A FinOps engineer says 'we have 14 rightsizing recommendations'. What does rightsizing mean?
Rightsizing means matching the resource specification to actual workload needs. If a server uses 8% of its CPU, it's over-provisioned and should be downsized to a smaller instance type — often reducing cost by 30-60%.
2 / 5
What are 'zombie instances' in cloud cost management?
Zombie instances (or 'zombie resources') are cloud assets that are still running and billing but no longer serve any purpose. Common examples: dev VMs from closed projects, detached storage volumes, idle NAT gateways, and forgotten test databases.
3 / 5
What is a 'cost anomaly alert' in AWS or cloud cost management?
Cost anomaly detection uses ML to learn your normal spend patterns and alerts you when actual costs deviate significantly — catching unexpected spikes caused by misconfigurations, runaway jobs, or billing errors before they become huge bills.
4 / 5
What does an 'S3 lifecycle policy' help optimise?
S3 lifecycle policies automate cost-saving transitions: moving objects to S3-IA after 30 days (60% cheaper), to Glacier after 90 days (much cheaper for archival), and deleting expired objects — reducing storage costs without manual intervention.
5 / 5
What does 'auto-scaling optimisation' mean from a cost perspective?
Auto-scaling optimisation from a cost perspective means tuning the scale-in behaviour: reducing the minimum instance count, shortening cooldown periods, and using scheduled scaling for predictable traffic drops — so you pay for only what you need.