Google Cloud Billing

Google cloud billing refers to the billing system available on Google Cloud Platform(GCP). It has its various utilities and can be configured in a variety of ways to meet different needs. The core concepts of Google Cloud Billing include:-

Resources

The fundamental concepts for the GCP platform consist of Compute Engine VM’s, Google cloud pub/subs, Google cloud storage, etc, and so on. The billing & access control resources are allocated at the lowest levels of hierarchy in order to set up projects and perform tasks underneath the various projects being set up on the Google Cloud Platform(GCP) console.

Projects

The middle layer in the hierarchy of resources belongs to projects where they are made responsible/parent for the lower level resources. The management of the available resources in the lower levels fall under the various Projects and any allocation & changes made fall directly under the parent itself. We can use projects to represent any team, environments & collections which map to a business function or structure.

Organisation

The organization represents the top level in the hierarchy of resources. All resources belonging to an organization are always grouped under the organization node to which provide insight, analysis and access control over the resources in the organization.

The Google Cloud Billing System is structured into a Billing account which establishes control by designating Cloud Platform Identity and Access Management(IAM) roles. The billing account is also used to define who pays for the given set of resources. A billing account can be linked to one or more projects where the projected usage is charged to the relevant billing account.

Generally, there are two types of billing accounts:-

1.)Self Served- In Self-served billing accounts, the credit cards are attached to the account and are the preferred payment instrument where costs are automatically charged.

2.)Invoiced- Here, the preferred payment instrument can be a check or wire transfer where invoices are sent via mail or electronically.

Charging cycle

Costs for specific resources  are charged into the respective billing accounts  automatically in either of two ways :

Monthly Billing- Costs are charged on a monthly basis.

Threshold Billing- Costs are charged only when a specific amount is reached

Billing contacts is an essential part of a billing account which is assigned to the people who receive billing information specific (Eg- When a credit card needs to be updated)

The Billing system can be further divided into Sub accounts where it behaves like a billing account in many ways- it can have projects assigned to it, IAM roles can be specified with a billing linkage to a reseller's master billing account on which the charges appear. A feature in Google Cloud Billing named Cloud Billing API provides the ability to create and manage sub-accounts via the API which allows the user to connect to their existing systems and provision new customers programmatically.

In a recent development, Google Cloud has introduced a new feature where a programmable notification allows the user to manage & control their budget expenses and act if they spiral out of control. Now the user can set up a Cloud billing notification feature with a homegrown or third party tool which gives them an update as soon as they reach a specific budget threshold. Few of the ways to set this would be with:

1.)Google cloud Pub/Sub notification.

2.)Cap Billing on a Project.

A trademark feature introduced to the Google Billing Platform is  Cost Forecasting Feature. This new feature enables organizations & establishments to make better budget decisions based on the total likely spend on the cloud platform on a monthly basis. This would allow them to work with better clarity, flexibility, and control of their total spend and also regulate their cloud infrastructure budget in an optimal manner. The answers to the key questions which the businesses face about cloud spending can be found through the Cost Forecasting Feature.

1.)How much am I forecasted to spend for the current month based on past trends?

2.)Which GCP project or product would cost me the most for the current month?

Google has also introduced a real-time pricing tool for its cloud platform known as Cloud Billing Catalogue API. With the increase in the use of cloud resources, the motive for any organization is to look for an effective pricing and cost management plan. Hence the introduction of Cloud Billing Catalogue API  helps gain programmatic, real-time access to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) list pricing. We can predict bills, estimated costs when using list GCP pricing. It also involves the storing the list of SKU(Stock Keeping Unit)’s within a service.

1)List Pricing for the SKU

2)Regions where the SKU is available to purchase

3)A human-readable description of the SKU

We observe that Google cloud billing’s wide scope of features helps explain its utility in the Google Cloud Platform and how it can be utilized for cost-optimal solutions, cloud cost forecasting and real-time pricing.