How to Save Costs with Cloud Cost Optimization
Nowadays,
cloud cost optimization has increased in reputation from both academic
perspectives and industry.
Gone are the days of chunky hardware that was used to
store data or even compact hardware to
store data. We have once and for all, conclusively moved away from using
hardware for this purpose even! We instead save our date on the cloud now. The
same can be said about shared, common online workspaces. But one thing hasn’t
changed despite this transition and that is the fact that the space within this
resource must be managed efficiently. This is especially true for cloud given its
cost. So how do you reduce cost?
What Is Cloud Cost Optimization?
Most
cloud computing service providers such as Amazon
Web Services and Microsoft Azure charge for the amount of space you order
on the cloud and not for the amount of space you use. The reason that people
moved to the cloud to save costs and allow scalability. These purposes are hit
if one does not optimize space and cut costs. So what is cloud cost optimization? It is the process of reducing the cloud
spending by identifying mismanaged resources and eliminating waste. If done
well, they can save you a lot of money. So let’s look at how it’s done!
Find Unused Resources
Some
resources are used temporarily. The administrator of the IT department will buy
a resource in order to boost performance for a specific task. The problem
however is that more often than not, they forget to turn off this programme
after the task is completed. This programme then simply stays on the cloud and
takes up space, but in return, offers no benefit for you. But when you get your
cloud computing bills, you will find that you have been charged for this
programme as well. Soo the first thing you can do is identify unused programmes
and uninstall them.
Consolidate Idle
Resources
If
you are unwilling to uninstall resources, but still defer the costs incurred by
them, you can still do so by consolidating such idle resources. The first step
in this is to identify such resources. They take up less than 5% of your CPU
usage, but are billed at 100%, which is obviously a significant waste of money.
So you should identify such instances and consolidate them to fewer instances
and also consolidate computing jobs. There is also no need to allow space for
scaling now as the current providers allow for auto-scaling and load balancing
within their software itself.
Adopt Heat Maps
A
heat map is a data tool. It gives you valuable data regarding the usage of your
computing services by showing when there are spikes or dips in computing usage.
This proves to be a crucial tool in cloud cost optimization. You can use it to
identify resources which are draining the costs and manage them effectively. It
gives you an overall idea of when the activity is at the highest or lowest, and
based on this data, you can shut down the system and save even more money. Do
this by using automatic sensors to avoid human labor costs.
Right Size Computing
Right
sizing is the process of reassessing resources and optimizing them in a manner
to save costs. This is mostly done by rearranging processes and organizing them
to optimize utilization of the cloud. But how do you do this? All the modern
cloud service providers have millions of permissible combinations which can be
used to right size your computing. It is practically impossible for a team of
people to go through all possible combinations and find the best combination.
So use right sizing tools. They find the best combinations and recommend them,
saving costs and allowing for peak computing performance.
Invest In Ris
RIs,
also known as reserved instances,
are a must for companies trying to optimize their cloud costs. These RIs are
essentially long term commitments by paying the bills upfront as opposed to
later, after the usage. It is said that investing by purchasing RI can save up to 75% of the cost being incurred
earlier. RIs are offered in many plans and you should buy one which suits your
needs. To determine this, you need to look at your usage over the years and purchase
RIs based on that, consistent with such usage and by also allowing for future scaling.
Use Spot Instances
Spot
instances are much like reserved instances, but differ in some crucial manners.
Firstly, they are auctioned and not sold. You need to keep an eye out and if
you find it for the right cost, you must invest in them. Secondly, they are
often not long term like RIs. They are short term and hence cannot be a part of
your long term strategy for cloud management. Nonetheless, they are perfect for
short term usage such as completion of a particular task, which is quite common
in companies. So keep an eye out and use them save cloud costs.
Move To Multi-Cloud
A
single cloud environment poses the
risk of being locked in by the vendor. It reduces your ability to use your
resource freely. Hence, it might be prudent to consider multi cloud environment computing. Instead of buying your entire
service from say, google, you buy one chunk from amazon, one from google and
one from Microsoft. The problem however, is that when you do this you will risk
losing out on discounts offered for meeting certain caps, which would be
possible only if you use one provider. So you must determine your priority, but
it is an option worth considering.
Conclusion
Cloud services
can be expensive and in modern companies, they often form the backbone of the
companies functioning. So despite being expensive, you cannot forego them. But
you can certainly mitigate the costs by adopting the aforementioned approaches.
If you can efficiently manage your cloud, you are not only saving costs but are
also improving the performance, which also leads to cost saving owing to reduced cloud
spend. Hence, it is important to take the time to implement the above
mentioned measures for a smooth functioning of your cloud computing.
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