Tracking Resource Costs via Azure Portal

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As I continue onwards with ongoing prep for the DP-900 exam, a major concern is keeping the Azure Bill low. I share some of my tips here.

Here is a snapshot of my ongoing bill, at the time of writing this post.

learning is expensive

For one thing, despite the parity pricing in India, Azure Exams cost a fair amount of money. That means, it’s best to work hard and learn harder, before purchasing the exam ticket.

Other than the Exam related expenses, another exam, one has to keep in mind are the ongoing costs related to Azure.

For example, right now, I am going deep into this chapter about Transact SQL. There is an entire learning plan available. Although, it is not essential for the purpose of DP-900 (which is primarily concerned with basic queries), I decided to go deep into Transact SQL anyway.

(note: You can find the learning plan, here)

I could have setup a local SQL database or spun one up via Docker. Both of which are free, but, I want a ‘cloud’ entity to my learning experience. So, I started spinning up a bunch of databases servers and databases. Of course, I also started using the low cost of ‘free’ options that are available. I wrote about them here.

Microsoft Azure ‘Always’ free Database Things

Still though, at some point, some money has to be given to Azure. For example, when I was doing importing, I had to let the automation create a database for me. In the hour it took me to come to Azure Portal and switch over to the free or the low-cost plan, I was already billed a fair amount of money.

It is what it is.

Anyway, here are the things that I do to control the Azure bill.

1. I have a learning diary and journal notebook where I have written in big letters, “delete azure resources”.
2. I remember to check this diary every few hours (and the journal contains other essential reminders as well) so I do what I have mentioned in step one.
3. Now, thanks to reminder, I log into the Azure Portal multiple times in a single day.
4. Here, the key thing is preparation. I ensure that I put all my learning resources in a single resource group. For example, all the DP-900 resources, big or small, are created in a resource group called ‘DP-900’.
5. Next, look at the ‘forecast’ thing. If it’s steadily growing every day, you have a problem. I look at my forecast thing, it raises but then stays on the same level. That means, I have deleted resources which I don’t need. Or, I have switched these services to the free plan.
6. Finally, by far the most useful view, is, the ‘cost by resource’ option.

gives you exact breakdown. You will see that I accidentally created an expensive database just yesterday for about an hour.

And, that’s all there is to it.

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