We know observability gets expensive, yet we consistently overlook the highest-cost element: network traffic. Optimizing for storage and compute is common, but inter-AZ data transfer remains a major budget sink.
This talk presents a field-proven strategy for significantly reducing cloud traffic costs by minimizing cross-availability zone (AZ) metrics collection. We'll show how to leverage standard relabeling mechanisms in popular tools, like Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, and VictoriaMetrics, to implement an AZ-aware sharding strategy. Configuring agents to scrape only targets within their own zone drastically reduces inter-AZ transfer. We'll share a practical, vendor-agnostic blueprint, including real-world savings data, applicable to any large-scale metrics pipeline. This approach directly addresses unnecessary cloud spend and provides a clear path to a more cost-efficient and resilient observability stack.