Compare sample workload costs by using the TCO Calculator With Azure
Tags: azure, beginners, cloudskills
Published: 2022-05-31 14:46:54

you'll use the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator to compare the cost of running a sample workload in the datacenter versus on Azure.


Traders is interested in moving some of its on-premises workloads to the cloud. But first, the Chief Financial Officer wants to understand more about moving from a relatively fixed-cost structure to an ongoing monthly cost structure.

You've been tasked to investigate whether there are any potential cost savings in moving your European datacenter to the cloud over the next three years. You need to take into account all of the potentially hidden costs involved with operating on-premises and in the cloud.

Instead of manually collecting everything you think might be included, you can use the TCO Calculator as a starting point. You can adjust the provided cost assumptions to match Tailwind Traders' on-premises environment.


 **Note**

Remember, you don't need an Azure subscription to work with the TCO Calculator.


Let's say that:

Tailwind Traders runs two sets, or banks, of 50 virtual machines (VMs) in each bank
The first bank of VMs runs Windows Server under Hyper-V virtualization
The second bank of VMs runs Linux under VMware virtualization
There's also a storage area network (SAN) with 60 terabytes (TB) of disk storage
You consume an estimated 15 TB of outbound network bandwidth each month
There are also a number of databases involved, but for now, you'll omit those details
Recall that the TCO Calculator involves three steps:


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/758b6saqevbe6b94a4my.png)
 
Let's see how Tailwind Traders' existing workloads compare in the datacenter versus on Azure.

## Define your workloads

Enter the specifications of your on-premises infrastructure into the TCO Calculator.

1.Go to the TCO Calculator.

2.Under Define your workloads, select Add server workload to create a row for your bank of Windows Server VMs.

3.Under Servers, set the value for each of these settings:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/92469k4mqs8tpj1xnyo6.png)

4.Select Add server workload to create a second row for your bank of Linux VMs. Then specify these settings:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/s1lonilg2uusuvdtvc4r.png)

5. Under Storage, select Add storage. Then specify these settings:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i933ncshktu5xr6j465e.png)

6.Under Networking, set Outbound bandwidth to 15 TB.

7.Select Next.   

## Adjust assumptions

Here, you'll specify your currency. For brevity, you can leave the remaining fields at their default values.

In practice, you would adjust any cost assumptions and make any adjustments to match your current on-premises environment.

1.At the top of the page, select your currency. This example uses US Dollar ($).
2.Select Next.


## View the report

Take a moment to review the generated report.

Remember, you've been tasked to investigate cost savings for your European datacenter over the next three years.

To make these adjustments:

1. Set Timeframe to 3 Years.
2. Set Region to North Europe.


Scroll to the summary at the bottom. You'll see a comparison of running your workloads in the datacenter versus on Azure. The prices you see might differ, but here's an example of the cost savings you might expect.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wwxesgzxzz4sd32jx1eb.png)

Select **Download** to download or print a copy of the report in PDF format.

Great work. You now have the information that you can share with your Chief Financial Officer. If you need to make adjustments, you can revisit the TCO Calculator to generate a fresh report.