FAQs for IBM Cloudability Enablement
Review the FAQs for IBM Cloudability Enablement deployable architecture. To view all FAQs for IBM Cloud®, see the FAQ library.
How does Cloudability access IBM Cloud billing data?
IBM Cloudability accesses your account billing data by using billing exports to a Object Storage bucket. This deployable architecture creates the access policies to an IBM Cloudability owned service ID to be able to read the data in this bucket. Only the bare minimum access is granted to IBM Cloudability.
How long until IBM Cloud billing data is visible in Cloudability?
Once the deployable architecture is deployed, your IBM Cloud billing data should be imported into IBM Cloudability within 24 hours.
Once my IBM Cloud account is added to Cloudability, how many months of data is ingested into Cloudability?
By default, the current month of IBM Cloud billing reports is added to Cloudability. If additional months of data are needed, then open a support case with IBM Cloud Billing to request that the historical cost data be sent to your billing reports Object Storage bucket. You can request up to 12 months of historical data. Once the files are in the bucket, contact the Cloudability Support team for your historical data to be ingested into Cloudability.
Can I configure immutable storage on the IBM Cloud Object Storage bucket?
No, immutable storage of objects is not a supported feature of billing exports to Object Storage. Billing exports updates a manifest file, which is what Cloudability reads. The updating of objects is not allowed when immutable storage is enabled.
How to use an existing IBM Cloud Object Storage instance?
Configure the deployable architecture to use an existing Object Storage instance by entering the IBM Cloud Object Storage
CRNA globally unique identifier for a specific cloud resource. The value is segmented hierarchically by version, instance, type, location, and scope, separated by colons. in the input field
existing_cos_instance_id and set create_cos_instance to false. See the Object Storage configuration reference for more details.
Can I use an existing Key Protect instance with the DA?
Yes, you can configure the deployable architecture to use an existing Key Protect instance by entering the instance ID in the
input field existing_kms_instance_guid and set create_key_protect_instance to false. To avoid a conflict, it may also be necessary to skip the creation of the authorization policy between Key Protect
and Object Storage if an authorization policy exists. To disable the creation of this authorization policy set the skip_iam_authorization_policy variable to true. See the configuration reference for more details.
How often does Cloudability fetch/ingest new Cost and Usage data?
The billing reports are updated in the Object Storage bucket by IBM Cloud Billing once a day. Cloudability fetches the data from the bucket in the same day.
What permissions does Cloudability need to integrate with my account?
Only the minimum required access is granted to Cloudability to access the billing data within the account. This access is controlled by using iam custom roles. The privileges granted to these custom roles include:
| Service Name | Permissions | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| IBM Cloud Object Storage |
|
To list the objects in the bucket and to read the contents of the billing report files. |
| IBM Enterprise |
|
For enterprise accounts only. Needed for reading the names of the child accounts and account groups within the enterprise account. |
Why does my costs in Cloudability not match my invoice for months before June 2024?
There may be a discrepancy between your invoiced amount from IBM Cloud and what appears in Cloudability for the data before June 2024. This discrepancy is because the tiered pricing amount on your invoice is for all instances in your account, whereas the amounts read by Cloudability did not share amounts between instances. This is because the data used by Cloudability is based on the resource instance usage file. This issue applies only to data added historically before the fix was applied on June 1st, 2024.
Why don't my costs in Cloudability match my IBM Cloud invoiced amount?
The IBM Cloud billing data that is used by Cloudability is from the usage reports, which may not reflect your invoiced amount. To learn more, see the tutorial, "how to reconcile usage and invoice files?" or visit the FAQ for invoices page to review the following topics:
Why does the cost for a past month in Cloudability not match a usage report that I recently downloaded?
Sometimes, the costs that are viewed in Cloudability for a previous month may not match a recently downloaded Resource Instance Usage report. The main reason for the mismatch is because usage for a service was submitted after the billing month closed. As an example, usage was submitted on the 1st of the month for the previous month. In this case, the billing report that is submitted to Cloudability for the last day of the month does not include this usage amount. However, a recently downloaded usage report for a past month includes the updated amount.
Why do my costs in Cloudability differ from the costs on the IBM Cloud Usage page?
The primary reason that costs observed in Cloudability differ with the IBM Cloud Usage page is because the IBM Cloud Usage page is updated frequently with the latest usage information. Cloudability is only updated once a day and the amounts derive from the billing Resource Instance Usage report which are also updated less frequently than the IBM Cloud Usage page