Author: Steve Upkin

Steve is a product-marketer and Engineer at Cloudysave who works with Cloud Management and Adoption team. Over the past years, he has collaborated with multiple teams to provide a robust and cost-effective architecture patterns to influence business and engineering decisions. His key areas of interests include Cloud Costs Management, Security and DevOps Best-Practices.
AWS Cost Optimization Checklist

AWS Cost Optimization Checklist

Posted on | by Steve Upkin | Leave a Comment on AWS Cost Optimization Checklist

AWS Cost Optimization Practical Checklist

To optimize the overall expenses of the AWS Services, you must keep an eye on the strategies and AWS best practices that other companies are using or could be productive to the company.

Thankfully, AWS provides a range of tools and services to optimize the overall expenses for the services you use.

If you want to optimize the overall cost or expense for the AWS services, then AWS Cost Optimization Checklist given below will help you to reduce the base cost for the services.

The list of essential strategies for the optimization of AWS Cost includes instances, scheduling, storage, and tools.

If you have just started using the AWS Services and become a fresh client, then you must follow these lists to get the best of services with reduced costs to support your ongoing business. Let’s get on to the lists now!

Instances

  • Most organizations end up paying for instances that are of no use. For that reason, you need to purchase instances that help you to boost your business.
  • Reserved instances are said to be the most effective ones when it comes to reducing overall expenses. Always look for purchasing reserved instances as you will be charged on an hourly basis instead of monthly bills. This will cut down the actual cost of the services you use.
AWS Cost Optimization Checklist - Instances

AWS Cost Optimization Checklist – Instances

  • You can also go for the Spot Instances for the setup resources. Spot Instances are used to supplement on-demand instances which is essential for the users. You can use spot instances for the development of new applications.
  • Make sure to purchase the latest generation instance types. Spend some time monitoring the behavior of the instances and make the perfect move.

Scheduling

  • You should not keep the instances running if there is no use for them. Set up proper timing for the instances and make sure that they are running during the working hours only.
AWS Cost Optimization Checklist - Scheduling

AWS Cost Optimization Checklist – Scheduling

  • You can also make use of the third-party scheduler tools that are exclusively designed for the AWS Instances. Explore the market well and pick the suitable scheduler tool to manage the instances.
  • Spend some extra time while scheduling the instances. If you spend one hour of your working hours for lunch, then you should schedule the instances accordingly to reduce the cost.
  • If the instances are of no use, then you should not keep them running. Unwanted instances consume data and cost you extra bucks in the billing cycle.
  • Always shut down unwanted or idle instances. This is the best practice to simply cut down the cost.

Storage

  • We often store unwanted data that we do not use or open. To optimize the cost of AWS Services, the first thing that the client should do is to optimize the storage.
AWS Cost Optimization Checklist - Storage

AWS Cost Optimization Checklist – Storage

  • Keep an eye on their activities and move them from one tier to the other.
  • Set up the policy of storage data so that it won’t fetch extra data.
  • Make use of Glacier and keep the unused or unwanted stored data there.
  • Amazon EFS must be used by organizations as it provides automatic scaling with quick outputs. The Amazon EFS is there for applications with heavy workloads.
  • For big data, make use of EC2 instances. EC2 Instances are quite popular amongst the AWS Clients and most of them are using the EC2 Instances for big data storage.
  • Always choose open-source operating systems over closed ones to reduce the data cost.
  • Delete unwanted photos or snapshots. Make sure to delete all the unwanted packages, files, etc. from the storage. This will help you in reducing the data storage and ultimately the overall cost.

AWS Cost Management Tools

AWS Cost Management Tools

AWS Cost Management Tools

  • Analyze daily expenses using the advanced Cost and Usage tool. Data analysis is crucial when it comes to optimizing the overall expense of an organization. It can be achieved with the help of third-party tools.
  • Keep an eye on the expense forecast using the Trusted Advisor tool. When you know how much cost a particular service is asking, you can manage your expense budget accordingly.
  • The AWS Cost Explorer lets you compare all the ongoing trends.
  • Using the Budget Management tools, you can keep an eye on the budget expense.
  • Give useful tools with their full access to all the employees so that they can deliver the maximum benefits to your company.

