Introduction

In recent months, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced several pricing changes and constraints that have caught the attention of businesses relying on their cloud services. From disabling the ability for third-party vendors to move Savings Plans between organizations to limiting the sale of EC2 Reserved Instances on the marketplace, AWS has been making adjustments that impact cost management strategies. Additionally, AWS has introduced a new charge for attached Elastic IP v4 addresses, which can add up quickly for organizations with a large number of instances using Elastic IPs.

One of the most significant changes introduced by AWS is the Extended Support Fee, which applies to older versions of popular services like Amazon RDS for MySQL and PostgreSQL, as well as Amazon EKS. AWS will end standard support for both MySQL 5.7 on February 29, 2024 and PostgreSQL 11 on March 31, 2024. After this date, any database instances still running these versions will be automatically enrolled in Amazon RDS Extended Support. These fees will persist until the databases are upgraded to newer supported versions, such as MySQL 8.0 or PostgreSQL 15. To avoid these additional costs, it is strongly recommended to upgrade to a newer version before the enrollment dates.

This new fee has raised concerns among businesses, leading to the question: Is this a new trend in cloud pricing?

Navigating the Rising Tide of AWS Pricing: A FinOps Perspective on Extended Support Fees and Automation Strategies

In this blog post, we’ll focus on the Extended Support Fee, exploring its impact on RDS and EKS pricing, and discuss how FinOps strategies and automation can help businesses navigate these changes effectively.

The Complexity of RDS Extended Support Pricing

The Extended Support Fee for RDS introduces a new layer of complexity to pricing calculations. The fee is based on a combination of factors, including the number of cores used by the database instance, the specific database engine (such as PostgreSQL), the version of the engine, and the duration of the extended support (1 year or 3 years).

To accurately assess the financial impact of the Extended Support Fee, users need to carefully review each RDS instance in their infrastructure. This process involves identifying the specific engine, version, instance type, and size, and then determining the number of cores to perform the cost calculation. For organizations with a large number of RDS instances, this task can quickly become overwhelming and time-consuming.

Navigating the Rising Tide of AWS Pricing: A FinOps Perspective on Extended Support Fees and Automation Strategies

The Dramatic Increase in EKS Pricing

Another notable change in AWS pricing is the substantial increase in EKS costs for older versions. The hourly price for EKS clusters running Kubernetes versions in extended support (1.23 and higher) has skyrocketed from $0.10 to $0.60, representing a staggering 600% increase. These changes will take effect from the April 1, 2024. This dramatic price hike can have a significant impact on businesses heavily reliant on Kubernetes orchestration.

While upgrading to a newer EKS version, such as 1.27 or higher, is often the most straightforward solution to avoid the increased costs, it may not always be feasible, particularly for production environments. Businesses should plan to upgrade their Amazon EKS clusters to newer Kubernetes versions in standard support before the extended support pricing takes effect on April 1, 2024.

Kubernetes versionUpstream releaseAmazon EKS releaseEnd of standard supportEnd of extended support
1.29December 13, 2023January 23, 2024March 23, 2025March 23, 2026
1.28August 15, 2023September 26, 2023November 26, 2024November 26, 2025
1.27April 11, 2023May 24, 2023July 24, 2024July 24, 2025
1.26December 9, 2022April 11, 2023June 11, 2024June 11, 2025
1.25August 23, 2022February 22, 2023May 1, 2024May 1, 2025
1.24May 3, 2022November 15, 2022January 31, 2024January 31, 2025
1.23December 7, 2021August 11, 2022October 11, 2023October 11, 2024

Automation becomes a critical tool in the FinOps arsenal.

Automation: The Key to Managing Pricing Changes

To effectively navigate the complexities of AWS pricing changes, automation becomes a critical tool in the FinOps arsenal. Automating the process of calculating the impact of the Extended Support Fee and identifying instances subject to the fee can save time and reduce errors.

By building automated processes to monitor the impact of pricing changes on your infrastructure, you can gain real-time visibility into your costs and make informed decisions. These automation solutions can help you:

  • Identify RDS and EKS instances subject to the Extended Support Fee
  • Calculate the cost impact based on specific engine, version, and instance characteristics
  • Generate reports and dashboards to visualize the financial implications
  • Trigger alerts and notifications when costs exceed predefined thresholds

Moreover, automation can assist in the process of upgrading RDS and EKS instances to newer versions that are not subject to the Extended Support Fee. By implementing an automated upgrade process with built-in approval workflows, you can streamline the transition to cost-effective versions while maintaining control over the process.

Leveraging FinOps Platforms for Automation

Platforms like Wiv can simplify the process of implementing FinOps automation. Wiv provides a no-code/low-code environment that empowers businesses to create and manage workflows for automating FinOps tasks, including cost optimization and control.

With features such as workflow automation, process management, integrated dashboards, and datastores, Wiv allows users to build tailored FinOps automation solutions that address their specific needs, regardless of their coding expertise.

Conclusion

The introduction of the Extended Support Fee and the increase in EKS pricing are just a few examples of the pricing changes and constraints introduced by AWS in recent months. These changes have raised concerns among businesses and prompted the question of whether this is a new trend in cloud pricing.

To navigate these changes effectively, businesses must adopt FinOps strategies and leverage automation to manage costs and optimize their cloud infrastructure. Automation plays a crucial role in calculating the impact of pricing changes, identifying instances subject to new fees, and streamlining the process of upgrading to cost-effective versions.

Platforms like Wiv can simplify the implementation of FinOps automation, empowering businesses to create tailored solutions that address their specific needs. By embracing automation and adopting a proactive approach to cost management, businesses can navigate the rising tide of AWS pricing changes and ensure the long-term sustainability of their cloud infrastructure.