Microsoft Azure offers a great way to save on your compute costs by using Azure Reservations.
In this blog, I’ll tell you how you can save money immediately and make the most of your IT budget with this strategy.
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What are Azure Reservations? 🤔
Azure Reservations allow you to reserve capacity in advance for certain services, such as Virtual Machines, SQL Databases and other compute resources.
This means you get a significant discount in exchange for a commitment over a certain period of time, usually one or three years.
Here are the benefits in a nutshell:
- Direct savings of up to 72% over using on-demand pricing.
- Better budget forecasting because you know exactly what you are paying over a long period of time.
- Flexible allocation of reservations between different subscriptions or regions.
How Does It Work? 🔧
The process is simple and effective!
Here are the steps to get started:
- Analyze your current usage – See which services and VMs you use regularly.
Azure Cost Management helps with this.
- Choose your reservation – Choose the type of resource (e.g. VMs) and the term (1 or 3 years).
- Make the reservation – Confirm your reservation and you can start saving right away!
Example: Saving with VM Reservations 💼
Suppose you have a Virtual Machine (VM) running continuously.
By choosing a three-year reservation, you can save up to 72%.
This not only benefits your business, but also helps with long-term budgeting.
📊 Here’s how it works:
- On-demand pricing: You pay per second the VM is active.
- Reservation discount: By securing the VM for a longer period of time, you will receive a substantial discount on these rates.
Flexibility of Reservations 🔄
Worried that you’re stuck with your reservation?
No worries!
Azure offers flexibility to customize reservations:
- Exchange option – Exchange your reservation to another resource type or region without penalty.
- Cancel – Cancel the reservation and get a pro rata refund, should you change your mind. 👍
Tips to Make the Most of Your Reservation 🏆
- Keep track of your usage patterns – This helps in choosing the right reservation.
- Use Cost Management – Azure Cost Management gives you real-time visibility into your savings.
- Combine with other Azure discounts – Take advantage of hybrid benefits for Windows licensing, for example.
Conclusion 🏁
Azure Reservations are a smart way to dramatically reduce your cloud costs.
By planning ahead and making smart use of these reservations, you can save up to 72%.
This not only offers financial benefits, but also gives you more control over your cloud spending.
So what are you waiting for?
Start optimizing your Azure expenses today! 🚀
