{"id":9526,"date":"2024-01-23T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=9526"},"modified":"2024-01-23T07:07:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T15:07:36","slug":"doing-more-with-less-internally-at-microsoft-with-microsoft-azure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/doing-more-with-less-internally-at-microsoft-with-microsoft-azure\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing more with less internally at Microsoft with Microsoft Azure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"112\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7498 alignright\" style=\"margin-top: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/ms-digital-technical-stories-300x112.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Digital technical stories\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/ms-digital-technical-stories-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/ms-digital-technical-stories.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>How do we at Microsoft get the best value from our Microsoft Azure environment? We\u2019ve been refining and optimizing the way we use the cloud for years, and as such, our answer isn\u2019t just about how much we\u2019ve been able to push down our monthly Azure bill.<\/p>\n<p>Our migration from managing our own datacenters to Microsoft Azure has been a process of learning and growing. We\u2019ve moved more than 600 services and solutions comprised of approximately 1,400 components to Azure-based cloud technologies that require less specialized skill sets to use and provide quicker, more agile access to infrastructure and solutions.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re the Microsoft Digital (MSD) team and we have led the company\u2019s move from the datacenter to the cloud, enabling best-in-class platforms and productivity services for the mobile-first, cloud-first world. This strategy harmonizes the interests of our employee users of our services, our developers, and our team of IT implementers who provide the core of our IT operations.<\/p>\n<p>The freedom to provision resources in minutes instead of days has radically changed the way we in MSD enable teams across the company to spin up the environments and resources they need on demand, which in turn empowers our engineering teams to respond more quickly to our evolving business needs.<\/p>\n<p>However, we\u2019ve found that easy provisioning and quick deployments can be costly. An unmanaged or undermanaged enterprise estate in Microsoft Azure can quickly lead to significant cloud billing costs and under-utilized resources. But in our journey to the cloud, we\u2019ve learned that there are many smart ways to optimize how you use the cloud, tricks of the trade that we\u2019re using to keep our costs down while we transform the way we work. In this blog post, we\u2019ll share the lessons we\u2019ve learned here at Microsoft on how you can fine-tune your use of Microsoft Azure at your company.<\/p>\n<p><em>[<a href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/blog\/lessons-learned-optimizing-microsoft-s-internal-use-of-azure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read our related blog post on our lessons learned deploying and optimizing Microsoft Azure internally at Microsoft.<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/implementing-microsoft-azure-cost-optimization-internally-at-microsoft\/\">Learn how we\u2019re implementing Microsoft Azure cost optimization internally at Microsoft.<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/turning-to-devops-engineering-practices-to-democratize-access-to-data-at-microsoft\/\">Read more about turning to DevOps engineering practices to democratize access to data at Microsoft.<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/microsoft-uses-a-scream-test-to-silence-its-unused-servers\/\">Explore how Microsoft uses a scream test to silence its unused servers.<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/imap2tk6AYQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Watch to learn how optimizing our Microsoft Azure workloads is helping Microsoft operate more efficiently.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Adopting modern engineering practices<\/h2>\n<p>Modern engineering practices underpin everything we do in Microsoft Azure, from single resource deployments to enterprise-scale, globally distributed Azure-based solutions that span hundreds of resources. Our modern engineering vision has created culture, tools, and practices focused on developing high-quality, secure, and feature-rich services to enable digital transformation across the organization.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-body\"><p>Our operations and engineering teams have journeyed through several phases of efficiency maturity. Through each of these phases, our operations substructure had to evolve, and many of those changes resulted in increased efficiency, not just with the bottom line on our monthly Azure bill, but with the way we do service management in Azure, including development, deployment, change management, monitoring, and incident management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\">\u2014Pete Apple, principal program manager for Microsoft Azure engineering, MSD<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9535\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9535\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9535 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image002-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Apple smiles as he stands outside a Microsoft building holding a cup of coffee. \" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image002-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image002-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image002-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image002-960x640.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image002.jpg 1430w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9535\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Now that we\u2019ve fully migrated Microsoft to Microsoft Azure, we\u2019re finding smart ways to use our cloud product more efficiently, says Pete Apple, a principal program manager for Microsoft Azure Engineering in MSD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pete Apple is a Principal Program Manager for Microsoft Azure Engineering in MSD. He and his team have been responsible for overseeing and implementing our massive migration to the cloud over the past 8 years. They\u2019re also responsible for ensuring that the company\u2019s enterprise estate in Microsoft Azure is running at top efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur operations and engineering teams have journeyed through several phases of efficiency maturity,\u201d Apple says. \u201cThrough each of these phases, our operations substructure had to evolve, and many of those changes resulted in increased efficiency, not just with the bottom line on our monthly Azure bill, but with the way we do service management in Azure, including development, deployment, change management, monitoring, and incident management.