Follow the Steps to Enable AWS Cost and Usage Report for CloudForecast

Follow the steps below to enable support for the Cost and Usage reports from AWS with CloudForecast. You are granting READ-ONLY credentials to an S3 bucket.

There are two different options for CUR setup:

  1. Option 1: Existing S3 bucket with historical CUR files
  2. Option 2: CUR files not enabled in the Billing Dashboard

Video Tutorial

Option 1: Existing S3 bucket with historical CUR files

The following is the preferred method of setup if you already have an S3 bucket with CUR files in it.

Historical data from existing CUR files will provide better analysis and comparisons for all our reports.

Copy S3 bucket name and prefix

1. Click the following link to log in and navigate directly to My Billing Dashboard in your AWS Console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home

2. On the left menu bar, click Cost and Usage Reports and click the Create Report button.

AWS cost usage report - getting started

3. On the left checkbox column, check off the existing CUR file you would like to use for the configuration.

4. Click EDIT and confirm the following settings following settings are enabled:

Delivery options - edit and confirm following setting

5. Go to Delivery Options. Copy the S3 bucket name and the Report path prefix and paste it in a seperate notepad.

6. Take the copied S3 bucket name and Report path prefix and enter it in to the configuration wizard. Press save.

Credential setup - AWS cost and usage

Enable Cost Allocation tags

1. Click the following link to log in and navigate directly to My Billing Dashboard in your AWS Console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home

2. Click on Cost allocation tags on the left navigation bar.

3. Under User-Defined Cost Allocation Tags, select all the tags in the table by checking on the first box. Ensure all the tags you have selected are all checked on.

User-defined cost allocation tags - finished loading tags

4. Press the Activate button to finish the process.

5. Proceed to CloudFormation setup process to grant read-only access to the S3 bucket: CloudFormation Method

Option 2: CUR files not enabled in the Billing Dashboard

Enable Cost and Usage Report

1. Click the following link to log in and navigate directly to My Billing Dashboard in your AWS Console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home

2. On the left menu bar, Cost and Usage Reports and click the Create Report button.

Billing dashboard in AWS console - enable cost and usage report -

3. In the Create report wizard, type in a report name, and confirm include resource IDs and Data refresh settings are both selected.

Report wizard -  type in a report name, and confirm include resource IDs

4. Click Next to reach Step 2 of the wizard, Delivery Options.

5. Click configure and create a new S3 bucket. Ensure this is an unique name.

Note: Are you an existing CloudForecast user looking to update to new CUR file format? You can select an existing bucket that you used to setup CloudForecast. You can reference which bucket you used within CloudForecast. Click Settings on the top menu bar -> AWS Credentials -> AWS Bucket field. You can also email us and we’ll tell you which Bucket was used.

6. After you have completed step 5, click next and the wizard will prompt you with a policy and permissions to write the CUR files to the S3 bucket you selected.

7. Select, "I have confirmed that this policy is correct" checkbox. Before you press save, copy and paste the policy into a notepad. Click save. You should now be prompted back to Step 2 Delivery Options wizard.

Verify policy - Step 2 Delivery Options wizard

1. There are two options for Report path prefix depending on your preference:

  • If left blank, you’ll use the default prefix: /report-name/date-range/
  • If not left blank, you’ll be creating a new folder to store your CUR files: folder name/report-name/

2. For Time granularity, select Hourly. For Report versioning, select either/or options based on preference.

3. Leave Enable report data integration for blank. Your delivery option should look similar to below:

Delivery option - S3 bucket - required

4. Press Next to reach Step 3 of the wizard.

5. After reviewing Report Content and Delivery Options in Step 3, highlight and copy Report path prefix under Delivery Options and paste into a text doc.

Highlight and copy report path prefix under Delivery Options

6. Press Review and Complete to finish this process.

7. Take the copied Report path prefix and enter it in your CloudForecast dashboard under Settings -> AWS Credentials -> Prefix. Press Save

CloudForecast dashboard credential setup - aws

Enable Cost Allocation tags

1. Click the following link to log in and navigate directly to My Billing Dashboard in your AWS Console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home

2. Click on Cost allocation tags on the left navigation bar.

3. Under User-Defined Cost Allocation Tags, select all the tags in the table by checking on the first box. Ensure all the tags you have selected are all checked on.

User-defined cost allocation tags - select all the tags in the table

4. Press the Activate button to finish the process.

5. Proceed to CloudFormation setup process to grant read-only access to the S3 bucket: CloudFormation Method