5 Best Practices for Reducing your AWS Spending

AWS, CloudOps, White Papers

by Gary Derheim 

What’s Inside

  • Find Unused Resources
  • Utilize Heat Maps
  • Right Size Computing
  • AWS Reserved Instances
  • Act Fast on Spot Instances
  • Partner with PTP to Reduce Cloud Costs
Download

AWS Partner Network badge displaying the official AWS logo above the words 'Advanced Consulting Partner' in black letters on a white background. Also Life Sciences Competency

Managing costs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) is essential for any organization seeking to maintain a sustainable cloud environment. Without proper cost controls, expenses can quickly escalate, leading to budget overruns and inefficiencies. In this blog post, we explore five best practices for reducing AWS spending and achieving cost optimization.

1. Find Unused Resources
Unused or unattached resources are a common source of unnecessary expenses in AWS. This happens when administrators or developers forget to shut down temporary servers or remove storage from terminated instances, resulting in unexpected charges on the AWS bill.

How to Fix: Begin by identifying and removing any unused resources. This can involve auditing your AWS environment to find servers that are no longer in use, as well as unattached storage. Consider implementing automated tools to regularly check for unused resources and clean them up​​.

 

2. Utilize Heat Maps
Heat maps provide a visual representation of computing demand, showing peaks and valleys throughout the day or week. They are valuable for optimizing start and stop times, helping to reduce costs by indicating when it’s safe to shut down certain servers.

How to Fix: Use heat maps to identify low-usage periods and schedule automatic shutdowns for non-essential servers during those times. Automation can greatly enhance cost optimization by ensuring that resources are only active when needed​​.

3. Right Size Computing
Right-sizing involves analyzing computing services to determine the most efficient size for your needs. With over 1.7 million possible combinations of AWS instances, it’s easy to over- or under-provision resources, leading to higher costs or suboptimal performance.

How to Fix: Use right-sizing tools to determine the optimal configuration for your computing needs. These tools can recommend changes across instance families and suggest more efficient combinations. By right-sizing, you not only reduce costs but also achieve peak performance from your cloud resources​​.

4. AWS Reserved Instances
Reserved Instances allow enterprises to commit to AWS for the long term with larger discounts based on upfront payment and time commitment. By purchasing Reserved Instances, you can achieve significant savings compared to On-Demand pricing.

How to Fix: Consider your long-term cloud needs and analyze past usage patterns to determine whether Reserved Instances are a good fit. You can purchase Reserved Instances for one or three years, so plan accordingly and leverage the discounts to reduce costs​​.

5. Act Fast on Spot Instances
Spot Instances are an alternative to Reserved Instances, offering cost savings through an auction system. These instances can be purchased at a lower price, but the opportunity to buy them can disappear quickly.

How to Fix: Spot Instances are ideal for batch jobs or tasks that can be terminated without warning. Incorporate Spot Instances into your cost optimization strategy by monitoring prices and purchasing when the price is right. This requires quick action, but the potential cost savings are significant​​.

By implementing these five best practices, you can reduce your AWS spending and maintain a more cost-efficient cloud environment. Whether you’re identifying unused resources, optimizing server usage with heat maps, or leveraging Reserved and Spot Instances, these strategies will help you take control of your AWS costs and optimize your cloud infrastructure.