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We went through three phases on our journey to greater efficiency in Microsoft Azure. Phase one focused on improving operational efficiency, phase two examined how we could deliver value through innovation, and in phase three we embraced transforming our digital ecosystem. Here\u2019s a summary of the three phases:<\/p>\n<h3>Improving operational efficiency<\/h3>\n<p>At MSD, we play a pivotal role in Microsoft business strategy, as most business processes in the company depend on us. To help Microsoft transform on our journey to the cloud, we identified key focus areas to improve in this first phase of our transformation: aligning services, optimizing infrastructure, and assessing our culture.<\/p>\n<p>The first phase involved culture and structure as much as it did strategy and platform management. We realigned our organization to better support a brand-new way of providing services and support to the company in Microsoft Azure. Our teams needed to realign to eliminate information silos between different support areas. In many cases, teams that started to work together realized they had duplicate projects with similar goals.<\/p>\n<p>Reducing projects and streamlining delivery methods freed up engineering resources to accomplish more in less time, while automated provisioning and self-service tools helped our teams plan their own migrations and accurately assess their portion of our Microsoft Azure estate.<\/p>\n<p>Our engineering culture underwent a radical change in phase one. We moved toward empowering our engineers to create business solutions, not just create and manage processes. This led to a more holistic view of what we were trying to accomplish\u2014as individuals and as teams\u2014and it increased innovation, creativity, and productivity throughout our engineering processes.<\/p>\n<h3>Delivering value through innovation<\/h3>\n<p>We migrated more than 90 percent of our IT infrastructure to Microsoft Azure in phase one. In phase two, we embraced the Azure platform and cloud-native engineering design principles by adopting Infrastructure as Code and continuous deployment. We redefined operations roles and retrained people from traditional IT roles to be business relationship managers, engineering program managers, service engineers, and software engineers.<\/p>\n<p>We also radically simplified our IT operations. The rapid provisioning and allocation process in Microsoft Azure enabled us to increase our speed 40-fold by eliminating, streamlining, and connecting processes, and by aligning processes for Azure. Azure native solutions, especially platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings were adopted across all aspects of the engineering and operations lifecycle. These included infrastructure as code with ARM templates, APIs, and PowerShell.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-body\"><p>This final phase is never really final. Continual evaluation and optimization of our Microsoft Azure environment is built into how we manage our resources in the cloud. As new features and engineering approaches arise, we\u2019re adapting our methods and best practices to get the most from our investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\">\u2014Heather Pfluger, general manager, Infrastructure and Engineering Services, MSD<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Solutions that were lifted-and shifted into Microsoft Azure infrastructure as a service (IaaS) resources are regularly reassessed for migration or refactoring into PaaS offerings. We also adopted Microsoft Azure Monitor for consolidated monitoring not only for our Azure resources, but also on-premises resources.<\/p>\n<h3>Embracing the digital ecosystem<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9541\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9541\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9541\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10465_image001-300x169.png\" alt=\"Pfluger smiles in a screenshot of her taken from a video interview. She\u2019s shown from her home office.\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10465_image001-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10465_image001-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10465_image001.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9541\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Optimizing the company\u2019s use of Microsoft Azure has helped keep our costs down, says Heather Pfluger, the general manager of Infrastructure and Engineering Services in Microsoft Digital Employee Experience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Our final phase is focusing on developing intelligent systems on Microsoft Azure to deliver reliable, scalable services and to connect operations processes across Microsoft. Automation has been built more deeply into our support and development processes by embracing a DevOps culture and open-source standards in our solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Together, Microsoft Azure PaaS offerings and Microsoft Azure DevOps enable our engineers to focus on features and usability, while the ARM fabric and Microsoft Azure Monitor provide unified management to provision, manage, and decommission infrastructure resources securely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis final phase is never really final,\u201d says Heather Pfluger, the general manager of Infrastructure and Engineering Services in MSD who manages Microsoft\u2019s internal Microsoft Azure profile. \u201cContinual evaluation and optimization of our Microsoft Azure environment is built into how we manage our resources in the cloud. As new features and engineering approaches arise, we\u2019re adapting our methods and best practices to get the most from our investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Gaining efficiency from past experience<\/h3>\n<p>Apple, who works on Pfluger\u2019s team, adds that customers\u2019 migrations can benefit from taking a shortcut that Microsoft didn\u2019t take.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs early adopters, our migration practices were pushing the toolsets available,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen we looked at our on-premises environment and what was available in Azure, it made sense to move a significant portion of our solutions directly into IaaS resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Apple talks about the tradeoffs made between agility and efficiency.