By Sujay Maheshwari in cloud — Jul 7, 2020

A Big List Of Mistakes AWS Cloud Users Have Done And Spent Millions

Amazon Web Services lets us rapidly deploy and scale our applications that would not have been possible had we used traditional IT infrastructures and processes. It could also be the reason why it is easy to lose track of what you have running at a particular time, which eventually can reflect in the invoice produced at the end of the month.

List of AWS Cloud Instances Users have done:

Oversized Instances
Too many Instances
Failing to make the right selection of instance types
Leaving instances running idle
Failing to clean stale resources
Taking too few or no EBS snapshots/ Taking too many EBS volume snapshots
Failing to release allocated elastic IPs
Keeping track of the resources in every region

Oversized Instances

Most of the users commonly make the mistake of keeping cloud instances unattended. You must know what instances to run, how many you will need, and how you will keep track of your resources. Few users pick instances more powerful than they need, resulting in an unnecessary increase in the costs.

Too many cloud instances

Like oversized instances, too many instances can cause overpricing. As a result, users might run too many instances in clusters or load balancers. This might cost you a lot of money if kept unattended.

Failing to make the right selection of instance types

AWS has a variety of cloud instance types differing based on use, and these include general-purpose servers, Input/Output performance, size, CPU, or memory-intensive workloads. It is a challenge to pick up the right variety of instances without proper application benchmarking. Tracking resource utilization and frequently making relevant instance trade-offs optimizes utilization and hence reduces the cost per user. Users should avoid choosing instance types that are too big for their needs, hence being more expensive.

Besides instance types, there are 3 distinct ways to purchase instance resources to control their AWS costs. These are

On-Demand Instances are the ones that allow you to pay a fixed rate without commitment.
Reserved Instances are the ones that provide a capacity reservation. They offer a significant discount over hourly On-Demand prices when you commit to the long-term purchase of that instance.
Spot Instances are the ones that allow you to bid your price for ‘instance capacity.’ Assuming your application’s start and end times are flexible, and that they can survive service interruptions when your bid price is unavailable. Spot instances can save you a lot of money.

On-Demand cloud instances seem attractive and comfortable for users with no experience because of their “no commitment” policy. But, to your surprise, they can generate unexpected costs at the end of the month.

It requires careful planning to operate AWS cloud instances because continuously starting and stopping instances will prove costly. If you need a site to run all the time, you are better off with reserved instances since you will know your exact costs upfront. If you require Elastic Load Balancers and Auto Scaling, you will need a combination of On-Demand and Spot instances. With the right planning, you will end up with significantly lower costs.

Leaving cloud instances running idle

Just like you waste energy by forgetting to put off lights when you leave a room, leaving instances of running idle can cause confusion and waste of time figuring out the process resulting in a spike in the AWS costs. You can add a new server through a simple wizard and choose and provide instances based on your operational or business needs. This will save you a significant amount of time and money.

Failing to clean stale resources

Stale resources are a management nightmare in cloud computing environments as AWS’s pay-per-use model states that EBS volumes are charged by provisioned storage. Keeping those volumes that will be needed in the future will be the most profitable.

Taking too few or no EBS snapshots / Taking too many EBS volume snapshots

AWS has features like copying virtual copies of its EBS volumes at specific points in time, also called EBS snapshots. These are excellent solutions for performing backups on changed data. When too few or no EBS snapshots are taken, changed data can be at risk in crashes or data loss events.

Too many EBS volume snapshots lead to unnecessary complexity during the managing of backups. Snapshot sprawling can increase storage costs quickly. An EBS snapshot retention strategy is always good for your particular needs.

Failing to release allocated elastic IP’s

AWS provides you with the first Elastic IP (EIP) address with a running instance for free. Each additional EIP is chargeable with that instance per hour on a pro-rata basis. To ensure efficient use of EIP, AWS imposes a small hourly charge even when these IP addresses are not associated with a running instance or when associated with a stopped instance or an unattached network interface. Though stopping your instance will not release your IP. Hence unused EIP’s and non-maintained EIPs will increase your AWS costs.

Keeping track of the resources in every region

One of the main drawbacks of the AWS console is that it doesn’t do a great job of showing resources across multiple regions. So you may think your resources are used at their best, but maybe in some other region, it’s totally into wastage. So do not forget to review your resources across the regions.

So, you can avoid these mistakes and save a whole lot of money for your organization

These are a list of mistakes AWS Cloud users have made and spent millions on. AWS is a fabulous platform if used wisely. Knowledge of the ins and outs of this platform will dramatically improve the user experience and bring down the overall cost of AWS for a user. Users must avoid the above-stated mistakes commonly made to efficiently use AWS and not lose money on Amazon Web Services for such mistakes.

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