Ask any company why it wanted to switch to Cloud, and the reply will always be lower costs and shedding a chunk of its IT infrastructure management. But is Microsoft Azure good enough to cap IT infrastructure costs on a month-to-month basis?
Hybrid Use Licensing:
Hybrid Use Licensing gives users access to current Windows Server licenses in the cloud at cutback rates. This option allows them to create a VM or convert a VM once created. To use this option, a Software Assurance for Window Server is a must.
Virtual Machine Reserved Instances:
Microsoft allows you to purchase 1- or 3-year reserved instances if you pay them once, up-front. This can save you by up to 72% compared to pay-as-you-go pricing. For long term virtual machine, this comes as a good option. Add the benefits of Microsoft hybrid benefit to it, you can have an increased savings by up to 80% against pay-as-you-go option.
Clam up or scale down not-in-use resources:
Virtual systems come with an auto-shutdown feature so that it can automatically shut down at a particular scheduled time. An automated job can also be triggered that can start things.
Region-specific pricing:
The same service’s pricings can vary depending on the region it is deployed. Typically, if you want your resources deployed in the region nearby to service your users, and you are flexible enough, check if other regions present a reduced cost for the same services. An Azure calculator is available to calculate pricings.
Select the correct pricing tier:
It’s not required to scale up the existing physical infrastructure when wanting to move virtual machines in the cloud. In most cases, the CPU or even half the memory must be fine for the workload to run perfectly. Start with a good size, keeping the big picture in mind, and then work around to scale the specs up so as to meet up the radical changes in the workload.
Enhance compute instances:
Upgrading Microsoft hardware constantly for compute instances must be done with an eye on the latest compute specs that offer the same performance for a reduced price. There may also be promo prices coming tagged alongside; just watch out for them.
B-Series virtual machines:
In the case of virtual machines low on CPU usage, but those that require the occasional burst, go for B-series VM for cost-effectiveness. These VMs will accrue credit when operating at a low CPU usage; and when you need a burst of CPU usage, you can use these credits–a money-saver for sure for different workload types.
Licensing for development/test environments:
Most production systems requires different environments for test, dev, staging, etc. If you are a Microsoft Partner or MSDN subscriber, the licenses included can be used for these non-production environments. This said you can also go for Dev/Test pricing-based Azure subscription for using non-production resources. Ensure these environments are live only when they’ll be utilized.
Monitoring and auditing:
There may be times when your monthly costs can hit the roof in spite of your sizing the computer instances correctly, like inefficient SQL queries, a resource-intensive process which will mount up increased reads and writes, thereby burning your pockets. You can fix a cap on specific resources and get notified when they go out of the limits. By this you can troubleshoot and fix issues with your server environment and scale up when needed.
Migrate to Platform as a Service (PaaS):
Few workloads that has Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) at the helm of things, such as virtual machines prove good for PaaS. This is a potential money saver as you don’t have to spend on the overhead of an entire VM and licensing, thereby eliminating the need to patch up the OS and increasing IT overhead—expect hese and more advantages in addition to cost-effective advanced features.
Looking to create or migrate to Azure and optimize your current environment? Why not talk to our experts in Azure. We will help you offer the right solution striking the required balance between features and performance.
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