Cloud Optimization and Rightsizing
Minimizing costs, reducing risk, and maximizing business value—all at the same time—requires a delicate balancing act. It’s not a new challenge, nor is it unique to IT infrastructures. But when it comes to the cloud, especially in hybrid cloud scenarios, you need to understand the performance, risk/compliance, and cost impacts of your current resource allocations and then adjust to make optimal decisions that meet your SLA and budget targets. The following resources discuss the whys and hows of maintaining the right balance:
- Cloud rightsizing? There’s no single right answer.
- Cloud Optimization: How to Squeeze More Value From Your Spend
- How to Avoid SLA-Killing, Budget-Busting Cloud Performance Problems
- Workload Placement Is Science, Not Art
- There’s No Such Thing as an Average Workload
- How to Keep Up with the Constant Change of Cloud Environments
- Should I Stay or Should I Go? A cloud decision
Cloud Cost Management
In the public cloud, you pay for what you use. Too often, we like to insert the word “only” in there—as in you only pay for what you use—but this creates a false sense of budgetary security. Because while that statement is true, so is this one: you have to pay for what you use. If you’re not paying attention, or if you’re not making the optimal choices, you could be on the hook for skyrocketing cloud bills. Here are some resources to help you keep your cloud costs in check:
- Cloud Cost Management: A Compendium of 49 Stats, Benefits, Hard Truths, Tips, and Requirements
- Is Your Cloud Cost Report Missing Critical Information?
- How To Instantly Boost the ROI of Your Hybrid Cloud
- FinOps: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
- Are your cloud costs soaring along with usage? How to cut costs and optimize your cloud performance.
- Capturing and Containing Hidden Cloud Costs—How Overprovisioning Can Hurt Your Budget
- Cloud Costs: Money Saver or Money Pit?
- Cloud Elasticity: What Happens When You Lose Control
Cloud Performance Monitoring and Management
When you migrate workloads to the cloud, you cede some control. That’s by design and it’s not inherently bad. It does, however, mean that you need to keep an eye on those deployments to make sure you’re getting the performance and benefits you expect. Plus, you need to watch it over time as things evolve. This includes both changes on your side—new or updated applications, increased demand, etc.—as well as new features from your cloud provider(s). Here are some resources to help you maintain expected performance levels in the cloud over time:
- 4 Cloud Monitoring Capabilities That Really Matter
- Cloud Application Management—12 Critical Elements After Migrating to the Cloud
- If one public cloud is good, are multiple public clouds better?
- How to Build a Multi-Cloud Mindset
- The Fine Line Between Confidence and Delusion in the Cloud
- Mission-critical Hybrid Capacity Management – It’s Time
- When there are too many tools in the infrastructure toolbox
AWS and Azure Clouds
If your organization is using a public cloud, chances are you have workloads running in Amazon’s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure, or even both. Here are some articles that provide information and guidance that are specific to AWS and/or Azure:
- 5 Ways to Get Valuable Insight From Your AWS Bill
- 6 Common Mistakes in AWS EC2 and Azure Cloud VM Optimization
- AWS Compute Optimizer: Pros and Cons
- AWS ECU vs vCPU—Everything You Need to Know
- Dedicated, On-Demand, Reserved and Spot—Demystifying the Terminology of AWS Instances
- EC2 Cost Analysis: Demystify Your AWS Bill
- EC2 Instances, The Ultimate Guide to AWS EC2
- How to Optimize Your AWS RDS Costs with RDS Cost Reports