Hey everyone, I'm a solo SysAdmin at a mid-sized tech company, and I've been really struggling to make a dent in our AWS monthly bill. We've got a mixed bag of instances running – 3 Windows servers and 10 Linux instances, with various types including t2, m3, r3, and t3 families. I recently moved a bunch of the Windows instances to on-prem, but it's not enough.
Another big worry is our 622 snapshots, some as large as 2TB. I understand AWS only charges for the full amount of the first snapshot of an instance, and the rest are incremental, but with so many snapshots it's tough to keep track.
Even after shifting some load to on-prem, our bill is still way too high – last month it hit over $5,000! I need solid ideas on how to reduce these costs without compromising the service. Any suggestions?
5 Answers
Take a closer look at those EBS volumes and snapshots. With over 600 snapshots, you might be able to delete some of the older ones that aren't needed anymore. Consider implementing a lifecycle policy for your snapshots to automatically prune old ones.
You might also want to explore the AWS Cost Optimization Hub within the Billing console. It clearly highlights unused resources, idle instances, and even gives recommendations for rightsizing. I managed to reduce costs significantly with it.
I’ll definitely check that out! It sounds like optimizing my current instances could make a huge difference.
First thing's first, have you checked out the Cost Explorer? It’s really useful for pinning down where all your money is going. Once you know what's eating up your budget, you can figure out the best strategies for cutting costs.
Absolutely! And don't forget the Compute Optimizer. It can help you identify over-provisioned resources that can be scaled down. Be sure to tag your resources properly to get clear insights.
Thanks! I added some new details about our costs from the Cost Explorer.
Switching to newer instance types can lead to cost savings. For example, look at upgrading your r3 or m4 instances to r6a or m6a instances, which can save you quite a bit, plus the newer instances are often more efficient.
Good point! However, some of these instances are mission-critical and were set up before my time here, so I've been hesitant to touch them.
Understandable, but if you're paying a premium for older generation instances, it might be time to run some tests to see if the upgrade is worth it.
Consider using serverless solutions like AWS Lambda or Fargate for non-critical workloads. It can save a ton in resource costs, especially if you’re running code that doesn’t need to be on all the time.
This is a great tip! I’ll look into migrating suitable services to serverless to cut costs further.
We actually have a policy in place that deletes snapshots older than a week, which has helped a little, but I need to clean up further.