AWS CCP Certification Essentials Part-10 (Understanding AWS Pricing, Billing, and Governance, and AWS Support plans)
Navigating the world of cloud services can be daunting, especially when it comes to understanding the costs associated with them. One of the major players in this realm is Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a range of services each with its own unique pricing structure. Here, we will delve into the fundamentals of AWS pricing, its billing structure, and how you can govern your expenses effectively.
Fundamentals of AWS Pricing
AWS costs are primarily driven by three key factors:
1. Compute — This refers to the time and resources consumed by your applications from launch to termination. It’s billed hourly.
2. Storage— Storage costs come into play with the data you store in the cloud.
3. Outbound Transfer— These costs apply to data “in flight” or moving between systems.
AWS Free Offer Types
To attract and retain customers, AWS provides several free offer types:
1. 12 months free — This offer gives new AWS users 12 months of free usage following the initial sign-up date.
2. Always free — These offers do not expire and are available to all AWS customers.
3. Trials— Short-term free trials start from the date you activate a particular service.
AWS Service-Specific Pricing
Different AWS services have different pricing structures. Here, we look at the pricing details for EC2, Lambda, S3, and RDS.
EC2 Pricing
EC2 pricing models include:
- On-Demand
- Savings Plan
- Reserved Instances
- Spot Instances
- Dedicated Hosts
Lambda Pricing
Lambda pricing is determined by:
- Number of requests: Includes test invokes from the console.
- Code execution time: Calculated from execution start, in response to events, to stop.
- Always free: AWS provides 1 million requests per month for free.
S3 Pricing
S3 costs are calculated based on:
- Storage class
- Storage: Determined by the number and size of objects
- Data transfer: Data transferred out of the S3 Region
- Request and data retrieval: Based on requests made for data and the amount of requests
RDS Pricing
RDS costs are determined by:
- Running clock hours
- Database type
- Purchase type
- Storage
- API requests
- Database Count
- Deployment type
- Data transfer
Understanding the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
TCO is a financial estimate that helps you understand both the direct and indirect costs of AWS. It includes two key AWS services:
Application Discovery Service
This service helps you plan migration projects to the AWS Cloud. It works with other services to migrate servers and is used to estimate TCO.
AWS Price List API
The Price List API allows you to query the price of AWS services. You can receive price alerts when prices change and query using JSON or HTML.
Navigating AWS Support Plans: A Comprehensive Guide
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a complex and powerful toolset that is often used to run vital business operations. Given the importance and intricacy of the platform, having reliable support is essential. AWS offers four distinct support plans to cater to the diverse needs of its users. These include Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise. In this blog, we will detail each of these support plans, outlining their respective costs, features, and recommendations to help you make an informed decision.
Types of AWS Support Cases
There are three types of AWS support cases:
- Account and Billing — All customers, irrespective of their support plans, can open account-related and billing cases.
- Service Limit Increases — All customers can request default service quota (or limit) increases.
- Technical Support — Technical support cases can only be opened by customers on the Developer, Business, or Enterprise plans.
AWS Support Plans
1. Basic Support Plan
All AWS accounts include the Basic Support Plan for free. This plan provides:
- Support case types: Account and billing and service limit increases.
- Customer Service: 24/7 access via email only.
This plan is perfect for users who are just getting started with AWS and do not require technical assistance.
2. Developer Support Plan
Starting at $29 per month, the Developer Support Plan is designed for testing and development. Key features include:
- Support case types: Account and billing, Service limit increases, and technical support.
- One primary contact.
- Unlimited cases.
- Cloud Support Associate: Business-hours access via email only.
- Response times: General guidance (< 24 hours), System impaired (< 12 hours).
This plan is ideal for developers who require technical support during their business hours.
3. Business Support Plan
The Business Support Plan, starting at $100 per month, is recommended for production workloads. This plan includes:
- Support case types: Account and billing, Service limit increases, and technical support.
- Unlimited contacts and cases.
- Full set of Trusted Advisor checks.
- Cloud Support Associate: 24/7 access via email, phone, or chat.
- Response times: General guidance (< 24 hours), System impaired (< 12 hours), Production System impaired (< 4 hours), Production System down (< 1 hour).
This plan is designed for businesses with production workloads and requiring 24/7 support coverage.
4. Enterprise Support Plan
Starting at $15,000 per month, the Enterprise Support Plan is tailored for business or mission-critical production workloads. The comprehensive features include:
- Support case types: Account and billing, Service limit increases, and technical support.
- Unlimited contacts and cases.
- Full set of Trusted Advisor checks.
- Dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM).
- Access to a Concierge Support Team.
- Infrastructure Event Management.
- Cloud Support Associate: 24/7 access via email, phone, or chat.
- Response times: General guidance (< 24 hours), System impaired (< 12 hours), Production System impaired (< 4 hours), Production System down (< 1 hour), Business-critical system down (< 15 mins).
This premium plan is designed for businesses that consider AWS to be mission-critical and require the fastest response times and a dedicated support team.
In conclusion, the right AWS Support Plan for your business will depend on your requirements, budget, and the criticality of your business operations.
Aaaaannnnddd, That’s it for this article after a long time of silence. Hope you have enjoyed this article! 😁 Looking forward to our next encounter, where we’ll delve into AWS Pricing, billing and Governance services. Until then, cheers! 🍻
