When balancing rightsizing and reserving, which approach is recommended?

• A. Rightsize first, then reserve to capture savings.
• B. Reserve 50-60% of resources upfront.
• C. Wait until resources are stable before considering reservations.
• D. Purchase all potential RI upfront before evaluating usage.

Answer: (B)

Balancing savings from reservations with the flexibility to adjust your workloads relies on locking in discounts on a portion of your steady-state usage while you continue to validate and refine your needs. Reserve about half to sixty percent of the anticipated steady usage upfront. This approach captures meaningful discounts early on the portion you’re confident will remain stable, while still leaving room to rightsize and adapt as actual usage evolves. It avoids overcommitting to capacity you may not need and reduces the risk of paying too much on on-demand for workloads that will settle into predictable usage.

Waiting for complete stability before reserving delays savings, and purchasing all potential reservations upfront is too rigid and risk-prone if workloads change. Rightsizing first and then reserving can postpone the cost benefits and may miss opportunities to lock in discounts on the baseline you know you’ll use.