Applies to: Nerdio for Azure (NFA) Managed Service Partners (MSPs) only.
Nerdio offers a unique feature called “Cost estimator”, with the help of which you can easily estimate your costs for running an IT environment in Azure. The costs can be divided into the following four components:
- Azure costs
- Office 365 license cost
- RDS or Windows 10 license costs
- Nerdio costs
Let's look at how you can use Nerdio Cost Estimator.
Sign in to Nerdio Admin Portal (NAP) as a partner admin. On the Accounts page, from the main menu, select Billing option:
Select "NFA cost estimator" menu option:
You will be directed to the cost estimator page. All you need to do is specify your IT infrastructure requirements and get an estimate of monthly costs:
You can predict your monthly costs based on the following factors:
- Your use case
- Desktop information
- Servers
- Office 365 and Windows 10 Enterprise
- Other features and
- Cost assumptions
Let us explore them one by one.
1. Use case
Note: By default, the “Cost estimator” page displays options related to ITaaS use case. You can, however, select the use case as per your individual requirements. Nerdio caters to the following use cases:
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): Manage, auto-scale and back up line-of-business application and database servers in Azure, with NFA Core
- Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS): Leverage Azure for a simple virtual desktop environment for a small organization, with NFA Professional
- IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS): Run a complete, virtual desktop-centric IT environment in Azure for an organization of any size, with NFA Enterprise.
Using NFA for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Let's imagine your financial institution has a need to:
- Manage, auto-scale and back up line-of-business application and database servers in Azure with NFA Core plan
- Extend existing network and Active Directory (AD) into Azure
- Configure auto-scaling, back up and DR of server VMs
- Manage the entire environment from an easy-to-use, “three clicks or less” management portal
To estimate costs correctly, we assume certain foundational resources - such as storage environment, two network security groups, and one VM for domain controller are mandatory. Other VMs will be as selected by the user, and other options are as per user preferences under relevant sections:
- Servers
- Other features
- Cost assumptions
Using NFA for Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS)
Let's imagine your retail customer with multiple store locations has a need to:
- Leverage Azure for a simple virtual desktop environment, with NFA Professional Plan
- Stand up an entire office, small office, without the need to install local desktops
- Migrate applications and servers to Azure and deploy cloud desktops in minutes
- Back up user data and application
To estimate costs correctly, we assume that foundational resources such as storage environment, two network security groups, VMs for gateway, domain controller and file server, and VPN are mandatory. RDS hosts and other options are as per user preferences under relevant sections:
- Desktop information
- Office 365 and Windows 10 Enterprise
- Other features
- Cost assumptions
Using NFA for IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS)
Let's imagine your manufacturing customer has a need to:
- Run a complete, virtual desktop-centric IT environment in Azure, with NFA Enterprise Plan
- Migrate their full IT stack to the Microsoft cloud
- Run desktops, servers, applications, back up and security in Azure
- Integrate with email, collaboration and file storage in Office 365
To estimate costs correctly for ITaaS use case, we assume that foundational resources such as storage environment, network security groups, VMs for gateway, domain controller and file server, and VPN are mandatory. Additionally, users can adjust the following:
- Desktop information
- Servers
- Office 365 and Windows 10 Enterprise
- Other features
- Cost assumptions
Note: Depending on your selected use case, you will need to provide the following information:
Use case | Desktop information | Server preferences | Office 365 and Windows 10 Enterprise | Other features | Cost assumptions |
IaaS |
|
Yes |
|
Yes |
Yes |
DaaS |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
ITaaS |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
2. Desktop Information
You will need to fill information for:
Feature | Description | Response |
About how many users overall will use Nerdio desktops? |
Specify the total number of users who will use Nerdio desktops |
Enter number of users who will need Nerdio desktops |
For these users, which desktop experience will you offer- WVD or RDS? |
Select the correct option from drop-down: RDS or WVD |
|
Will any of those users need dedicated VDI desktops? |
Executives and managers often use dedicated desktops. These desktops receive dedicated compute resources and users are fully isolated from each other |
Enter number of users who will need dedicated VDI desktops |
How many users have graphics intensive desktop needs? |
We will factor in GPU enabled desktops for such users. Graphic artists, CAD/CAM engineers or architects typically require GPU enabled desktops |
Enter number of users who will need graphics intensive desktop |
We will assume the rest of the users are RDS/shared users (no VDI or graphics intensive desktops) |
RDS users can be assigned to one or more RDS hosts so that they can share desktop resources to significantly reduce costs |
Nerdio calculates remaining users who will need RDS desktops from the total |
Based on your selections so far, we recommend a certain NFA plan. Feel free to override our suggestion and continue to next step. |
For organizations with more than 25 users, Enterprise edition requires a minimum of seven cores in your Azure subscription. Typically used for large organizations that want MFA, DR, firewall management, RDS Collections, and Hybrid AD. |
Select the correct option from drop-down: Enterprise or Professional |
3. Servers
You need to specify the instance size, OS disk size, data disk size each for:
- AD domain controller
- File server
- ADFS Proxy
- RD Gateway #1
- RD Connection Broker or
- You can add any other server
4. Office 365 AND Windows 10 Enterprise
You need to fill information for:
- How many Office 365 licenses will you sell to the customer? Note: Every desktop user that needs the Microsoft Office suite requires a Office 365 license.
