The Cloud Cost Intelligence Report by CloudZero shows that only 30% of surveyed organizations knew where their cloud budget was going exactly — a truly grim picture of cost attribution in the cloud.
This case study of cloud cost optimization discusses Azilen’s engagement with one of its clients, a SportsTech company in Golf, for collaborative Cloud FinOps Engineering as part of our FinOps as a Service.
The aim was to address infrastructure security and AWS cloud cost optimization challenges. This initiative aligned with their journey toward cloud operations maturity.
We collaborated to enhance their cloud infrastructure efficiency by addressing cost inefficiencies and strengthening security, leveraging our FinOps as a Service.
Cloud Cost Savings with Smart Budgeting
Optimal Resource Provisioning
Governance, Budgeting & Tracking
Real-time Visibility into Cloud Spend
Cloud Control & Accountability
Automated CI/CD to attain faster TTM
The client is a US-based SportsTech company that digitizes the engagement of the Golfers community to create more opportunities for players to collaborate, wager, and challenge fellow Golfers across multiple golfing games.
Implemented a tailored AWS cloud governance strategy along with cloud cost optimization strategies through optimal monitoring to streamline operations and enhance efficiency across the company’s tech landscape.
EC2 instances managed with optimized on-demand usage
Reduction in Cloud Costs
Increase in Security Score with Audit & Optimization
In response to the client’s challenges, Azilen undertook a comprehensive approach to optimize their AWS infrastructure and enhance security measures.
We utilized a multi-pronged approach to achieve significant cost reduction by incorporating Rightsizing Idle Instances, On-Demand Instance Control, Cloud Security Audit and Adjustments & efficient Resources management.
To achieve significant cloud cost optimization, a comprehensive strategy consisting of multiple initiatives was incorporated:
The Dev and Stage environments were reconfigured as on-demand instances when it was found that they were regularly underutilized, to prevent unnecessary expenditures.
Transferring these settings was necessary for this.
➡️ AWS Lambda Functions: For Dev and Stage, traditional EC2 instances were connected to Lambda functions. With Lambda functions executing only when required, it is now able to use resources more efficiently and save expenses by not running instances constantly.
➡️ Auto-Shutdown Scheduler: To further reduce expenses, an auto-shutdown scheduler was developed using Lambda functions. This scheduler saves expenses on unnecessary resources by automatically terminating any Dev or Stage EC2 instances that are still running beyond the predefined time every day at 11:00 AM CST.
➡️ API Gateway: To make instance management easier, an API Gateway was implemented on top of the Lambda function.
➡️ The URL Interface: For Auto Start-Up Any web browser can access the URL interface provided by the API gateway. Through this URL interface, users can easily start up Dev or Stage instances, simplifying the process and increasing user convenience.
➡️ Manually start and stop URLs: Moreover, users can manually start or stop instances by using particular “Start” and “Stop” URLs. Users can use this manual control to override the auto-shutdown timer if instances need to be started or stopped before they expire.
Harnessing the power of the cloud does not merely involve transferring operations from on-premise to a digital sphere. It necessitates a thoughtful strategy that optimizes costs and ensures scalability. This is where cloud cost optimization enters the stage, a crucial strategy that can significantly trim the financial fat from cloud operations.
➡️ Amazon CloudWatch: To find unused resources for rightsizing, CloudWatch tracked CPU, memory, and disk utilization.
➡️ AWS Budgets: Proactive measures were taken to detect and manage unexpected surges in expenses by setting up alerts.
➡️ AWS Trusted Advisor: This service produced security and cost optimization recommendations.
➡️ AWS Cost Explorer: This tool offered insights into resource utilization and spending trends, supporting cost optimization techniques.
➡️ AWS Security Hub: A security scan was used to find and fix potential vulnerabilities, strengthening the platform’s security posture.
➡️ Database Security: Potential vulnerabilities in the database design were discovered through a comprehensive security audit, particularly concerning globally accessible instances.
➡️ Whitelisting: In an attempt to lessen these risks, stringent whitelisting protocols were implemented to restrict access to authorized sources. Restricting database access strengthened the platform’s overall security posture by lowering the likelihood of unauthorized access or security breaches.
➡️ SSH Access Control: Furthermore, the audit uncovered unrestricted SSH access to application instances, posing a potential security threat. Hence access controls were tightened by restricting SSH access to specific IP addresses or security groups. This granular access control mechanism ensured authorized access.
➡️ Instance Rightsizing: Based on utilization metrics and performance requirements, instance sizes were lastly adjusted to optimize resource allocation and reduce costs. More efficient use of resources and a reduction in unnecessary spending on overprovisioned resources resulted from right-sizing instances in accordance with workload demands.
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