See Also

AWS Spring Framework

SDK for Java Calls

Spring Framework DevOps on AWS

Spring Framework DevOps on AWS

Posted on | by Steve Upkin | Leave a Comment on Spring Framework DevOps on AWS

Spring Framework DevOps

Spring is one of the highly used Java Frameworks. The framework is massively popular amongst big enterprises. The DevOps service is becoming more and more popular with its user-friendly environment for developers with the smooth deployment of packages in the environment. The Spring Framework DevOps on AWS helps developers to deploy spring applications to multiple environments. 

With the growing popularity of cloud services, enterprises have started demanding Spring-based applications from the developers. AWS Clients know which services are required for the specific task and after that, they plan out things accordingly. 

Starting from Creating Server for the Code deployment on the current environment to launch the application, everything can be easily done with the help of this Framework Services on the AWS platform. 

Why the Spring Framework?

Since each environment for the establishment of the Spring Framework is different from each other, the Spring Framework DevOps helps developers to learn new things for the deployment of packages in different environments. 

Why the Spring Framework

Why the Spring Framework

The most common problems that the developers face in each environment as different environments have different server names, different databases, user accounts, and passwords for managing different applications and projects. The best part about using the Spring Framework is its IoC engine which is more powerful than any other engine. 

Developers don’t have full control over each environment when they try to develop the app in multiple environments. This service helps developers to deploy packages on multiple environments without changing the core functionality. 

How does the Spring Framework DevOps on AWS work?

It begins with an easy configuration. You have to learn the advanced configuration options initially of the framework. After the successful configuration, you will be approached to explore the DevOps service. 

As noted above, the powerful IoC engine is the reason behind the growing popularity of this service. Since developers use different environments for the development of Spring Framework-based applications, you will be able to deploy Spring Framework applications in multiple environments with no prior skills. 

How does the Spring Framework DevOps on AWS work

How does the Spring Framework DevOps on AWS work

Apart from the package deployment of Spring Framework Applications, you will get to learn about different software development for the enterprises. To make the service more accessible, clients can make use of different servers easily. 

The learning environment of Spring Framework DevOps at AWS is very fascinating as the process involves everything from the learning of the basic things to the deployment of the final packages. 

What Spring Framework DevOps is for?

Spring Framework Applications require the knowledge of Java Programming. If you are a student or a professional developer, then you will find this service as the best companion of yours as it will help you throughout your career in many ways. 

It is not an ideal service for beginners as it requires the knowledge of Java and Spring together.

DevOps integrates with third-party tools and services which is why it’s becoming more popular. With the involvement of new services and tools and integration, it’s becoming more complex. It involves many different technologies that make things a bit challenging for beginners. 

With Spring Framework DevOps, you can easily learn from the basics of the application development to deployment of Spring Framework Applications in different environments. 

Key Benefits:

The benefits of Spring Framework DevOps on AWS is uncountable as it includes numerous services and infinite learning environment to learn new things every day. Here, we have put together all the key benefits of using this service for Spring Framework Application Development. 

  • Management of Spring Properties
  • Encryption of sensitive content associated with the project
  • Management of Spring Profiles and use of Spring Properties
  • Creating a new server
  • Configuration options of the Framework 
  • Implementation of Servers and how to log in? 
  • Configuration of Linux Servers? 
  • Deployment of Spring Framework in different environments
  • Use of MySQL with Spring Boot]
  • Configuration of Jenkins and many other more 
Spring Framework DevOps on AWS - Key benefits

Spring Framework DevOps on AWS – Key benefits

All these benefits are included with the Spring Framework DevOps on AWS. All the benefits will help you with corporate environments for big enterprises. The hands-on service is designed for those with prior knowledge of Java Programming language. You will be served with daily new and exciting content which makes the environment more user-friendly and fun. 

