Guides

Practical, vendor-neutral guides to cutting cloud costs and building infrastructure that scales, written by an AWS Solutions Architect.

Avoiding Scams

How to Tell a Real Domain Renewal Notice From a Scam

Got a scary email or letter saying your domain is expiring? Here is how to tell the real renewal notices from the scams, in plain terms, and keep your website and email safe.

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Getting Help

Is Your IT Company Overcharging You? 7 Signs to Watch For

Paying an IT company every month and not sure it is worth it? Seven plain-English warning signs that you are being overcharged or underserved, and what to do about it.

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Getting Unstuck

Locked Out of Your Website? How to Get Your Domain, Hosting, and Email Back

Can't get into your own website, domain, or email? A plain-English, step-by-step guide to finding where everything lives, recovering access, and getting it back in your name.

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Cost Optimization

How to Cut Your AWS Bill: 9 High-Impact Savings

A practical, vendor-neutral checklist to cut AWS costs 20 to 40%, covering idle resources, Savings Plans, gp3, storage tiering, data transfer, and more.

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Storage

gp2 vs gp3: Cut EBS Costs ~20% With Zero Downtime

Why gp3 is cheaper and faster than gp2, when gp2 still wins, and how to migrate in place with no downtime.

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Cost Optimization

AWS Savings Plans vs Reserved Instances: Which Saves More?

Compute Savings Plans vs Reserved Instances compared on discounts, flexibility, and capacity reservation, plus how to pick the right commitment.

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Architecture

The AWS Well-Architected Review: A Plain-English Checklist

A plain English checklist across all six Well-Architected pillars: security, reliability, cost, performance, operations, and sustainability.

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