In this article, we will be taking you through the process of applying cost models via the cloud cost modeller.
How To
Contents
Saving modelling costs for servers
Modelling settings
The cloud cost modeller is a tool within the platform that allows you to apply different future cloud cost models to groups of servers within the inventory. This is achieved by creating a model using the available settings, applying the model to a selected group of servers and when ready, saving those settings (and costs) to the selected servers.
The cloud cost modeller can be found here:
Advisories (Tab) - Cloud Cost Modeller (Drop Down)
On this page you will see that you can make settings changes, this is to ensure you apply the most accurate pricing to the server according to its current usage and planned future use.
Firstly for editing settings you need to select the 'Update Settings' button featured in the top right of the page. The first setting you will see is the 'Standard configuration' section this allows you to price based on the current configuration of the server or the server rightsized to actual usage as well as planned running hours per month.
| Setting | Description |
| Configuration | The server will be matched to a suitable cloud instance based on its configured RAM and CPU. |
| Utilisation | The server will be matched to a suitable cloud instance based on its actual utilisation of RAM and CPU. (Rightsized) |
This section also allows you to define the number of hours a month a server is estimated to be running. For example, for a test or development environment, you may reduce the default setting from 720 hours (running 24x7) if the server will be shut down outside working hours.
You can also cost to include / exclude VM's with a status of Powered off as well as what the Monthly Network Usage is over a month in GB.
You will see specific settings relating to AWS, Azure and GCP to the right of the page.
Once the appropriate settings have been selected, click on Apply Modelling Settings.
The Cloud Cost Modeller now has the option to apply a vendor discount to each of the hyperscalers across AWS, Azure and GCP. Use this to model out the applicable discount and its impact on your total cloud spend.
Custom Pricebook
Within the cloud Cost Modeller you are now able to include pricing for any custom cloud solutions you may host. You firstly need to upload the price book into AppScore this can be done via:
Settings(Cog) - Cloud Providers(Sidebar)
Once you are loaded onto this page, you can import your price book into the platform.
You also have the ability to specify whether you want to show this via Enabled, whether it should show in cloud pricing, as well as if it appears in the transformation recommendations and finally if this is a preferred provider. This is all done via the 'Edit' button. This Custom Pricebook can be saved against servers, steps featured in the section below.
Saving modelled costs for servers
Once you have applied the settings above, you can then begin the process of applying these cost models to a group(s) of servers. Many data points can be used in the filters in the server list to find the appropriate servers to apply the model to.
Once the correct servers have been filtered, select the servers. Next, you will want to choose the pricing model via the 'Save Cloud Cost' dropdown. Finally, once you have chosen your desired pricing model, you simply need to select 'Save Costs For Selected Servers'.
This will apply the cost model to these servers and feed through to the future run costs for these servers and associated applications. It will also apply these elements to the servers
- Cloud Provider
- Machine Name
- Hours per Month
- Saved Payment Type
- Compute Price per Month
- Compute Upfront Price
- Compute Effective Price per Month
- Storage Price per Month
- Total Price per Month
Once a cost model is applied to servers you will be able to see a breakdown of all the assets in the platform and what they have been assigned to in the chart featured at the top of the page.
Information of Note
All pricing is pulled from the API and updated regularly.
We will match machine types to the cheapest option available.
If the machine does not have a 1 year or 3 year reservation cost it will not be shown in the calculator.
If Dev / Test is selected on Azure then every non-production machine you have will be priced the same as Linux. You will also need a Visual Studio Enterprise License for Dev / Test environments on Azure.
To contact AppScore sales or support for any reason at all, simply email help@appscore.net and one of the team will get back to you. If your issue is urgent, please mark the email as URGENT in the subject line.