Idle database instance recommendations

Use the idle database instance recommendation to determine the idle or unused database instances in your multi-cloud infrastructure. 

A database instance is detected to be idle if one of the following conditions is met:

• The average database connection count is zero
• The CPU utilization is less than 10%, network throughput rate is less than 20 kb/s, and the disk I/O rate is less than 20 operations/sec for at least 95% of the analysis period

A minimum of 7 and a maximum of 90 days of data is considered to generate the recommendations. The utilization connector keys must have permission to describe the RDS instances.

By default, the recommendations are displayed on the Dashboard with a summary of the total idle databases in your infrastructure; and the estimated saving you can achieve by terminating them. You can also drill down into a specific resource pool or account from the Resource Pools or Accounts page to view the recommendations. 

For detailed recommendations per idle database, click the <Number> Idle DBs. The Recommendations page opens and the list of idle databases is displayed in the Terminate idle DB instances tab.  

The page provides a quick overview of the number of database instances that are idle and the estimated savings that you can achieve per month by terminating them. The page also displays details and recommendations for each database instance. 

From this page, you can achieve the following goals:

• Determine the number of idle database instances in your multi-cloud infrastructure
• Determine the total estimated savings that you can achieve by terminating the idle database instances
• Determine the number of days since the database instance has been idle

• View the recommendations that have been ignored

To analyze the idle database instances in your infrastructure

1. In the navigation bar of BMC Helix Cloud Cost, select Recommendations. 
   The table on the page lists all the idle database instances and details, such as, estimated savings that you can achieve by terminating that instance, number of days the instance was detected to be idle, account name, and region information. 

   
   

2. Click the database instance name. 
   The Resource Details page opens. 

3. This page shows detailed information about the instance, such as the days since the instance is idle, estimated savings that you can achieve by terminating this instance, disk I/O rate, network throughput rate, and other details. The graph displays the CPU usage in percentage for the last 30 days.
   
   Every recommendation has an Efficiency icon associated with it. The icon indicates the level of efficiency improvement. It is based on the estimated savings (in $) per month that you can achieve by implementing the recommended actions. One of the following icons is displayed:

   •  - Cost saving is greater than $50

   •  - Cost saving is less than $50 but greater than $25

   •  - Cost saving is less than $25

You can save an offline copy of the page in a CSV file for reference. To do so, click Export All to CSV. When you export to the CSV file, the recommendation details for all the database instances on the page are also exported.