Create Usage Budget

Overview

In this section, you will practice creating a Usage Budget - a tool that helps you monitor and control your AWS resource usage.

ℹ️ Information: If you have already completed the Create Cost Budget section, you will find that the Usage Budget creation process is very similar, with one main difference: Cost Budget operates based on costs, while Usage Budget operates based on resource usage.

Initialize Usage Budget

1. Log in to AWS Management Console and find Billing and Cost Management service in the search bar.

2. On the management page, select Budgets from the left menu. Click the Create budget button.

Set up Budget Configuration

3. In the Budget setup section:
   • Select Customize
   • Under Budget types, select Usage budget
   • Click Next

4. In the Set your budget interface:

   • Under Budget name, enter a name for your budget

5. In the Budget against section:

   • Select Usage type groups
   • Select EC2: ELB - Running Hours to monitor the running hours of EC2 instances

6. Configure Set budget amount:
   • Period: Choose the time period for Budget (Daily/Monthly/Quarterly/Annually)
   • Budget renewal type: Choose budget renewal type (Recurring/Expiring)
   • Budgeting method: Choose budgeting method (Fixed/Planned)
   • Enter the maximum usage hours you want to limit

7. In the Budget scope section, keep the default settings and select Next.

Set up Alerts

8. In the Configure alerts section, select Add an alert threshold to set alert thresholds.

9. Complete the Alert information:
   • Set alert threshold (% of budget)
   • Add email address to receive notifications when threshold is exceeded

10. Click Next to continue.

11. Review the settings and select Create budget to complete.

View and Manage Budget

12. After successful creation, you will see the new budget in the list.

13. Check Budget health to monitor current usage compared to the set budget.

14. View Budget history to track usage trends over time.

💡 Pro Tip: Use Usage Budget to monitor and control AWS resource usage, especially hourly-billed services like EC2. This helps you avoid exceeding expected usage and control costs more effectively.

🔒 Security Note: Ensure only personnel responsible for cost management receive budget alert notifications to avoid leaking sensitive financial information about the organization.