This vital administrative task helps in proactive cost management and reduces the risk of any unwanted charges. Let’s take a comprehensive look at the AWS Budgets and Billing alarms configuration process.
AWS Budgets Configuration
AWS Budgets gives you the ability to set custom cost and usage budgets. AWS Budgets will send alerts to you as your cost or usage exceed your budget amount.
To create an AWS budget, follow these steps:
- Open the AWS Management Console.
- Navigate to the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard.
- Choose “Budgets” in the left pane and then select “Create budget”.
- Select the type of budget you want to create. You can pick a cost budget or a usage budget.
- Define your budget parameters: Budget Name, Budget Period, Budgeted amount, and Budget Type (Fixed or Reference)
- Set your budget thresholds. You can set the budget to alert you when the actual or forecasted cost exceeds a certain percentage of the limit.
- Define alerts parameters: Alert Type (Actual/Forecasted), Alert threshold, and E-mail contacts.
- Click “Confirm Budget,” review your budget details, and click “Create” to finalize your budget.
One of the handy features in AWS Budgets is that these budgets can be tracked at various resource levels to provide granular control.
AWS Billing Alarm Configuration
Billing alarms on AWS CloudWatch provide another layer of protection by notifying you whenever your AWS charges exceed a certain threshold. These billing alarms are great for keeping a tab on the ongoing AWS costs.
To create a CloudWatch billing alarm:
- Open the AWS Management Console.
- Navigate to the “CloudWatch” service.
- In the CloudWatch dashboard, go to “Alarms” and click “Create alarm”.
- Under “Select metric”, choose “Billing”, then “Total AWS Costs”.
- Configure conditions for your alarm. Specify the threshold amount that, once exceeded, will trigger the alarm.
- Choose “Next”, specify the alarm notification settings. You can get these notifications through Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service).
- Name your alarm and then choose “Create Alarm.”
Afterward, you will receive an email whenever your AWS charges exceed the set threshold.
Conclusion
Understanding your AWS costs and usage is easier than ever with AWS Budgets and Billing alarms. AWS Budgets allow you to set custom cost and usage budgets and receive alerts when your costs or usage exceed the budget amount you have set. CloudWatch billing alarms notify you when your AWS charges exceed a certain threshold, giving you enough time to react and optimize your resource usage. By properly leveraging these native AWS tools, you can circumvent budget overspends and keep your AWS costs in check. These budget management tools are, therefore, an integral part of the knowledge base for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02) exam.
Practice Test
True/False: AWS Budgets allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets that alert you when your costs or usage exceed (or are forecasted to exceed) your budget amount.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: AWS Budgets provides you with the ability to set custom budgets that alert you when your costs or usage exceed your budgeted amount. You can also track your AWS usage and costs.
True/False: AWS Budgets cannot be used to set reserved instance (RI) utilization or coverage targets.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: AWS Budgets can be used to set Reserved Instance (RI) utilization or coverage targets and receive alerts when usage falls below the threshold that you define.
Which AWS service can you use to set billing alarms?
- a. AWS Budgets
- b. Amazon CloudWatch
- c. AWS Cost Explorer
- d. None of the above
Answer: b. Amazon CloudWatch
Explanation: Billing alarms to monitor your AWS usage can be set up via Amazon CloudWatch, a monitoring service for AWS resources and applications.
What is the purpose of AWS Cost Explorer?
- a. To set billing alarms
- b. To monitor resource usage
- c. To visualize, handle, and understand costs
- d. To monitor security groups
Answer: c. To visualize, handle, and understand costs
Explanation: AWS Cost Explorer is a tool that enables users to view and analyze their costs and usage over a designated time period.
True/False: With AWS Budgets, you can’t create daily, monthly, and quarterly budgets
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: AWS Budgets allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets at daily, monthly, or quarterly levels.
Can you configure AWS Budgets to send notifications to an Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) topic?
- a. Yes
- b. No
Answer: a. Yes
Explanation: AWS Budgets can send alert notifications via email or to an Amazon SNS topic when your usage or costs exceed the thresholds you’ve defined.
True/False: You are not able to use AWS Cost Explorer to forecast future costs.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: AWS Cost Explorer includes a forecasting feature that you can use to predict your future costs based on your historical cost data.
What AWS service automatically matches your usage with your purchased RIs?
- a. AWS Cost Explorer
- b. AWS Budgets
- c. AWS Cost and Usage Report
- d. None of the above
Answer: d. None of the above
Explanation: AWS automatically applies your purchased Reserved Instances (RIs) to matching instance usage within the same AWS account.
