Configure Cost and Usage reports

Cost and Usage Reports provide the most detailed information on your usage and bills. They can be configured to deliver 1 line per resource, for every hour of the day. They must be configured to enable you to access and analyze your usage and billing information.

Configure a Cost and Usage Report

If you configure multiple Cost and Usage Reports (CURs), then it is recommended to have 1 CUR per bucket. If you must have multiple CURs in a single bucket, ensure you use a different report path prefix so it is clear they are different reports.

  1. Log in to your management account as an IAM user with the required permissions, and go to the Billing console: Images/AWSCUR1.png

  2. Select Cost & Usage Reports from the left menu: Images/AWSCUR2.png

  3. Click on Create report: Images/AWSCUR3.png

  4. Enter a Report name (it can be any name, but we recommend including the management account id in the name), ensure you have selected Include resource IDs and Data refresh settings, then click on Next: Images/AWSCUR4.png

  5. Click on Configure: Images/AWSCURDelivery0.png

  6. Enter a unique bucket name, and ensure the region is correct, click Next: Images/AWSCURDelivery1.png

  7. Read and verify the policy, this will allow AWS to deliver billing reports to the bucket. Click on I have confirmed that this policy is correct, then click Save: Images/AWSCURDelivery3.png

  8. Verify the settings:

  • Ensure your bucket is a Valid Bucket (if not, verify the bucket policy)
  • Enter a Report path prefix (it can be any word, but we recommend cur-<Your Management Account ID) without any ‘/’ characters
  • Ensure the Time Granularity is Hourly
  • Report Versioning is set to Overwrite existing report
  • Under Enable report data integration for select Amazon Athena, and click Next: Images/AWSCURDelivery4.png
  1. Review the configuration, scroll to the bottom and click on Review and Complete: Images/AWSCUR6.png

You have successfully configured a Cost and Usage Report to be delivered. It may take up to 24hrs for the first report to be delivered.

There will be S3 Costs incurred to store the CUR, however the CUR is compressed to minimize costs.

Configure the CUR Bucket for your Cost Optimization Account

We will update the CUR bucket so that the Cost Optimization linked account can access the CURs. There are two options. Option 1 allows the Cost Optimization linked account to access the CURs, but does not copy the CUR files to the account. Option 2 uses S3 Replication to create a copy of the CUR in an S3 Bucket in your Cost Optimization Account. If you are unsure what option to use we recommend option 1.

Option 1: Configure Cost Optimization Access to the CUR Bucket

Option 1 allows the Cost Optimization linked account to access the CURs, but does not copy the CUR files to the account. If you are unsure what option to use we recommend option 1.

Click here to continue with the option 1

Option 2: Replicate the CUR Bucket to your Cost Optimization account (Consolidate Multi-Payer CURs)

Option 2 uses S3 Replication to create a copy of the CUR in an S3 Bucket in your Cost Optimization Account. If you have multiple Management Accounts (multi-Payer) or wish you create a single CUR source for groupings of your member account CUR(s) we recommend this option.

Click here to continue with the option 2