AWS Cost Optimization

Best DevOps Tools for AWS

Best DevOps Tools for AWS

Best DevOps Tools for AWS

Posted on | by Steve Upkin | Leave a Comment on Best DevOps Tools for AWS

DevOps is gaining popularity across the globe as it involves both, development and operation processes of the software and application development. Software Development has become easier with the help of these types of advanced tools and platforms. If you want to improve the process of software development and management of operations, then here we have put together the list of the Best DevOps Tools for AWS. The following list will help you to decide which tool is right for your needs. 

The Best DevOps Tools for AWS

  1. AWS Code Pipeline 

AWS Code Pipeline is widely popular amongst the AWS clients just because of its smooth functionality and ability to manage the workflow. The tool helps developers to automate the process of application. The workflow management tool helps you to streamline the application development process. 

Best DevOps Tools for AWS - AWS code pipeline

Best DevOps Tools for AWS – AWS code pipeline

When bugs or errors occur, the tool makes sure not to deploy the error codes or bugs to the main environment keeping the process free from errors. With an intuitive user interface, this tool helps thousands of AWS Clients for the accomplishment of the development process. 

If we talk about the benefits of using this tool, it’s a workflow management tool that manages the software development work across the teams. Moreover, with an easy learning environment, the tool requires very little knowledge. It is also compatible with other popular development environments so that you can easily integrate it with other tools. 

  1. AWS Cloud Development Kit

Software or Application Development requires a lot of work. The development process involves coding, scripting, testing, and many other tasks that need to be done manually. The AWS Cloud Development Kit helps you to implement scripts and other things automatically. The tool is designed with pre-configured scripts and codes for the users to simplify the development process.

Best DevOps Tools for AWS - AWS Cloud Development Kit

Best DevOps Tools for AWS – AWS Cloud Development Kit

The tool is highly used by students and professionals as it let them design their reusable components for different organizations. The same components then can be implemented with the cloud infrastructure. 

The AWS CDK helps DevOps in learning the implementation and deployment of codes in the environment. It also reduces the development and management processes for the development team. 

  1. AWS CodeStar

AWS CodeStar is designed to bring all the AWS Services under one roof so that clients can easily start the development of the software or application. This service helps developers and codes to build, manage, and deploy applications on the AWS platform. 

Best DevOps Tools for AWS - Codestar

Best DevOps Tools for AWS – Codestar

The CodeStar service works combined for the developers and brings all the popular AWS DevOps tools and services. The main benefit of using this service is to quickstart new projects. It takes only a few minutes to start the new project as all the useful tools are available with easy access. 

Moreover, the tool allows developers to visualize the development process so that developers can quickly implement the codes and scripts easily. It can also be integrated with other popular tools for quick deployment of the codes and scripts. 

  1. AWS CodeDeploy

     

The Deployment of Codes is essential for the accomplishment of the project. The AWS CodeDeploy tool is introduced for the AWS Clients for quick deployment of the development process. The best part about this service is it automates the deployment of applications directly to AWS EC2 Instances. 

Best DevOps Tools for AWS - AWS CodeDeploy

Best DevOps Tools for AWS – AWS CodeDeploy

Being the advanced Code Deployment Service, the AWS CodeDeploy helps developers to deploy nearly unlimited content such as codes, scripts, functions, configurable files, and more. The tool serves easy integration with popular Coding platforms such as GitHub, Bitbucket, and many other more. 

The service updates regularly with new features for the clients. Clients can smoothly update the version to bring new features and functions for the even smoother deployment of codes. The deployment process is a bit challenging and this service simplifies the entire deployment process and eliminates the complexity. 

  1. AWS CodeBuild

     

As the name says, AWS CodeBuild takes care of your coding-related tasks. The service streamlines the entire coding process that involves code, runs, tests, etc. The same service integrates with software packages for quick deployment within the environment. 

