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Writer's pictureSimon Roberts

Saving Money with Your Public Cloud Over the Christmas Break: AWS, GCP, and Azure

The holiday season is the perfect time to unwind and relax, but it's also a great opportunity to save money on your public cloud infrastructure. With many organisations slowing down during the Christmas break, it's common to have underutilised or idle resources running in your cloud environment, costing you more than necessary. By turning off or scaling down resources in AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), and Azure, you can significantly reduce costs without sacrificing productivity.

In this blog post, we'll explore how you can take advantage of this quiet period to optimise your cloud infrastructure and keep your cloud bill in check over the holidays.

In this blog post, we'll explore how you can take advantage of this quiet period to optimise your cloud infrastructure and keep your cloud bill in check over the holidays.

Why Scale Down or Turn Off Resources?


Public cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, and Azure charge for resources based on usage. This includes virtual machines (VMs), storage, databases, and other services. During the Christmas break, your team's workload may decrease or even come to a halt, meaning that many of these resources will be underutilised. By turning off or scaling down these resources, you can save significant amounts of money without any negative impact on your business.



Strategies to Reduce Cloud Costs Over the Holidays

Here are some key strategies to optimise your cloud usage during the Christmas break:


1. Turn Off Idle EC2/VM Instances


Virtual machines (EC2 instances in AWS, Compute Engine in GCP, and Virtual Machines in Azure) are among the biggest cost drivers in any cloud environment. If these instances are not needed during the break, consider shutting them down.


  • AWS: You can stop EC2 instances manually or set up automation using AWS Lambda and EventBridge to stop and start instances based on a schedule.

  • GCP: Use Cloud Scheduler and Cloud Functions to automate the shutdown and startup of Compute Engine instances.

  • Azure: Utilise Azure Automation to create runbooks that stop and start VMs at specific times.


2. Leverage Auto-Scaling for Dynamic Workloads


If your applications experience fluctuating demand over the holidays, use auto-scaling to adjust resource usage automatically.


  • AWS: Set up Auto Scaling Groups to scale your EC2 instances up or down based on demand.

  • GCP: Use Autoscaler to adjust the number of Compute Engine instances based on traffic or CPU utilisation.

  • Azure: Enable Virtual Machine Scale Sets to ensure that VMs are added or removed dynamically based on demand.


3. Use Reserved Instances or Savings Plans


If you anticipate some workloads will continue to run during the holidays, consider using reserved instances or savings plans for predictable, long-term workloads.


  • AWS: AWS Savings Plans offer flexible pricing for a one- or three-year commitment, helping you save even during lower usage periods.

  • GCP: Committed Use Contracts allow you to reserve capacity for Compute Engine resources, leading to significant discounts.

  • Azure: Azure Reservations provide cost savings for VMs, databases, and other services when you commit to one- or three-year terms.


4. Right-Size Resources


Often, resources are provisioned with more capacity than is necessary. Right-sizing involves adjusting the size of your instances, storage, and databases to better fit actual usage.


  • AWS: Use AWS Cost Explorer and Trusted Advisor to identify underUtilised or oversized instances and make adjustments.

  • GCP: The Recommender tool in GCP provides insights on right-sizing and optimising resources.

  • Azure: Azure Advisor gives recommendations to optimise your resources based on actual usage patterns.


5. optimise Storage Costs


Storage can also be a significant cost, especially if you have unused or underUtilised volumes.


  • AWS: Move infrequently accessed data to Amazon S3 Glacier or delete unused EBS volumes.

  • GCP: Use Object Lifecycle Management to automatically move data to lower-cost storage tiers.

  • Azure: Leverage Azure Blob Storage’s Archive Tier for infrequently accessed data and remove any unattached disks.


6. Turn Off Non-Production Environments


Development, testing, and staging environments are often not needed during the holidays. Turning off these environments can lead to significant savings.


  • AWS: Use AWS Systems Manager to schedule the shutdown of non-production EC2 instances.

  • GCP: Set up scripts or Cloud Scheduler tasks to turn off development environments when not needed.

  • Azure: Automate the shutdown of dev/test environments using Azure DevTest Labs.


7. Monitor and Automate Cloud Cost Management

Monitoring cloud usage during the holidays can help you identify additional areas for optimization.


  • AWS: Use AWS Budgets and AWS Cost Anomaly Detection to monitor your spending and receive alerts if costs spike unexpectedly.

  • GCP: Google Cloud’s Cost Management tools allow you to set budgets and alerts, helping you track and control costs.

  • Azure: Utilise Azure Cost Management + Billing to monitor your expenses and set up cost alerts.


Automation Tools for Optimising Costs

To make the process of scaling down or turning off resources easier, there are several automation tools available:


  • AWS Lambda: Create scheduled functions that start and stop resources automatically based on custom rules.

  • Google Cloud Functions: Automate tasks like VM shutdowns and startups using scheduled Cloud Functions.

  • Azure Logic Apps: Design workflows to automate resource scaling and shutdowns during the holiday season.


You can also use third-party tools like Innablr’s Revolver to automate the process of scaling down AWS EC2 and RDS instances based on your organisation’s specific requirements. This can provide a hassle-free solution to save costs without manually intervening.


Conclusion

The Christmas break is an ideal time to reduce your cloud infrastructure costs. By turning off unused resources, right-sizing your instances, leveraging reserved capacity, and automating scaling, you can save money while ensuring that your cloud environment is optimised for both the holiday season and beyond. Whether you’re using AWS, GCP, or Azure, implementing these strategies will not only help you cut costs but also ensure that you’re getting the most out of your public cloud.


Happy holidays and happy saving!

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