8 min read
PostgreSQL Major Upgrades on Azure: Validate Early, Don't Pay to Wait
Pre-upgrade validation for Azure PostgreSQL Flexible Server is GA and Extended Support is now billed. An upgrade runbook and a version policy to avoid paying.
FinOps
30 articles
8 min read
From F64 to F32: Three Fabric Sizing Mistakes and the Fixes
Why we moved Microsoft Fabric from F64 to F32: the three sizing mistakes, the monitoring and alerts we added, and when going smaller is the wrong call.
8 min read
Cost Per Query: Measure the Unit Cost Before You Cut It
Treat cost per query as the unit metric for an LLM app: decompose it from the usage object, then cut it in order with model choice, caching, context and batch.
8 min read
Azure OpenAI Hidden Costs: What Your Token Estimate Misses
Re-sent history, hidden reasoning tokens, billed failures, idle fine-tuned deployments and re-embedding: where Azure OpenAI bills drift from the estimate.
1 min read
The Ultimate Azure Cost Optimization Checklist for 2026
Start the new year with optimized cloud spend. These changes compound over time into significant savings.
1 min read
Cost Management for Azure AI Services: Budgeting and Optimization
Azure AI costs depend on multiple factors: model selection, token usage, deployment type (serverless vs. provisioned), and regional pricing. Visibility into…
1 min read
Cost Optimization Strategies for Azure OpenAI Deployments
Balance cost and quality by routing requests to appropriate models based on task requirements.
1 min read
Cost Optimization Strategies for Azure OpenAI Workloads
Semantic caching avoids redundant API calls for similar queries. Reduce prompt length by removing unnecessary context. Use batch processing with the Batch…
1 min read
AI FinOps: Managing AI Costs at Scale
AI FinOps provides visibility and control over AI infrastructure costs.
1 min read
AI Cost Optimization: Managing LLM Expenses
Strategic cost optimization can reduce AI expenses by 50-80% while maintaining quality.
1 min read
Cost Controls for AI Applications: Budgeting and Optimization
Cost control in AI applications requires a multi-layered approach: track everything, set budgets, optimize requests, and review regularly. The strategies…
1 min read
Cost Allocation Strategies for Microsoft Fabric
1. Tag everything : Consistent tagging enables accurate allocation 2. Use multiple methods : Combine direct, shared, and overhead allocation 3. Document…
1 min read
Chargeback Models for Microsoft Fabric
1. Start with showback : Build understanding before chargeback 2. Keep it simple : Complex models create disputes 3. Automate collection : Manual processes…
1 min read
FinOps for Microsoft Fabric
1. Start with visibility : You can't optimize what you can't see 2. Allocate costs : Enable accountability through showback/chargeback 3. Automate policies…
1 min read
Cost Management in Microsoft Fabric
1. Monitor regularly : Daily cost tracking enables early intervention 2. Set alerts : Budget alerts prevent surprises 3. Allocate costs : Understand which…
1 min read
Microsoft Fabric Capacity Optimization
1. Monitor utilization patterns : Understand your usage before optimizing 2. Stagger workloads : Avoid concurrent peaks 3. Right size jobs : Use appropriate…
1 min read
Cost-Based LLM Routing: Optimizing AI Spend
The difference is dramatic. A 1000-token task costs $0.02 with GPT-4o but $0.0002 with GPT-4o-mini.
1 min read
Cost Optimization in Microsoft Fabric
Cost optimisation isn't about cutting features — it's about aligning spend with business value. During holiday slowdowns I help teams identify idle…
1 min read
Azure OpenAI Cost Optimization Strategies
One token is roughly 4 characters in English. A 1000-word document is about 1300 tokens. Start with these strategies and refine based on your usage…
1 min read
Reserved Capacity Planning for Azure
Azure offers reservations for: Virtual Machines Azure SQL Database Cosmos DB Storage Azure Synapse Analytics App Service Azure Databricks Azure Cache for…
1 min read
Azure Cost Optimization Tips for 2023
Cost optimization is an ongoing practice, not a one time project. The combination of right sizing, reservations, storage optimization, and operational…
1 min read
FinOps Adoption: Managing Azure Costs Effectively
1. Teams need to collaborate : Finance, engineering, and business work together 2. Everyone takes ownership : Cost is everyone's responsibility 3. A…
8 min read
Sizing an Azure VM Reservation: Buy the Floor, Not the Average
How to work out how many Azure Reserved VM Instances to buy: find your steady usage floor, use instance size flexibility, and read the recommendations API.
1 min read
FinOps Practices: Managing Cloud Financial Operations
FinOps in 2021 grew from a niche practice to an organizational capability. The tools exist; success requires culture change and executive support.
1 min read
Cost Optimization Strategies for Azure Workloads
Cost optimization in 2021 became a core cloud competency. The tools are powerful; success requires discipline and cultural change.
1 min read
Azure Cost Management Budgets and Alerts
Effective cost management requires proactive monitoring and automated responses. Azure Cost Management budgets provide the foundation for cost governance,…
2 min read
Maximizing Savings with Azure Reservations
Reservations are the Azure cost conversation nobody has early enough. Pay-as-you-go is convenient; reserved instances are a commitment that rewards the…
1 min read
Optimizing Cloud Spend with Azure Cost Management
Cloud bills have a way of arriving late and being everyone's problem at once. Cost Management is the tool that moves that conversation from quarterly shock…
7 min read
Triaging Azure Advisor Cost Recommendations Before You Act
Which Azure Advisor cost recommendations are safe to act on, which need judgement, and how to pull, tune and suppress them with the CLI and Python SDK.
1 min read
Azure Cost Management: Control Cloud Spending
Every cloud bill story I've heard starts the same way: "we didn't realise it was running." A test VM left on over a long weekend, a Premium SSD attached to…