Guide to Implementing Reserved Instances Management

One of the big themes in cloud infrastructure right now is cloud-cost management (CCM). There are are many different approaches and types of tools for CCM. For example, some of the approaches include CCM and FinOps cost allocation tools; analytics and visibility; networking cost optimization; reserve instances; and waste detection.

Reserve Instances (RIs) and Reserve Instance Management is a growing segment of CCM solutions that aims to help organizations automate and optimize the use of discounted compute workloads.

In partnership with CCM provider Zesty, we have produced a guide to using RIs for cloud-cost management. RI Management is a growing area that helps organizations manage the discounts offered by cloud providers for RIs, which can be complicated and involves some risk. This guide is designed to help cloud professionals evaluate tools for RI Management and implement RI automation strategies.

Evaluation of RI Management technology requires a close look at the methodology and requirements. Key criteria include onboarding and maintenance, savings methodology pricing model, cloud services partner relationship, security, availability of professional services, and the track record of the vendor.

What Are RIs?

RIs are pricing discounts offered by cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. By committing to a certain usage level for a period of time, businesses can receive a discount on their cloud computing costs.

But RIs can bring some challenges. Organizations must have a good understanding of their long-term needs, because RIs require a time commitment. Typically, RI discounts can only be purchased in one- or three-year terms. The organization must also commit to a specific instance type, family, operating system (OS), and region despite knowing that changes will occur during their committed periods.

Understandably, many organizations are reluctant to make these financial commitments, resulting in low utilization of this discount program. There are other forms of cost optimization plans, such as Savings Plans. These are also subject to long-term time commitments. Savings Plans provide a reduced discount compared with RIs but offer more versatility because you can adjust them to different instance types, OSs, and regions. This additional flexibility helps minimize the risk exposure. However, you still need to be confident that you will have sufficient total workload volume over the long term to justify their purchase.

What's in this Guide

In this guide, we walk you through the key challenges and goals in using RIs to help with cloud costs. It includes:

• Why CCM and FinOps technology is a growing need at organizations looking to implement modern cloud infrastructure while controlling cloud spending.
• How Reserve Instances (RIs) and Reserve Instance Management are positioned within the CCM and FinOps market and how they can help organizations automate and optimize the use of discounted compute workloads.
• How to evaluate RI Management technology and develop a methodology and requirements. Key criteria include onboarding and maintenance, savings methodology pricing model, cloud services partner relationship, security, availability of professional services, and the track record of the vendor.

So read up on RI management! You can download the Guide to Implementing Reserved Instances Management for Cloud Cost Optimization here.