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-body\"><p>There are much better tools and best practices in-place now to migrate on-premises solutions directly into PaaS resources, eliminating the need to lift-and-shift and saving the cost of creating and maintaining those IaaS resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\">\u2014Pete Apple, principal program manager for Microsoft Azure engineering, MSD<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThese solutions were being lifted from the datacenter and shifted straight into Azure Virtual Machines, Virtual Networks, and Storage Accounts,\u201d he says. \u201cThis allowed us to recreate the on-premises environment in the cloud so we could get it out of the datacenter quickly, but it still left us with some of the maintenance tasks and costs inherent with IaaS infrastructure and room for further optimization with PaaS-based solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the lift-and-shift migration, Apple\u2019s teams re-engineering and re-platformed the IaaS solutions to use PaaS solutions such as Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Microsoft Azure Web Apps. Apple explains the shortcut, \u201cThere are much better tools and best practices in-place now to migrate on-premises solutions directly into PaaS resources, eliminating the need to lift-and-shift and saving the cost of creating and maintaining those IaaS resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Managing data and resource sprawl with agility<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re also undergoing specific efforts across our Microsoft Azure estate to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Azure infrastructure supports the entire Microsoft cloud, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft Dynamics 365. While most of these offerings do not allow for direct resource optimization, understanding the fundamentals of cloud scaling and billing is a critical aspect of using them efficiently. Data sprawl is a constant consideration for us.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9537\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9537\" style=\"width: 1220px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9537\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003.jpg\" alt=\"Graphic showing savings Microsoft gained from moving to Microsoft Azure, including sizing VMs down, moving older D-series and E-series, and more.\" width=\"1220\" height=\"686\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/01\/10464_image003-1000x562.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1220px) 100vw, 1220px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9537\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">We were able to keep our costs flat while our workloads increased by 20 percent internally here at Microsoft thanks to migrating the company to Microsoft Azure and then optimizing our usage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dan Babb is the Principal Software Engineering Manager responsible for MSD\u2019s implementation of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics for big data ingestion, migration, and exploration. It\u2019s a massive data footprint, with more than 1 billion read operations and 10 petabytes of data consumed monthly through Apache Spark clusters.<\/p>\n<p>Small specifics with Spark clusters can make a big difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach job that comes through Azure Synapse Analytics is run on a Spark cluster for compute services,\u201d Babb says. \u201cThere\u2019s a large selection of compute sizes available. The largest ones process data the quickest, but, naturally, they\u2019re also the most expensive. We all like things to be done quickly, so many of our engineers were using very large compute sizes because they\u2019re fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Babb clarifies that just because you can use the fastest method doesn\u2019t mean you should.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of our jobs aren\u2019t crucially time-sensitive, so we stopped using the bigger cluster sizes because we didn\u2019t need to,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Babb emphasizes that accurately assessing the workload and priority of each job has significantly reduced costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProcessing a workload on a smaller instance for 20 minutes instead of using a larger instance for 5 minutes has resulted in significant cost savings for us,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re monitoring our subscriptions and if a really big cluster size gets spun up, an Azure Monitor Alert notifies our engineering leads they can follow up to ensure that the cluster size is appropriate for the job it\u2019s running.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Apple says this is a way of cost cutting that is being widely adopted across our organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur business program managers are realizing that they can save money by slowing down projects that don\u2019t need to be rushed,\u201d he says. \u201cFor example, we had some folks in Finance who realized that some of their batch reporting didn&#8217;t really need to be out in one hour, it was fine if it took eight hours because they only had to run their reports once per day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Babb\u2019s team is also designing for distributed processing, creating solutions that are dispersed across clusters and Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics workspaces to create distributed platform architecture that is more flexible and less prone to a single point of failure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we run into an issue with a component or workspace and we have to take it down, it doesn\u2019t affect the entire solution, just the single cluster or workspace and the job it was running,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Using multiple workspaces and clusters has also made it much easier to get granular reporting and cost estimation. Babb\u2019s team members are using monitoring and reporting that enable them to understand the exact cost for any specific job, from ingestion to storage to report generation.<\/p>\n<h2>Designing for Zero Trust<\/h2>\n<p>The Zero Trust security model is pervasive across our Microsoft Azure environment. Based on the principle of verified trust\u2014to trust, you must first verify\u2014Zero Trust eliminates the inherent trust that is assumed inside the traditional corporate network. Zero Trust architecture reduces risk across all environments by establishing strong identity verification, validating device compliance prior to granting access, and ensuring least privilege access to only explicitly authorized resources.