Microsoft Fabric: Revealing Cost-Saving Results from Automating Pause & Resume Fabric Capacity

If you work in data and analytics, particularly within the Microsoft Data Platform, you have likely heard of Microsoft Fabric and its many capabilities. However, one of the biggest challenges organisations face is managing costs effectively.

In previous blogs and videos, I have covered how to optimise Microsoft Fabric capacity costs by automating the pause and resume process using Logic Apps. This approach ensures that your Fabric capacity runs only when needed, reducing unnecessary expenses. But how much can this method actually save? In this post, I share the real cost-saving results after applying this automation over the past few months.

Why Automate Pause & Resume?

Microsoft Fabric is a powerful platform, but maintaining capacity during off-peak hours can be costly. If your workloads are not running 24/7, you might be paying for unused capacity. By automating the pause and resume process, you can ensure that your environment is active only when required, leading to substantial savings.

When Should Organisations Consider Automation?

Not every organisation requires automated capacity management, but here are some scenarios where it makes sense:

• Non-Continuous Workloads: If your organisation runs batch processing, reporting, or analytics workloads that do not need 24/7 uptime, automation can help cut costs.
• Business Hours Usage: If your team primarily operates during specific hours, pausing capacity during off-hours prevents unnecessary spending.
• Seasonal or Project-Based Needs: Companies with fluctuating workloads based on seasons or projects can optimise expenses by automating capacity scaling.

Pros and Cons of Automating Fabric Capacity

Before implementing automation, it is important to consider both its advantages and potential drawbacks.

Pros:

• Cost Savings: Reduces cloud expenses by ensuring resources are only active when needed.
• Efficiency: Eliminates the need for manual intervention in pausing/resuming capacity.
• Scalability: Easily adaptable for different workloads and business needs.
• Better Resource Utilisation: Ensures that resources are allocated effectively without waste.

Cons:

• Potential Downtime Risks: If automation is not properly configured, there might be unintended service interruptions.
• Complexity in Scheduling: Organisations with unpredictable workloads might struggle to define optimal schedules.
• Monitoring Requirements: Automated systems still require oversight to ensure they function correctly.

Implementation Recap

My automation setup involves the following:

• Using Logic Apps to define a schedule for pausing and resuming Fabric capacity.
• Ensuring workloads are only active during business hours, avoiding unnecessary costs overnight, and on weekends.
• Excluding holiday periods, such as the Christmas break, to maximise cost efficiency.

The Cost-Saving Results

After running this automation for a few months, the results are clear:

• Significant cost reductions: By aligning capacity usage with actual demand, we observed a substantial decrease in monthly expenses.
• Increased control: Instead of manually adjusting capacity settings, the automated workflow ensured consistency and reliability.
• Scalability: This method works for different environments, whether you have a small deployment or an enterprise-level setup.

How Much Did I Actually Save?

I suppose the key question about automating pause and resume for Microsoft Fabric capacity is: How much can you really save? Based on real usage over the past few months, here are the actual savings observed:

• Regular Cost of Fabric Capacity with the PAYG Option (Without Automation):
  Running a Fabric F2 capacity continuously would cost around $544 (NZD) per month.
  Running a Fabric F8 capacity continuously would cost around $2,175 (NZD) per month.
  
  So, we expect the cost of running the above capacities would look like the following:
  Running an F2 capacity for 4 months: 4 x $544 = $2,176 (NZD)
  Running an F8 capacity for 2 months: 2 x $2,175= $4,350 (NZD)
  Running these two capacities for 6 months would cost me around $6,526 (NZD)
• Cost of Fabric Capacity with the PAYG Option (With Automation):
  With automation, running the F2 capacity for 4 months costs me, on average, $167 per month which is approximately $670 for 4 months.
  The F8 capacity costs me about $450 per month for 2 months, which is approximately $900 for this period.
  As the following image shows, in total, I spent $1,554 (NZD) for running F2 and F8 capacities.
  
  
• Actual Cost with Automated Pause & Resume:
  By implementing Azure Logic Apps to pause and resume the capacity, the total cost over six months was reduced to less than $2 NZD for the automation itself.
  
• Total Cost Savings:
  The automation resulted in massive cost reductions, eliminating unnecessary charges while ensuring capacity is available when needed. So, considering that I have spent $1.66 in total to run Azure LogicApps automation, I saved $4,970.34 (NZD) ($6,526 – $1,554 – $1.66) in 6 months. That’s such a significant saving.

This clearly shows that automating Fabric capacity can significantly lower cloud expenses with minimal overhead costs for running the automation. If your organisation does not require 24/7 uptime, implementing this approach could lead to similar savings.

Previous Blogs & Videos on This Topic

If you missed the earlier posts where I explained how to implement this automation, check them out below:

• Microsoft Fabric: Automating Fabric Capacity Scaling with Azure Logic Apps
• Microsoft Fabric: Capacity Cost Management Part 3, Pause Capacity During Christmas with Azure Logic Apps
• Microsoft Fabric: Capacity Cost Management Part 2, Automate Pause/Resume Capacity with Azure Logic Apps
• Microsoft Fabric: Capacity Options and Cost Management, Part 1; The Basics

Key Takeaways

1. Cost savings are real: Automating pause and resume effectively reduces unnecessary spending.
2. Flexibility is key: You can tailor automation schedules to match your organisation’s working hours.
3. Easy implementation: Setting up Logic Apps for this purpose is straightforward and requires minimal maintenance.

Final Thoughts

If you are managing Microsoft Fabric capacity, automation is a must-have for cost efficiency. The results from this approach demonstrate that small changes can lead to meaningful savings over time. If you have not yet implemented this method, now is a great time to start!

Have you tried automating your Fabric capacity management? I would love to hear about your experience in the comments!

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