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FinOps best practices for compute

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This article outlines a collection of proven FinOps practices for compute services. It provides guidance on optimizing costs, improving efficiency, and gaining insights into your compute resources in Azure. The practices are categorized based on the type of compute service, such as virtual machines (VM), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and Azure Functions.


Azure Kubernetes Service

The following section provides an Azure Resource Graph (ARG) query for AKS clusters. The query helps you gain insights into your VMs.

Query - AKS cluster

This ARG query retrieves detailed information about AKS clusters in your Azure environment.

Category

Resource management

Query

resources
| where type == "microsoft.containerservice/managedclusters"
| extend AgentPoolProfiles = properties.agentPoolProfiles
| mvexpand AgentPoolProfiles
| project
    id,
    ProfileName = tostring(AgentPoolProfiles.name),
    Sku = tostring(sku.name),
    Tier = tostring(sku.tier),
    mode = AgentPoolProfiles.mode,
    AutoScaleEnabled = AgentPoolProfiles.enableAutoScaling,
    SpotVM = AgentPoolProfiles.scaleSetPriority,
    VMSize = tostring(AgentPoolProfiles.vmSize),
    nodeCount = tostring(AgentPoolProfiles.['count']),
    minCount = tostring(AgentPoolProfiles.minCount),
    maxCount = tostring(AgentPoolProfiles.maxCount),
    location,
    resourceGroup,
    subscriptionId,
    AKSname = name

Virtual machines

The following sections provide ARG queries for VMs. These queries help you optimize costs, improve efficiency, and gain insights into your VMs.

Query - List virtual machines stopped (and not deallocated)

This ARG query identifies VMs that don't have the deallocated or running state. It retrieves details about their power state, location, resource group, and subscription ID.

Category

Waste reduction

Query

resources
| where type =~ 'microsoft.compute/virtualmachines' 
    and tostring(properties.extended.instanceView.powerState.displayStatus) != 'VM deallocated' 
    and tostring(properties.extended.instanceView.powerState.displayStatus) != 'VM running'
| extend PowerState = tostring(properties.extended.instanceView.powerState.displayStatus)
| extend VMLocation = location
| extend resourceGroup = strcat('/subscriptions/', subscriptionId, '/resourceGroups/', resourceGroup)
| order by id asc
| project id, PowerState, VMLocation, resourceGroup, subscriptionId

Query - Virtual machine scale set details

This query analyzes Virtual Machine Scale Sets in your Azure environment based on their SKU, spot VM priority, and priority mix policy. It provides insights for cost optimization and resource management strategies.

Category

Resource management

Query

resources
| where type =~ 'microsoft.compute/virtualmachinescalesets'
| extend SpotVMs = tostring(properties.virtualMachineProfile.priority)
| extend SpotPriorityMix = tostring(properties.priorityMixPolicy)
| extend SKU = tostring(sku.name)
| extend resourceGroup = strcat('/subscriptions/', subscriptionId, '/resourceGroups/', resourceGroup)
| project id, SKU, SpotVMs, SpotPriorityMix, subscriptionId, resourceGroup, location

Query - Virtual machine processor type analysis

This query identifies the processor type (ARM, AMD, or Intel) used by VMs in your Azure environment. It helps in understanding the distribution of VMs across different processor architectures, which is useful for optimizing workload performance and cost efficiency.

Category

Resource management

Query

resources
| where type == 'microsoft.compute/virtualmachines'
| extend vmSize = properties.hardwareProfile.vmSize
| extend processorType = case(
    // ARM Processors
    vmSize has "Epsv5"
        or vmSize has "Epdsv5"
        or vmSize has "Dpsv5"
        or vmSize has "Dpdsv", "ARM",
    // AMD Processors
    vmSize has "Standard_D2a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D4a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D8a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D16a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D32a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D48a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D64a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D96a"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D2as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D4as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D8as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D16as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D32as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D48as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D64as"
        or vmSize has "Standard_D96as", "AMD",
    "Intel"
)
| project vmName = name, processorType, vmSize, resourceGroup

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