Azure Cost Management and Service Level Agreements

Question 1

6 factors that affect cost

Answer 1

• Resource type – costs are resource-specific via usage meter
• Services – rates/billing can differ b/w enterprise, web direct, and csp customers
• Location – infrastructure is globally distributed and costs may vary b/w region
• Bandwidth – some inbound data transfers are free; outbound pricing is based on zones
• Reserved instances – reservations for 1 year/3 year plans reduce cost
• Azure hybrid benefit – for customers w/ Software Assurance, Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you use your on-premises
licenses on Azure at a reduced cost

Question 2

Pricing Calculator

Answer 2

Helps you estimate the cost of Azure products. The options that you can configure in the Pricing Calculator vary between products, but basic configuration options include:
•	Region
•	Tier
•	Billing options
•	Support options
•	Programs and offers
•	Azure dev/test pricing

Question 3

Total Cost of Ownership Calculator

Answer 3

• A tool to estimate cost savings you can realize by migrating to Azure.
• Compares costs of on-premises infrastructures with the costs of using Azure products and services in the cloud.

Question 4

Azure Cost Management

Answer 4

• Reporting – billing reports
• Data enrichment
• Budgets – set spend budget
• Alerting – when cost exceed limits
• Recommendation – cost recommendations

Question 5

Strategies for minimizing costs

Answer 5

• Perform cost analysis using Azure Pricing and TCO calculators
• Monitor usage with Azure Advisor.
• Use spending limits via free trial/credit-based subs
• Use Azure Reservations and Hybrid Benefit
• Choose low-cost locations/regions
• Keep up to date w/ latest offers
• Apply tags to identify cost owners

Question 6

SLAs

Answer 6

• Based on individual products/services
• Detailed agreements on service provided/exceptions
• Free and preview features/services don’t offer SLAs

Question 7

SLA Figures

Answer 7

99% - 7H/18M/17S downtime/month

99. 5% - 3H/39M/8S downtime/month
100. 9% 21M/54S downtime/month
101. 99% 4M/22S downtime/month
102. 999% 26S downtime/month

Question 8

SLA Figures

Answer 8

99% - 7H/18M/17S downtime/month

99. 5% - 3H/39M/8S downtime/month
100. 9% 21M/54S downtime/month
101. 99% 4M/22S downtime/month
102. 999% 26S downtime/month

Question 9

Actions that affect SLAs

Answer 9

Lower - add more services and choose free services

Raise - availability zones and redundant systems

Question 10

Azure Preview Program

Answer 10

Users can test beta and other pre-release features, products, services, software, and regions to provide feedback.
Public - all Azure customers can evaluate
Generally Available (GA) - after public preview, all customers can use the feature. (region availability will vary)

Question 11

Azure Updates

Answer 11

Provides information about the Azure products, services, and features, in addition to product roadmaps and availability.