Azure Billing By Tags Test

A tag in Azure helps categorize, organize, and manage Azure resources more effectively by attaching a key-value pair to them. Tags offer metadata that enables resources to be grouped and managed based on various attributes, such as environment, department, project, or cost center. For instance, if the key is Environment and the value is Production, a tag Environment: Production can be created.

Use this test to know the cost of usage of each tag. Say, the Azure Billing By Tags Test reveals an unusually high cloud spend. In such a scenario, you can compare the metrics that this test reports across tags to accurately identify the tag because of which your cloud usage cost may have increased significantly. Additionally, the test also reveals whether you over-spent on any tag- i.e., whether/not you spent more than you originally budgeted for specific resources grouped and managed under a tag. Detailed diagnostics lead you to the exact resources that may inflate the total usage cost of the tag. Using these insights, you can course-correct, so that expenses stay within budget. The insights also help you draw out budgets that are not overly aggressive or ambitious, but are in fact realistic and actually align with real-time cloud usage.

Target of the Test : A Microsoft Azure Subscription

Agent deploying the test: A remote agent

Output of the test: One set of results for every tag that the target subscription has used.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Subscription ID

Specify the GUID which uniquely identifies the Microsoft Azure Subscription to be monitored. To know the ID that maps to the target subscription, do the following:

  1. Login to the Microsoft Azure Portal.

  2. When the portal opens, click on the Subscriptions option (as indicated by Figure 1).

    Figure 1 : Clicking on the Subscriptions option

  3. Figure 2 that appears next will list all the subscriptions that have been configured for the target Azure AD tenant. Locate the subscription that is being monitored in the list, and check the value displayed for that subscription in the Subscription ID column.

    Figure 2 : Determining the Subscription ID

  4. Copy the Subscription ID in Figure 2 to the text box corresponding to the SUBSCRIPTION ID parameter in the test configuration page.

Tenant ID

Specify the Directory ID of the Azure AD tenant to which the target subscription belongs. To know how to determine the Directory ID, refer to Configuring the eG Agent to Monitor a Microsoft Azure Subscription Using Azure ARM REST API.

Client ID, Client Password, and Confirm Password

To connect to the target subscription, the eG agent requires an Access token in the form of an Application ID and the client secret value. For this purpose, you should register a new application with the Azure AD tenant. To know how to create such an application and determine its Application ID and client secret, refer to Configuring the eG Agent to Monitor a Microsoft Azure Subscription Using Azure ARM REST API. Specify the Application ID of the created Application in the Client ID text box and the client secret value in the Client Password text box. Confirm the Client Password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.

Proxy Host and Proxy Port

In some environments, all communication with the Azure cloud be routed through a proxy server. In such environments, you should make sure that the eG agent connects to the cloud via the proxy server and collects metrics. To enable metrics collection via a proxy, specify the IP address of the proxy server and the port at which the server listens against the Proxy Host and Proxy Port parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the eG agent is not configured to communicate via a proxy, by default.

Proxy Username, Proxy Password and Confirm Password

If the proxy server requires authentication, then, specify a valid proxy user name and password in the Proxy Username and Proxy Password parameters, respectively. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measures made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Total cloud tag cost

Indicates the total cost incurred using this tag.

USD

Compare the value of this measure across tags to identify the exact tag on which the maximum amount was spent.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know the estimated cost for using each resource in the tag. This will point you to the resources that have increased the tag usage charges.

Billable resources

Indicates the number of resources that are billable in this tag.

Number

 

Cloud tag cost during the last measure period

Indicates the cost for this tag since the last time this test ran.

USD