PRTG Manual: AWS Cost Sensor

The AWS Cost sensor monitors the cost of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account by reading its data from the AWS Cost Explorer API.

AWS Cost Sensor

AWS Cost Sensor

i_square_cyanFor a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

  • Dutch: AWS Kosten
  • French: Coût AWS
  • German: AWS Kosten
  • Japanese: AWS Cost
  • Portuguese: Custo da AWS
  • Russian: Затраты AWS
  • Simplified Chinese: AWS 成本
  • Spanish: Costo AWS

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark

Description

AWS Cost Explorer

This sensor requires that you activate the AWS Cost Explorer in your AWS account.

IAM User and Role Access to Billing Information

This sensor requires that you enable IAM User and Role Access to Billing Information in your AWS account.

Permissions for the AWS API key

This sensor requires permissions for the AWS API key.

i_round_blueThe AWS API key requires the following permissions to query data from the AWS API:

    • "ce:GetCostAndUsage"
    • "ce:GetCostForecast"
    • "ce:GetDimensionValues"
    • "ce:GetCostAndUsageWithResources"
    • "ce:GetUsageForecast"

i_square_cyanFor more information, see the Knowledge Base: How do I set permissions for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API key to use certain sensors in PRTG?

Credentials

This sensor requires credentials for AWS.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Performance impact

This sensor has a low performance impact.

Sensor creation

After sensor creation, the first data is available after 24 hours. Forecast data is available after a few days.

Scanning interval

This sensor has a fixed minimum scanning interval for performance reasons. You cannot use a shorter scanning interval. Consequently, shorter scanning intervals in the Monitoring settings are not available for this sensor.

  • The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 1 hour.
  • The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 6 hours. You can use a shorter scanning interval but it could create extra costs.

Pricing

Amazon charges you for each API call that this sensor sends to the Amazon servers. For more information, see AWS Cost Management Pricing | Amazon Simple Storage Service.

Sensor creation

You can only set up this sensor for one AWS account per PRTG installation.

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base: What settings do I have to define in my AWS account to set up the AWS Cost sensor?

Knowledge Base: How do I set permissions for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API key to use certain sensors in PRTG?

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

  • aws
  • awscost
  • cost

i_square_cyanFor more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

AWS Cost Specific

AWS Cost Specific

AWS Cost Specific

Setting

Description

Additional Cost Types

PRTG creates two default channels for blended monthly and yearly cost. If you select this option, you can select additional cost types for which PRTG creates additional channels.

  • Enable
  • Disable

Select Additional Cost Types

This setting is only visible if you select Enable above.

Select additional cost types:

  • Amortized cost
  • Net amortized cost
  • Unblended cost
  • Net unblended cost

i_round_bluePRTG creates two overview channels (monthly and yearly) for every additional cost type that you select.

Additional Forecast Types

PRTG does not automatically create additional forecast channels. If you select this option, you can select additional forecast types to create additional forecast channels:

  • Enable
  • Disable

Select Additional Forecast Types

This setting is only visible if you select Enable above.

Select additional forecast types:

  • Blended cost (default)
  • Amortized cost
  • Net amortized cost
  • Unblended cost
  • Net unblended cost

i_round_bluePRTG creates two overview channels (monthly and yearly) for every additional forecast type that you select. Every forecast type that you select creates additional fees. Deselect a forecast type if you no longer want the according channels to create additional fees. You can still see the channels, but they do not receive data anymore.

Sensor Display

Sensor Display

Sensor Display

Setting

Description

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

i_round_blueYou can set a different primary channel later by clicking b_channel_primary below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how this sensor shows different channels:

  • Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
  • Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
    i_round_redYou cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Debug Options

Debug Options

Debug Options

Setting

Description

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

  • Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
  • Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.

i_podThis option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

i_round_blueIn a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Inherited Settings

By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click b_inherited_enabled under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Channel List

i_round_blueWhich channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel

Description

Amortized Monthly

The amortized cost per month

Amortized Yearly

The amortized cost per year

Downtime

In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status

Forecast Amortized Monthly

The forecast for amortized cost per month

Forecast Amortized Yearly

The forecast for amortized cost per year

Forecast Monthly

The forecast for cost per month

Forecast Net Amortized Monthly

The forecast for net amortized cost per month

Forecast Net Amortized Yearly

The forecast for net amortized cost per year

Forecast Net Unblended Monthly

The forecast for net unblended cost per month

Forecast Net Unblended Yearly

The forecast for net unblended cost per year

Forecast Unblended Monthly

The forecast for unblended cost per month

Forecast Unblended Yearly

The forecast for unblended cost per year

Forecast Yearly

The forecast for cost per year

Monthly Cost

The monthly cost

i_round_blueThis channel is the primary channel by default.

Net Amortized Monthly

The net amortized cost per month

Net Amortized Yearly

The net amortized cost per year

Net Unblended Monthly

The net unblended cost per month

Net Unblended Yearly

The net unblended cost per year

Unblended Monthly

The unblended cost per month

Unblended Yearly

The unblended cost per year

Yearly Cost

The cost per year

More

i_square_blueKNOWLEDGE BASE

What settings do I have to define in my AWS account to set up the AWS Cost sensor?

How do I set permissions for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API key to use certain sensors in PRTG?

What security features does PRTG include?