Final answer:
To reduce costs without affecting availability and performance, optimize EC2 instance types and configurations, consider auto scaling, use single-AZ RDS for non-critical environments, purchase reserved instances for RDS, and clean up unused resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
Recommendations to Reduce Costs in AWS
To reduce costs in the AWS environment mentioned without impacting availability and performance, consider the following options:
- Analyze and Optimize EC2 Instances: Although the instances are reserved, ensuring they are the right size for your workload is essential. If the 90% CPU load is consistent and necessary for peak performance, you might look into whether a reserved instance with a different configuration or Compute Optimized instances could provide cost savings while maintaining performance.
- Auto Scaling: Implementing auto scaling could help manage costs by adjusting the number of instances based on demand, reducing the number of instances running during low traffic times without compromising availability.
- Cost-effective RDS Options: For the test and development environments, if high availability is not as critical, consider using a single-AZ RDS deployment instead of multi-AZ to cut down on costs.
- Reserved Instances for RDS: If you haven't already, purchasing reserved instances for your RDS databases can also lead to significant savings over on-demand pricing, particularly for production environments where consistent use can be predicted.
- Review and Clean Up Unused Resources: Regularly review AWS usage to ensure you are not paying for unused or underused resources. This can include unattached EBS volumes, idle load balancers, or obsolete snapshots.
Each recommendation should be evaluated within the context of the specific needs and workloads of the tech company to ensure that cost reductions do not negatively impact the mission-critical operations.