Cloud FinOps

Chapter 11. Using Less: Usage Optimization

In this chapter we discuss one of the toughest parts of the FinOps lifecycle. Usage reduction can be hard and can take time to implement culturally. If quick wins are your goal, you will find that purchasing Reserved Instances/Committed Use Discounts—which we cover in Chapter 13—is a faster path to cost reductions. Unlike buying reservations, which can bring dramatic cost savings without any engineering action, usage reduction requires engineers to insert optimization work into their sprints. This isn’t to say there’s no low-hanging fruit—just that it will take more effort to find it.

Cloud service providers sell you on the idea that you pay for what you use. However, a more accurate statement is that you pay for the resources you provision, whether you use them or not. In this chapter, we’re going to look at the resources deployed into your cloud accounts that are either not being used or not being used efficiently.

The Cold Reality of Cloud Consumption

When you start shining a light on usage optimization, don’t be surprised if you hear a version of this conversation:

FinOps practitioner: “Hey, it looks like you’re not utilizing these instances over here. Do you need them?”

Team member: “Oh, those are still there? I forgot about them! I’ll delete them now.”

At this point, you may, understandably, slap a frustrated hand to your forehead. You’ll quickly realize that if you had simply had this conversation sooner, you might have saved ...