What is cost management for Red Hat OpenShift?
In this resource, we will discuss the importance of integrating Microsoft Azure Red Hat® OpenShift® with the cost management service to track and manage costs effectively in complex, multi-tenant environments.
We will explore how this integration addresses common cost-tracking and billing challenges, ultimately enabling organizations to optimize resource allocation and enhance financial transparency.
What will you learn?
- What is cost management for Red Hat OpenShift?
- How cost management improves granularity for cost tracking
What do you need before starting?
- Nothing - you can start here
What is cost management for Red Hat OpenShift?
The Red Hat cost management service is an installable operator that allows users to track costs associated with deploying and managing OpenShift clusters on bare-metal servers, virtual machines, private clouds, and public cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), IBM Cloud, and others.
Users install the Red Hat Cost Management Metrics Operator, which comes with their Red Hat OpenShift access, and is designed to help them manage and monitor costs associated with their Red Hat OpenShift deployments.
This tool enables organizations to gain insights into spending, make informed decisions, and effectively manage their budgets within their OpenShift deployments. It provides functionalities for tracking, analyzing, and optimizing costs within OpenShift clusters, helping users make informed decisions about resource allocation and expenditure.
Improved granularity for OpenShift cost tracking on Azure
Cost management for Red Hat OpenShift now offers better integration with Microsoft Azure through Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
Previously, cost data was only available at the subscription level. Now you can view the cost of running Red Hat OpenShift on Microsoft Azure at a more granular level. This means you can choose to see costs for a single resource group or an entire billing account, depending on your needs.
Red Hat's improved integration with Azure Cost Management Scopes allows you to drill down to a much more specific level. For example:
- Resource group focus: You can choose to see cost data solely for the resource group where your OpenShift cluster resides. This offers a clear picture of the infrastructure expenses directly tied to running Azure Red Hat OpenShift.
- Billing account flexibility: Conversely, if your organization prefers a broader view, you can configure cost management to encompass your entire Azure billing account. This provides a high-level overview of all your Azure spending.
Some other benefits of Cost Management Scopes include enhanced cost control, streamlined cost management, and clearer project cost attribution.
- Enhanced cost control: Granular cost data empowers you to make informed decisions about resource allocation. You can identify areas where OpenShift usage might be optimized or pinpoint cost-saving opportunities within your Azure environment.
- Streamlined cost management: For organizations with complex Azure setups, Cost Management Scopes eliminate the need to manage a multitude of individual subscriptions. You can define the appropriate scope upfront, simplifying cost tracking.
- Clearer project cost attribution: By isolating OpenShift's costs within a specific resource group, you can accurately attribute expenses to your projects. This transparency facilitates better budgeting and cost forecasting for your OpenShift deployments on Azure. In essence, Cost Management Scopes provide greater flexibility and control over how you view and manage the costs associated with running Red Hat OpenShift on Microsoft Azure.
Important notes:
An Azure storage account with a private endpoint is not supported as of the writing of this learning path. The product and engineering teams are working on a Request for Enhancement (RFE). Follow this document for all Red Hat Insights environment traffic.