Best DevOps Tools for AWS - AWS CodeBuild

Best DevOps Tools for AWS – AWS CodeBuild

Unlike the other tools, the AWS CodeBuild doesn’t ask for complex tasks such as set up of the environment, development of the basic does, deployment of packages, and more. There’s no need of managing a software or any other additional tool. 

The service is highly affordable for everyone. You will be charged for the service that you used and not for the entire month. Based on the number of minutes that you use, you will be charged for the AWS CodeBuild service. 

Conclusion: 

Cloud-transformation has become crucial for every enterprise and the demands of cloud-based services are also increasing day by day. The AWS DevOps brings a variety of tools to make the services easy-to-use for the beginner codes and developers. 

With easy integration, quick deployment, and smooth management, all these tools are quite supportive throughout the application development process. Explore the list, visit the sites, and avail the best of offers as per your requirements. 

Spring Framework DevOps on AWS

AWS cloud computing pricing

Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator

Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator

Posted on | by Steve Upkin

Microsoft’s Azure provides different types of cloud-based services on the web platform. Azure’s DevOps is a Software-as-Service platform designed for enterprises of different sizes. The service takes care of the entire business functionality and simplifies the way you do your business.
It delivers an end-to-end DevOps Toolchain for developing and deploying the software. Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator allows consumers to check the total pricing for the service that they want to use.

What is Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator?

Microsoft’s Azure is a one-stop platform for developers who can get the best of web services at reasonable rates. The platform is becoming more and more popular day by day as they add regular services to the platform for new consumers.

What’s interesting about Azure’s services is you can keep an eye on the total cost for the services you availed from the platform. If you are planning to avail of DevOps service from Azure, then you can calculate the total cost for the service using the Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator.

Why Azure DevOps?

Azure works with a team of highly qualified and well-experienced engineers and developers. They offer top-notch services to meet the user’s needs, which is why the service has gained massive popularity among developers and enterprise owners.

Why Azure DevOps

Why Azure DevOps

Azure’s DevOps service is designed for all types of enterprises irrespective of their size and business model. The service works well with different platforms, languages, cloud, etc.
Moreover, Azure’s DevOps service delivers great flexibility in working with other services and systems. You don’t have to replace the existing system as it leverages well with the existing systems and gets you the best results with real-time tracking.

The best thing about Azure DevOps service is access to the latest features. Customers will have access to the latest features. The service adds new features regularly so that existing customers or subscribers can easily make use of them to deliver even better services for their clients.

How Does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work?

Azure is one of the best cloud-based service providers on the market with all types of services for developers, enterprises, and web users. Starting from web development to managing the big organizations, you can get affordable services from one single place.
To make their services more transparent, they have developed a special tool called Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator. The calculator is not specifically designed for DevOps services, but it includes all the services offered by the platform. It’s a web-based calculator that lets you calculate the overall pricing for the services that you want to avail from the platform.

How does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work

How does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work

Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator requires you to first log into your Azure’s account. You will be asked to enter your login details first. Once you are signed up, you will be able to have full access to the Azure Pricing Calculator’s Dashboard.

The Dashboard serves as a user-friendly interface, allowing users to easily get the estimated cost for the services. If you want to know about the total cost for DevOps services, you just need to select the service name and enter the data as per your requirements. The Calculator will then calculate the pricing for that particular service for you.

How does0 Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work - Users

How does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work – Users

How does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work - Support

How does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work – Support

The Azure Pricing Calculator has a search bar that lets you easily search for the service for which you want to know the total cost. Just type in your query to the search bar and click the Enter button.

As you scroll down, you will be asked to select the details of your Storage Account, Capacity, Savings Options, Plan Details, Tier, Programmes and Offers, Additional Technical Support, etc. You have to select appropriate options from the given fields as per your requirements.

Finally, you will be presented with the total Estimated upfront and monthly costs. You can save the estimated pricing to the Dashboard or export the file to your computer system. You can also share the Estimated cost details with your teammates by selecting the Share button.

