Azure Cost Optimisation Blogging Series Part 3 — Reduce Azure Spend with Non-Production Licensing Models
Continuing with our theme of Azure Cost Optimisation and following on from my colleague William Nelson’s post on non-disruptive ways of cutting your Azure costs, we now turn our attention to another method of reducing your Azure spend, by using nonproduction licensing models.
Growth in Azure Spend
As the global cloud market leader, Azure continues its upward trajectory of public cloud spend amongst organisations and so there is an increased and justified focus on Azure based spending and optimisation opportunities. According to Gartner, public cloud cost accounted for about 41% of all IT spend in 2022, and this is expected to reach about 51% by 2025. This growth represents a significant investment in public cloud expenditure for small, medium and large companies.
This Version 1 series of Azure Cost Optimisation blogs and videos highlights the various strategies that can be adopted to reduce your Azure spend. In this post and accompanying video, I’ll focus on using nonproduction dev/test licensing models and taking advantage of free features and credits available in Azure.
Licensing in Test & Development
As organisations embrace Azure, it is important that you create a licensing strategy for development and test purposes. With various developments and test licensing pathways for Azure, it is essential that you understand available licensing options and the terms associated with them.
What can you get for free?
- Microsoft Azure free account. Microsoft makes available a limited set of free services for individuals or organisations who need to carry out one of the following;
- evaluate or demo Azure
- implement Azure at a reduced scale on a short-term basis
Microsoft limits the majority of these free services to around 12 months, with some services offered on a free continual basis. More information is available on the Azure website. Included within this Azure free account is a $200 credit that can be applied to any Azure service. This must be used within 30 days of signing.
- Visual Studio or MSDN Azure credits. This credit is split based on the level of Visual Studio on MSDN subscriptions you own.
- Visual Studio Enterprise $150 per month
- MSDN platforms $100
- Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Test Professional is $50 per month.
These credits are best fit for individual use scenarios like self-paced learning and exploring Azure features in a nonproduction setting.
You can also create your own Azure tenancy, however you may face challenges when collaborating with colleagues within the production setting. It’s important to note that these monthly Azure credits for Visual Studio subscribers will breach Microsoft licensing terms if they are used for production purposes.
- Azure Test/Dev Subscriptions
These test/dev licensing modules enables a high degree of flexibility when your colleagues need access to the same set of nonproduction Azure services. Azure test/dev subscriptions are available where organisations license Azure using the PAYG model or via what Microsoft refer as their ‘enterprise motion.’
When using test/dev subscriptions an administrator can create unique Azure subscriptions that incorporates default discount levels on a variety of Azure services.
Some of these services are listed below:
- Windows VMs
- BizTalk Enterprise VMs and BizTalk Standard VMs
- SQL Database
- SQL Server VMs
- Logic Apps, Enterprise Connector App Service
- Cloud Service Instances
- HD Insight Instances
Note — license compliance must be considered at each individual level, in other words, keep an eye on the licensing terms for every single one of these options.
Using Azure dev/test subscriptions provides an excellent pathway for nonproduction, as well as production, compared to using Visual Studio Azure credits.
In conclusion
It is important for you to understand the scale of your nonproduction requirement in Azure and to develop a licensing strategy that meets your demand. Do not be afraid of using nonproduction licencing models; used carefully they can effectively manage and reduce your Azure costs. If you don’t use them, you will not gain the financial benefit so don’t lose out.
In the last part of our Azure Cost Optimisation blogging series, my colleague Niamh Ni Shuilleabhain will share her knowledge and insights into the procurement and negotiation of the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).
As Microsoft license consultants with extensive expertise in cost optimisation strategies and tactics, we have been able to help businesses uncover significant cost reduction opportunities in their Microsoft spend. Contact us with any questions and start optimising.
