Leaving Orphaned Storage Behind: Avoiding Cloud Cost Sins

by: Chip Zoller / February 2, 2021

The promise of public cloud is the allure of decentralization and agility. But without proper methods to gain oversight and ensure optimization, chances are you may be succumbing to a variety of sins that are costing you time, money, efficiency, and governance.

We’ve recently posted our latest eBook, Avoiding the 7 Deadly Sins of Public Cloud Costs, looking at all the ways your public cloud costs can spiral to the depths but also best practices for pulling your enterprise back up.

This is the third in a weekly blog series examining each of the seven sins. This week we’ll look at Sin #3: when orphaned resources get left behind and forgotten.

Sin #3: Leaving Orphaned Storage Behind

Sometimes, spinning down public cloud resources has unintended consequences. For example, the attached storage from a spun-down VM can be left running unwittingly. That means you have orphaned storage running that you aren’t using, or don’t even know exist. This eats up your bottom line without the right safeguards in place.

Develop processes to check for unattached resources. Drive financial transparency through showback. And, let IT admins wind these resources down over a period of time if still unattached.

Cleanse Your Organization of Public Cloud Cost Sins

Looking to learn more about the six other deadly sins of public cloud costs? Download the eBook today. Also be sure to check out our comprehensive AWS Cost Optimization Guide for best practices on AWS costs.