When it comes to managing AWS S3 storage, proactive steps today can save significant costs and headaches tomorrow. One easy, impactful step? Turn on S3 Storage Lens Metrics export!

S3 Storage Lens Metrics give you critical insights into your storage usage and activity, helping you monitor and optimize as your data grows. While the free tier offers a fantastic starting point, it only retains 14 days of historical data, which limits your ability to track long-term trends. By enabling the export feature, you can store this data for the long haul at no additional cost, beyond storing the data in S3. The data is aggregated and stored as Parquet files, keeping it compact without taking up significant space.

Why Turn On Metrics Export? Even if you’re not ready to dive into long-term analysis right now, enabling the export ensures that when you are, you’ll have plenty of historical data ready to go. Setting it up is quick and simple, so there's really no reason to delay!

Real-World Benefits
At Brandorr Group, we leverage these metrics for our clients, performing in-depth S3 analysis to optimize costs and improve efficiency. Our approach includes:

• Long-term growth projections
• Storage class analysis
• Lifecycle policy planning

These insights enable clients to make data-driven decisions, save on storage costs, and streamline operations.

Have questions or thoughts on S3 metrics or AWS cost optimization? Join the conversation over on LinkedIn, or connect with me directly on my LinkedIn page if you’d like to explore how we can work together on optimizing your AWS environment.

Earlier this month, AWS introduced ElastiCache Reserved Instance (RI) size flexibility, and as part of the announcement, they launched support for Valkey—a fully open-source alternative to Redis, based on the latest and final open-source release of Redis (7.2).

Valkey is available in both serverless and node-based cluster configurations. Serverless Valkey clusters offer a 33% discount compared to Redis OSS serverless, while node-based Valkey clusters deliver 20% savings over Redis clusters.

To make the migration easier, AWS allows Redis Reserved Instances (RIs) to apply to Valkey workloads at a prorated rate. For example, you’ll need 20% fewer Redis RIs to cover the same nodes running with Valkey, or you can purchase new discounted Valkey RIs.

At Brandorr Group LLC, we help clients optimize their AWS infrastructure, including seamless migrations to Valkey. oin the conversation over on LinkedIn, or connect with me directly on my LinkedIn page ​ and let's discuss! ​

​Read more in AWS's announcement.

With AWS Compute Optimizer now supporting 80 additional EC2 instance types, the odds of uncovering even more savings have expanded significantly.

At Brandorr Group, we’re always excited to leverage and build upon AWS's native tools to help our clients save money and fine-tune their infrastructure. This enhancement from AWS makes it easier than ever for organizations to streamline their cloud spend across a broader range of workloads and reflects AWS's increased investment in FinOps tooling. 

Want to explore how AWS Compute Optimizer can help you save? Join the conversation, or connect with me on LinkedIn and let's discuss! 

Read more in AWS's announcement.

Today, Amazon announced Reserved Instance flexibility for ElastiCache!

We've been eagerly waiting for this feature, and while a broader Savings Plan inclusion would be ideal, the addition of size flexibility within node families is a huge win. This flexibility allows for more dynamic scaling and cost savings—a critical focus in our work at Brandorr Group LLC, where we help customers optimize their AWS workloads.

Since 2019, our FinOps services have saved large enterprise customers millions of dollars annually by maximizing their AWS investments. 💬 Join the conversation over on LinkedIn, o​r connect with me directly on my LinkedIn page to discuss how Brandorr Group LLC can assist your business in optimizing AWS costs.

Read more in AWS's announcement.