The most effective techniques to reduce costs of VM on Microsoft Azure,
Auto Shutdown
- As simple as it sounds.
- It automatically shuts down the machine when not needed.
- Relevant mainly for test/dev machines.
- Storage and IP (if static) costs are still incurred.
- Can save >50% of virtual machine cost.
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Reserved Instances
- Allowed upfront payment with a substantial discount.
- Usually offered for 1 or 3 years.
- Great for production machine which runs continuously.
- Offers great discounts (Up to 62%).
- Can be divided into monthly payments.
- Can not be stopped or refunded.
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Spot Instances
- Machines that run on unused capacity in Azure.
- Can be evicted at any moment when needed by Azure.
- Offers up to 90% discount, the price fluctuates according to demand.
- Great for no-critical, non-continuous tasks.
- ie. Batch processes, long-running calculations.
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Disk Optimization
- Make sure to select the right disk for the machine.
- Default is Premium SSP – the most expensive option.
- Non-IO – intensive machines can do with Standard SSD.
- ie. App servers, in-memory cache.
- Note: Disk type affects the SLA.
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Conclusion
In this article, we have learned a few steps on how can we reduce the virtual machine cost on Microsoft azure.