Today, Amazon Web Services allows businesses to build scalable and modern applications without compromising on operational costs. In fact, businesses can optimize and control costs that cater to their needs. Businesses can utilize AWS Framework to build an efficient and stable system. This framework has five pillars that businesses can use to optimize their AWS costs.
Through AWS, businesses can optimize and monitor their entire sending and achieve new standards of growth. Since there are attractive offerings o services to utilize AWS, it renders a lot of flexibility for businesses. And businesses should make the most out of this flexibility o reach their full potential and expand capacity.
Let’s dive into some of the best AWS cost-saving practices and strategies businesses can adopt:
Choose a Suitable Storage Class
It is important to choose the right storage class in order to optimize AWS costs. For instance, ensure Amazon S3 standard data storage to meet your needs. S3 standard covers data storage accessibility for cloud applications, big data analytics, and web hosting.
You can also opt for the infrequent access option within the S3 Standard for extended use of storage with specific needs. This class also offers impressive durability and availability at a low price point. Enterprise users can also seek out the Amazon Glacier plan as a data storage solution.
This plan allows business users to store a high volume of data in a safe and cost-effective manner. However, the retrieval process in Amazon Glacier takes a lot of time. Still, this class is suitable for media archives, historical customer data, and scientific research data.
Stop Using Unutilized AWS Tools
One of the best ways to reduce AWS costs is to stop using redundant or non-operational tools. For starters, review your EC2 dashboard and find out unattached volumes of EBS. You may not be aware of it but these volumes take up a lot of space and add up more costs. If you run a large corporation, make sure to automate the deletion of all unattached volumes.
Just like unattached EBS volumes, eliminate EBS snapshots. And at the same time, make sure to delete unattached IP addresses that cost a lot of money. Zombie assets are also underutilized tools that often increase the AWS bill. So, make sure to eliminate inactive elastic balancers to optimize AWS spending and ensure system effectiveness.
Focus on Rightsizing
When it comes to reducing a particular instance, business users should opt for the incremental jump. It means your company should prioritize to expand to its full capacity rather than reserve back. This approach allows allow companies to better monitor their operations and take advantage of more functionality for weeks. Ultimately, companies can use this rightsizing to reduce AWS costs. You can use reserved instances to save over 70% of your overall AWS costs.
Standard and Convertible Options
When it comes to reserved instances, you can either take advantage of the standard option or convertible option to reduce AWS costs. In the standard option, enterprise users cannot convert a specific instance to a different instance. But standard option allows users to sell it straight on the AWS marketplace.
On the flip side, the convertible option allows users to convert their reserved instances. And unlike the standard option, the convertible option restricts users from selling on the main AWS marketplace. Also, the convertible option significantly costs more than the standard option.
If you still want to opt for the convertible option, make sure to start out with nano. When it comes to the convertible option, the last thing you want is to get caught in a long-term contract that spans 36 months and forces you to cover the cost of unused storage.
Make the Most Out of AWS Credits
It is vital for your company to make sure whether or not you are authorized to get AWS credit. If it all checks out – you should make a solid business case based on AWS to get credits into your business account. The key is to make a clear point that your organization is heading in the right direction, gaining more customers, and will soon achieve unprecedented growth.
Once Amazon acknowledges your growth potential, it will issue a credit of $100,000 for your company. If you want to roll out a new service then ask for AWS credits to try new instances. Startups entities can also apply for several credit accelerators to grow their business.
Ensure Auto-Scaling
One of the most effective ways to cut back on AWS costs is to ensure auto-scaling that automates services with on and off parameters during traffic spikes. This type of AWS service is ideal to optimize operations and save costs.
Through automated scaling, you can also find out unhealthy instances that might be driving up your AWS costs. You can select scaling out or the horizontal scaling option to get more resources and fuel your existing operations.
Leverage Savings Plans
One of the best ways to reduce AWS costs is to take advantage of the saving plans offered by Amazon. Typically, Amazon offers two quintessential savings plans to business users. Your business can either opt for a compute saving plan or an EC2 instance-based savings plan.
In compute savings plan, you can get instance changes, resize, shift region, and get over 65% discount all the same. When it comes to the EC2 saving plan, Amazon offers businesses to save more than 70% in AWS costs. But it prohibits business users from changing instances or transferring from region to region.
Final Thoughts
In all fairness, businesses need to realize that optimizing AWS costs requires a consistent approach to perform checkups and monitoring. On the surface, AWS cost optimization can come across as tricky. The focus of businesses should be to exercise patience and seek out the expertise of an IT partner that cut optimize their AWS costs. However, make sure to opt for certified AWS solution architects, engineers, and developers to create a robust serverless framework and optimize AWS expenses.
VAST has the most professional and competent team with years of experience on AWS. We can help you implement AWS with the most cost-effective tactics and recommendations. Contact us to learn more information about AWS and how the implementation approach stands out.
