Thank you for your overwhelming response to Flexible Server! We're driven by your feedback and are working hard to add new capabilities to Flexible Server every month . Today, I'd like to share detail about the cost optimization options we've recently released, which enable you to cut down your operational and new development costs when using Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server.
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Reserved instances
Azure Database for MySQL now helps you save money by prepaying for compute resources compared to pay-as-you-go prices. With Azure Database for MySQL reserved instances, you make an upfront commitment on MySQL server for a one or three year period to get a significant discount on the compute costs. To purchase Azure Database for MySQL reserved capacity, you need to specify the Azure region, deployment type, performance tier, and term.
You save up to 67% on compute costs with reserved instances. In order to find the discount for your case, please visit the Reservation blade on the Azure portal and check the savings per pricing tier and per region. Reserved instances help you manage your workloads, budget, and forecast better with an upfront payment for a one-year or three-year term. You can also exchange or cancel reservations as business needs change.
Learn more about Prepay for Azure Database for MySQL compute resources with reserved instances -
Stop the server for up to 30 days while the server is not in use
Yes, we heard you!!! Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server now gives you the ability to Stop the server for up to 30 days when not in use, and to Start the server within this time when you are ready to resume your development. This enables you to develop at your own pace and save development costs on the database servers by paying for the resources only when they are in use. This is important for dev-test workloads and when you are only using the server for part of the day. When you stop the server, all active connections will be dropped. When the server is in the Stopped state, the server's compute is not billed. However, storage continues to to be billed as the server's storage remains to ensure that data files are available when the server is started again.
Learn more about Stop/Start an Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server.
You may consider automate Stop/Start operation using Powershell runbooks -
Use Azure free account to get 12 months free trial for Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server
Beginning June 15, 2021, new Azure users were provided with the option to begin developing and deploying applications leveraging Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server (Preview) by taking advantage of our 12-month free account offer. This offer, available with an Azure Free Account, provides up to 750 hours of Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server usage and 32GB of storage per month for the first 12 months. The Azure free account offers access to many other Azure services such as Azure Kubernetes Services, Azure App Services, and Azure VMs, which you can use to develop, test, and run your application for free for 12 months. -
Leverage Burstable Compute SKU for development and scale up the server to promote it to production
With Flexible Server, you can provision low cost B1S SKU starting at $12 per month which can be useful for new development. You can independently change the compute tier, compute size (vCores and memory), and the backup retention period. The compute size can be scaled up or down. The backup retention period in Flexible Server can be from 1 to 35 days. In addition, Flexible Server allows you to scale IOPs independent of storage which is useful to improve performance of IO intensive operations like data loads or migration.
Learn more Scale Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server resources
Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server Pricing
For the most up-to-date pricing information, see the service pricing page. To see the cost for the configuration you want, in the Azure portal, view the Compute + storage tab, which shows the monthly cost based on the options you select. If you don't have an Azure subscription, you can use the Azure pricing calculator to get an estimated price. On the Azure pricing calculator website, select Add items, expand the Databases category, choose Azure Database for MySQL, and Flexible Server as the deployment type to customize the options.
To optimize server cost, consider following tips:
- Scale down your compute tier or compute size (vCores) if compute is underutilized.
- Consider switching to the Burstable compute tier if your workload doesn't need the full compute capacity continuously from the General Purpose and Memory Optimized tiers.
- Stop the server when not in use.
- Reduce the backup retention period if a longer retention of backup is not required.
We hope you are enjoying the new Flexible Server experience with our Azure Database for MySQL service. If you have any issues, feedback, or requests, please reach out to us using the following channels.
- If something is not working as expected or advertised, please file a ticket from the Azure portal.
- To provide feedback or request new features in which you would like to be engaged by our product team, please send an email to the Azure Database for MySQL Team (@Ask Azure DB for MySQL).
- To keep up to date with the latest releases and news, we recommend that you follow
- What's new documentation page
- Twitter (@AzureDBMySQL) and subscribe to this blog.
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