There’s a good amount of information available about managing Azure costs (and it’s a good idea to start here to learn how to maximize the use of the Azure Cost Management tool).
What’s missing, as far as I can see, is a detailed walkthrough of the lifecycle of a solution built on Azure from a runtime cost optimization point of view. To add this to the conversation, I’m starting a project which, perhaps somewhat loftily, I’m calling the Azure Cost Metrics Project.
So what is it?
I’m going to:
- Use the Azure Architecture Center to find real-world patterns
- Estimate the costs using the Azure Pricing Calculator
- Deploy a solution (for example, a N-Tier application built using VMs or serverless) to my Azure tenant
- Track the costs at not just the aggregate level (i.e., I spent 10 Euros) but also, break apart the cost sources and map them to create a more comprehensive view of how costs are generated
- Write it up, make videos and share the details with you!
Azure costs, as viewed via the Cost Analysis tool, are primarily divided into the following main categories:
- Accumulated Costs
- Costs by Resource
- Daily Costs
- Costs by Service
- Invoice Details
I’m going to track the costs for each solution using these metrics and the sub-categories that lie behind them.
The goal is to keep the total monthly spend at 50 Euros per month so I’ll have to keep a sharp eye out.
Should be fun!
Azure FinOps 