EBS Underutilized Volumes

Opportunity Name:

EBS Underutilized Volume Optimization Finder

AWS Resource Type:

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)

Opportunity Description:

This Finder identifies Amazon EBS volumes that are overprovisioned relative to their actual usage. By analyzing detailed usage metrics and applying predictive modeling, it recommends optimal volume sizes to reduce storage costs while maintaining sufficient capacity for future needs. These recommendations help organizations optimize cloud expenses without compromising performance. For volumes that are not actively used at all, deleting the volume outright is often a simpler alternative to resizing.

Criteria for Identifying the Opportunity:

1. Volume Identification:
   • EBS volumes with usage patterns suggesting overprovisioning are flagged.
   • Volumes must meet a minimum annualized cost threshold (e.g., $100) for consideration.
2. Usage Analysis:
   • Validate the presence of EBS volumes and ensure they are attached to an active instance.
   • Exclude root device volumes from analysis.
   • Retrieve and analyze 7-90 days of usage metrics to predict future storage needs.
   • Use a 10% overhead buffer to calculate optimal volume size.
3. Exclusions:
   • Volumes tagged with cloudfix:dontFixIt are excluded from recommendations. 

Potential Savings:

The savings are calculated as the difference between the current cost and the cost of the resized volume. For example:

• A volume reduced from 1TB to 500GB can save up to 50% in costs, depending on the pricing of the original and optimized sizes.

What Happens When the Fixer is Executed?

This Finder provides recommendations only. Users must manually resize or delete the EBS volumes based on the recommendations.

Note that AWS Elastic Volumes only supports increasing a volume's size, type, or performance on the fly — AWS does not support shrinking a volume in place. To reduce a volume's size, you must create a new, smaller volume, migrate the data to it, attach the new volume to the instance in place of the original, and then decommission the original volume. If a flagged volume is not actively used at all, deleting it outright is a simpler alternative that avoids the migration process entirely.

Is It Possible to Roll Back Once CloudFix Implements the Fixer?

Rollback is not applicable because no automatic changes are made by CloudFix. Users retain full control over whether and how to implement the recommendations.

Can CloudFix Implement the Fix Automatically Once I Accept the Recommendation?

No, this Finder generates recommendations only. Users must manually implement the resizing or deletion.

Does This Fix Require Downtime?

Yes. If you resize a volume by migrating its data to a newly created smaller volume, or if you delete a volume that is still attached, application downtime may occur during the detach, migrate, and reattach process.

Additional Resources:

• Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes Documentation
• AWS Cost Management Documentation