Why auto-scaling is key to cost-effective cloud management

Today’s fast-paced digital businesses are dependent on scalable and adaptable public cloud infrastructures to keep up with the growing needs of their customers, with spending on global cloud infrastructure services predicted to increase by 19 percent this year.  Faced with the constant challenge of how to optimise their cloud resources to avoid potential performance issues and unnecessary costs, the best prepared organizations must seek out tools to help achieve the most effective cloud management possible.

Auto-scaling is one such tool, designed to automatically adjust public cloud resources depending on real-time demand. It can help businesses keep their applications agile, responsive and available at the right level, so it is well worth considering its benefits. 

The advantages of auto-scaling

Auto-scaling has somewhat revolutionized how cloud providers manage workloads and adjust their resources. Workload allocation before auto-scaling was a tedious task, which involved manually adding or removing resources based on demand forecasts. However, accurately forecasting a change in demand is difficult and hence, this approach often led to a waste of resources or even service disruptions due to imprecise forecasts.

By using auto-scaling, cloud providers can scale their services to fit demand in real-time. Not only does this accurately match supply with demand, it also ensures that workloads always have the necessary resources for optimal performance while keeping cloud costs as low as possible.

Once implemented, auto-scaling delivers significant cost benefits. By automatically scaling resources up or down, companies can avoid charges for unused capacity and ensure they don’t over-provision and pay for more resources than necessary.

Auto-scaling also provides optimized performance and ensures that cloud services always perform effectively. The ability to adjust resources dynamically avoids problems such as bottlenecks or latency issues and guarantees applications remain available and responsive when needed.

Additionally, auto-scaling ensures that applications are always up and running, even during unexpected real-time surges in demand or workload. Ensuring consistent and steady performance, make it an essential tool for maintaining a seamless user experience.

Scaling Up versus Scaling Out: What’s the difference?

When it comes to auto-scaling, organizations have two different options to choose from: horizontal scaling (scaling out) or vertical scaling (scaling up). Both methods have specific advantages and use cases.

Of the two, horizontal scaling is the more commonly used method of auto-scaling. It involves increasing or decreasing certain instances that participate in a specific workload within the cloud without interruption of service. For example, this could mean adding or removing virtual machines or servers to handle varying workloads.

For example, if a server's CPU usage exceeds a certain threshold for a specified period, auto-scaling can launch additional instances up to a defined limit. These instances are typically managed by a load-balancer to evenly distribute traffic across all available instances. When utilization drops below the predefined threshold, instances are removed to reduce cost.

While horizontal scaling is usually faster and more scalable than vertical scaling, it isn’t necessarily suitable for all types of applications and workloads. Applications with complex data dependencies or large, shared data stores, like relational databases, are less suited for this scaling method.

Vertical scaling, on the other hand, is much less commonly used than horizontal scaling and is particularly valuable for applications which have growing workloads that require additional processing power. Vertical scaling adjusts the computing power of a single instance by adding or removing resources, such as memory or CPU capacity.

Auto-scaling in practice

As outlined above, auto-scaling in the cloud has become a widely adopted practice and is particularly beneficial for businesses with fluctuating demands and workloads. Today, it is commonly used across various industries and by companies of all sizes; for example, retail, finance and healthcare organizations often experience varying levels of demand on their IT infrastructures. Auto-scaling is a useful tool for these types of businesses to optimise resource use without over-provisioning.

While auto-scaling is used by both large enterprises and small businesses, the scale of the implementation often varies. Small businesses mainly utilize auto-scaling for cost efficiency, particularly during periods of low traffic or resource usage. In contrast, larger companies, especially those with highly variable traffic, heavily rely on auto-scaling to maintain performance while keeping costs as low as possible. A good example here are e-commerce platforms and streaming services.

For example, an online store can scale its systems up during peak shopping hours and scale down during off-peak times. Additionally, during events like Black Friday or the Christmas shopping period, auto-scaling ensures the platform can handle the surge in traffic without unnecessary hosting costs during quieter periods.

It’s also incredibly suited for gaming or streaming services, which need to quickly adapt to spikes in user activity. During new game launches or live events, auto-scaling provides the flexibility to manage demand surges without manual intervention.

Why auto-scaling makes business sense

Quick to implement, automated, and cost efficient, auto-scaling is an ideal option for businesses seeking immediate flexibility and reliability with scaling service provision. The ability to dynamically scale up or down based on demand not only ensures that resources are always used efficiently, but ultimately helps businesses keep their public cloud costs under control without compromising on quality and performance.

By paying only for the capacity they actually use, organizations of any size can optimise their public cloud infrastructure, ensuring they are well-equipped to handle fluctuations in demand while maintaining a cost-effective strategy to underpin their digital operations.

Image credit: rfphoto/depositphotos.com

Terry Storrar is Managing Director at Leaseweb UK.