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Description

This policy identifies Google GCE Instances that appear to be underutilized. When a linked New Relic host is available, this policy also evaluates memory utilization. Otherwise, it falls back to CPU metrics only. By default, an instance is considered underutilized if its average CPU utilization remains below 40% and its maximum CPU utilization does not exceed 50% over a 14-day evaluation period, with memory utilization below 40% when New Relic data is available.

Rationale​

Underutilized instances contribute to unnecessary cloud expenditure. By identifying and rightsizing these resources, organizations can optimize their infrastructure and achieve cost savings without negatively affecting application performance.

Impact​

Resizing an instance may require the instance to be stopped and restarted, resulting in a brief downtime.

Audit​

This policy evaluates a Google GCE Instance over the last 14 days using CPU metrics and optional New Relic memory metrics, while excluding instances already classified by the Google GCE Instance is idle policy.

Memory is evaluated as follows:

  • If New Relic Host is present, use New Relic Host: Memory Used, 14-Day.
  • If New Relic Host is empty, fall back to CPU only.

The Instance is marked as INCOMPLIANT when all of these baseline conditions are true:

  • CPU Utilization, Average, % is less than 40%.
  • CPU Utilization, Max, % is less than 50%.

And this metric path applies if exists:

  • New Relic Host is present and New Relic Host: Memory Used, 14-Day is less than 40%.

The Instance is marked as INAPPLICABLE if it is not currently running, it has been running for less than 14 days, or this instance is idle and evaluated by the Google GCE Instance is idle policy.

The Instance is marked as UNDETERMINED if either required CPU metric is empty, or if New Relic Host is present but New Relic Host: Memory Used, 14-Day is empty.