AWS Budgets and Cost Explorer Basics

Introduction

Managing costs in AWS is crucial for maintaining budget constraints and ensuring efficient use of resources. AWS Budgets and Cost Explorer are powerful tools that help you monitor your spending and forecast future costs.

Key Terms

• AWS Budgets: A service that allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets that alert you when you exceed your thresholds.
• Cost Explorer: A tool that enables you to view and analyze your historical and forecasted AWS costs.
• Alerts: Notifications sent to you when your costs exceed the specified budget thresholds.

AWS Budgets

AWS Budgets helps you track your AWS usage and costs against your budget. You can set up budgets for cost, usage, and reservation utilization. When your actual or forecasted costs exceed the budget threshold, you will receive alerts via email or SNS.

Creating an AWS Budget

        1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console.
        2. Navigate to the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard.
        3. Select 'Budgets' from the left navigation pane.
        4. Click on 'Create budget'.
        5. Choose the type of budget you want to create (Cost, Usage, or Reservation).
        6. Set your budget amount and specify the time period.
        7. Set up alerts to notify you when you exceed the budget.
        8. Review and create your budget.
        

Cost Explorer

Cost Explorer allows you to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time. It provides various tools and filters to analyze your spending patterns.

Using Cost Explorer

        1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console.
        2. Navigate to the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard.
        3. Select 'Cost Explorer' from the left navigation pane.
        4. Use the filters to analyze costs by service, region, or usage type.
        5. Visualize costs over time and identify spending trends.
        6. Save your reports for future analysis.
        

Best Practices

To effectively manage your AWS costs, follow these best practices:

• Set up budgets for all major projects and services.
• Regularly review your Cost Explorer reports to identify unexpected spending.
• Utilize tags to categorize resources for more granular cost tracking.
• Automate alerts for budget thresholds to stay informed.

Budget Management Flowchart

        graph TD;
            A[Start] --> B{Set Budget?};
            B -->|Yes| C[Create Budget];
            C --> D[Set Alerts];
            B -->|No| E[Use Cost Explorer];
            E --> F[Analyze Costs];
            F --> G{Exceed Budget?};
            G -->|Yes| H[Send Alert];
            G -->|No| I[Continue Monitoring];
            I --> A;
            H --> A;
        

FAQ