Getting your head around how to optimise costs is part of studying for the AWS Certifications<\/a>. But did you know there are services which have no cost<\/a> at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve been studying with Andrew Brown<\/a> over on ExamPro<\/a> where he mentioned this is something that sometimes comes up in exam questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Identity Access Management<\/a>
Amazon VPC<\/a>
Auto Scaling<\/a>
CloudFormation<\/a>
OpsWorks<\/a>
Organisations and Consolidated Billing<\/a>
CodeStar<\/a>
Elastic Beanstalk<\/a>
Getting Started<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nIdentity Access Management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
IAM<\/a> lets you control access to your AWS services and and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can create Users with security credentials or temporary security credentials<\/a> to provide the access to services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Access can be managed with Roles and Policies<\/a>. Users are then assigned Roles making it easier to define who has access to what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make sure you have a plan for who gets access to what by using the Policy Simulator<\/a> which is also offered at no charge by AWS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAmazon VPC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A VPC<\/a> is a network within your AWS account that holds your AWS services. Think of it as your own data centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your VPC is easily customisable<\/a>. You can add NAT Gateways, Traffic Mirroring, Site-to-Site VPN connections, PrivateLink, then add Servers<\/a>, Databases<\/a> and other services as you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All these come at a cost<\/a>. Use the AWS Cost Explorer<\/a> to make sure you know how much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAuto Scaling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Auto Scaling<\/a> helps keep applications highly available by letting you add or remove EC2 instances<\/a> based on rules you set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this service is free of charge, the cost of the EC2<\/a> you are running is paid for with the Dedicated, On-Demand, Reserved Instances, and Spot pricing models<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCloudFormation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
AWS CloudFormation<\/a> lets you set up resources in an orderly and predictable way using sample templates, or create your own to match your use case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no additional charge for CloudFormation but you will pay for the resources you create. Use the Total Cost of Ownership Calculator<\/a> and the CloudFormation Designer<\/a> so you know what you will be charged for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOpsWorks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
AWS OpsWorks<\/a> is a service that allows you to use code to automate the configurations of your servers. OpsWorks has three offerings – Opsworks for Chef, OpsWorks for Puppet Enterprise, and OpsWorks Stacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOrganisations and Consolidated Billing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
AWS Organisations<\/a> offers management for multiple AWS
accounts. You can apply and manage policies across multiple accounts without having to do this manually. Organisations also help with billing and you can set up one payment method for all your AWS accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This service does not have a charge but services you create will. Check out the Total Cost of Ownership Calculator<\/a> to see the complete picture of the costs across all Accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCodeStar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
AWS CodeStar<\/a> lets you manage the software development process all in one place so your team can collaborate and release code faster. Each project comes with a a dashboard and integration with Jira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nElastic Beanstalk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
AWS Elastic Beanstalk<\/a> is a service used to deploy web apps. Upload your code, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk handles the deployment, load balancing and autoscaling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When might I be charged?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
You won’t pay to use AWS Elastic Beanstalk but you do pay for the services deployed. To get started, check out the documentation<\/a> and cost guidelines to estimate how much you will be charged for your project<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nGetting Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you are getting started with AWS, explore the Free Tier<\/a> for more information on which services are included. Even if you are no longer in the Free Trial period there are services which are Always Free so it’s worth a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To see usage activity by service and region explore the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard and Trusted Advisor<\/a>. This service analyses your AWS environment and provides best practice recommendations to optimise cost, performance and service limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPhoto by\u00a0Jill Wellington<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Pexels<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"