At nOps, we have been at the forefront of the cloud cost management industry, processing billions of dollars in cloud spend and helping organizations of all sizes to manage their AWS infrastructure more effectively. Our platform empowers AWS users in cloud cost visibility, saving recommendations, and automation that help them optimize their cloud usage and reduce costs. 

And while dealing with hundreds of customers, a common problem that has come to our attention is that cloud users are provisioned on earlier generations of storage volumes that are far less cost effective, and there’s a challenge to enact bulk automated updates efficiently. This blog walks you through the cloud storage challenges and how nOps is solving the same. Read through!

What Are The Challenges?

The majority of Engineering teams struggle with time-consuming manual processes to identify and fix code related to storage optimization. Additionally, managing EBS storage volumes can be a complex and costly task, especially when dealing with resources not controlled by Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Organizations often find themselves spending more than necessary on storage and struggling to enact bulk automated updates efficiently. This not only slows down the pace of work but also leads to high operational costs.

Announcing nSwitch Essentials

We are excited to announce the launch of nSwitch Essentials, a new feature that will enable you to automate the laborious task of changing candidate volumes from gp2 to gp3 volumes via EventBridge or nSwitch Changeset (for those gp2 volumes that are defined in your terraform configuration file), allowing you to stay focused on innovation.

  • Saving Engineering Time and Reducing Cost 

nSwitch Essentials integrates with Git and Terraform to streamline the process of identifying and fixing code related to storage optimization. This not only reduces manual work but also speeds up the process of implementing cost-saving measures.

  • Automatically Optimize EBS Storage Volumes

Utilizing nOps’ certified integration with Amazon EventBridge, nSwitch Essentials can intelligently update configurations on resources that are not controlled by Infrastructure as Code (IaC). This can result in up to 20% cost savings and enables organizations to enact bulk automated updates of storage, further increasing efficiency.

  • Empower Engineers with Data and Intuitive Tools

By seamlessly integrating with GitLab and GitHub, nSwitch Essentials provides a centralized hub to manage recommendations, empowering your engineers to take action, make efficient decisions, and continuously improve resource allocation.

What Sets nSwitch Essentials Apart?

nSwitch Essentials is unique in its approach to cloud management and cost optimization. It integrates with popular platforms like GitLab and GitHub, allowing us to read your data, analyze it, and provide actionable recommendations.

The feature works in two stages. First, it connects to your platforms and reads your data. It then identifies repositories and detects branches and state files from your repositories. This process is quick and seamless, with the system intelligently grouping recommendations and applying changes.

nOps Dashboard displaying the Gitlab and Github Integration feature on nSwitch Essentials

 

The second stage is where the real magic happens. nSwitch Essentials generates recommendations for cost savings, such as migrating from older storage types to more efficient and cheaper ones. You can review these recommendations and take action. With just a few clicks, you can implement these changes without any downtime, saving you both time and money.

But that’s not all. nSwitch Essentials also keeps your code in sync with your resources. When changes are made, it creates a merge request in your codebase, allowing you to review the changes before they are applied to your AWS resources. This ensures that your code and resources are always in sync, reducing the risk of errors and inconsistencies. 

How Does It Work?

nSwitch Essentials provides AWS users with two different options to get started. Here’s a brief on the processes:

Option 1 – ChangeSets

  • Quick Git Integration: Connect your GitLab or GitHub with nSwitch Essentials. We then scan your chosen repositories for Terraform files and identify S3 buckets containing Terraform state files.
  • Launch Stack for Secure Access: Launching a CloudFormation Stack gives us read-only access to the identified S3 buckets. This allows us to ingest Terraform state files and create an AWS resource map.
  • Review Storage Recommendations and Create ChangeSet: Our platform offers potential storage savings recommendations. Review these, and with one click, request a Changeset to your Terraform repository. We handle the rest, generating a pull request for your team to review.
  • Review the ChangeSet in Your Git and Take Action: Pull requests appear directly in your Git platform. Simply review and merge the Changeset into your codebase for optimized cloud storage and cloud savings.

nSwitch Essentials’ Changeset approach to cost optimization

Option 2 – EventBridge Integration

  • Integrate EventBridge: nOps is a certified partner event source in Amazon EventBridge. Create an EventBridge in your AWS account with just one click! Configure your EventBridge and deploy a small lambda in your account by launching a CloudFormation template.
  • Review Recommendations: nSwitch Essentials analyzes your data and presents recommendations that you can act on with confidence.
  • Schedule Remediation: Schedule the optimization to happen now or happen later. nOps’ scheduling engine will securely send a signal through Amazon EventBridge to trigger the optimization.


nSwitch Essentials’ EventBridge approach to cost optimization

We’re excited to see how nSwitch Essentials will help your organization optimize cloud infrastructure, save time, and reduce costs.

Get started with nSwitch Essentials today and experience the difference it can make to your cloud operations.

Let engineers focus on engineering; let nOps focus on FinOps.

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