DevOps Cloud Optimization: 3 Key Areas for Teams to Target

DevOps describes the merging of software development and IT operations teams, as well as quality assurance and cybersecurity personnel, to create a more cohesive application lifecycle. Today’s DevOps teams are turning to the cloud to optimize their tech stacks and continuously develop and deliver new solutions. DevOps cloud optimization revolves around three key areas: utilization, cost, and security.

By paying attention to these three aspects, DevOps teams can see total transparency into their cloud environment. Gaining visibility around costs, usage, and security will help DevOps teams measure, manage, and take actions such as shutting down “orphan resources,” enforcing budgets, and setting alerts on security misconfigurations.

Below are the three key areas that are primed for DevOps cloud optimization as well as how CloudCheckr’s automation capabilities helped three different DevOps teams take control of their cloud resources, spending, and security:

1. Resource Utilization

In contrast with data centers, the cloud is ideal for rapid innovation because teams can add or remove instances and other resources depending on business need. DevOps, in particular, benefits from this flexibility in the cloud. For example, they may have varying demand for cloud compute resources at different stages of product development. The cloud’s elasticity assists DevOps teams in creating new processes and improving the ones that they have in place because they can add more resources at a moment’s notice. 

A cloud management platform assists DevOps teams in reallocating, resizing, and even modifying their Reserved Instances (RIs), so that they always have the right workload. Insights into utilization, both current and historical, are crucial for fast action at specific peaks or planning annual resource consumption. This knowledge also helps them create new processes that maintain the environment at the right size for running workloads over the longer term.

Understanding resources utilization is crucial for DevOps teams, especially those running multi-cloud environments. With more than 150 customers using their SaaS solution, Devada needed to identify idle and underutilized resources across accounts to save time and money. CloudCheckr provided Devada’s DevOps team with continuous monitoring and optimization insights, enabling them to identify routine management for RIs and reduce stale environments throughout their AWS accounts.

2. Cost Management

The cloud is ideal for organizations with variable data usage. But no matter how large the budget, no one wants a surprise bill at the end of the month. By addressing resource utilization first, DevOps teams have the added bonus of better managing and optimizing their cloud spend.

One way to do this is to use the right resources at the right size and the right time. That might mean starting and stopping EC2 instances only when they are needed or leveraging the correct instance type. For example, an organization could use mixed pricing with reserved, spot, and on-demand instances to make use of scalability. The right automation tools will help them find these cost savings without having to perform time-consuming manual reviews.

CloudCheckr helped Eplexity’s Center of Excellence, their managed services team, find cost savings opportunities for their customers. Actively monitoring for cost savings helps their DevOps team save on cloud costs as their business needs change. Chris Egloff, Resident Architect at Eplexity, explains:

“We have baked in a number of automations to deliver CloudCheckr as part of our DevOps services to clients. These include the automated provisioning of customer CloudCheckr accounts, Well-Architected Best Practice scanning, and automated tagging for billing and budgeting at the application, cost center, and account levels.”

3. Security & Compliance

Cloud security is a top priority for any type of organization, and DevOps is no different. Architecting and deploying the required security controls is just the beginning. In order to control and optimize cloud security, DevOps teams need to continuously monitor their cloud environments. To do this, they can set alerts for any modifications in configurations, such as changes in security groups or unknown users accessing resources.

DevOps cloud optimization should also include locating any sensitive points within the development pipeline, especially when building or enhancing security features. They also need to follow security best practices and maintain compliance with rigorous regulatory standards. These factors are vital when developing and delivering solutions that their customers rely on. They need to monitor, manage, and mitigate risks if or when a vulnerability occurs.

CloudCheckr’s security features take care of all of these tasks. That’s why CloudCheckr is a trusted resource for Leaf Group. Administrators use CloudCheckr to secure their cloud environment, manage their AWS configuration across all regions, track AWS Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates, and perform compliance checks.

Greater automation for DevOps cloud optimization

CloudCheckr automates resource management, cost monitoring, and security and governance for DevOps teams—including those at Devada, Eplexity, and Leaf Group. The CloudCheckr CMx platform helps DevOps teams stay on top of continuous development and delivery with more than 600 cloud best practice checks. CloudCheckr also enables DevOps managers to run automated scripts, create utilization reports, and set alerts for critical security and cost alerts all within a single dashboard.

Ready to bring better cloud automation to your DevOps function?

Learn how to gain total visibility into your cloud cost management, utilization, security, and compliance with a Cloud Check Up from CloudCheckr.