My journey to AWS Solution Architect Exam — Part 49 — Design cost-optimized storage solutions
Designing cost-optimized storage solutions in AWS involves considering several factors such as data access patterns, required durability, performance requirements, and cost efficiency. Here’s a general approach to designing such solutions.
Understand data characteristics and access patterns
Analyze your data to understand its characteristics, such as frequency of access, size, and importance. Is the data frequently accessed or is it more archival in nature? Use AWS Storage classes appropriately:
- S3 Standard: use for frequently accessed data where low-latency access is required.
- S3 intelligent-tiering: automatically moves objects between two access tiers based on changing access patterns. Suitable for unpredictable workloads.
- S3 Standard-IA (infrequent access): use for data that is accessed less frequently but requires rapid access when needed.
- S3 One Zone-IA: lower-cost option for infrequently accessed data that doesn’t require multiple AZ redundancy.
- S3 Glacier: suitable for long-term archival data. Data retrieval times are longer but costs are lower.
- S3 Glacier Deep Archive: lowest-cost storage option for long-term data retention with longer retrieval times.
Implement lifecycle policies
Set up lifecycle policies to automatically transition objects to lower-cost storage classes based on predefined criteria like age or access patterns. For example, you can move objects from S3 Standard to S3 Standard-IA after a certain period of inactivity, and then to Glacier for long-term archival.
Consider Amazon EBS volume types
For EC2 instances requiring block storage, choose appropriate EBS volume types based on performance requirements and cost considerations.
- General purpose SSD (gp2): balanced performance and cost for a wide variety of workloads.
- Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2): for high-performance database workloads.
- Cold HDD (sc1) and Throughput Optimized HDD (st1): lower-cost options suitable for infrequently accessed data or large sequential workloads.
Utilize Amazon EFS for shared file storage
EFS provides scalable file storage for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources. Use EFS for applications that require shared access to files with low-latency access. Configure EFS with the appropriate performance mode based on your workload requirements.
- General purpose
- Max I/O
Optimize data transfer costs
Minimize data transfer costs between AWS services and regions by strategically placing resources in the same region or using AWS Direct Connect or AWS VPN for dedicated network connections.
Cost management service features
AWS offers several features and services to help users effectively manage and optimize costs across their cloud infrastructure.
Cost allocation tags
These tags allow users to categorize and track costs associated with AWS resources based on custom-defined tags (environment, application, owner). Tags can be applied to resources such as:
- EC2 instances
- S3 buckets
- RDS databases.
AWS Budgets
Budgets allows users to set custom budgets for their AWS spending. Users can define budget thresholds and receive alerts via email or SNS notifications when spending exceeds or is forecasted to exceed these thresholds.
Use case: setting budgets and receiving alerts.
Cost Explorer
It provides a comprehensive view of AWS spending and usage trends. Users can visualize their AWS spending over time, filter by various dimensions (service, region, instance type), and forecast future spending. Helps users analyze cost drivers and identify opportunities for optimization.
Use case: analyzing historical spending and forecasting.
AWS Cost and usage report (CUR)
This report provides detailed billing data in CSV format, including usage, costs, and resource metadata. Users can customize the report to include specific data fields and configure delivery frequency (hourly, daily, monthly). Enables detailed analysis of AWS spending and integration with third-party cost management tools.
Use case: detailed billing analysis and third-party integration.
AWS Organizations
AWS Organizations enables centralized management of multiple AWS accounts within an organization. Users can set up consolidated billing to aggregate charges across accounts, simplifying billing and cost management. Allows for the creation of service control policies (SCPs) to enforce cost management policies across accounts.
Use case: centralized billing and cost management across multiple AWS accounts.
AWS Cost anomaly detection
This service uses machine learning algorithms to identify unexpected spending patterns. Automatically detects anomalies in usage and spending, helping users identify potential cost optimization opportunities or security issues.
Use case: identifying unexpected spending patterns.
AWS Pricing calculator
It allows users to estimate the cost of AWS services based on resource configuration and usage patterns. Helps users plan and budget for AWS deployments by providing upfront cost estimates.
Use case: estimating costs for new deployments.
