Harnessing AWS Cost and Usage Data for Dynamic Visualizations in Amazon QuickSight: A Visual Guide
Navigating the complex world of cloud computing can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to managing and understanding your AWS costs.
In this blog post, we will embark on a journey to unlock the power of your AWS cost and usage data, empowering you to make more informed decisions and optimize your cloud infrastructure. From preparing the data to building a dashboard in Amazon Quick Sight, we’ll explore the steps necessary to transform raw cost data into actionable insights.
Introduction of cost and usage dashboard:
The Cost and Usage Dashboard uses a summary view of the AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR)and provides pre-built visuals to facilitate interactive analysis and sharing of cost insights with a broader stakeholder group who may not have access to AWS console Additionally, users can copy this dashboard and also share it with group members.
Overview of amazon quicksight:
Quicksight is serverless and scalable business intelligence(BI) service that allow any organization to create dashboard,reports and visualization of there data. Quicksight makes it easy for users to uncover insights, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.This provides a solution easy to access via mobile phone.
Key Features of Dashboard:-
a) Cost visibility & effortless scaling
b) Usage Trend Analysis(pay as you go)
c) Customizable Reporting
Data source and Integration:- The new cost and usage dashboard integrates with a wide range of data sources, including AWS Cost and Usage reports(CUR) , AWS budgets and third party data sources and other cloud platform also.
AWS Services Used:-
a)AWS account
b)AWS Cost and Usage Report
c)Quick sight Subscription
d)Billing and Cost Management Account Access
e)IAM Role
f)S3 Bucket
Steps to create a Dashboard:-
1) Sign in to the AWS Management Console
2) Create a S3 bucket ->provide specific name to the bucket
3)Subscribe for amazon quicksight if already not have a account in quick sight — Amazon QuickSight offers two main pricing plans:-
a)Standard Edition: Basic BI features at $9 per user/month.
b)Enterprise Edition: Advanced features including ML insights and data prep at $18 per user/month.
Note:-Select Standard Edition
Note:-When you subscribe to Amazon QuickSight and configure it to use S3 as the storage option, QuickSight automatically creates the aws-quicksight-service-role-v0 service role with the following default S3 bucket permissions policy:-
Inside that role s3 policy is attached:-
Above s3 policy have below permission:-
4)Generate to the Cost and Usage Report (CUR) — Go to AWS Billing and Cost Management Console->Data Export->Create export
Select your s3 bucket here:-
Manifest File Creation:-
a)When you set up the AWS Cost and Usage Report, AWS automatically creates a manifest file along with the report files. This manifest file contains metadata about the report files, such as their names and locations.
b)QuickSight reads the manifest file to determine the list of report files to fetch and analyze.
c)Using the information from the manifest file, QuickSight retrieves the report files from the specified S3 location.
d)QuickSight uses the processed data to create visualizations and dashboards, allowing you to analyze and visualize your AWS billing data.
5)AWS billing and Cost management console go to Data Export
6) Create the New Cost and Usage Dashboard->
7)When dashboard is in healthy state check it in quick sight
8)Go to Quick sight -> Dashboard
9)Your created dashboard visible here
10)Wait for data visibility in dashboard it takes up to 24 hours
Note:-Data delivery for the dashboard takes up to 24 hours, data may not be visible immediately upon dashboard opening
11)Once the data becomes visible on the dashboard proceed to analyse all the details and you can also publish your dashboard
12)Copy dashboard link and share to others
Conclusion:-This blog explains a centralized tool for cost visibility, trend analysis, and actionable insights. Cloud spend is dynamic and changes on a daily basis, requiring visibility and real-time monitoring for cost optimization. With dynamic visuals and tailored suggestions, it’s akin to having a financial advisor for your AWS budget, aiding in spending optimization and value maximization.
