3. Usage Cost Configuration
For effective cost measurements and to provide our users with more precise and personalized services, Cross4Cloud analyzes the usage of GCP Provider. One of the key data sources for these analyses is GCP BigQuery. To perform these measurements, we request our users to grant access to a dataset within their GCP accounts. If they don't have a pre-existing dataset, we ask them to create a new one.
For billing export, there are two possible scenarios. If you have previously exported your billing details, you may already have a dataset created. Alternatively, if you haven't performed this process before, you might not have a dataset. Please carefully follow the guide, considering these two scenarios, as the steps will vary. Take this into account as you proceed through the documentation.
Existing Dataset for Billing Export
While entering your credentials on the onboarding screen, if you already have an existing dataset that you want to use, you can follow the steps below to find the required credentials, such as Name of the dataset and your Billing Account ID.
1. Getting Dataset Name
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Open your browser and go to the Google Cloud Console.
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Go to the search bar and search for Billing Export and click on it.
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- Choose the Billing account for which your selected project connected. The Billing export page opens for the selected billing account.
On this page, you should have configured billing exports that allow you to transfer your GCP billing data to the BigQuery data warehouse.
- In the Billing export page, you will see options for Detailed Usage and Standard Usage exports. Each option will display the configured BigQuery Dataset Name under the respective export type. Note down the dataset names for both Detailed Usage and Standard Usage as shown in the interface.
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Make sure to keep the Dataset Name information for *Standard Usage Cost and Detailed Usage Cost.
If you cannot see the necessary dataset information on the opened page, most likely you haven't configured the dataset before. You can follow the instructions in the Creating a New Dataset section for guidance.
2. Getting Billing Account ID
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Open your browser and go to the Google Cloud Console.
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In the upper left corner, click on the project dropdown menu and be sure the you selected the relevant project.
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- In the left navigation pane, click on the Navigation menu (three horizontal lines) in the upper left corner. After that click the Billing.
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- Click on Account Management under the Billing Management section in the left-hand menu.
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- From the opened screen, copy your Billing Account ID.
Save Billing Account ID securely for future use in our console.
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Creating Dataset for Billing Export
When entering your credentials on the onboarding screen, if you don't already have an existing dataset, you can follow the instructions in this section to create the dataset and obtain the necessary credentials.
1. New Dataset Creation
In order to analyze and delve into the cost and usage details of Google Cloud, it's essential to create two distinct datasets in BigQuery: one for Standard Usage Cost and another for Detailed Usage Cost. So you need to follow the instructions below twice.
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Open your browser and go to the Google Cloud Console.
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Go to the search bar and search for BigQuery and click on it.
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- In the Explorer panel, next to the project ID, click the View actions menu (three dots) and then select Create dataset section. The Create dataset panel opens.
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- Enter a Dataset ID and leave the other settings at their default values.
For the Dataset ID, you can choose any name you prefer, but it is recommended to select standard_usage_cost for one dataset and detailed_usage_cost for the other.
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- Then click CREATE DATASET button to create dateset.
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At the end of these steps, you should have successfully created two separate datasets that can be used for billing export processes.
2. Assigning Datasets to Billing Export
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Open your browser and go to the Google Cloud Console.
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Go to the search bar and search for Billing Export and click on it.
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Choose the Cloud Billing account for which your selected project connected. The Billing export page opens for the selected billing account.
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On the BigQuery export tab, click Edit settings for Standard Usage Cost and Detailed Usage Cost type of data. Each type of data is configured separately.
- From the Projects list, select the project that you connected with our console.
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- From the Dataset ID field, select the dataset that you created at early steps.
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- Click the Save button.
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Ensure that you apply these three steps for both Standard usage cost and Detailed usage cost datasets.
3. Getting Dataset Name
- Go to the search bar and search for Billing Export and click on it.
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Choose the Billing account for which your selected project connected. The Billing export page opens for the selected billing account.
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Click on the selected BigQuery dataset name. This action will redirect you to the screen where Dataset Info is located. Repeat this process for both the Standard usage cost and Detailed usage cost datasets.
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- In the Billing export page, you will see options for Detailed Usage and Standard Usage exports. Each option will display the configured BigQuery Dataset Name under the respective export type. Note down the dataset names for both Detailed Usage and Standard Usage as shown in the interface.
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Make sure to keep the Dataset Name information for Standard Usage Cost and Detailed Usage Cost.
4. Getting Billing Account ID
- In the upper left corner, click on the project dropdown menu and be sure the you selected the relevant project.
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- In the left navigation pane, click on the Navigation menu (three horizontal lines) in the upper left corner. After that click the Billing.
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- Click on Account Management under the Billing Management section in the left-hand menu.
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- From the opened screen, copy your Billing Account ID.
Save Billing Account ID securely for future use in our console.
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After completing the usage cost configuration, you should have all the necessary credentials for the GCP provider and have made the required settings.