True/False: AWS billing alarms let you know when your AWS charges exceed a threshold you define.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: You can create a billing alarm to receive notifications when your charges exceed a threshold that you define.
AWS Budgets support which types of cost filters?
- a. Service
- b. Linked account
- c. Region
- d. All of the above
Answer: d. All of the above
Explanation: AWS Budgets supports cost filters such as service, linked account, region, tags and more. This allows for more granular control and understanding of your AWS costs.
True/False: Cost allocation tags can help you organize and categorize your AWS resources for cost tracking purposes.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Cost allocation tags can be used to organize your AWS resources by different categories (such as cost centers, application names, or owners) to better understand costs associated with your AWS resources.
Which service would you use to track infrastructure metrics for billing purposes?
- a. AWS CloudTrail
- b. AWS CloudWatch
- c. AWS Billing and Cost Management
- d. AWS Trusted Advisor
Answer: b. AWS CloudWatch
Explanation: Amazon CloudWatch can be used to collect and track metrics, collect and monitor log files, set alarms, and automatically react to changes in your AWS resources.
True/False: AWS Budgets can only be configured via AWS Management Console.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: AWS Budgets can be configured via AWS Management Console, AWS Budgets API, or AWS CLI.
AWS Cost Explorer allows you to analyze data at which granularities?
- a. Daily
- b. Monthly
- c. Both
Answer: c. Both
Explanation: AWS Cost Explorer enables you to analyze your costs and usage at both a high level (e.g., total costs and usage across all accounts) and for highly-specific requests (e.g., m2xlarge costs and usage in the current region split by linked account for the current month).
True/False: Amazon SNS is a requirement for setting up AWS Billing alarms.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Amazon SNS is not a requirement for setting up AWS Billing alarms. You can create a billing alarm to send an email to notify when your usage exceeds a threshold you set. However, SNS can be used if you want to send notifications to a topic.
Interview Questions
What is the primary purpose of AWS Budgets?
AWS Budgets primarily provides tools for you to create customized budget models and see how your cost and usage progress toward those budgets.
Is it possible to link your AWS Budgets to your AWS Cost Explorer?
Yes, it is possible to link AWS Budgets to AWS Cost Explorer for enhanced visibility and cost management capabilities.
Can AWS Budgets be used to set custom cost and usage budget thresholds?
Yes, AWS Budgets can be used to set custom cost and usage budget thresholds which will notify you by email when the predetermined threshold has been reached.
How are you notified when a budget you set in AWS Budgets has been breached?
If a budget has been breached, AWS Budgets sends an email notification to all email accounts that you configure to receive AWS Budgets Alerts.
What is AWS billing alarms?
AWS billing alarms are cost alarms that you set up to monitor your AWS charges and it notify you when your usage exceeds the threshold you define on Amazon CloudWatch.
Are there any additional charges for configuring AWS Billing Alarms?
No. AWS does not charge you any additional amounts for configuring AWS Billing Alarms.
What AWS tool can you use to set a billing alarm for estimated AWS charges?
You can use Amazon CloudWatch to set a billing alarm for estimated AWS charges.
What is the first step of creating a billing alarm on Amazon CloudWatch?
The first step is to enable receiving billing alerts in the Billing and Cost Management console.
How frequently does AWS publish metrics to CloudWatch for billing alarms?
AWS publishes metrics to CloudWatch for billing alarms several times daily, not in real-time.
What type of AWS users can set up billing alerts?
The AWS account owners and the users with associated permission can set up billing alerts.
Can billing data in AWS Budgets be filtered by services, accounts, and tags?
Yes, you can apply cost filters in AWS Budgets by services, accounts, and tags for a closer analysis of your budget.
What happens if you exceed the limit on the number of free alarms in Amazon CloudWatch?
If you exceed the limit on the number of free alarms, standard CloudWatch charges apply.
What do AWS Budgets ‘Cost’ and ‘Usage’ budgets measure respectively?
‘Cost’ budgets allow you to track costs and ‘Usage’ budgets allow you to track the usage on AWS resources.
Can you control AWS services spending with AWS Budgets?
No, AWS Budgets does not control AWS services spending. It only monitors the usage and sends notifications on the basis of your budget.
Is it possible to reset or change a billing alarm?
Yes, you can modify or delete a billing alarm at any time from the Amazon CloudWatch console.
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