Google Billing

This guide explains how to integrate Google Cloud billing with Cloudaware. Ensure that you have the required permissions in Google Cloud Platform, such as billing.accounts.updateUsageExportSpec.

Prerequisites

Before setting up the integration, ensure the following requirements are met:

1. BigQuery^* exports (Standard or Detailed usage costs) are enabled and configured. Read more

2. The following APIs are enabled on the GCP Project associated with BigQuery exports:

   • Cloud Billing API

   • BigQuery API

   • Storage API

3. The Billing Account Viewer role is assigned to the Google service account that will be added to Cloudaware.

4. The GCP Project with enabled BigQuery exports is added to Cloudaware.

^*Using BigQuery to store and query Cloud Billing data will incur minimal fees. For more information, see Cost of use.

BigQuery Exports

Google Cloud offers two types of billing data exports via BigQuery:

• Standard Billing Data Export provides a high-level summary of total spending across Google Cloud services and projects

• Detailed Billing Data Export offers a granular breakdown of costs at the resource level, including individual GKE instances and other cloud resources

If only the Standard export is enabled, Cloudaware cannot display costs for individual resources.

Setup in Google

1. Log in to the Google Cloud Console → select the ‘Billing’ tab on the left.

    

   

    

2. Select a relevant billing account. Select the 'Billing export' tab on the left:
   

   

    

3. Choose either Standard usage cost or Detailed usage cost. Make a note of the Project name and Dataset name, as they are required when adding the integration in Cloudaware.
   

   

Setup in Cloudaware

Ensure that the Google service account and the GCP project selected for billing are added to Cloudaware.

1. Log in to Cloudaware → Admin.
   

   

    

2. Select Google Billing in Billing integrations. Click +ADD.
   

   

    

3. Fill out the form:
   

   

   WHERE

   Google Project – select the GCP project with billing exports from the drop-down list
   Dataset Name – the billing dataset name
   Table Name – the Google BigQuery Table name in the format gcp_billing_export_v1_<BILLING_ACCOUNT_ID> for Standard billing export or gcp_billing_export_resource_v1_<BILLING_ACCOUNT_ID for Detailed billing export
   
   Click SAVE.

The billing report type is detected automatically when the export integration is added to Cloudaware.

4. A green light in the ‘Status’ column indicates successful configuration. If the light is red, contact support@cloudaware.com.
   

   

    

Standard vs. Detailed Reports in Cloudaware CMDB

Each Google billing account can have up to two integrations – Standard and Detailed. Cloudaware automatically detects which billing report type is used.

The ‘Cost Fields Source’ checkbox indicates the active billing report type:

• If Standard is selected, cost fields for individual Google Cloud resources will not be displayed in Cloudaware

• If Detailed^* is selected, cost fields such as 30-Day Cost and MTD will appear for GCP objects

^*Cost data for individual resources becomes available only after enabling Detailed Usage Cost in Google. Retrospective cost data is not available for such resources.

To access historical billing data, for example, for analytics dashboards, the Standard export must also be added to Cloudaware.

To change the active billing report type, click the three-dot menu next to the report → click Set as Cost Fields Source:

Avoid switching from the Detailed report back to Standard, as this will prevent cost-related fields from updating in the Cloudaware CMDB.