. Also, one must identify EBS volumes using the Trusted Advisor Underutilized Amazon EBS Volumes Check. A quick note: Begin managing costs before deleting it and check the volume's status right away. The "in-use" state will show only if the volume is attached to the instance and the "available" state means the volume is detached.
Use Auto-Scaling
Another crucial feature to take into account is auto-scaling. It is possible to scale up and down multiple resources, including when overprovisioning and wasting costs, especially during idle periods. Moreover, you can successfully free yourself from manually managing scaling, enabling you to successfully focus on different aspects of your application.
Pick the Right AWS Region
Once you have successfully set up an AWS module, it's time to choose a relevant AWS region. Not doing so means you might not be able to work on the AWS Management Console, SDK, or CLI.
Now what does it mean to pick the right region? The first and foremost aspect could be and should be distance. In addition, consider:
- Costs: Different regions have different AWS rates. Keep tabs on the cost calculator for a specific region.
- Latency: Choosing a region with small latency is great; this ensures the app is more accessible to target customers.
- Security: This one is a must-consider factor.
- Service availability: Not all services are available in all regions.
Review all the factors, choose one that is most important to you, and move forward.
Use AWS Cost Management Tools
Last, but certainly not least, is choosing an AWS cost management tool. One of the biggest AWS advantages is that it offers a wide range of native tools mainly designed to assist different types of organizations to monitor, analyze, and optimize their cloud spending. Also, these tools save you from cloud overspending. Let's take a look:
- AWS Cost Explorer - The name itself says a lot! This is a robust service where you are bound to experience in-depth insights regarding where exactly your AWS spending is going and your usage patterns. AWS Cost Explorer features an intuitive interface to help users successfully navigate all kinds of financial data, offers seamless visualization, and manages the AWS cost for the time being.
- AWS Budgets - Organizations can now set custom budgets seamlessly and alert them periodically if/when pre-determined expenses are exceeded. So, your cloud spending can be proactively managed no matter what. Here you can expect real-time alerts and detailed forecasts. Nothing less!
- AWS Trusted Advisor - This tool is an online resource for reducing costs, increasing performance, and enhancing security. Basically, all these small efforts lead to the optimization of the AWS environment. Much like other tools, here you get real-time guidance on AWS best practices like cost optimization, performance, security, and fault tolerance.
Conclusion
And this is it! AWS services today have become the most vital foundation for millions of businesses across the globe. Also, it is not important to implement all the aforementioned best practices at once - one minor change might yield significant reductions in cloud spending. You never know!
We assure you that after using the strategies in this article, you will find a proactive approach toward software development scenarios. Well, I am not saying that this is all. Many more quintessential cloud cost optimization techniques can be considered regularly. For that, it is advisable to seek assistance from a reputable software development company that carries immense knowledge and expertise in such a landscape.
Next Steps
- Check out these AWS resources:
About the author
Albert McQuiston is a software developer with more than 10 years of experience. He has worked with many companies and holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science.This author pledges the content of this article is based on professional experience and not AI generated.
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Article Last Updated: 2024-12-03