- How will you license Windows 10 Enterprise or RDS CALs? Select an option from:
- Customer will provide licenses
- I will sell licenses to customer via CSP
5. Other features
You will need to select "other features" from the ones listed below:
Feature | Description | Response |
Azure Hybrid Usage (AHU) |
Take advantage of Azure Hybrid Usage (AHU) |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
Reserved instances |
Reduce compute costs with reserved instances from Azure |
Select the correct option: 3 years/1 year/No |
In-region back up |
Back up all servers and desktops on a nightly basis |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
Out-of-region DR |
DR replication to another Azure region |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
Site-to-site VPN |
Establish VPN between Azure and your location |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
Hybrid AD |
Extend your current Active Directory. Requires VPN. |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
Desktop auto-scale |
Automatically scale down/up desktop compute to reduce costs |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
On-ramp regions |
Allow users to connect to Azure from a region closest to them |
Select the correct option: Yes/No |
Provide more information about pooled desktops to handle desktop workload:
- Minimum number of hosts
- Maximum number of hosts and
- Size of hosts
Provide more information about collection:
- Collection max out time (in hours) per week and
- Minimum collection size (in hours) per week
6. Cost Assumptions
Provide more information about cost assumptions:
Note: Pricing is based on South Central US region prices by default.
Feature | Description | Response |
Bandwidth |
Estimated bandwidth usage, per-user-per-month. It's $1.00 for regular users and it's $3.00 for graphically intensive users |
Enter amount in $ per user per month |
Storage operations |
Estimated standard storage usage per GB. For Standard storage only (S and E), does not apply to Premium (P) |
Enter amount in $ per GB |
Users to CPU Core ratio |
Number of users that can be supported by a single core in a VM. |
Select from dropdown or enter number of users |
Users to CPU Core ratio (with GPU) |
Number of users that can be supported by a single core in a GPU enabled VM. |
Select from dropdown or enter number of users |
Personal Desktop VM Size |
Default size of Personal Desktops (WVD only, does not apply for RDS desktops) |
Select from dropdown |
Azure CSP discount |
Discount available to you as a Microsoft partner for Azure resources |
Enter percentage discount |
CSP software discount |
Discount available to you as a Microsoft partner for Office 365 and Windows 10 licenses |
Enter percentage discount |
Azure CSP discount for RI |
Discount available to you as a Microsoft partner for Reserved Instances |
Enter percentage discount |
Azure region |
Azure pricing can vary by region |
Select region from dropdown |
Currency |
Show costs in selected currency |
Select currency from dropdown |
Click “View costs” button to view per user per month license cost. You can also scroll up to the top of the page to view per user per month license cost.
Note: The cost estimator offers you complete freedom to create different models by trying out different options and see how that affects per-user costs.
Nerdio Tip
- Cost estimates are calculated using the values you provide and the current rates of Nerdio, Office 365 and Azure services, which can vary over time. Hence the actual costs may vary from the estimates.
- Nerdio will charge customers for NFA licenses only. You will get a bill directly from Microsoft for Azure, O365 and RDS CALs.
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