You know that moment when you realize youโve been paying for something you havenโt used for ages โ like that gym membership that seemed like a great idea in January? Yeah, well, that can happen in the cloud too. Enter the Idle Load Balancer. Itโs quietly running in the background, charging you hourly but not actually doing anything. Sure, the hourly cost seems small, but when you have a lot of these idle resources, those little amounts can snowball into significant wasted expenses. Addressing these seemingly small costs can lead to major savings across your cloud environment.
So, let me take you on a little adventure, where I ran an AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) query, uncovered these freeloaders, and learned how to clean them up โ step by step, in a way that you can understand and maybe even enjoy! ๐
The Magic Query That Finds the Lazy Load Balancers
First off, what exactly is an idle load balancer? Imagine a traffic cop standing at an empty intersection, whistling in the wind. Itโs not directing any traffic, but youโre still paying them by the hour. Thatโs whatโs happening with idle load balancers โ theyโre supposed to distribute traffic between your servers, but they arenโt handling any.
By running a simple query using AWS CUR, you can pinpoint these lazy resources. The query checks load balancers that have been running for over 14 days but havenโt had any real activity โ no traffic, just hourly charges.
Hereโs the magic query (donโt worry, no need to memorize this):
SELECT bill_payer_account_id, line_item_usage_account_id, SPLIT_PART(line_item_resource_id, ':', 6) AS split_line_item_resource_id, product_region, pricing_unit, sum_line_item_usage_amount, CAST(cost_per_resource AS DECIMAL(16, 8)) AS sum_line_item_unblended_cost FROM ( SELECT line_item_resource_id, product_region, pricing_unit, line_item_usage_account_id, bill_payer_account_id, SUM(line_item_usage_amount) AS sum_line_item_usage_amount, SUM(SUM(line_item_unblended_cost)) OVER (PARTITION BY line_item_resource_id) AS cost_per_resource, SUM(SUM(line_item_usage_amount)) OVER (PARTITION BY line_item_resource_id, pricing_unit) AS usage_per_resource_and_pricing_unit, COUNT(pricing_unit) OVER (PARTITION BY line_item_resource_id) AS pricing_unit_per_resource FROM ${table_name} WHERE line_item_product_code = 'AWSELB' AND line_item_usage_start_date >= now() - INTERVAL '1' month AND line_item_line_item_type = 'Usage' GROUP BY line_item_resource_id, product_region, pricing_unit, line_item_usage_account_id, bill_payer_account_id ) WHERE usage_per_resource_and_pricing_unit > 336 AND pricing_unit_per_resource = 1 ORDER BY cost_per_resource DESC;
Now, you might be thinking, โWhoa, this looks complicated.โ But donโt worry, the takeaway is simple: this query looks for load balancers that have been running without doing much for half the month or more. AWS Trusted Advisor might find idle Classic Load Balancers, but this query gives you the full picture โ including the more modern Application and Network Load Balancers.
What Kind of Load Balancers Are We Talking About?
Before we get to the good stuff โ cleaning them up โ letโs break down the types of load balancers you may have in your cloud world. Imagine each one is like a different style of traffic cop:
- Classic Load Balancer (CLB): Think of this as the old-school traffic cop from back in the day. Itโs reliable but simple โ its only job is to wave cars through the intersection without any special consideration for what kind of car it is or where itโs going. If your cloud setup has been around for a while, chances are youโve got some of these classic load balancers still standing, quietly doing their job but without the flexibility or modern capabilities of the newer models. Itโs basic, and while it still works, itโs not exactly keeping up with the fast lane of todayโs cloud traffic.
- Application Load Balancer (ALB): Now weโre getting into the fancy stuff. Imagine a traffic cop who not only directs traffic but also knows exactly where each car is headed and can send them down the right lane based on that. Itโs like having a cop who can manage complex intersections, separate buses from cars, and make sure everything flows smoothly without anyone getting lost. ALBs are perfect for modern web applications, where you need advanced routing based on things like URLs, hostnames, or even the content of the request. If youโre running microservices or dynamic web apps, this load balancer is the cool, tech-savvy officer you need in your cloud police force.
- Network Load Balancer (NLB): This is your traffic cop on steroids โ picture one handling the busiest, fastest highway in the city with the precision of a Formula 1 pit crew. The NLB is built for speed and efficiency, designed to handle extreme volumes of traffic without blinking. Itโs all about low-latency, high-performance traffic management. It works at a lower level than the ALB, handling raw network connections rather than just web traffic. So, if youโve got high-demand workloads like gaming servers, real-time data processing, or financial systems that need to respond instantly, this is your heavy-duty cop keeping everything in check at lightning speed.
So, How Do You Clean Them?
Hereโs where things get interesting. Youโve found your idle load balancers, but you canโt just delete them right away. Nope, first you need to remove the listeners โ think of these as the load balancerโs ears. Without them, the load balancer canโt hear or route any incoming traffic.
Step 1: Get the Listeners
Youโll need to ask each load balancer what ports itโs listening on. Depending on the type of load balancer, the command differs a bit (donโt worry, itโs simpler than it sounds):
Hereโs how you get a list of listeners:
– For Classic Load Balancers (v1):
aws elb describe-load-balancers โ load-balancer-names <load-balancer-name>
– For Application and Network Load Balancers (v2):
aws elbv2 describe-load-balancers โ names <load-balancer-name>
Step 2: Remove the Listeners
Once you have the listener details, you can delete them with:
– For Classic Load Balancers (v1):
aws elb delete-load-balancer-listeners --load-balancer-name <load-balancer-name> --load-balancer-ports <port>
– For ALB and NLB (the cooler, newer types):
aws elbv2 delete-listener - listener-arn <listener-arn>
Step 3: Finally, Delete the Load Balancer
Now comes the fun part โ deleting that load balancer thatโs been quietly draining your wallet:
– For Classic Load Balancers:
aws elb delete-load-balancer โ load-balancer-name <load-balancer-name>
– For ALB or NLB (v2):
aws elbv2 delete-load-balancer โ load-balancer-arn <load-balancer-arn>
Approval: Better Safe Than Sorry!
Even though youโve found an idle load balancer, you might want to double-check with the owner before deleting it. The worst-case scenario? They actually needed it, and now things might go sideways. Thatโs why approvals matter. But doing this manually each time is a hassle. Enter automation.
Automation Saves the Day!
Doing this once or twice is fine, but what if you want to make sure this is always done? Manually hunting down idle load balancers, checking for approvals, and deleting them gets old fast.
Thatโs where Wiv comes in. At Wiv, you get the tools to do all of this in one smooth, automated process. Discover, manage, get approvals, and delete idle load balancers โ itโs all built into the system. No need to keep repeating the process yourself. Wiv takes care of it all, from discovery to remediation. You can even track the whole process, ensuring that your AWS environment stays efficient without the headache of manual cleanup.
Wrapping Up: Why Itโs All Worth It
Keeping your AWS environment tidy and cost-efficient doesnโt have to be a burden. With a simple query, a few CLI commands, and the power of automation, you can save money and time โ and who doesnโt love that?
So, whether you thank God or AWS for helping you find those idle load balancers, cleaning them up just got a lot easier. And if youโre ready to level up, Wiv has your back with effortless, continuous automation.