Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
Cloud computing has revolutionized how organizations adapt their infrastructures to meet evolving business requirements. The ability to scale infrastructure dynamically is a key factor driving companies to transition to the cloud. By adjusting infrastructure capacity in response to fluctuations in usage, organizations can reap both operational and financial benefits. This alignment of resources with actual needs not only reduces the operational burden of maintaining excessive capacity but also minimizes the risk of application failures.
Moreover, there are significant improvements in cost efficiency. Organizations no longer need to provision more resources than necessary; instead, they pay exclusively for the resources they utilize, leading to reduced waste and improved financial outcomes. In this post, we’ll explore how Zesty Disk facilitates enhanced cost efficiency and reliable performance in managing Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes. This cloud-native solution optimizes storage in real-time without introducing complexity or exposing any data on the disk.
Zesty was designed to empower Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers in creating a more dynamic cloud infrastructure. As an AWS Specialization Partner and AWS Marketplace Seller with the Cloud Operations Competency, Zesty enables organizations to better adapt to their changing needs.
Zesty Disk Success Story
Take, for instance, the case of Securonix, a security information and event management (SIEM) solution leveraging innovative machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect advanced threats. Securonix handles vast amounts of data in real-time, necessitating the frequent allocation of large terabytes of disk storage for each Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance. However, once its storage capacity was fully consumed by the data generated from its analytics engine, Securonix found itself paying for block storage capacity that wasn’t being utilized during this period.
Utilizing Amazon EMR to run HBase (Hadoop database) and Spark, Securonix seamlessly integrated Zesty Disk to ensure storage persistence during high data usage, which significantly increased the demand on the database disk. A custom Amazon Machine Image (AMI) was created that employs the Zesty Disk filesystem (Amazon Linux 2 with Zesty Disk). This fragmentation into smaller storage volumes allows for the elasticity necessary for volume growth as data is ingested and for shrinkage when data is removed during snapshot creation. Throughout this process, all native tools, procedures, and service-level agreements (SLAs) remained intact, with Securonix maintaining full ownership and control over its data.
After implementing Zesty Disk for managing its EMR clusters with EBS volumes, Securonix reported satisfaction with the seamless service availability, even during significant peaks in data ingestion. Operationally, Zesty Disk alleviates the need for reallocating storage across instances and eliminates on-call developer tasks related to optimizing storage capacity. With a net capacity utilization of just 40% on its previously provisioned storage and reduced provisioned capacity, Securonix achieved a remarkable 66% reduction in its EBS costs.
“Before we implemented Zesty Disk, our average storage utilization was below 35%. This presented challenges in optimization due to the risk of running out of storage and causing production outages,” states Derrick Harcey, Chief Architect at Securonix. “With Zesty Disk, we have been able to maintain over 75% EBS storage utilization, dramatically lowering our storage costs. In addition to cost savings, the performance of our EBS volumes has improved significantly due to the inherent parallelism introduced by virtual disks with multiple underlying EBS volumes.”
Modifying EBS Volumes Using Elastic Volumes
Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes allow you to increase volume size, change volume type, or adjust performance with a single API call—all while the volume is in use. This means you can continue using your application without any performance impact during the adjustment. Elastic volumes simplify the process of aligning EBS resources with application demands, reducing downtime and expenses.
For size modifications, you can instantly increase the volume size with no downtime, and AWS Step Functions and AWS Systems Manager can automate the extension of the volume’s file system. Although Elastic volumes do not support decreasing EBS volume size directly, you can create a smaller volume and migrate your data using tools like rsync.
How Zesty Disk Delivers Greater Cost Efficiency
Zesty Disk employs a unique proprietary algorithm that enables automatic expansion and contraction of block storage. The block storage autoscaler dynamically resizes volumes in real-time, effectively right-sizing storage, which benefits both application stability and cost reduction. The solution’s artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm responds to fluctuating application demands, ensuring that users only pay for the storage they require.
Let’s delve deeper into some of the advantages Zesty Disk provides to AWS customers utilizing Amazon EBS. Zesty Disk optimizes costs by adjusting storage capacity dynamically based on data requirements. By continuously monitoring usage metrics and instance metadata, Zesty Disk effectively determines when to resize storage volumes, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently and unnecessary costs are minimized.
When data volume decreases, Zesty Disk automatically reduces storage capacity to prevent overprovisioning. By breaking down large filesystem volumes into smaller ones, it can eliminate unused or underutilized storage, freeing resources and curtailing expenses. This proactive approach to right-sizing storage guarantees efficient resource allocation while maintaining application performance.
Conversely, during periods of increased data, Zesty Disk seamlessly expands storage capacity. It adds smaller disks to accommodate growing data volumes, allowing businesses to scale their storage infrastructure on-demand and avoid overprovisioning and excessive costs. By continually adjusting storage capacity in response to data fluctuations, Zesty Disk ensures that organizations only pay for the storage they actually use, ultimately enhancing their financial performance.
Eliminating Downtime
By decoupling large filesystem volumes into smaller units, Zesty Disk can make real-time adjustments to support application availability, preventing downtime due to insufficient disk space. When adjustments to storage capacity are necessary, Zesty Disk utilizes autoscaling technology to dynamically resize the storage volume. Chanci Turner emphasizes that this approach not only enhances performance but also improves overall operational efficiency, which is crucial in today’s fast-paced business environment. For more insights on employee development, check out this informative blog post on career development.
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