Intro
During the pandemic, we aimed to reduce costs in cloud infrastructure usage without risking service stability.
To achieve this, we automated the shutdown of cloud instances using Ansible in an appropriate manner.
This allowed us to shut down machines during non-working hours and days, saving up to 60% of infrastructure expenses while avoiding errors due to forced shutdowns
The Challenge
To reduce cloud costs while maintaining service stability through automatic shutdown and startup of machines.
Seeking cost efficiency during the pandemic, we aimed to reduce cloud infrastructure costs without jeopardizing the integrity and stability of services by shutting down and starting up machines to avoid consumption during non-working hours.
The Approach
Automating the proper shutdown of machines during non-usage hours with Ansible.
In the AWS cloud, we identified machine usage, processes, and services running on them to stop them before shutdown. This process was applied to all machines needing shutdown, ensuring they wouldn’t be damaged by forced shutdowns.
When starting up machines, tasks are executed to ensure previously stopped services are up and available. If not, Ansible Tower restarts the service to ensure functionality.
The Goal
We saved up to 60% in cloud infrastructure costs.
We successfully shut down cloud infrastructure during non-working hours. This resulted in approximately 92 fewer hours of cloud provisioned machine usage per week, not including holidays when machines are also shut down. This equates to over 60% of time saved in cloud infrastructure expenses.