How does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work - Estimated Cost

How Does Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator Work – Estimated Cost

Conclusion:

Azure DevOps Pricing Calculator is helping thousands of clients as they can easily calculate the total cost for the DevOps service from Azure as per their business needs. The same calculator helps them to decide whether they should avail of the service or not by comparing the pricing with other services. It’s a great way to know about the service cost even before you avail it. Give it a try now!

See Also

Best DevOps Tools for AWS

Azure storage pricing calculator

Azure VM Calculator

Azure VM Pricing Calculator

Little Known Facts about Azure VM Pricing Calculator

Posted on | by Steve Upkin

Azure VM Pricing Calculator

As you continue to use Azure cloud management services, it gets increasingly difficult to analyze and optimize the cost of your overall package. Frequently, there is a need to use more managed services, add more virtual machines and begin allocating resources automatically. However, using the Azure VM pricing calculator, it becomes easier and more efficient to measure and predict the cost of Azure cloud services according to variations in your current workload or new Azure deployments. In this article, we’ll go through Azure’s pricing model and show the way to use Azure pricing calculator to predict and control your Azure services costs.

Azure Pricing Calculator and its Features

Azure pricing calculator is an excellent tool for gaining real-time estimates for the cost of Azure cloud computing services. It allows users to create estimates with personal configuration for higher precision and can even access and modify estimates using a central dashboard. The Azure pricing calculator can also be used in combination with other similar Azure tools, such as cost optimization and TCO calculator. The Azure cost calculator offers several significant features, including:
  • Listing all Azure services and products, along with a short description and link to the main product page on the official website. The pages contain details of specifications and cost estimates for every Azure service and product.
  • Customizing services that need to be included according to specified storage needs, performance expectations, resource consumption and allocated budget. Even if you browse through and choose Azure services, the Azure pricing calculator lists your selection and keeps your progress up to date.
  • Allowing users to flip between product screens and cost estimates as they keep selecting different Azure services. The calculator displays the breakdown of costs on the estimate page for each service.
  • Letting you edit your parameters when you do not need service any longer, using the Estimate screen.

How does Azure’s price structure work?

To get the most out of the Azure VM pricing calculator, you must first know about Azure’s pricing structure. Check out the main aspects of Azure pricing structure for making a sound decision when it comes to keeping Azure costs within your budget.

Types of Virtual Machines (VMs)

General Purpose, Compute Optimized and Memory Optimized are the three main types of virtual machines offered by Azure. These are mostly offered on a reserved basis or through the pay-as-you-go method.
  • VM RI (Reserved Instance) – Under this, you can sign a contract of use for 1 to 3 years and can exchange contract time for up to 72% off on the actual price.
  • Pay As You Go – Under this, you only need to pay for virtual machines that are in use. The price structure is dependent on the number of CPUs or GPUs and the volume of memory available in GB.

Storage

There are several storage services with different pricing models offered by Azure, including:
  • Azure Blob Storage – The first 50 TB is charged as the base rate. If you use over the limit, Microsoft offers incredible discounts, especially if you use over 500 TB of drives. You can even exchange higher latency retrieval and pay a discounted rate for less frequently used data.
  • Azure Files – The basic price is set at US$ 0.24 / GB / month and additional cost is charged according to the number of operations that need to be performed on the data, options of data redundancy and the selected storage tier.
  • Azure NetApp Files – It comes in 3 tiers, with the Standard tier costing US$ 0.000202 / GB / hour, the Premium tier starting at US$ 0.000403 / GB / hour and the Ultra tier costing US$ 0.000528 / GB / hour.
  • Azure Table Storage – The prices for this start from US$ 0.045 / GB / month, with improved redundancy and data options cost extra.

Rating Frequency

Most services are charged on an hourly use basis, while some, including Container instances and Windows VMs are charged according to the user per second.
Azure VM Pricing

Azure VM Pricing

Price Matching

Publicly available pricing is comparable to similar AWS services.

Conclusion

All you need to do to use the Azure VM pricing calculator is to access the Azure pricing page, select the featured products you need and simply check the estimate of total services on your screen. See Also Azure storage pricing calculator
What is Azure Cost Management all about

What is Azure Cost Management all about?

