How to optimize cost of Azure disks

Yes, there are several ways to optimize the cost of Azure disks for SAP workloads. Here are some strategies you can consider:

Right-size your disk types: Evaluate the performance requirements of your SAP workloads and determine if Premium SSD disks are necessary for all environments. Premium SSD disks provide high-performance storage but come at a higher cost. If some workloads have lower performance requirements, consider using Standard SSD or Standard HDD disks, which offer lower costs.

Optimize disk sizes: Analyze the disk sizes allocated to your SAP workloads. Ensure that the disk sizes are appropriate for the data and workload requirements. Avoid allocating larger disks than necessary, as larger disk sizes come with higher costs. Regularly review and resize your disks based on the actual data usage and growth patterns.

Implement tiered storage: Azure offers storage tiers such as Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage, which provide lower-cost options for long-term data storage. Consider offloading infrequently accessed data or historical data from your SAP workloads to these storage tiers. This can help reduce the storage costs associated with Premium SSD disks.

Leverage disk snapshots and backups: Instead of maintaining multiple copies of data within SAP systems, utilize Azure Disk Snapshots or backup solutions like Azure Backup or Azure Site Recovery. These services provide cost-effective methods to create backups and restore data when needed, without incurring the cost of additional disks.

Utilize Azure Disk Reservations: Azure offers reservations for disk capacity, similar to reservations for virtual machines. By purchasing Azure Disk Reservations, you can obtain a discount on the provisioned disk capacity, resulting in cost savings. Evaluate your long-term disk capacity requirements and consider purchasing reservations to optimize costs.

Implement cost management and monitoring: Utilize Azure Cost Management and Billing features to gain visibility into your disk usage and associated costs. Set up cost alerts and monitoring to proactively identify any unexpected or unnecessary disk usage, allowing you to take corrective actions and optimize costs.

Consider workload scheduling: For workloads that run only 12*5, you can explore scheduling options to stop or deallocate resources during non-working hours or weekends. This can include automating start/stop scripts or leveraging Azure Automation to control the availability and cost of your SAP workloads.

It's important to note that optimizing Azure disk costs requires careful evaluation and consideration of your specific SAP workload requirements and performance needs. Regular monitoring and optimization efforts will help you strike a balance between performance and cost efficiency.

Thank you @Sumarigo-MSFT for taking time to help and clarify !!

"Disk Tiering: ...consider moving non-critical or low-performance workloads to lower-cost tiers like Standard SSD or Standard HDD. " - The SAP HANA certified Azure storage types are below.

1. Azure premium SSD or premium storage
2. Ultra disk
3. Azure NetApp Files

Q. Can we use some other storage type and can stay SAP complaint on Azure?

"Disk Sizing: If you have oversized disks, consider resizing them to smaller sizes. This can help reduce the associated costs." - It seems SAP systems are IO intensive. Q. Can we reduce the size of disk without detaching it ? I think it's not supported even if disk has ample free space for target size.

"Disk Sharing: By consolidating multiple workloads onto fewer disks, you can reduce the number of disks provisioned and save on costs." - We had used disk stripping to meet throughput requirements. I get your point.

"If some workloads don't require 24/7 availability or high performance during non-business hours, consider scheduling them to run on a lower-performance or lower-cost tier during those periods." - Q. How can we save on disk cost as they are always charged irrespective of VM state they are attached to?

"Auto-Shutdown: For workloads that are only required during specific hours, consider implementing an auto-shutdown schedule. This ensures that the resources are automatically turned off when not in use, reducing costs associated with disk usage during non-operational hours." - Q. I think Disk are always charged even if associated VMs are shut down. How can disk cost be reduced ?

Disk Snapshot Management: Agreed.

Monitoring and Right-Sizing: Agreed.

Looking forward for your response. Thank you!!

Thank you @Sumarigo-MSFT for taking time to help and clarify !!

Could you please respond my previous comment if time permits?

Appreciate your response. Thank you!!

@Sumarigo-MSFT Could you please respond if time permits ? Thank you very much for your previous response.

@anil kumar Apologies for the delay response! I would recommened to contact Azure Billing and Subscription team would be the best to provide more insight and guidance on this scenario, based on your requirements with detailed information it's free, and it's the best choice for you.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/options/

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.

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