Simple Log Service:Cost Manager FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Cost Manager, including billing, data queries, dashboards, and permissions.

Does Cost Manager incur extra fees?

No. All versions of Cost Manager, along with the associated Project and Tablestore instance, are free of charge.

Unable to view data in the Logstore

The new version of Cost Manager stores bill data in Tablestore and associates it with a Log Service Logstore as an instance_bill external table. You cannot directly view bill data on the query and analysis page of the Logstore. Run the * | select * from instance_bill statement to query the data.

Query returns no data

• Check the time range.

  Cost Manager fetches instance bill data with a one-day delay, so data for the current day is unavailable. If your query returns no data, make sure the selected time range is not too recent. Select a preset time range such as Yesterday, The Day before Yesterday, 1 Week, 30 Days, This Week, or This Month.

• If you use the new version of Cost Manager, your query must include the external table data source. The query must contain from instance_bill. For example, a valid statement is * | select * from instance_bill .

Filter conditions do not take effect

If you use the new version of Cost Manager, ensure all filter conditions are in the WHERE clause. The new version queries an external table, so conditions before the vertical bar (|) are ignored. For example, a valid statement is * | select * from instance_bill where ProductCode='sls'

Why is bill data delayed or inaccurate?

• Bill data is delayed by one day, so you cannot query data for the current day.

  The billing time for an instance is recorded as 00:00 of that day. Ensure your query's time range includes 00:00 of the target day.

• If you use the previous version of Cost Manager, upgrade to the new version for better data accuracy and timeliness. The new version automatically performs a full data update every morning.

  To continue using the previous version, go to the Settings page in Cost Manager and select Re-import Bills.

  The re-import process takes about three hours, depending on the volume of bill data.

• After you upgrade to the new version of Cost Manager, Log Service submits a data import job by default. The data is available in about one to two hours, depending on the volume of bill data.

• If you have just enabled Cost Manager, go to the Settings page to check whether an import job has been submitted. After the job is submitted, the data is available in about one to two hours, depending on the volume of bill data.

Resource not found error

If you encounter an error such as "xxx not found", go to the Settings page, click Next, and then click Update Resources & Next.

Cannot subscribe to a dashboard

Cost Manager dashboards are templates and cannot be subscribed to directly. To subscribe, save the dashboard as a new one in the corresponding Project first.

1. In the target dashboard in Cost Manager, click Save As.

2. Enter a name for the dashboard and click Confirm.

3. Return to the homepage of the Log Service console. In the project list, click the Cost Manager Project, named bill-analysis-${Alibaba Cloud account ID}.

4. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Dashboard > Dashboards, and then click the target dashboard.

5. On the dashboard page, click Subscribe.

Cannot modify a dashboard

Cost Manager dashboards are templates and cannot be modified directly. To edit a dashboard, save it as a new one in the corresponding Project first.

1. In the target dashboard in Cost Manager, click Save As.

2. Enter a name for the dashboard and click OK.

3. Return to the homepage of the Log Service console. In the project list, click the Cost Manager Project, named bill-analysis-${Alibaba Cloud account ID}.

4. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Dashboard > Dashboards, and then click the target dashboard.

5. On the dashboard page, click Edit.

Re-importing bills for the new version

No. The new version of Cost Manager automatically performs a full data update every day, so you do not need to re-import bills.

When you click Re-import Bills, a message appears stating, "The current version is the new Cost Manager, and bill re-import is not required!" Click OK to close the message.

RAM user permission issues

If a RAM user encounters a permission error such as "role_invalid" when enabling or upgrading Cost Manager, verify that the RAM user has the LogFullAccess permission.

Upgrading alerts for the previous version

Use the following script to automatically upgrade alerts. Download the upgrade script.

To use the script:

# Download the script, navigate to its directory, replace the placeholders with your actual parameters, and run the command.
# Parameters: The Cost Manager Project is bill-analysis-{Alibaba Cloud account ID}.
# The endpoint is the Log Service endpoint for the Project.
# Replace accesskey_id and accesskey_secret with an AccessKey pair that has permissions for alerts.
python UpdateBillAlert.py {project} {endpoint} {accesskey_id} {accesskey_secret}

Disabling public network access for Tablestore

The Tablestore instance that Cost Manager creates does not require internet access, so you can safely disable its public network access.