Cloud elasticity doesn't eliminate capacity planning—it changes it. You still need to understand demand patterns and cost implications.
Demand Modeling
Understand your traffic:
- Daily patterns
- Weekly patterns
- Seasonal variations
- Growth trends
Resource Mapping
Map demand to resources:
1000 requests/second
→ 10 app instances
→ 2 database read replicas
→ 100 GB cache
Cost Modeling
Translate resources to cost:
| Load | Instances | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 5 | $2,000 |
| Peak | 20 | $8,000 |
| Average | 10 | $4,000 |
Scaling Policies
Configure auto-scaling:
scaling:
min: 5
max: 50
target_cpu: 70%
scale_up_cooldown: 60s
scale_down_cooldown: 300s
Load Testing
Validate capacity assumptions:
- Identify bottlenecks
- Verify scaling behavior
- Measure actual costs