Cloud waste refers to unused or underutilized resources running in the cloud, resulting in unnecessary costs. Common examples include:

• Idle Resources: Instances running but not performing any meaningful work.
• Over-Provisioned Resources: Using a larger instance size than required.
• Unattached Volumes: Unused Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes incurring costs.
• Orphaned Snapshots: Leftover snapshots that are no longer associated with active resources.
• Unused Elastic Load Balancers (ELBs): Load balancers without active targets.

What is Cloud Custodian?

Cloud Custodian is a flexible rules engine that allows organizations to define policies for cloud resource management and automation. It integrates seamlessly with AWS, enabling users to:

• Identify underutilized resources.
• Automate remediation actions.
• Enforce compliance.
• Optimize costs through lifecycle management.

Managing AWS Cloud Waste with Cloud Custodian

Identifying Idle Resources

With Cloud Custodian, you can create policies to find and tag idle resources for further analysis or schedule their termination. For example:

                            policies:
                              - name: ec2-idle-instances
                                resource: ec2
                                filters:
                                  - type: metrics
                                    name: CPUUtilization
                                    days: 7
                                    value: 5
                                actions:
                                  - type: stop
                            
                        

This policy identifies EC2 instances with CPU utilization below 5% over seven days and stops them to save costs.

Rightsizing Resources

Cloud Custodian can help you ensure that resources are appropriately sized based on their utilization patterns:

                            policies:
                                - name: ec2-rightsizing
                                  resource: ec2
                                  filters:
                                    - type: metrics
                                      name: CPUUtilization
                                      value: 10
                                      op: greater-than
                                  actions:
                                    - type: resize
                                      instance-type: t3.medium                              
                            
                        

Cleaning Up Unused Resources

Automate the cleanup of unattached or unused resources like EBS volumes, Elastic IPs, or snapshots:

                            policies:
                                - name: cleanup-unattached-volumes
                                  resource: ebs
                                  filters:
                                    - type: attachment
                                      key: state
                                      value: null
                                  actions:
                                    - type: delete                                                            
                            
                        

Tagging and Governance

Establish consistent tagging policies to track ownership and purpose of resources:

                            policies:
                                - name: enforce-tagging
                                  resource: ec2
                                  filters:
                                    - "tag:Environment": absent
                                  actions:
                                    - type: tag
                                      key: Environment
                                      value: Unspecified                                                                                    
                            
                        

Scheduling Resource Usage

Schedule non-critical resources to run only during business hours using Custodian’s actions:

                            policies:
                                - name: schedule-stop-instances
                                  resource: ec2
                                  filters:
                                    - type: value
                                      key: "tag:AutoStop"
                                      value: "true"
                                  actions:
                                    - type: mark-for-op
                                      op: stop
                                      days: 0                                                                                                              
                            
                        

Why Use Cloud Custodian for Cloud Waste Management?

Cloud Custodian is a flexible rules engine that allows organizations to define policies for cloud resource management and automation. It integrates seamlessly with AWS, enabling users to:

• Automation
• Customizable Policies
• Real-Time Enforcement
• Open Source
• Multi-Cloud Support

Best Practices for AWS Cost Optimization with Cloud Custodian

• Regularly review and update policies to align with organizational goals.
• Monitor the impact of policy enforcement using AWS CloudWatch metrics.
• Combine Custodian with AWS Budgets and Cost Explorer for comprehensive insights.
• Leverage tagging for resource accountability and ownership tracking.

Conclusion

Managing cloud waste is a critical step toward optimizing AWS costs and maintaining operational efficiency. Cloud Custodian provides a robust and flexible solution for identifying, managing, and eliminating unnecessary resource usage. By implementing well-defined policies, organizations can take control of their cloud environments, reduce costs, and achieve a sustainable cloud strategy.

Start leveraging Cloud Custodian today to bring governance, efficiency, and cost savings to your AWS infrastructure!