Snapshots

AWS snapshots provide reliable backups for EC2 instances and RDS databases, but old snapshots that are no longer needed continue to incur storage costs indefinitely.

Implementation Effort: Low - Estimated time: less than 30 minutes. Delete old snapshots via console or CLI after confirming they are not needed for recovery.

What We Detect

• Old EC2 Snapshots -- EC2 snapshots that have been retained well beyond their useful life
• Old RDS Snapshots -- Manual RDS snapshots that are no longer relevant for recovery purposes

Why It Matters

Snapshot storage costs $0.05/GB-month. Organizations with hundreds of retained snapshots from past deployments, AMI creation, or database backups can accumulate significant waste over time.

Recommendations

1. Review snapshot retention policies and align them with actual recovery needs
2. Delete snapshots that are no longer needed
3. Consider automating snapshot lifecycle management with AWS Data Lifecycle Manager

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