Azure Virtual Machines – Consider Using a Preferred Instance Type

Optimize Azure VM costs by standardizing and selecting the most cost-effective instance types that meet your organization’s performance and budget requirements. Why This Policy Matters Organizations often overspend on cloud infrastructure by selecting virtual machine types without careful consideration. Azure offers numerous VM series and sizes, each with different pricing, performance characteristics, and optimization potential….

Azure Virtual Machines – Optimize Windows VM Costs with Azure Hybrid Benefit

Azure Hybrid Benefit provides a strategic opportunity for organizations to significantly reduce their Windows virtual machine costs by leveraging existing on-premises licensing investments. This cost-saving mechanism allows businesses to apply their Microsoft Software Assurance or subscription licenses directly to Azure Windows VM deployments. Why This Policy Matters Azure Hybrid Benefit is crucial for organizations looking…

Azure Virtual Machines – Upgrading E Series Machines to Ev5

Azure offers several improvements with the latest Ev5 series virtual machines, providing better price-performance and enhanced capabilities compared to previous generation E series machines. This policy recommends upgrading to newer Ev5, Edv5, Esv5, or Edsv5 series VMs to optimize cloud infrastructure costs and performance. Why Upgrading Matters The Ev5 series virtual machines deliver significant advantages:…

Amazon RDS – Consider setting Aurora Serverless v2 clusters minimum capacity to 0.5 in non-production projects

Aurora Serverless v2 provides flexible scaling for Amazon RDS databases, with the ability to optimize costs by adjusting minimum capacity settings. By strategically configuring cluster capacity, organizations can significantly reduce unnecessary cloud spending, especially in non-production environments. Why This Policy Matters Aurora Serverless v2 allows for granular capacity management, which directly impacts cost efficiency: Cost…

Azure Virtual Machines – Upgrade DC Series Machines to DCv3

Optimize Azure virtual machine performance and cost-efficiency by upgrading from older DC series machines to the newer DCv3 series, which offer improved processor technology and better resource allocation. Why This Policy Matters Azure’s DCv3 series represents a significant upgrade path for confidential computing workloads. The newer series provides: Cost Reduction Strategies Performance Comparison Consider this…

Azure Virtual Machines – Consider Upgrading F-Series Machines to Fsv2

When managing Azure Virtual Machines, upgrading from F-series to Fsv2-series can provide significant cost savings and performance improvements. This policy recommends transitioning to newer Fsv2 instances to optimize your cloud infrastructure spending. Why This Policy Matters The Fsv2-series offers substantial benefits over the original F-series: Detailed Cost Analysis Comparative Cost Example Implementation Guide Infrastructure as…

Amazon VPC – Consider Avoiding Multiple VPC Endpoints for the Same Service

VPC endpoints can quickly become a source of unnecessary cloud spending if not managed carefully. Each VPC endpoint incurs approximately $80 in annual costs, making it crucial to optimize your endpoint strategy. Why This Policy Matters VPC endpoints provide private connectivity between your VPC and supported AWS services without requiring an internet gateway, NAT device,…

AWS ECS – Consider Graviton Instances

Amazon Web Services Graviton instances and Fargate containers are 20% cheaper than x86 equivalents, presenting a substantial opportunity for cost optimization in cloud infrastructure. Why This Policy Matters Cost and Performance Benefits Key Advantages of Graviton Instances Implementation Strategy Infrastructure-as-Code Transformation Example (Terraform) Before (x86 Configuration): After (Graviton-Optimized Configuration): Manual Migration Steps Best Practices Recommended…

Azure SQL – Leverage Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server

Azure Hybrid Benefit allows organizations to convert existing SQL Server licenses into substantial cloud cost savings, potentially reducing Azure SQL expenses by up to 30% or more. Why This Policy Matters Azure Hybrid Benefit represents a critical cost optimization strategy for enterprises with existing Microsoft SQL Server licenses. By strategically leveraging Software Assurance-enabled licenses, organizations…

Amazon EC2 – Consider Graviton Instances

Amazon Web Services Graviton instances offer a compelling opportunity for organizations to reduce compute costs while maintaining performance. By leveraging ARM-based processors, these instances provide significant cost savings and efficiency improvements for many workloads. Why Graviton Instances Matter Graviton instances are approximately 20% cheaper than equivalent x86 instances, making them an attractive option for cost-conscious…

Azure Virtual Machines – Consider Upgrading D-Series (AMD x64) Machines to Dav5

Azure provides multiple virtual machine series with varying performance characteristics and pricing. The D-series, while previously competitive, can now be optimized by upgrading to newer Dav5, Dasv5, or Dadsv5 series machines that offer improved price-performance ratios. Why This Policy Matters Upgrading Azure Virtual Machines from older D-series to newer Dav5 series can deliver significant benefits:…

Amazon RDS – Consider Single-AZ Databases in Non-Production Projects

Optimize cloud spending by using single-availability zone (single-AZ) RDS databases in non-production environments, potentially reducing costs by up to 50%. Why Single-AZ Databases Matter in Non-Production Environments Database infrastructure can quickly become a significant expense in cloud environments. For non-production workloads like development, staging, and testing, high-availability configurations are often unnecessary and can dramatically inflate…