Azure Cost Management

In Chapter 6, Azure Security, you learned how to describe the concepts of Zero Trust and the Defense-in-Depth (DiD) model as well as looking at security posture management, the purpose of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Sentinel, which is Microsoft’s cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) service.

This chapter will cover the methods for planning and managing costs in Azure. You will learn about the available tools, services, resources, and approaches. The chapter primarily focuses on the Describe Azure management and governance module from the Skills Measured section of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam.

Note

You can find a detailed AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area in the Appendix, Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills of this book.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to answer questions on the following confidently:

• Azure cost factors
• Azure Cost Management
• The Azure Pricing calculator...

Factors Influencing Costs in Azure

Each Azure consumption-based (usage) service has one or more usage meters that define the price rate and unit of cost. The “service” type determines the different units of cost.

Billing is performed monthly for each subscription based on the resource consumption collected from individual meters for that subscription. This means that you may receive a different invoice every month based on a different set of costs incurred; maybe you consumed more on one resource meter and less on another and created new resources that created costs against another meter.

The following are the primary factors that can affect costs:

• Purchasing model: The costs for resources may differ, depending on your purchase model. You can purchase Azure either directly from Microsoft or through a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP).

Note

You can find the Azure purchase options at https://packt.link/f4zDa.

• Resource type: The costs are specific...

Azure Cost Management

Azure Cost Management is provided through a Cost Management + Billing dashboard functionality in the Azure portal. This interface provides core functionality such as “cost visibility,” “optimizations,” and “accountability.” Figure 7.1 shows the cost analysis screen in the Azure portal:

Figure 7.1 – Managing costs associated with Azure services using Azure Cost Management

The two most important capabilities provided within the Cost Management + Billing function in the Azure portal are as follows:

• Cost Management: You can perform cost analysis, set cost alerts, and create budgets.
• Billing: You can view and download invoices, view payment methods, and make payments.

This section looked at Azure Cost Management to monitor and analyze costs, set budgets, generate invoices and reports, and other tasks related to the financial aspects of using Azure resources.

In the next...

The Azure Pricing Calculator

The Azure pricing calculator is a publicly accessible browser-based tool to estimate the cost of services that can be created in Azure. An Azure pricing calculator looks like the one shown in Figure 7.2:

Figure 7.2 – Azure pricing calculator showing categorized resources

All Azure resources that can be purchased are organized into categories and you can browse through to view all resources.

The calculator has a search function that allows you to search for specific resources. When you add a resource to the estimate by using the calculator, a hyperlink is displayed beside it. Clicking the hyperlink shows the product details for each resource and its pricing page. This hyperlink is useful if you need to know the pricing structure for each resource and any factors that may impact costs.

To make the calculator provide cost estimations for your chosen resources, you must add the required resources to the estimate. You...

The Azure TCO Calculator

The Azure TCO calculator can be accessed as a browser-based tool to estimate cost savings by moving workloads to Azure. The TCO calculator allows you to enter details for the on-premises workloads. It will then provide some assumptions based on industry average operational costs, including data center facility costs, electricity, labor, hardware, software, and networking costs. It then provides potential cost savings by moving those workloads to Azure. These reports can be saved, downloaded (exported), or shared. Figure 7.3 shows the TCO calculator:

Figure 7.3 – Azure TCO calculator providing estimates using industry-average operational costs

To work with the tool, perform the following steps:

1. Visit the URL with a browser.
2. When the tool loads, from the Define your workloads page, add information as required with the details for your on-premises servers, databases, storage, and networking.
3. Then click Next...

Summary

This chapter included complete coverage of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area: Describe cost management in Azure.

In this chapter, you learned about the factors that can affect costs in Azure and about the Azure Cost Management and Billing tool, as well as comparing the pricing calculator and the TCO calculator.

Further knowledge beyond the required exam content was provided to prepare you for a real-world, day-to-day Azure-focused role.

In the next chapter, you will look at Azure Governance and Compliance.

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Apart from a solid understanding of key concepts, being able to think quickly under time pressure is a skill that will help you ace your certification exam. That is why working on these skills early on in your learning journey is key.

Chapter review questions are designed to improve your test-taking skills progressively with each chapter you learn and review your understanding of key concepts in the chapter at the same time. You’ll find these at the end of each chapter.

How To Access These Resources

To learn how to access these resources, head over to the chapter titled Chapter 11, Accessing the Online Practice Resources.

To open the Chapter Review Questions for this chapter, perform the following steps:

1. Click the link – https://packt.link/AZ900E2_CH07.

Alternatively, you can scan the following QR code (Figure 7.4):

Figure 7.4 – QR code that opens Chapter Review...

Working On Timing

Target: Your aim is to keep the score the same while trying to answer these questions as quickly as possible. Here’s an example of how your next attempts should look like:

Attempt	Score	Time Taken
Attempt 5	77%	21 mins 30 seconds
Attempt 6	78%	18 mins 34 seconds
Attempt 7	76%	14 mins 44 seconds

Table 7.1 – Sample timing practice drills on the online platform

Note

The time limits shown in the above table are just examples. Set your own time limits with each attempt based on the time limit of the quiz on the website.

With each new attempt, your score should stay above 75% while your “time taken...

Additional Information and Study References

This section provides links to additional exam information and study references:

• Microsoft Learn certification further information:
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam guide: https://packt.link/isK8X
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals study guide: https://packt.link/EjoYh
• Microsoft Learn training further information:
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course: https://packt.link/WdHIM

The rest of the chapter is locked

Additional Information and Study References

This section provides links to additional exam information and study references:

• Microsoft Learn certification further information:
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam guide: https://packt.link/isK8X
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals study guide: https://packt.link/EjoYh
• Microsoft Learn training further information:
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course: https://packt.link/WdHIM