March 2022 Summaries

Amazon's ARM-based Graviton chip offers a significant price-to-performance advantage for AWS customers, particularly when used in managed services like RDS and ElasticSearch. By transitioning from x86 to Graviton processors, users can save approximately 10% on their RDS bills while also benefiting from enhanced performance. The migration process to Graviton is straightforward, provided that the database version is compatible, typically requiring only a minimal disruption time. Resources such as ec2instances.info can help users compare current costs with potential savings, and AWS provides guidance on modifying RDS instances to facilitate the transition.

Vantage has announced a new integration with Microsoft Teams, enabling users to receive cloud cost reports directly in Microsoft Teams channels, whether public or private. This integration addresses user demand following the previous launch of a Slack integration, allowing organizations to monitor cloud spending with greater ease and accountability. Users can customize the delivery of cost reports by selecting specific channels within Microsoft Teams from the Vantage platform's Cost Report Notifications page. The integration is available at no additional cost to all Vantage users, including those on the free tier, and allows for the posting of cost summaries to multiple channels, although users must choose between Slack or Microsoft Teams for these notifications. This development enhances Vantage's offerings by providing users with another platform option for receiving critical financial updates related to their cloud usage.

Vantage has announced the general availability of its platform for Google Cloud cost support, enabling customers to securely integrate with Vantage to view, report, forecast, and optimize their Google Cloud expenses. Previously, Vantage only supported AWS, limiting its utility for customers with Google Cloud workloads. Now, users with workloads on both AWS and Google Cloud can access a unified view of their cloud costs across providers through a single dashboard. The integration process involves creating a service account to grant billing access, allowing Vantage to ingest and display cost data from Google Cloud projects, labels, and regions. This expansion is available to all users, including those on the free tier, without additional costs, though it may influence the pricing tier due to the total tracked cloud costs. The integration supports both existing and new users, providing an interface for managing multi-cloud expenditures with enhanced reporting features, while technical integration is achieved via a self-service setup process.

Vantage has introduced Role Based Access Control (RBAC) for its Enterprise tier customers, enabling them to manage access to specific cost data within the Vantage console by creating and assigning members to teams. This feature allows organizations to restrict data visibility and management to defined groups, addressing the need for more granular access control, particularly beneficial for publicly traded companies and budget-sensitive private firms. RBAC permits unlimited teams and team members, enabling users designated as ‘owners’ to define data access within workspaces. However, this functionality is currently exclusive to Enterprise tier subscribers, with other tiers unable to create teams under RBAC. Users can manage teams and assign workspace access through the console, although future enhancements are anticipated, such as integrating with third-party services and adding more personalized permissions.