Bandwidth Cost and How to track and control

Hello,

I assume charged for bandwidth cost you mean transfer cost? Here are are a link to the documentation regarding understanding data transfer charges. Aslo, this blogpost dives a bit deeper when it comes to when data transfer cost "kicks in".

In cloud environments, data transfer into the system is typically free, while data transfer out carries associated costs. Therefore, when considering what drives up expenses related to data transfer, it is crucial to examine your networking architecture. Factors such as incorporating a transit gateway or an inspection VPC can potentially increase costs, necessitating a thorough evaluation of your overall networking setup.

By carefully analyzing your networking architecture, you can identify potential cost escalators and implement measures to optimize data transfer expenditure. Understanding how different components interact and impact pricing allows you to make informed decisions that align with your budget and operational requirements.

Remember, while data transfer in may not incur costs, it is essential to consider the broader networking framework to manage expenses associated with data transfer out effectively.

As the source, I would recommend establishing VPC flow logs on your VPC to track connected resources and monitor data transfer. You can use Amazon Athena or Amazon CloudWatch (if i remeber correctly, there are some pre-defined queries in CloudWatch that can help you out with the Flow Logs) to query the cost and gain the required granularity - where in your case you want to get the data transfer in to see the host that consume the most bytes. VPC flow logs provide valuable insights, and Amazon Athena enables efficient analysis of the data.

Enforcing traffic throttling is crucial for optimal network performance. In my experience, there are several effective approaches to achieve this:

1. Next-Generation Firewall: Consider leveraging a next-generation firewall like AWS Network Firewall. These advanced firewalls provide robust traffic control capabilities, allowing you to define specific rules and policies for throttling traffic.
2. Granular Security Group Configuration: Take advantage of granular security group configurations. By specifying detailed rules within your security groups, you can effectively throttle traffic at the network level, granting you more control over traffic flow and bandwidth allocation.
3. Throttling at the EC2 Instance/Application Level: Enable throttling mechanisms directly within your EC2 instance or within the application running on the instance. This approach involves implementing traffic shaping or rate-limiting mechanisms within your application code or utilizing tools provided by the operating system to control network traffic.

By employing these strategies, you can ensure that network traffic remains within desired limits, preventing congestion and optimizing overall performance. Choose the approach that aligns with your specific requirements and network architecture to achieve effective traffic throttling. Hope this helps.