Cost-Effective Computing with Azure Spot Instances

Problem

A biotech company needs to run large-scale simulations for drug discovery. These simulations are compute-intensive and require significant processing power. The company needs a cost-effective solution to run these simulations without compromising performance.

Problem Analysis

Running large-scale simulations for drug discovery involves processing vast amounts of data and performing complex computations. The company currently uses on-premises servers, which are limited in capacity and cannot handle the increasing demand for simulations. This results in delays and affects the overall productivity of the research team. Additionally, the company needs a cost-effective solution that can scale based on the workload and optimize resource usage. The solution should also handle interruptions gracefully, as the simulations can be paused and resumed without losing progress.

Solution

Azure Spot Instances provide a cost-effective way to run compute-intensive workloads by taking advantage of unused capacity in Azure. By using Azure Spot Instances, the biotech company can run large-scale simulations at a significantly lower cost compared to regular VMs. Spot Instances can be evicted based on capacity or price, but the company can set a maximum price they are willing to pay for the instances. If the price exceeds this maximum, the instances will be evicted, but the company can resume the simulations once the price drops. This allows the company to optimize resource usage and reduce costs while maintaining the performance required for their simulations. Azure Spot Instances also provide built-in monitoring and diagnostics, allowing the company to track job progress and troubleshoot issues efficiently.

Azure Resources

• Azure Spot VM
• Azure Storage Account
• Azure Key Vault (for managing secrets and credentials)
• Azure Monitor (for monitoring and diagnostics)

References

• Microsoft Azure Spot Instances documentation