Best Azure Cost Optimization Tactics

Many businesses are moving their data and infrastructure to Azure. Azure is offering various built-in pricing models to their customers. You can use it for cost management. However, the process of focus cost optimization only comes with expertise and experience. You can save a lot of money by reducing unnecessary overheads and waste. In this article, we are going to talk about the best Azure Cost optimization tactics that will help you in saving a lot of money.

1. Storage Tiering

Storage is going to hold the largest portion of your Azure costs. It is important to optimize this aspect if you want to save money.

Azure Storage model is offering archive, cool, hot, and premium storage tiers. The price of every model is different. You should use the correct storage tier for storing the right type of data.

For example, you should store less frequently accessed data in lower-cost tier storage.

2. Use Elastic Databases

It is very expensive to run MySQL or other database servers on the Azure platform. VMs are very expensive. Also, it is very difficult to use the database instances in an optimal way. Database VMs are not the best way to distribute loads between different instances.

You should consider moving to the PaaS for solving this problem. Companies that are using the Azure SQL service can save a lot of money. The reduction mainly happens due to a better payment model. You will only pay for the database resources that you are using. Thus, you can save a lot of money by using elastic databases.

You should check your database DTU usage. If you are using more than 40% at any given time, then there is the possibility of saving money. Sometimes DTU can be unreliable. Thus, you should also check your database metrics for making better decisions.

You should also consider using Serverless Azure SQL. The best thing about this database is that it will automatically scale the computing power according to your workloads. They will bill you according to the resources that you are using. This tool will automatically pause the database if you are not using it and resume it whenever you want to use it.

3. Shift your workload to containers

You can run different containerized applications on a single host. Sometimes you can even manage various different containers per host. Businesses are using containers for repacking their applications. This will help them in reducing the utilization of VMs.

4. Remove unused virtual disks

You might think that the virtual disks will be automatically deleted when you are deleting your VMs. However, these virtual disks are actually going to bump up your cloud costs. You should look for unused virtual disks in your cloud infrastructure. Azure portal Disk screen will help you in finding all the unused virtual disks. It will help you in identifying all the active virtual disks that are located in your account. Thus, you can easily delete all the unused virtual disks. Check the owner of every virtual disk you have in your account. If the virtual disk is empty, then you can delete it.

5. Right-size your virtual machines

Azure virtual machines come with different performance capabilities and hardware. Thus, you should find the best and most optimal Virtual machine for your workload. This will provide adequate throughput to your business. You can also get the maximum performance at a very low rate.

Look for the best combination for your workloads. Stick with the best combination as it will help you in saving a lot of money. You can use auto-scaling for adjusting the VMs according to your actual workloads.

You should aim for 100% virtual machine utilization. This will ensure that your virtual machine costs are optimal. It will be very difficult to achieve 100% VM utilization but you should still try to optimize your VMs. If you want to achieve the maximum VM utilization, then you should use Azure Monitor for monitoring your metrics. You can also use the auto-scaling feature for adding and deleting machines according to your utilization percentage.

6. Create VMs start and stop Schedule according to your usage

This practice might seem very simple to you. However, you should still perform an analysis of availability and usage patterns. This will help you in creating an optimal schedule for your virtual machines.

The best thing about Azure is that you will get access to the autoscaling feature. This feature will help you in combining your custom scheduling. It will provide more flexibility and elasticity to your Azure infrastructure. Thus, it will ensure that you can save a lot of money. You can also use the Azure Automation Runbooks features for implementing automatic stop and start functions.

This is one of the most effective scheduling methods. It is perfect for test or development environments as you don’t need to always run these workloads. Auto-scaling is the best solution for the applications that are running on your Virtual machines.

7. Track performance of your application dependencies

Most of your apps are not going to use caching or queues. You should use Azure cache for Redis feature as it will enable superior latency performance and throughput. It will store your data on the memory instead of storing it in your memory. You will enjoy a very consistent performance. Also, it can write and read very fast. It can process requests in milliseconds.

You can also use the MS Azure Service Bus service. This is an enterprise message broker that will help you in decoupling your services and applications. It will offer you a secure and reliable platform for asynchronous transfer of state and data.

Conclusion

There are various tricks that you can use for reducing your Azure costs. These are some tips that can follow for reducing your cloud costs. All the tricks will depend on your resources, goals, and workload. Cloud experts can also help you in optimizing your cloud infrastructure. If you don’t have access to cloud experts, then you should consider working with a good MSP. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in optimizing your Azure costs. They will ensure that your cloud infrastructure is optimized. Bleuwire will help you in saving both your time and money. If you need more Azure cost optimization tactics, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.