AWS Horror stories

AWS Bill Shock: Real Stories That Will Keep You Up at Night

The scariest thing to me about AWS is that I might accidentally bankrupt myself while I learn to use it. – tieTYT

In this blogpost, we’ll be diving into some of the most frightening and costly AWS horror stories.

It’s no secret that AWS can be a powerful tool for businesses, but it can also be a dangerous one. One of the scariest things about AWS is the potential for accidentally racking up a huge bill while you learn to use it.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of real-world examples of this happening, as AWS doesn’t provide strict ways to restrict consumption on accounts.

These horror stories can not only be painful for your savings, but also compromise your secure posture. Join us as we explore some of the most shocking tales of AWS gone wrong.

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👀 How to avoid this kind of situation?

Billing and Budget Alerts: you can set up billing and budget alerts that notify you when your spending exceeds your defined thresholds. This is a proactive approach to prevent unexpected costs and manage your budget effectively.

Right Sizing: Right-size your resources by analyzing usage patterns and providing recommendations for downsizing or upsizing instances based on actual usage. Right-sizing ensures you’re not overpaying for unused capacity or under-provisioning and potentially affecting performance. unusd.cloud will help you to identify idle resources.

Reserved Instances and Savings Plans: Analyse the possible switch from on-demand instances to reserved instances or savings plans, which can save substantial amounts of money over the long term.

Optimize Storage: Different storage classes in S3 (like Intelligent-Tiering, One Zone-IA, Glacier, etc.) are designed for different use cases and come with different costs. By understanding your access patterns and using the right storage class, you can significantly reduce your storage costs.

Instance Generation: AWS continually releases new generations of instance types that provide better performance at a lower or similar cost. Migrating to newer instance generations can lead to significant cost savings. For instance, the latest generation instances often include improvements such as more efficient processors, increased memory performance, and additional networking capabilities. Always evaluate your current instance types and compare them with the latest offerings to maximize performance and cost-efficiency.

🛟 How can unusd.cloud help?

As an entrepreneur and solo bootstrapper, I understand the challenges you face when managing your AWS resources. That’s why I created unusd.cloud. This SaaS solution scans your AWS accounts across all regions, identifying costly assets that are mistakenly left active. Not only does this save you money, but it also reduces your attack surface and lowers your carbon footprint.

Here’s how unusd.cloud can assist you:

Cost Visibility: unusd.cloud provides a clear view of your AWS expenditure, allowing you to see where your money is wasted.

Idle Resource Identification: Our service identifies assets that are mistakenly left active, helping you avoid unexpected costs. With our scheduled digest report, you receive actionable cost-saving solutions to deactivate these resources.

Attack Surface Reduction: By identifying and deactivating unused assets, you’re reducing potential entry points for cyberattacks, keeping your business secure.

Eco-friendly: Unused assets consume energy. By optimizing your cloud usage with unusd.cloud, you contribute to a more sustainable environment.

Ease of Use: Initially created as a side project during my AWS experimentation, unusd.cloud has grown into a robust SaaS product. It’s designed with simplicity in mind, making it easy for you to manage your AWS resources.

Future Enhancements: We’re continually improving and adding more features to the platform, including cross-region detection and IAM principal detection, to further enhance your security and cost management. Next Stop integration of unusd Loadbalancers, EBS Snapshots, Discord support, and much more…

I’m excited to share unusd.cloud with you and would love to get your feedback on the platform and approach. Give it a try and see how it can help you manage your AWS resources more effectively.

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