As a business owner, you want to manage your cloud environment to get the most value for your money while ensuring efficiency in cloud operations. After all, you don’t want to end up spending excessively and wondering if you made the right decision to move to a cloud.
But fret not because cloud cost optimization can be readily achieved using the right practices. Through optimization, you can reduce your overall cloud spend by identifying idle or mismanaged resources, taking out waste, and paying only for what you truly need.
Here are the best practices that allow you to reduce your cloud bills. This means you can continue enjoying the agility and reliability of a cloud while avoiding overspending, which is now a common concern. Let’s get started and learn more about these seven best practices.
- Identity and Correct Problems that Lead to Cost Anomalies
The best way to curb your cloud spending is by identifying unused and unattached resources. At times, your administrator may perform a function in your temporary server and forget to close it. It is also common to fail to delete or remove storage for instances that have been concluded. As a result, you end up continuously paying for things that you no longer need. For best results, you need to:
- Identify unattached or unused resources.
- Remove these idle resources.
- Consolidate what you can to save.
- Use Heatmaps for Monitoring and Evaluation
An effective cloud cost optimization strategy must use heatmaps. This visual tool exhibits highs and lows in your company’s computing demand. With this tool, you have valuable data which you can leverage to establish peak times, allowing you to identify where to start and stop.
To illustrate, your heatmap will show that you can safely shut down development servers on Sundays because there’s little movement. Remember, it is important to keep an eye out for these details to track sudden cloud costing anomalies.
When you see unusual spikes, you must also evaluate them so you can readily respond to these cost-challenges. Staying on top of your game assures that these small problems don’t add up. The moment they compound, they wreak havoc on your budget.
- Let Go of Idle Elastic IP Addresses
Remember, you are usually assigned a certain number of Elastic IP addresses. This assures that your software and instances remain accessible in case problems crop up. Usually, the IPs are automatically remapped.
However, when your Elastic IP addresses are not in use, you will be continuously charged for them. Detect unused IP addresses and let them go to minimize costs.
- Select the Right Kind of Storage
You need to analyze what you need so you can secure the most efficient storage size for your organization. Being aware of the storage tiers will allow you to control your costs. Keep an eye out for which ones you frequently access and select what you need accordingly.
Apart from the server size, you have to think about the following details:
- Memory
- Database
- Computing
- Graphics
- Storage capacity
- Throughput
You can use “Right Sizing” tools to see what recommended changes can be made to help you out. After all, you want to identify elements that waste your resources. At the same time, your goal is to achieve optimum performance for what you are paying for.
- Consider Investing in Reserved Instances
You will find different cloud options, like Scheduled, Reserved Instances, On-Demand, and the like. If your company is committed to the long-haul, investing in Reserved Instances offers a bigger discount. This offers around a 70% discount compared to on-demand pricing.
However, the challenge here is building the right strategy for your company. Since this includes a longer time commitment, you must analyze your past usage to ensure you get the most return out of your investment. It would help if you also considered your term length and payment options.
- Think About Single Versus Multi-Cloud
Some organizations go with a multi-cloud solution, especially if they want to avoid being locked-in with just one vendor. Admittedly, this is a very reasonable strategy for increasing availability and uptime.
However, it means you can also risk the potential cost-savings of bulk discounts from a single vendor. Usually, substantial discounts are given with volume, along with preferred status. Another factor to consider is the hassle of switching between multi-platforms.
Though some save with a multi-cloud strategy, paying for network traffic between clouds and training your staff can eat up even more money. Weigh your options well and factor in all these details.
- Build and Operate a Company Culture of Cost Efficiency
Your cloud optimization practices will not be effective if your team is not on board. To assure that you establish the best practices, you must ensure your organization has a paradigm shift.
Every person in your team must work towards this endeavor. Company decision-makers must conduct company-wide initiatives that teach the importance of cost optimization. Moreover, providing rewards for staff members who proactively implement cost-efficiency measures must be commended and rewarded.
