AWS Application Cost Profiler

AWS is another name for Amazon Web Services. It is a cloud service platform that provides a variety of services such as databases, storage, and on-demand computing capabilities. AWS offers around 200 featured Services. Although an AWS service may be functionally restricted on its own, AWS services may be easily combined to create powerful and sophisticated applications with the right AWS architecture. And one such service is AWS Application Cost Profiler. This article intends to make the readers aware of AWS Application Cost Profiler. 

What is AWS Application Cost Profiler?

AWS Application Cost Profiler is a tool that tracks and analyses the utilization of various resources such as EC2 instances, S3 buckets, Lambda functions, and more to provide precise insights into the cost of an AWS application. It assists customers in identifying cost optimization opportunities by identifying inefficiencies in resource consumption and highlighting cost-cutting opportunities.

Features of AWS Application Cost Profiler

• Cost Analysis Dashboard – It provides an easy-to-use dashboard that displays detailed cost data and insights.
• Real-time Cost Monitoring – It provides real-time monitoring of application costs, which helps to identify and rectify cost inefficiencies immediately.
• Customizable Cost Allocation Tags – It allows users to customize cost allocation tags to allocate costs based on user-defined rules and categories.
• Cost Comparison – It enables users to compare the cost of running an application on different instance types and regions, making it easy to select the most cost-efficient options.

AWS Application Cost Profiler Architecture

AWS Application Cost Profiler is a cloud-native tool based on AWS services including AWS Lambda, Amazon S3, and Amazon DynamoDB. Using the AWS CloudTrail and AWS Cost Explorer APIs, it collects consumption and cost statistics from multiple AWS resources. For analysis and reporting, the data is saved in Amazon S3 and Amazon DynamoDB. Users can use the AWS Management Console or AWS SDKs to access the tool programmatically. In other words, AWS Application Cost Profiler is a service that helps customers understand the cost drivers of their applications running on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The architecture of the AWS Application Cost Profiler can be described as follows,

• Data Collection – The first step in the AWS Application Cost Profiler architecture is data collection. The profiler collects data from various sources such as AWS CloudTrail, AWS Cost and Usage Reports, AWS Budgets, and custom sources. The data collected includes resource usage, resource tags, application metadata, and cost data.
• Data Processing – Once the data is collected, it is processed using a set of algorithms that normalize, aggregate, and enrich the data. This step also involves mapping resource usage to applications and grouping resources based on tags.
• Data Storage – The processed data is eventually, then stored in a data store. Some popular data storage services such as Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, or Amazon Elasticsearch Service are used in this scenario.
• Data Visualization – The next step is to visualize the data in a way that helps customers understand the cost drivers of their applications. The AWS Application Cost Profiler provides a dashboard that displays the cost breakdown by application, resource type, and tag. Customers can also customize the dashboard to suit their specific needs.

Here’s a diagram image attached ahead to illustrate the architecture better.

Advantages of AWS Application Cost Profiler

1. Cost Analysis – It provides detailed insights into the costs of running an application in AWS. It helps to identify the root cause of cost spikes, highlight inefficient usage, and optimize resources for cost savings.
2. Real-time Monitoring – It provides real-time monitoring of application costs, which helps to identify and rectify cost inefficiencies immediately.
3. Customization – It allows users to customize cost allocation tags, so that costs can be allocated based on user-defined rules and categories.
4. Cost Comparison – It enables users to compare the cost of running an application on different instance types and regions, making it easy to select the most cost-efficient options.
5. Integration – It integrates with AWS Cost Explorer and AWS Budgets, making it easy to manage and track costs across different AWS services.

Disadvantages of AWS Application Cost Profiler

1. Complex – May require additional configuration and setup time to accurately track resource usage and costs.
2. Understanding and Learning – Users may need to have a solid understanding of AWS resource usage and management to effectively use the tool
3. Cost – The tool may incur additional costs, depending on the size and complexity of the application being monitored

Applications of AWS Application Cost Profiler

Some of the common use cases of AWS Application Cost Profiler are as follows.

• Identifying cost inefficiencies in your AWS infrastructure.
• Monitoring and analyzing your AWS usage and spending over time.
• Optimizing your AWS usage to save money on your monthly bill.
• Providing data-driven insights for decision-making around AWS usage and spending.
• Comparing the costs of running different applications or services in the cloud.
• Financial services, including banking, insurance, and investment management industries have a huge scope for AWS Application Cost Profiler.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AWS Application Cost Profiler is a powerful cost optimization tool that enables users to manage their AWS costs more effectively. It provides real-time monitoring and analysis of AWS application costs, enabling users to identify and rectify cost inefficiencies immediately. Its customizable cost allocation tags and cost comparison features make it easy to optimize AWS resource usage and reduce costs.