ParkMyCloud Announces Auto Scheduling Cloud Cost Reduction Tool Works on AWS RDS Instances

Until recently, it was not possible to start and stop RDS instances on AWS, although Amazon has recently introduced the option, allowing users to stop RDS instances when they are not required and only pay for the hours that are needed.

After compute, RDS is the next biggest area of cloud expenditure. Typically, RDS accounts for around 15%-20% of cloud costs, which means the ability to only pay for the hours being used means there is further potential to reduce cloud bills.

While Amazon has made it possible for RDS resources to be stopped and restarted, manually starting and stopping RDS can be a chore.

ParkMyCloud has announced that it has a solution. Its automated cloud scheduling platform can now be used to turn off/on RDS instances, in addition to compute resources. When databases are not being used for development, testing, and non-production purposes, ParkMyCloud customers can ensure the resources are stopped and costs are only accrued when databases are being used. Users can also use the policy engine to automatically assign RDS instances to teams and schedule those instances so they are only available to the teams that need them, when they need them. ParkMyCloud is the only cloud parking service that is currently offering the ability to park RDS instances when they are not needed.

The cost savings from starting and stopping cloud services can be considerable. ParkMyCloud reports that its customers typically enjoy cost savings of around $140 per instance per month for compute resources. The ability to make further savings on RDS means the cost savings will be increased considerably. Even if only 20% of costs go on RDS, RDS resources cost significantly more per hour than compute resources, so the savings will be higher in proportion.

Over the course of a year, many companies save thousands of dollars using the service. ParkMyCloud reports that one of its customers, SunDog, has enjoyed a 13x return on the ParkMyCloud license fee and is now saving thousands of dollars a year on its cloud bills. Now RDS functionality has been added the cost savings will be considerably higher.

Author: Richard Anderson

Richard Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of NetSec.news