<\/p>\n<p>The Zero Trust model assumes every request is a potential breach. As such, every request that travels through our Microsoft Azure or on-premises environments must be verified as though it originates from an open network. Regardless of where the request originates or what resource it accesses, Zero Trust teaches us to \u201cnever trust, always verify.\u201d Every access request is fully authenticated, authorized, and encrypted before granting access. Micro-segmentation and least privileged access principles are applied to minimize lateral movement. Rich intelligence and analytics are used to detect and respond to anomalies in real time.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the Zero Trust model in Microsoft Azure, opportunities exist for simplification and increased efficiency. Microsoft Azure Entra ID allows us to centralize our identity and access workload, which simplifies identification and authorization across the hybrid cloud. Azure\u2019s flexible network infrastructure allows us to implement complex and agile micro-segmentation scenarios in minutes with Microsoft Azure Bicep Templates, and Microsoft Azure Virtual Networks. Our engineers are creating connectivity scenarios and solutions that were simply unimaginable using traditional networking practices.<\/p>\n<p>Mei Lau is a Principal Program Manager for Security Monitoring Engineering. Her team\u2019s job is to ensure that across the increasingly complex and dynamic Microsoft Azure networking environment, Zero Trust principles are adhered to and Microsoft\u2019s network environment remains safe and secure.<\/p>\n<p>Her team is using Microsoft Sentinel to deliver intelligent security analytics and threat intelligence across the enterprise at Microsoft. Sentinel allows her security experts to detect attacks and hunt for threats across millions of network signals.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-body\"><p>Real-time detection data is more expensive than some of the other data storage options we have. As convenient as it would be to have it all, it\u2019s not that critical. We move our older data into Azure Data Explorer where it\u2019s less expensive to store, but still allows us to use Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries just like we would in Sentinel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\">\u2014Mei Lau, principal program manager, Security Monitoring Engineering, Microsoft Digital Security and Resilience<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>With that much traffic to collect and examine, Lau notes that cost in Sentinel comes down to one primary factor: data ingestion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want our investigation scope to be as detailed as possible, so naturally, the inclination is to keep all the data we can,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>The reality of the situation is that you need to be careful to keep your costs down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReal-time detection data is more expensive than some of the other data storage options we have,\u201d Lau says. \u201cAs convenient as it would be to have it all, it\u2019s not that critical. We move our older data into Azure Data Explorer where it\u2019s less expensive to store, but still allows us to use Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries just like we would in Sentinel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Microsoft Sentinel, threat detections result in stored data, so Lau and her team are also diligent about the accuracy and usefulness of the more than 200 detection rules that are configured in Sentinel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re continually monitoring and managing detections that fire false positives,\u201d she says. \u201cWe generally want at least 80 percent fidelity for a healthy detection. If we don\u2019t achieve that, we either refine the detection or remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-body\"><p>Our governance model provides centralized control and coordination for all cost-optimization efforts. Getting this right is pivotal for any organization looking to get the most out of being on the cloud in Azure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\">\u2014Pete Apple, principal program manager for Microsoft Azure engineering, MSD<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Lau\u2019s team proactively monitors data storage in Microsoft Sentinel to look for sudden spikes in usage or other indicators that data usage practices might need to be assessed. It all contributes to a more efficient and streamlined threat management system that does its job well and doesn\u2019t break the bank.<\/p>\n<h2>Observing results and managing governance<\/h2>\n<p>To ensure effective identification and implementation of recommendations, governance in cost optimization is critical for our applications and the Microsoft Azure services that those applications use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur governance model provides centralized control and coordination for all cost-optimization efforts,\u201d Apple says. \u201cGetting this right is pivotal for any organization looking to get the most out of being on the cloud in Azure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Our model consists of several important components, including:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"c-list\">\n<li><strong>Microsoft Azure Advisor recommendations and automation.<\/strong> Advisor cost management recommendations serve as the basis for our optimization efforts. We channel Advisor recommendations into our IT service management and Microsoft Azure DevOps environment to better track how we implement recommendations and ensure effective optimization.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tailored cost insights.<\/strong> We\u2019ve developed dashboards to identify the costliest applications and business groups and identify opportunities for optimization. The data that these dashboards provide empower engineering leaders to observe and track important Microsoft Azure cost components in their service hierarchy to ensure that optimization is effective.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Improved Microsoft Azure budget management.