{"id":289,"date":"2021-04-30T19:22:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T19:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pendulum-it.com\/?p=289"},"modified":"2021-06-16T17:06:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T17:06:27","slug":"controlling-your-aws-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pendulum-it.com\/controlling-your-aws-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Controlling your AWS costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pendulum<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cloud is the way forward <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloud and a virtualised data centre are compelling for so many reasons, however, reducing infrastructure costs is one of the most significant considerations, and one that would certainly win your board members over. That said, experience suggests, alongside the substantial cost reductions that can arise from using cloud services<\/a>, there comes the potential for costs to spiral if left unchecked. This is particularly true when we look at over-provisioning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Melusi<\/figure>
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About the Author<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melusi Phiri is a Senior Account Manager, helping clients of all sizes, across sectors to find and make best use of technology. Melusi can advise on the full technology stack, including cloud, application modernisation, security, networking and remote working solutions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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But don’t over-provision<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many organisations lose control of their cloud costs when deploying non-production instances, say for use in development, staging and testing. As you get further into the complexity of the AWS environment it becomes harder to easily identify where you are paying for unnecessary services and what can be optimised. Reserved instances are one area where it becomes a little trickier to identify when buying more will be cost effective, or indeed removing those that are redundant. Recognising that migrating your old instances, for example, may not be the best strategy; taking a new approach to carefully proportion services in this new environment could provide significant savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get a clear picture of where your spend is going<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determining where most of the AWS spend is going to is a good starting point. Having this overview of charges, or rather services, you can then focus on elements that are producing the most charges. Then identifying those that can be scaled down and those that justify their spend – just bear in mind this is a moving feast. Depending on the service, there are many AWS tools that will allow you to manage services effectively, as well as set budgets. In addition, there are some third-party tools that will help you learn and analyse usage patterns and make amendments. However, as you might expect, it isn\u2019t always as simple as that, especially when you consider pricing fluctuations. Buying in advance based on expected use may catch you out when\/if AWS discount that service in the future, resulting in you paying more for something you\u2019re not actually using.
Being armed with a good understanding of the AWS services used and their relative costs will allow you to start rationalising your overall service plan. As mentioned earlier AWS provides tools to do this; from understanding where you might be exceeding your AWS Free Tier allowances, to the AWS Cost Explorer where you are able to drill down from high-level usage to a granular level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next steps<\/strong>
By having an understanding of where your resource needs are at their highest and where unnecessary costs lay using the filters on the AWS Cost Explorer, you will be able to make service level changes. The following are some of the areas you will be able to concentrate on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n