Cost management Flashcards
What is meant by the term capital expenses (CapEx)?
The money spent on long-term assets like buildings and equipment. Centered around depreciation- how long will an asset last? Predicting future needs is difficult!
What is meant by the term operational expenses (OpEx)?
The money spent for the on-going running of business costs. Usually considered variable expenses. You only buy what you need e.g. cloud computing
What is the main problem with CapEx?
If demand outpaces capacity then you may end up purchasing on-off equipment for a premium.
What are the 4 cost optimisation strategies?
1) Appropriate provisioning
2) Right sizing
3) Purchase options
4) Geographic selection
What is appropriate provisioning?
When you only provision what is required and nothing more. Consolidate where possible for greater density and lower complexity e.g. 4 small DynamoDBs –> 1 large DynamoDB
What is right sizing?
Use the lowest cost resource that still meets the technical specifications. Architecting for the most consistent use of resources is best versus spikes and valleys. Use a loosely coupled architecture here.
What is purchase options?
Consider using reserved instances for permanent application needs. You may use a combination of these such as a mix of on-demand, spot and RIs
What is geographic selection?
The concept that AWS pricing can vary depending on the region you select. for example, certain regions may be cheaper.
What are soft costs?
The costs associated with provisioning and running, installing a system e.g. training…
What should you consider to reduce soft costs?
Using managed services will reduce soft costs
How can you optimise/reduce data transfer costs?
Data going in and out between AWS regions can become a significant cost. consider using AWS Direct Connect to give cost-effectiveness at large volumes
What is the number one thing you can use to help manage you AWS assets?
Tag, tag, tag
What can a tag strategy be used to manage?
cost allocation, security, automation etc..
What is are AWS resource groups?
a grouping of AWS assets defined by their tags. They can be used to provide consolidated metrics, alarms and config details for a given tag
What is an reserved instance?
Where you purchase or agree to purchase an instance in advance for a significant discount
How does billing work with RIs?
The discounts are automatically applied when you launch and instance that matches your purchased RI
What are the 3 RI types?
1) standard
2) convertible
3) scheduled
Can you share RIs across multiple accounts with consolidated billing?
Yes
with the convertible RI type, which instance features can you change?
Instance family, OS, tenancy options…
What do you need to define when selecting a RI? (4 point)
1) The instance type- CPU, memory, networking capability
2) The platform- Linux, windows…
3) Tenancy- shared or dedicated tenancy
4) The AZ (optional)
If an AZ is specified for an RI what is the RI called?
A zonal RI
What is a regional RI?
When a RI is created and no AZ is specified. You get a discount, but the AZ is not guaranteed to be available
Can you change a Zonal RI to a regional RI?
Yes, via the console or API
What is a spot instance?
A way to purchase excess EC2 capacity that AWS has on an exchange basis. You define a price you are willing to pay for that instance and you can get outbid is someone is willing to pay more.
What are the 3 types of spot instances you can request?
1) one-time/Fill and kill- if out-bid instance is killed and data is lost (ephemeral)
2) maintain- can be configured to terminate, stop or hibernate until the price point can be met again
3) duration based- set amount of time to run
What is a dedicated instance?
A virtualised instance on hardware just for you. You may share hardware with dedicated instances in the same account.
Which type of instance types are available when using a dedicated instance?
1) on-demand
2) RI
3) spot
What is a dedicated host?
A physical server dedicated to you.
Which instance types are available on a dedicated host?
on-demand or dedicated host reservation
When you you use a dedicated host?
When you have server-bound software which uses per-core, per-socket pricing.
Name and describe 3 cost management tools?
1) AWS budgets- allows you to set pre-defined limits and notifications when nearing a budget.
2) Consolidated billing- Enables single pater account that is locked down to those that need access. Allows you to bring in economies of scale using tiering pricing to save money
3) Trust advisor- Runs service checks on your resource and proposes suggested improvements and cost optimisation.
Which two services can be used to most directly help with the right-sizing of your landscape?
1) AWS CloudWatch
2) AWS TrustedAdvisor
Is purchasing a direct use of tagging?
Nope!
