Designer: Base OLA Design Values

Cloudamize recommendations for AWS include several designs leveraging AWS capabilities and common usage, labeled OLA 2 through 10. This article lists the basic settings for each design to aid understanding.

The full set of settings can be downloaded as a spreadsheet attached to this page.

Designer_ Base OLA Design Values (1).xlsx

OLA 2 - Workload, On-Demand

This design is built for maximum flexibility, prioritizing a "pay-for-what-you-use" model with no long-term commitment. It is created by analyzing your server performance over time to find the best cloud match while assuming you will bring your existing Microsoft SQL licenses (License Mobility). By targeting an 80% peak CPU threshold and utilizing high-accuracy performance data (3rd Standard Deviation), it ensures your servers are right-sized, reducing the number of processor cores and keeping your hourly software costs as low as possible.

Pricing Plan Settings	Setting	Compute Tuning Settings	Setting	Storage Tuning Settings	Setting	Network Tuning Settings	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	TRUE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	On-Demand	Instance Type	#####	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	#####	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	TRUE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 3 - Workload, 1 Year RI (AUP)

This design is created for organizations ready to commit to a one-year plan and pay the entire cost upfront to secure a significant discount. It uses the same rigorous performance analysis as OLA 2 to ensure you aren't over-provisioning hardware, but it applies the "All Upfront" (AUP) pricing model. This is an ideal "middle ground" design for stable workloads where you want to lower your total cost of ownership (TCO) by trading immediate cash for a lower effective hourly rate.

Pricing Plan Settings	Setting	Compute Tuning Settings	Setting	Storage Tuning Settings	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	TRUE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	Reserved Full Upfront 1-year	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	TRUE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 4 - Workload, 1 Year RI (NUP)

Created for those who want a one-year discount but prefer to keep their cash flow steady, this design uses the "No Upfront" (NUP) pricing model. It calculates your cloud needs based on your actual workload history and keeps License Mobility active for SQL servers. The primary goal here is to provide a predictable monthly bill that is lower than standard on-demand pricing, without requiring a large initial investment at the start of the migration.

Pricing Plan Settings	Setting	Compute Tuning Settings	Setting	Storage Tuning Settings	Setting	Network Tuning Settings	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	TRUE	Analyze Type	3nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	Reserved No Upfront 1-year	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	FALSE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 5 - Workload, 3 Year RI (AUP)

This is the "maximum savings" blueprint, designed for permanent, long-term infrastructure that is unlikely to change for several years. By selecting a three-year commitment with the "All Upfront" payment option, this design captures the deepest possible discounts AWS offers. It is built with a conservative performance buffer (80% CPU threshold) to ensure that the hardware you commit to today will still be reliable and performant three years down the line.

Pricing Plan Setting	Setting	Compute Tuning Setting	Setting	Storage Tuning Setting	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	FALSE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	Reserved Full Upfront 3-year	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	FALSE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 6 - Workload, RI 3 Year (NUP)

This design balances deep, long-term discounts with monthly budget management by using a three-year "No Upfront" commitment. It is created to help financial teams plan long-term cloud budgets with a fixed monthly cost. Like the other workload designs, it focuses on reducing core counts to optimize licensing costs, ensuring that even though you are committing for three years, you aren't paying for "ghost" capacity you don't actually use.

Pricing Plan Setting	Setting	Compute Tuning Setting	Setting	Storage Tuning Setting	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	TRUE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	Reserved No Upfront 3-year	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	FALSE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 7 - Workload, Dedicated Hosts

Created specifically for compliance and complex licensing needs, this design maps your workloads onto physical, dedicated servers rather than shared hardware. It is built to satisfy "Bring Your Own License" (BYOL) requirements for software that must run on a specific physical machine. This design is less about the lowest price and more about meeting strict legal or security standards while still ensuring the underlying hardware is sized correctly for your performance needs.

Pricing Plan Setting	Setting	Compute Tuning Setting	Setting	Storage Tuning Setting	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Dedicated Hosts for Windows and SQL	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	TRUE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	FALSE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	None	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	Reserved No Upfront 3-year	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	TRUE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 8 - RDS Workload, 1 Year RI (NUP)

This design shifts the focus from general servers to specialized database management by targeting AWS Relational Database Service (RDS). It is created by specifically analyzing database performance metrics—like memory and IOPS—rather than just standard CPU usage. By applying a one-year, no-upfront discount, it provides a tailored financial view for companies looking to move their SQL or Oracle databases into a managed cloud service.

Pricing Plan Setting	Setting	Compute Tuning Setting	Setting	Storage Tuning Setting	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility through SA (For MSSQL)	FALSE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	None	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	Reserved No Upfront 1-year	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	TRUE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	TRUE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 9 - Workload, On-Demand, Graviton

This design is built to showcase the price-to-performance benefits of AWS’s custom ARM-based processors, known as Graviton. It is created by scanning your environment for Linux-based workloads that are compatible with ARM architecture and recommending Graviton instances, which are generally 20% cheaper and faster than Intel equivalents. It remains on-demand for flexibility but offers an "easy win" for cost reduction through modern hardware choices.

Graviton instances utilise ARM processors and support specific Linux operating systems. More information regarding them can be found on the AWS Website.

Linux-based systems in the assessment will include Graviton instances where appropriate and available in recommendations for this design. Graviton instances can also be enabled in a custom design and will be considered in the same way, by enabling the relevant instances in the instance grid (compute tab). These instances are usually appended with the letter “g”, but check the AWS documentation for a full list.

Pricing Plan Setting	Setting	Compute Tuning Setting	Setting	Storage Tuning Setting	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility	TRUE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	On-Demand	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	TRUE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

OLA 10 - Workload, On-Demand with SQL Licensing

Created for simplicity and "clean slate" migrations, this design assumes you want AWS to provide the Microsoft SQL Server licenses rather than bringing your own. It is built for companies that perhaps have outdated on-premise licenses or want to move away from managing license compliance themselves. While the hourly cost is higher because the license is included, it provides a "turnkey" solution where AWS handles all the software legalities.

Pricing Plan Setting	Setting	Compute Tuning Setting	Setting	Storage Tuning Setting	Setting	Network Tuning Setting	Setting
Tenancy	Shared	CPU and Instance Family	TRUE	Storage Capacity Scaling	100%	Network Load Factor	10%
Licenses: BYOL	FALSE	Target Peak CPU Threshold	80%	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation	Analyze Type	3rd Standard Deviation
Licenses: License Mobility	FALSE	Analyze Type	2nd Standard Deviation	Max RAID Disk Numbers:
License Optimization	Optimize Cost and Reduce Number of Cores	Instance Family Grid	[See Grid]	EBS	Unlimited
Pricing Plan	On-Demand	Instance Type	FALSE	GP3	10
Region	[Set on Assessment Launch]	Workload Based Tuning: RDS	FALSE	GP2	10
Discount %	0%	Workload Based Tuning: SAP	TRUE	ST1	0
Observed On-Time?	TRUE			SC1	0
On-time Hours Per Week	FALSE			IO1	Unlimited
				Credit Based Storage:
				Does GP2 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does SC1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE
				Does ST1 Consider Bucketless?	FALSE

For further details on AWS price plans and features, please review AWS's own documentation or get in touch with them directly.