By Hagit Merhavi
VP of Product Management

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Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a vital component for organizations, providing scalable and efficient database solutions in the cloud. However, managing Amazon RDS can present challenges, particularly the lack of Reserved Instances (RIs) flexibility and the complexity of RDS cost management, which require advanced, time-saving solutions.

Today, we’re excited to announce a new product that addresses these challenges head-on. Commitment Manager for RDS leverages advanced ML algorithms to forecast RDS usage and automatically purchases RIs to maximize coverage and savings. It achieves this with minimal financial risk and eliminates the need for manual prediction and planning. Read on to learn how Zesty’s new product solves RDS optimization challenges!

Understanding Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS is a managed database service designed to simplify the setup, operation, and scaling of a relational database in the cloud. It offers cost-efficient and resizable capacity while automating time-consuming administrative tasks, such as hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups.

This automation allows you to focus more on your applications instead of infrastructure and cost management. Amazon RDS supports several database instance types and engine options, allowing users to choose from popular database engines including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle Database, and SQL Server. 

Challenges of using RDS

While Amazon Relational Database Service simplifies many aspects of database management, users encounter several challenges that can impact efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Here are key challenges that many users have reported:

• RIs lack of flexibility:

Amazon RDS offers a variety of instance types and configurations, but its Reserved Instances flexibility is limited. Users must choose from predefined instance types with fixed hardware specifications, such as CPU, memory, and IOPS capabilities. After purchase, RDS RIs cannot be sold or converted. While these options are designed to meet diverse application demands, they may not precisely match specific workload requirements. This inflexibility makes it challenging to tailor RI planning precisely to usage rates, potentially leading companies to rely on On-Demand pricings with a low coverage of RIs

• Complex and time-consuming planning: 

The first step in Amazon RDS cost optimization requires choosing suitable reservation types and durations. The process then involves continuous engineering efforts to monitor, evaluate, analyze, and implement cost-saving opportunities. This process consumes significant engineering hours that could otherwise be directed toward development. Despite the extensive time investment, the manual nature of these tasks introduces the possibility of human errors, potentially leading to suboptimal financial management. Thus, managing RDS costs effectively is a complex, ongoing commitment that can impact resource allocation.

• Financial risk:

Proper RDS management requires precise planning based on forecasted workloads and consistent monitoring of RI utilization to ensure optimal coverage and utilization rates. If mismanaged, this complex process can lead to significant financial losses, which makes it risky to commit to 1 or 3 years in order to obtain the financial gain of those long-term commitments. To avoid this risk, many companies use On-Demand, paying full price on their Amazon RDS workloads.

How Can Zesty’s Commitment Manager for RDS Help with Amazon RDS Rate and Usage Optimization?

Zesty offers a powerful solution for managing Amazon RDS usage and costs through its AI-powered platform. By leveraging advanced ML, Zesty analyzes usage patterns and historical data to forecast RDS usage and maximize coverage with Reserved Instances that reduce costs.

“We founded Zesty based on the demand for flexibility in the cloud and now that our customers have it for their EC2 workloads, they’ve helped us identify other key places where it’s necessary, which makes this feature all the more meaningful for us,” said Maxim Melamedov, CEO and Co-founder of Zesty.

Key Benefits of Zesty’s Automated solution for RDS:

• Maximizing Rate with RIs: The platform helps determine the optimal number of Reserved Instances (RIs) to purchase. Additionally, Zesty’s Commitment Manager automates the allocation and management of these RIs, ensuring that your investment is always aligned with your usage patterns and demand fluctuations. This automation not only simplifies the management of RIs but also enhances cost efficiency by reducing RDS effective rate.

• Continuous Optimization: Zesty’s approach to RDS management goes beyond initial setups; it actively and continuously monitors database instances usage patterns and automatically adjusts your RI portfolio. This real-time adjustment strategy ensures that the rate and usage optimizations are constantly aligned with the current database needs.

Contact Zesty to learn how much you can save on your Amazon RDS workloads with Commitment Manager for RDS.