What Is AWS Compute Optimizer? A Practical Guide
Published: 2024-02-19 19:10:40

## What Is AWS Compute Optimizer? 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform that helps businesses manage their online infrastructure. It provides several services that help organizations plan their cloud deployments and optimize costs—one such service is AWS Compute Optimizer. It is a machine learning-powered tool designed to analyze your AWS workloads and provide recommendations on how to optimize them. Essentially, it helps you select the ideal resources for your applications based on their performance history and cost.

The tool analyzes historical utilization metrics over weeks or months, depending on the scope of your operations. It then uses this data to model potential performances of various AWS resources and provide recommendations. An important feature is its ability to identify if a workload is over-provisioned and suggest resource configurations that can offer similar or better performance at a lower cost.

[AWS Compute Optimizer is part of AWS Management Tools](https://granulate.io/blog/introduction-to-aws-compute-optimizer/), a suite designed to help you govern and automate your environment across AWS and on-premises services. This suite also includes AWS Auto Scaling, which you can use alongside AWS Compute Optimizer to scale your resources in response to changing demand.


## Benefits of Using AWS Compute Optimizer 


### Cost Savings

One of the primary benefits of AWS Compute Optimizer is cost savings. It provides recommendations that can help you reduce costs by identifying underutilized resources. The tool can suggest when to switch to a less expensive instance that can deliver the same performance, saving you money without compromising service quality.

Moreover, AWS Compute Optimizer uses machine learning to provide more accurate assessments of your resource needs, minimizing the risk of over-provisioning. This can lead to significant savings, as you only pay for what you need. Plus, AWS Compute Optimizer itself is a free service, so you can enhance your cost-effectiveness without incurring additional expenses.


### Performance Improvement

Another significant benefit of AWS Compute Optimizer is the potential for performance improvement. The tool analyzes your workloads and identifies opportunities where a more powerful instance might be needed. This way, you can ensure that your applications are running on the most suitable instances, leading to better performance and user satisfaction.

Furthermore, AWS Compute Optimizer uses machine learning to predict how different AWS resources will perform under your current workloads. This can help you make informed decisions about which resources to use, optimizing your applications' performance and reliability.


### Simplified Resource Management

Finally, AWS Compute Optimizer simplifies resource management. It does so by providing actionable recommendations on how to optimize your AWS resources, eliminating the need for manual analysis. This can significantly reduce the time and manpower needed for resource management, allowing your team to focus on more strategic tasks.

In addition, AWS Compute Optimizer seamlessly integrates with other AWS services, such as AWS Auto Scaling, CloudWatch, and Elastic Load Balancing. This allows for efficient management of your resources across your AWS environment, making it easier to maintain optimal performance and cost-effectiveness.


## Getting Started with AWS Compute Optimizer 

Here are the main steps involved in getting started with Compute Optimizer.


### 1. Navigate to Compute Optimizer in the AWS Management Console

The AWS Management Console is a graphical interface for managing your AWS resources. It is designed to make it easy for you to navigate through your resources and manage them effectively.

In the **AWS Management Console**, you will find a list of services offered by AWS. From this list, select **Compute Optimizer**. If you can't find it, use the search bar at the top of the page to locate it. Once you select it, you can click on **Get Started** and be taken to the Compute Optimizer page.


### 2. Opt in for Compute Optimizer

The next step is to opt in for Compute Optimizer. This is a crucial step as it allows Compute Optimizer to analyze your instances and auto scaling groups. To opt in, go to the **Account setup **page in the Compute Optimizer console, specify your opt-in preference, and select **Opt in**.

By opting in, you are giving AWS permission to analyze your resource usage data and generate optimization recommendations based on it. AWS will handle your data securely and confidentially.


### 3. Automatically Generate Recommendations

Once you've opted in, the Compute Optimizer will automatically start generating recommendations. The recommendations generated by the Compute Optimizer may take time to appear, up to 12 hours. 

After the initial analysis, Compute Optimizer will continually analyze your resource usage and update the recommendations accordingly. This ensures that you always have the most up-to-date information to make decisions about your resources.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/dymamhda3cturzgd37ob.png)




Source: [AWS](https://d1.awsstatic.com/re19/compute-optimizer-dashboard.161c711acb020ee4962b7477ba51bad51c5b5564.png)


### 4. Define Your Recommendation Preferences

You can personalize the recommendations to match your specific needs. On the **Preferences **page in the Compute Optimizer console, you can define your recommendation preferences by selecting **Rightsizing** or **General**.

You can choose to prioritize cost savings, performance, or a balance of both. You can also specify the types of instances you want to consider in the recommendations. These preferences will help Compute Optimizer provide more precise and relevant recommendations.


### 5. Review Recommendations

This is where you get to see the results of the Compute Optimizer's analysis. The recommendations will show you how you can optimize your resources to achieve your goals. You can review these by clicking on the relevant option: 



* EC2 instances 
* Auto Scaling groups
* EBS volumes
* ECS services on Fargate
* Lambda functions

Each recommendation includes a summary of the potential savings or performance improvements you could achieve by implementing it. It also includes a detailed breakdown of the analysis, including the factors that were considered in generating the recommendation.


### 6. Visualize a What-If Scenario

Finally, you can use the Compute Optimizer to visualize a what-if scenario. This allows you to see the potential impact of implementing a recommendation before you actually do it. The recommendations typically present a number of options. Select an option and click on **View details** to see how it would play out.

You can input different variables, such as instance types, and see how they would affect your costs and performance. This allows you to make more informed decisions about your resources and avoid potential pitfalls.


## Conclusion

AWS Compute Optimizer is a powerful tool that can help you optimize your AWS resources. It provides you with recommendations based on your usage patterns and preferences, and allows you to visualize the potential impact of implementing those recommendations. With this guide, you should now have a better understanding of what AWS Compute Optimizer is and how to get started with it.