Azure Cost Management & How to Lower Your Costs

It is never in the best interest of a business owner or manager to receive an unexpected bill or even spend over their budget. In fact, most of us would prefer to avoid being the source of any stories like this or this. Azure Cost Management is a free set of tools that help to prevent the types of mistakes that make you the center of a Reddit thread and more a part of the solution. Track all levels of resource usage and optimize costs throughout your clouds with improved ROI.

Here is a breakdown of some of those tools:

Azure Pricing Calculator

The Azure Pricing Calculator generates an estimate for the cost of the different Azure services you are or will be using. The calculator allows you to add the services and the resources that you may need, pick the details of the services, and tweak the settings. The tool will provide you with a comprehensive cost breakdown that can be saved or exported to Excel. The best thing about the calculator is not only the estimates for Azure services and/or products but in how it provides transparency in how your spending will work within your budget before you even begin.

Nerdio has another cost calculator that might be useful. This cost estimator is a simplified version of the Azure Pricing tool and can be used for smaller projects. One thing to note, is that it will add the Nerdio services cost to the Azure cost, so you will need to deduct that to figure the Azure cost.

Azure Cost Analysis

Another tool to control and optimize spending is the Azure Cost Analysis tool. Like the name says, this tool breaks down cost with an in-depth analysis of charges. To review your spending in Azure Cost Analysis, log into the Azure Portal,[https://portal.azure.com/] open the scope in the Azure portal and select Cost Analysis in the menu. The information shown is based on the scope you select i.e., the subscription or the resource group.
This video will show you how to use the Cost Analysis tool.

Azure Cost Alerts

These useful Azure alerts can be automated to notify you based on when designated resources are consumed. When your consumption reaches a specified threshold, an alert is generated. There are three types of cost alerts: budget alerts, credit alerts, and department spending quota alerts.

• Budget Alerts - Budget alerts are based on usage or cost. An alert condition is created in the Azure Portal and any time spending exceeds the predefined amount, you receive an alert that is shown both in Cost Alerts and in an email to the designated administrative accounts. They support both cost-based and usage-based budgets.
• Credit Alerts - These are only for organizations with Enterprise Agreements. Credit alerts will notify you when your Azure credit usage commitments are consumed. Credit alerts are automatically generated at 90% and at 100% of the Azure credit balance.
• Department Spending Quota Alerts - These are relevant to organizations who have a department-based budget for Azure usage. Notifications are sent when department spending reaches a fixed threshold of the allocated resources.

As we look forward to a new year with hope and aspirations for revival and growth, it is good to know that there are tools such as these that we can trust while the workforce is remote. Yet, this is only one part of the Microsoft Azure cloud. If you want to learn more about Azure cloud management, it is best to reach out to a Microsoft Gold-certified Partner with the experience and reliability you can count on. Give us a shout or sign up to our monthly newsletter for more from inside the CSW team! We are always here to listen and help you make the most of the cloud.