Posted on | by Steve Upkin | Leave a Comment on What is Azure Cost Management all about?

Microsoft Azure, earlier known as Windows Azure, is a public cloud computing platform offered by Microsoft Corporation. It consists of a variety of cloud-based services, such as computing, analyzing, storing and networking. Microsoft users can select the cloud services they require in order to develop new applications or run present applications in the public cloud platforms. Although Azure cloud services are extremely helpful, enterprises need to keep in mind to cut down on the service expenses by utilizing Azure cost management strategies. 

Microsoft Azure is designed to help businesses solve challenges and meet organizational goals. This open-source platform includes tools that are required by numerous industries, such as e-commerce, finance, etc. The Azure platform offers incredible flexible tools and technologies to users. Apart from this, Azure provides four different types of cloud computing, namely IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and server-less. 

What is Azure Cost Management?

Microsoft Azure’s cost management tool is an excellent way for businesses running their Virtual Machines (VMs) on the Azure platform. Managing its cost is often among the top priorities set by enterprises that use public cloud computing technology. 

What is Azure Cost Management

What is Azure Cost Management

Azure cost management software provides business enterprises with a comprehensive view of every Azure account, types of virtual machines and their pricing. This helps businesses to make smarter and more practical decisions about how to decrease the cost of using Azure by rightsizing unneeded resources and scheduling on/off times for VMs that are less frequently used. 

Apart from being a cost-controlling tool, businesses can also use it to generate new permission tiers, track resource use for each tier and collect data that help improve accountability and governance. Overall, the various features of the cost management tool also help businesses to lower the cloud platform service expenses and manage their Azure bills in a better way. It is an excellent way for system administrators to plan and forecast capacity for meeting Azure budget demands. 

How Azure Cost Management tool helps?

Check out some of the significant ways that Azure cost management tool helps businesses to cut cost on their public cloud service use:

1 – Microsoft EA (Enterprise Agreement)

Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, known as EA for short, is an ideal option for large-sized businesses. Azure EA provides software licenses, the standard versions of Microsoft products and software support to help decrease Azure costs for businesses with over 500 users. 

2 – Azure RI (Reserved Instance)

Microsoft Azure’s Reserved Instance (RI) pricing is also advantageous to cut costs on public cloud service usage. This feature allows business enterprises to get discounts by committing to resource level with a 1 or 3-year term. This is an excellent option for businesses that have a predictable, long-term production load. 

Azure RI (Reserved Instance)

Azure RI (Reserved Instance)

3 – Azure Low Priority Virtual Machines 

You can also cut down the cost of Azure On-Demand services through its low priority VMs, which are popularly known as Azure spot instances. These computing instances are assigned from spare storage capacity and are offered at a discounted rate of between 60 – 80 % as compared to Azure On-Demand. The low priority VMs are ideal for fault-tolerant applications, such as rendering, batch-wise processing, testing, containerized applications, etc. 

Azure Batch and VM scale sets include low priority VMs. Azure Batch performs jobs across several computing pools, known as Batch Pools. As batch jobs are background tasks that require several VMs to run, these are considered to be perfect to work with low priority VMs. 

4 – Azure Test/Dev Pricing

There are several discounts on resources for users who need to complete testing and developing tasks. Individual customers are allowed a credit for this tool while Enterprise Agreement users get Dev/Test at a lower rate. 

5 – Switching off VMs when not in use

Very often, businesses end up paying charges for unwanted and over-provisioned services, such as letting VMs run when not in use on Azure. This is caused when the demand decreases and remains unidentified or a large number of unwanted, aged snapshots get accumulated in unattached storage volumes. It is not always easy to monitor and determine over-provisioned instances but ensuring to switch off VMs when not in use helps in excellent Azure cost management. 

Bottom Line

Microsoft Azure is an excellent platform for large and small businesses looking for swift and effective cloud-computing services. With the above-given tips, it becomes incredibly inexpensive to use and maintain these excellent services. 

Azure Storage Pricing Calculator