What is Cloud Waste and How to Reduce It?

Cloud waste is when organizations or individuals acquire more cloud than they need and the utilization rate of cloud services lower than that of adopting new cloud features. The reasons for cloud waste can include both static and dynamic workloads. Without differentiating between the workloads, an enterprise is likely to encounter wasteful strategies in running their cloud.

Cloud waste is not only significant in unused resources, but also the expenditure on these resources goes unchecked. Monitoring usage is significant for both small and large enterprises to carry out their day-to-day tasks cost-effectively.

To understand cloud waste better, here are some of the leading causes of the issue:

Resources Left Idle

Companies usually opt for the latter when actual computing load vs. maximum computing load. It ensures that everything runs well when they need to use resources at peak capacity. But mostly, the consumption requirement is much lower, and it is only occasionally that every bit of the resource purchased is used. Businesses run their virtual machines around the clock as it is necessary to do so at times. But active monitoring is essential to prevent cloud waste and, in turn, latency issues.

Infrastructure Size

Companies might be wasting money if your servers are too big for your company. Oversized infrastructure happens with the ease of acquiring it through on-demand services. It is lucrative for the short-term as servers are made available immediately, but in the long run, these investments have poor ROI and only increase spending.

Centralization

Companies tend to put all their eggs in one basket for cloud computing. It is more likely for them to have all their data in one public or private cloud at a certain data center. This leads to getting resources in bulk by overestimating the instance size they require. Companies also boost capacity to manage peak loads when data is accessed from different locations for different purposes. The peak in the usage of all services does not occur simultaneously and not even in the same amount, so one big boost might match the requirement for one service but leads to wastage in several others.

Avoiding Cloud Waste

Here are some actionable ways in which companies can reduce cloud waste:

1. Estimating capacity — Organizations need to assess their user requirements more accurately. They are gradually adding capacity rather than bulk buying resources is more favorable for both the growing business and the purchased cloud environment. For this, a realistic approach is critical.
2. Auditing — Utilize the dashboard that comes with your cloud platform to its total capacity. You can easily track down idle/unused resources and save a lot in terms of cloud spending. Keeping track of purchased capacity is the next step after estimation.
3. Spinning down — monitor unused CPU time and storage usage. Proactive monitoring will allow you to cut down on development environments that are no longer in use.
4. Auto-scaling — Get your capacity automatically allocated and released during workload fluctuations. For those with large workloads regularly, it is healthy to maintain multiple environments to auto-scale only those that cater to services with fluctuating workloads.

It is easy to forget the total time and money invested in a cloud environment due to its abstract nature. But the cumulative expenditure on this solution is high for many users. Controlling cloud spending is not only lucrative for businesses but also for the environment. Reducing cloud waste is closely linked to reduced energy consumption, therefore, leaving the world greener than we found it!

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VEXXHOST is a Canadian cloud computing provider offering cloud services and solutions to many clients globally. We are committed to the growth of technology, including AI, and always support projects that foster humanity’s advance. Reach out to our team if you would like to check our cloud offerings, including private clouds.