A few years ago, AWS [announced](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/12/introducing-new-amazon-ebs-general-purpose-volumes-gp3/) the availability of Amazon EBS `gp3` volumes. These are the latest generation of general-purpose SSD-based EBS volumes. They provide baseline performance of 3,000 IOPS and 125MB/s network throughput, regardless of volume size. GP3 volumes can scale up to 16,000 IOPS and adjust performance independently of storage size. Cost savings range significantly when converting to `gp3`, for example: - `gp2` volumes <= 1TB in size will see a flat 20% cost reduction - `gp2` volumes > 1TB will see 10-20% cost savings - `io1` volumes <= 16K IOPS will see on average 67% savings Despite these benefits, many new customers we come across have yet to take advantage of the latest generation of Amazon EBS volumes. ## Why migrate to gp3 volumes After the `gp3` volume type was released, we analyzed our own architecture deployed for customers. We realized a [93% cost savings](https://turbot.com/guardrails/blog/2020/12/aws-ebs-cost-savings) by transitioning small, occasionally high-IOPS volumes to `gp3`, as opposed to overprovisioning larger `gp2` volumes for moderate IOPS. Turbot Guardrails customers were already benefiting from `AWS > EC2 > Volume > Approved > Volume Type` conrols to remove any unapproved volume types. This control ensured `gp3` was the default standard moving forward. But AWS only made `gp3` the default in late 2023, and that leaves a lot of legacy volumes to be optimized. Now with the introduction of our latest [AWS EC2 Volume configuration controls](https://turbot.com/guardrails/changelog/aws-ec2-v5-38-0), Guardrails can automatically convert volumes immediately and ensure they are optimized for cost and performance. ## How to migrate to gp3 volumes To identify volumes that are not already `gp3`, you can run the AWS EBS Volume report.

With our latest EBS volume controls, you can go beyond the report to automatically migrate to `gp3`. The following EC2 volume policies work together to enable the automated migration control: ``` AWS > EC2 > Volume > Performance Configuration: AWS > EC2 > Volume > Performance Configuration > IOPS Capacity AWS > EC2 > Volume > Performance Configuration > Throughput AWS > EC2 > Volume > Performance Configuration > Type ``` The policy type hierarchy allows you to set your configurations for IOPs, throughput and volume type. For a simple use case, first set `AWS > EC2 > Volume > Performance Configuration > Type` to `gp3`, and then set `AWS > EC2 > Volume > Performance Configuration` to `Enforce: Configured per Configuration > * policies`.

AWS EC2 Volume Performance Configuration

Once enabled, Guardrails quickly identified the volumes and immediately converted each of them from `gp2` to `gp3` with their optimized throughput and IOPs, all while there was **no downtime** with the resources.

## Using dynamic conditional logic for smarter gp3 conversions With Turbot Guardrails, you can use [calculated policies](https://turbot.com/guardrails/docs/concepts/policies/taxonomy#calculated-policies) for smarter conversions. These policies enable you to set conditions based on IOPs, throughput, or volume type. For example, you can automatically convert any `gp2` or `io1` volume with less than 16,000 IOPs to `gp3`. ``` {%- if $.volume.volumeType and $.volume.iops -%} {%- if $.volume.volumeType in ['gp2', 'io1'] and $.volume.iops <= 16000 -%} gp3 {%- else -%} {{ $.volume.volumeType }} {%- endif -%} {%- endif -%} ``` For those not familiar with calculated policies: any metadata from your cloud provider — Turbot Guardrails or any other source — can be used as context in your calculated policy template. ## Automate your FinOps project for major cost savings Recently a Turbot Guardrails customer with over 30,000 Guardrails-managed EBS volumes saw a major cost savings opportunity: their older `gp2` and `io1` volumes were candidates for migration to `gp3`. That would cut their annual AWS EBS volume cloud spend by 29%, translating to over $2 million in annualized savings. It was achieved via automation with **no downtime**. Guardrails continuously monitored the progress across hundreds of accounts, and made the initial cost savings estimate as well as status reporting easy for the project team. ## See it in action

## Start saving on your AWS cloud spend Start optimizing your AWS cloud expenses today. Turbot Guardrails not only helps in converting to `gp3` for significant cost savings, it also enhances your cloud security posture and provides continuous [FinOps controls](https://turbot.com/guardrails/blog/2023/03/automations-to-reduce-cloud-spend) automation. Try Turbot Guardrails with a [14-day free trial](https://turbot.com/start) and see how much you can save.

Automatically optimize EBS volumes for 20% cost savings and higher performance