Configuring Cloud Cost Management

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configuring Cloud Cost Management

    Configuring Cloud Cost Management in ServiceNow enables your organization to gain comprehensive visibility into total cloud consumption, control and reduce cloud costs, and optimize cloud platform operations. The process involves installing necessary applications, setting up access and data integrations with your cloud providers, and configuring features to manage cloud resources effectively.

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    Configuration Process

    • Install Cloud Cost Management Applications: Obtain and install the Cloud Cost Management application and optionally the Cloud Cost Management Infra Stack application (available from version 8.1 onward). Note that once activated, the Infra Stack application cannot be deactivated.
    • Assign Roles: Assign appropriate Cloud Cost Management roles to users and groups based on their responsibilities to ensure proper access and control.
    • Install and Configure MID Servers: Deploy MID servers to facilitate data exchange between ServiceNow Discovery and your cloud platforms. Configure these servers specifically for your cloud provider accounts (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) to enable data collection.
    • Discover Cloud Resources: Use either the Cloud Discovery application or Service Graph Connectors to identify service accounts, credentials, and MID servers that scan your cloud environment.
    • Access Billing and Usage Data: Set up necessary permissions and connections to download billing and usage data from your AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud accounts, ensuring accurate cost tracking.
    • Schedule Data Download Jobs: Configure and manage scheduled jobs within Cloud Cost Management to regularly download billing data and price sheets from your cloud providers, keeping cost data current.
    • Configure Cloud Cost Management Features: Leverage features such as rightsizing, managing unused and unassigned resources, handling reservation or saving plans, and defining business hours to optimize cloud resource utilization and cost.

    Expected Outcomes

    By following this configuration process, ServiceNow customers can expect to:

    • Gain accurate, real-time visibility into cloud consumption and costs across multiple cloud platforms.
    • Identify opportunities to reduce costs through rightsizing and eliminating unused or unassigned resources.
    • Optimize cloud operations by effectively managing reservation plans and scheduling usage according to business hours.
    • Empower users with appropriate roles to efficiently manage cloud cost data and analytics.

    Plan and configure Cloud Cost Management to gain visibility into your total cloud consumption, reduce costs, and optimize the operations of your cloud platforms.

    Configuration overview

    Here's an overview of the process for configuring Cloud Cost Management.

    Table 1. Configure Cloud Cost Management
    Step Action Resource
    Install Cloud Cost Management

    Install Cloud Cost Management

    		 Get the Cloud Cost Management application from the ServiceNow Store. Install Cloud Cost Management
    Install Cloud Cost Management Infra Stack

    Install Cloud Cost Management Infra Stack

    		 Get the Cloud Cost Management Infra Stack application from the ServiceNow Store.
    Important:
    The Cloud Cost Management Infra stack application is available with Cloud Cost Management version 8.1 and later. Installing the Cloud Cost Management Infra Stack application is optional. However, if you've activated this application, you can't deactivate it later.
    		 Install Cloud Cost Management Infra Stack
    Assign Cloud Cost Management roles

    Assign roles

    		 Assign Cloud Cost Management roles to user groups and to individual users based on user activities and responsibilities. Cloud Cost Management roles
    Install MID servers

    Install MID servers

    		 Install the MID servers to enable the movement of data between the Discovery application and your cloud platform. Installing the MID Server
    Configure MID servers

    Configure MID Servers

    		 Configure the MID Servers for enabling the Discovery application to communicate with your cloud provider accounts.
    Discover cloud resources

    Discover your cloud resources

    		 Discover the service accounts, the credentials for accessing the accounts, and the MID Servers that scan the resources using one of the mentioned approaches.
    Download billing data

    Schedule and manage jobs to download billing data for Cloud Cost Management

    		 Provide the Cloud Cost Management application access to the billing and usage data of the used cloud platforms.
    Download and store price sheet data

    Schedule and manage jobs to download price sheets for Cloud Cost Management

    		 Enable Cloud Cost Management to download and store price sheet data of the used cloud platforms.
    Configure Cloud Cost Management

    Configure the Cloud Cost Management features

    		 Configure the Cloud Cost Management features to rightsize, identify, assign, manage, and analyze usage data of your cloud resources.
    Use Cloud Cost Management

    Use Cloud Cost Management

    		 Gain visibility into your total cloud consumption, reduce costs, and optimize operations of your cloud platforms. Using Cloud Cost Management