<\/strong> We perform our Azure budget planning by using a bottom-up approach that involves our finance and engineering teams. Open communication and transparency in planning are important, and we track forecasts for the year alongside actual spending to date to enable accurate adjustments to spending estimates and closely track our budget targets. Relevant and easily accessible spending data helps us identify trend-based anomalies to control unintentional spending that can happen when resources are scaled or allocated unnecessarily in complex environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Implementing a governance solution has enabled us to realize considerable savings by making a simple change to Microsoft Azure resources across our entire footprint. For example, we implemented a recommendation to convert Microsoft Azure SQL Database instances from the Standard database transaction unit (DTU) based tier to a serverless tier by using a simple Microsoft Azure Resource Manager template and the auto-pause capability. The configuration change reduced costs by 97 percent.<\/p>\n<h2>Moving forward<\/h2>\n<p>As we continue our journey, we\u2019re focusing on refining our efforts and identifying new opportunities for further cost optimization in Microsoft Azure.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-body\"><p>Our MSD Azure footprint will continue to grow in the years ahead, and our cost-optimization and efficiency efforts will grow to ensure that we\u2019re making the most of our Azure investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\">\u2014Heather Pfluger, general manager, Infrastructure and Engineering Services, MSD<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot we can do here,\u201d Pfluger says. \u201cWe\u2019re building and increasing monitoring measures that help us ensure we&#8217;re using the optimal Azure services for our solutions. We\u2019re infusing automated scalability into every element of our Azure environment and reducing our investment in the IaaS components that currently support some of our legacy technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft Azure optimization is always ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur MSD Azure footprint will continue to grow in the years ahead, and our cost-optimization and efficiency efforts will grow to ensure that we\u2019re making the most of our Azure investment,\u201d Pfluger says.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"74\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7448\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/key-takeaways-300x74.png\" alt=\"Key Takeaways\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/key-takeaways-300x74.png 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/key-takeaways.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul class=\"c-list\">\n<li><strong>Embrace modern engineering practices.<\/strong> Adopting modern engineering practices that support reliability, security, operational excellence, and performance efficiency will help to enable better cost optimization in Microsoft Azure. Staying aware of new Azure services and changes to existing functionality will also help you recognize cost-optimization opportunities as soon as possible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use data to drive results.<\/strong> Accurate and current data is the basis for making timely optimization decisions that provide the largest cost savings possible and prevent unnecessary spending. Using optimization-relevant metrics and monitoring from Microsoft Azure Monitor is critical to fully understanding the necessity and impact of optimization across services and business groups.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use proactive cost-management practices.<\/strong> Using real-time data and proactive cost-management practices can get you from recommendation to implementation as quickly as possible while maintaining governance over the process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Implement central governance with local accountability.<\/strong> Auditing Microsoft Azure cost-optimization efforts to help improve Azure budget-management processes will identify gaps in cost management methods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"81\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7482\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/related_links-300x81.png\" alt=\"Related links\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/related_links-300x81.png 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2021\/10\/related_links.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul class=\"c-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/blog\/lessons-learned-optimizing-microsoft-s-internal-use-of-azure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read our related blog post on our lessons learned deploying and optimizing Microsoft Azure internally at Microsoft.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/implementing-microsoft-azure-cost-optimization-internally-at-microsoft\/\">Learn how we\u2019re implementing Microsoft Azure cost optimization internally at Microsoft.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/turning-to-devops-engineering-practices-to-democratize-access-to-data-at-microsoft\/\">Read more about turning to DevOps engineering practices to democratize access to data at Microsoft.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/microsoft-uses-a-scream-test-to-silence-its-unused-servers\/\">Explore how Microsoft uses a scream test to silence its unused servers.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"44\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12081\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/05\/Customer-Survey-580x85-1-300x44.png\" alt=\"We'd like to hear from you!\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/05\/Customer-Survey-580x85-1-300x44.png 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/05\/Customer-Survey-580x85-1.png 580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:msitstaff@microsoft.com\">Want more information? Email us and include a link to this story and we\u2019ll get back to you.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/r\/czbs6PptPe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Please share your feedback with us\u2014take our survey and let us know what kind of content is most useful to you.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do we at Microsoft get the best value from our Microsoft Azure environment? We\u2019ve been refining and optimizing the way we use the cloud for years, and as such, our answer isn\u2019t just about how much we\u2019ve been able to push down our monthly Azure bill. Our migration from managing our own datacenters to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":9528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_hide_featured_on_single":false,"_show_featured_caption_on_single":true,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[327,115],"coauthors":[550],"class_list":["post-9526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-azure-management","tag-microsoft-azure","program-microsoft-digital-technical-stories","m-blog-post"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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