With these considerations, you can minimize your AWS costs by being as efficient as you can with Class “runtime” (# of students using your templates) AND by keeping an eye on total # of CPUs, as they multiply fast with the number of students.  Even though storage/“data” charges are fairly minimal, you can reduce those costs by stopping the templates instead of pausing.

·         Usage License – Your company has contracted with Orasi to use OrasiLabs for some time period (usually at least 1 year) or a pay as you go model.  Unless you are using your AWS account, there is also some negotiated markup of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Instance hourly and “storage” charges.

·         AWS Instance hourly fees – When you setup your labs or run a class with the “instructor” and “students” all using AWS instances (defined by an OrasiLabs “Template”, or templates), you will be charged an hourly rate for the template(s) to be booted and running.  This estimated hourly charge can be seen when working with the template.  You can reduce these fees by limiting the “runtime” to bare minimum time for teaching classes. 

·         AWS “Data” - If you effectively “pause” a running instance/template (as in stopping class in the afternoon in order to resume in the morning), there will be a minimal hourly AWS “storage” fee associated with holding the instance “data” (OS + value added data).  If instead, you shut down the instance(s), it will take longer to boot up and be ready for use, but, the data charges will be much less.

·         AWS Instance Type - When you choose the instance type(s) used in a template, you will notice estimated hourly fees associated with each one.  These differing prices are due to CPU (#, type/power/speed), graphics, and disk space.  If you choose a “lesser” capable instance type, AND use less CPU’s it will be less expensive.  You may need to experiment to determine the least expensive instance type that can do what you are trying to do with your class template(s).

There are four areas in the OrasiLabs GUI that provide visibility into AWS usage charges:

1)      Edit Lab Template - estimated cost per hour for the Lab Template

2)      Edit Class - estimated cost per the selected Lab Manager(s), participants, and provided class schedule

3)      Cloud Provider Billing dashboard widget - view estimate of current usage charges and forecasted usage charges

4)      Edit Server Policy - view average rate of each available instance type