Azure Cost Management capabilities: analyze, budget, alert, export, and optimize spend
Slide deck explaining Azure Cost Management capabilities: analyzing spend with cost analysis views, setting budgets and alerts, exporting cost data, understanding scopes, and using recommendations to optimize cloud spending.
Azure Cost Management capabilities: analyze, budget, alert, export, and optimize spend
Introduction to Azure Cost Management capabilities: tools for analyzing, budgeting, alerting, exporting, and optimizing cloud spending.
Azure Cost Management capabilities: analyze, budget, alert, export, and optimize spend
Introduction to Azure Cost Management capabilities: tools for analyzing, budgeting, alerting, exporting, and optimizing cloud spending.
Cloud spend: visibility, warnings, and control
Cost management is about seeing spend early and reacting before it becomes a surprise. Costs can change without obvious 'alerts'. You need trends plus breakdowns, not just a final bill. Warnings help you act while there's still time. Optimization is ongoing, not a one-time task.
Azure Cost Management: what it does
It helps you analyze, monitor, and optimize cloud spending. Investigate 'what changed' and 'why'. Break down spend by service, resource group, tags, and time. Set budgets and get alerts. Export cost data for reporting pipelines. Review cost-saving recommendations.
Billing vs Cost Management
Billing equals invoices and payments; Cost Management equals analysis and control. Billing: invoices, payments, billing accounts/profiles. Cost Management: analysis views, budgets, alerts, exports, recommendations. Use Billing for official invoice totals. Use Cost Management for day-to-day cost investigation.
Scopes: pick the right lens
The scope determines which costs you're analyzing and who owns the view. Resource group: one app/environment boundary. Subscription: common boundary for resources, access, and cost. Management group: roll-up view across subscriptions. Billing scope: higher-level billing boundary (varies by agreement). Choose scope based on ownership plus reporting needs.
Cost analysis: investigate spend
Use cost analysis to break down spend and pinpoint the driver behind changes. Interactive breakdowns by time, service, resource group, tags. Start at the right scope, then group to find the driver. Use trends to spot 'quiet' growth early. Designed for investigation (not invoice reconciliation).
Budgets and alerts: notify, don't block
Budgets track and alert; enforcement requires separate operational action. Set thresholds on actual or forecast spend. Typical alerts: 50% / 80% / 100%. Budgets are not a built-in 'stop switch'. Alerts can be connected to automation (if you want enforcement).
Exports: scheduled cost data delivery
Exports automate recurring cost files for finance and reporting tools. Schedule cost data delivery (often to storage). Feed reporting pipelines without manual downloads. Good for weekly/monthly recurring reports. Cost analysis stays the in-portal investigation tool.
Recommendations: opportunities, not autopilot
Recommendations highlight savings ideas; you validate and apply the change. Many recommendations are surfaced via Azure Advisor. Common actions: resize, shut down, switch pricing options. Always validate impact before applying. You remain responsible for the final decision.
Cost totals vs invoice totals
Cost views are usage-driven; invoices are the final billed statement. Cost Management: cost/usage data and trends. Invoices: final billed amounts and official totals. Differences can include taxes. Credits/adjustments may be applied during invoice processing. Timing and offer types can affect comparisons.
Triage a cost spike (fast)
Start with the right scope, then group step-by-step to find the driver. Start: Cost analysis at subscription or management group (ownership scope). Group by service, find the mover. Then group by resource group or tags, pinpoint the workload. Use Billing for invoices, not for root-cause breakdowns.
Prevent surprises with budgets
Budgets plus alerts give you time to act before the month ends. Create a budget at the correct scope. Configure alert thresholds (e.g., 50% / 80% / 100%). Budget notifies; enforcement requires action/automation. Define 'who does what' when alerts trigger.
Reporting plus pitfalls (quick recap)
Use exports for recurring reports, and avoid the common Cost Management misunderstandings. Exports: deliver recurring cost files outside the portal. Don't mix tools: Billing (invoices) vs Cost Management (analysis/control). Pick the right scope for roll-up reporting. Budgets notify; recommendations suggest—nothing is automatic. Totals can differ (taxes, credits, adjustments, timing).