I've been relying on Azure Advisor for cost recommendations, but honestly, it often feels a bit too surface-level or gets delayed responses, especially when I'm trying to pinpoint unused or underutilized resources across all our subscriptions. Here are a few pain points we've encountered:
- It's tough to get a full overview of idle resources in our environment.
- There's no straightforward way to act on the recommendations or automate the cleanup process.
- The filtering and prioritization options are pretty limited when it comes to actual impact.
So I'm curious, are there better tools (either native or third-party) out there that people are using for this? How are you identifying and managing underutilized resources to optimize costs? And do you have any automated workflows or governance strategies in place? I'd appreciate any suggestions or stack recommendations!
6 Answers
I’ve actually built my own tool for this purpose. It pulls log analytics from the past 90 days, looking at CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. Then it right-sizes the resources, and I use Azure’s cost API to get regional estimates. I display all this in a dashboard with graphs for each VM. It even has logic for powering down VMs after hours, which really helps with costs.
You might want to reach out to Microsoft support for further assistance, especially if your organization could use a bit of guidance.
It really depends on your provider. If you're using CSP, EA, or MCA, some of them offer additional tools and financial operations services. Also, make sure you're doing well-architected reviews for better service standards.
If Azure Advisor feels limiting, consider exploring cloud management platforms like Jamcracker. They provide deeper insights into underutilized resources and offer customizable dashboards, plus automation tools for management across Azure and other cloud providers.
When it comes to finding tools to spot unused or underutilized resources, there aren’t many that can completely solve cloud spending issues without causing some other problems. Most cost management tools do the job well enough; you just have to keep an eye on things.
If you're looking for a solution, hiring a cloud expert might be another viable option. Depending on the size of your environment, that could save a lot of money!
Check out the Microsoft FinOps Toolkit! It expands on what Azure Advisor suggests and provides many more cost and optimization recommendations. It's worth looking into if you're facing limitations.
Reaching out might be hit-or-miss unless you're on Unified Support. Just be cautious about what they can actually help with!