Are unexpected costs the cloud equivalent of environmental pollution?

Hey there, it’s been a while since my last post…

… but I’m back into blogging for real. I signed up for Polish tech blogging competition. I hope to write two posts a week for the next ten weeks.

It will be a series about my new open-source project The Cloud Juggler.

The Cloud

The Amazon Web Service (AWS) has changed the way we build and run the software.

In the pre-cloud years server infrastructure used to be an expensive investment that can’t be changed easily.

In the cloud domini[1] years everything is accessed through API. Resources are provisioned on-demand. Everything scales up and down in small fractions. Incredible flexibility allows to speed up the pace of innovation.

It feels like industrial revolution. By Unknown - scan by Norbert Kaiser, Public Domain

Before industrial revolution shirt costs equivalent of $3500 when now they are just as low as $4. I believe that cloud has similar impact on software industry.

The Problem

Every new wave of technology brings a lot of benefits, but there are also unwanted side-effects.

Like industrial revolution brought a lot of advancement to humanity it also brought environmental pollution. By Hardie, D. W. F., A History of the Chemical Industry in Widnes, Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, 1950., Public Domain

As manufacturing got cheaper, we did a lot of it and then, ups, pollution happened.

In the cloud resources such as servers are so easy to use that your little script can be transformed into cluster of servers doing data crunching for you.

However, the same little script can waste thousands of dollars. Previously a bug in your program can slow you down or make some customer unhappy, but with cloud the splash damage can also hurt you financially.

Easy to use is an advantage, but on the other hand, it also means it is easy to use wastefully. Though a lot of companies are successfully using AWS, also many of them are quietly struggling with keeping the costs under the control.

The unexpected costs are cloud equivalent of pollution from industrial revolution.

Introducing The Cloud Juggler

I work at Sumo Logic and I spend a lot of time on increasing our cost efficiency on AWS.

I learnt some useful lessons than can be generalized. Part of this is knowledge, another part can be written as an open-source software.

Taking advantage of Wernel Vogels (AWS CTO) working backwards methodology I started my project by writing down the Readme.md file.

Stay tuned!

Footnotes

[1] Mock of Anno Domini