Stop over spending, Cost optimization in Azure

Question

Hi, my company received a higher cloud bill then the previous bill. So now we are trying to optimise our cloud environment.

So it would be great if you help me with the following questions -

1. DATA TRANSFER -- As we all know that there is a cost associated inter region data transfer. so how to find such over chatty applications which do unnecessary inter region communication
2. MONITORING -- we know there is a cost for monitoring as well so what is the best practice for monitoring, SO that WE DON'T OVERPAY FOR MONITORING RESOURCES.
   3. Also please advise me which azure Services to visit regularly (just like we check our emails daily) to keep an eye on cost, and how to check them. Example : under subscription --> cost analysis --> do this

Please help me Microsoft experts with the above questions

Thanks & Regards
Ananay

Answer 1

Hi @Ojha18a-0713,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A! Thanks for posting the question.

I understand that you are trying to analyze and optimize the usage cost of Azure services. Please find my response below based on your query:

DATA TRANSFER -- There is no direct way to get this information. Figuring out "unnecessary inter region communication" is a challenge - "how do you define unnecessary?" The cost calculation depends on a particular service (which may include service usage, data stored and network). Therefore, I would suggest using "Cost Analysis" to get details of cost by services and review the service for its usage and optimization. Please refer to the following links for details:
Quickstart: Explore and analyze costs with cost analysis
Common cost analysis uses

You may also Use cost alerts to monitor usage and spending

MONITORING -- Pricing details of Azure Monitor is available here: Azure Monitor pricing. The Azure Monitor documentation under "usage and cost" also contains helpful information on understanding and optimizing the costs. Please refer to the links below for more details:-
Monitor usage and estimated costs in Azure Monitor
Manage usage and costs for Application Insights
Manage usage and costs with Azure Monitor Logs

Apart from using Cost analysis you may also use Azure Advisor which analyses your configuration and usage telemetry and offers personalised, actionable recommendations to help you optimise your Azure resources for reliability, security, operational excellence, performance and cost. Please refer to this link for more details on how to access and use Azure Advisor for cost optimization.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

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Answer 2

You can certainly use Azure Monitor pricing to understand and optimize your cost, but I also recommend to contact one of Microsoft partners who can help you with a full assessment of your environment. VIAcode is one of the few Microsoft Gold partners to offer a free Azure Optimization Assessment