Idle and low-utilization virtual machines

Identify and take action on idle and low-utilization AWS EC2 instances and idle Azure VMs that may be candidates for parking.

For idle and low-utilization virtual machine optimizations to be applied, your VM environment must be managed using Terraform. Each VM must have unique identifying tags.

On this page:

Data sources

For AWS EC2 instances, findings are based on the following data sources:

AWS Trusted Advisor checks
CloudWatch metrics (up to 90 days where available):
- CPU utilization
- Network in/out
- Memory (if CloudWatch agent is installed with memory metrics enabled)
Instance metadata and attached volumes

For Azure VMs, findings are based on the following data sources:

Azure Advisor checks
Azure Monitor metrics:
- CPU utilization
- Network in/out
- Memory (via Log Analytics workspace)

Prerequisites

Ensure the following prerequisites are in place:

The optimization IAM role or IAM user for Perforce Unified Compliance has permissions for accessing data from Trusted Advisor and CloudWatch. A permissions policy is provided by Perforce. See Configure an AWS account.
The Azure Service Principal has all required permissions. See Configure an Azure account.

If required data is unavailable or permissions are missing, no optimizations are generated for idle or low-utilization virtual machines. Other optimizations operate as normal.

Evaluation

For AWS, EC2 machines are flagged as idle or low-utilization based on Trusted Advisor checks.
For Azure, VMs are flagged as idle based on Azure Advisor checks.

Two Trusted Advisor checks are evaluated for AWS EC2 instances:

• Low utilization Amazon EC2 instances check, which generates idle findings
• Amazon EC2 cost optimization recommendations, which generate idle or rightsizing findings

If both checks identify the same instance, only one optimization is generated. The finding from the Amazon EC2 cost optimization recommendations check takes precedence.

Insights

When a virtual machine is identified as idle or low-utilization, the optimization identifies the machine and includes contextual details based on CloudWatch or Azure Monitor metrics. If you have memory metrics enabled, these metrics are included.

Risk levels

For AWS EC2 instances, opportunities generated from Stop recommendations and Low Utilization Amazon EC2 Instances checks in Trusted Advisor are designated as moderate-risk
For Azure VMs, Shutdown recommendations in Azure Advisor are designated as moderate-risk

Begin taking action on idle and low-utilization VMs

Optimize your infrastructure