CloudifyOps Mini-blog - Unveiling the AWS Hidden Costs: Mastering AWS Cost Anomaly Detection

Authored by Jobin Sobachan

AWS Cost Anomaly Detection is a powerful feature in AWS Cost Explorer service, which helps in monitoring and controlling your AWS budgets and analyzing your AWS billing and usage data using machine learning algorithms. It helps in automatically tracking your costs and identifying anomalies or unexpected changes in your spending patterns. By identifying anomalies early, you can take proactive steps to control spending and prevent budget surprises. While Cost Anomaly Detection is a free service, you can incur charges if SNS Alert Notifications are enabled.

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Key Features and Benefits

• Anomaly Detection: AWS Cost Anomaly Detection spots irregularities in your AWS spending. This includes detecting significant spending spikes, unusual usage patterns, or deviations from historical norms.

• Alerts and Notifications: The service provides customizable alerts and notifications. When an anomaly is detected, it can send notifications via email, SMS, or other channels, ensuring that you're promptly informed about spending irregularities.

• Customization Options: AWS Cost Anomaly Detection can be customized to detect anomalies specific to the organization’s needs. You can set custom threshold values, define which AWS accounts or resources to monitor, and configure alerting preferences to match your operational requirements.

AWS Cost Anomaly Detection Setup

To set up AWS Cost Anomaly Detection:

1. Enable Cost Explorer: AWS Cost Anomaly Detection is a feature within AWS Cost Explorer. To access Cost Anomaly Detection, Cost Explorer has to be enabled.
2. In the Cost Anomaly detection section, create a cost monitor. Provide the monitor name and the monitor type.
3. Create AlertSubscription to receive alerts. Under Alert frequency, choose the preferred notification frequency:Individual alerts: The alert notifies you as soon as an anomaly is detected. These notifications require an SNS topic to be created.Daily Summaries: The alert notifies you with a daily summary when anomalies are detected. These notifications require at least one email recipient.Weekly Summaries: The alert notifies you with a weekly summary when anomalies are detected. These notifications require at least one email recipient.
4. Add Threshold, the number of anomalies for which the alert will be triggered. There are two types of thresholds - absolute and percentage thresholds.Absolute thresholds: Absolute thresholds trigger alerts when an anomaly's total cost impact exceeds your chosen threshold.Percentage thresholds: Percentage thresholds trigger alerts when an anomaly's total impact percentage exceeds your chosen threshold. Total impact percentage is the percentage difference between the total expected spend and total actual spend.

Common Challenges and Troubleshooting

While AWS Cost Anomaly Detection is a powerful tool for managing AWS costs, users may encounter certain challenges or issues during its implementation and use. Understanding these common challenges and knowing how to troubleshoot them can help ensure a smooth experience with the service.

1. False Positives and False Negatives: Users might face false positives (anomalies identified incorrectly) or false negatives (missed anomalies). These can lead to unnecessary alerts or overlooked cost anomalies.

Troubleshooting: Review and adjust anomaly detection thresholds. This can be done with the help of analyzing historical data.

1. Scaling for Complex Environments: In large and complex AWS environments with numerous accounts and services, configuring AWS Cost Anomaly Detection to effectively monitor and manage costs can be challenging.?

Troubleshooting: To manage complexity, implement resource tagging. This can help categorize and track costs across various departments, projects, and teams.

By identifying anomalies, providing recommendations, and integrating seamlessly with other AWS services, AWS Cost Anomaly Detection empowers you to make informed decisions and optimize your cloud costs. Start leveraging this service today to ensure that your AWS spending aligns with your budget and business goals.

To know more about how CloudifyOps, an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, can help you optimize your cloud costs, write to us today at [email protected].

Reference

https://aws.amazon.com/aws-cost-management/aws-cost-anomaly-detection/