43 Chargeback Administration

This chapter describes the Chargeback application and details the administrative tasks necessary to set up and run the application. It then presents various ways to access and use the information Chargeback collects and aggregates.

The chapter contains the following sections:

• Overview of Chargeback

• Setting Up Chargeback

• Accessing Chargeback Information

43.1 Overview of Chargeback

This section gives a brief overview of the most important aspects of Chargeback. It covers the following topics:

• Why Implement Chargeback

• Enterprise Manager Chargeback

43.1.1 Why Implement Chargeback

The purpose of Chargeback is to gather data on resource use, allocate charges for the use of these resources, and present the results in a comprehensible format.

Chargeback is used to allocate the costs of IT resources to the people or organizations who consume them. While it can be applied in situations where IT resources are dedicated, it is particularly relevant in situations where resources are shared, as without some way to meter and charge for consumption there will be a tendency for users to use more resources than they need. This problem is exacerbated in cloud environments where users are able to provision their own resources using self-service.

Consider the following primary use cases:

• Increasingly, organizations are adopting consolidation platforms such as Oracle Exadata and Oracle Exalogic, where there are multiple applications running on a shared hardware platform. There needs to be a way to meter the resources consumed by each application so charges can be applied accordingly. This, in turn, helps to measure the business value of IT investments so that priority can be given to the applications with the greatest return on investment (ROI).

• With the popularity of cloud computing on the rise, where users have the ability to self-service provision resources such as databases and virtual machines, it is highly desirable to be able to meter the resources each cloud consumer uses so that they can be charged based on their consumption. Cloud consumers likewise benefit by rationing their consumption to that which provides optimal business value, thus contributing to the overall ROI of the organization's IT investment.

To sum up, adopting a Chargeback (or Showback) model can deliver significant benefits to both IT and Line of Business users:

• Chargeback benefits consumers by placing them in control of their IT costs.

• Chargeback benefits IT by helping to drive up utilization rates, thus reducing the number of physical resources they need to manage.

43.1.2 Enterprise Manager Chargeback

Chargeback, as the name implies, is a tool of accountability. The application's primary uses can generally be described as follows:

• Provide resource usage metering by aggregating and normalizing the enormous amount of metric data Enterprise Manager collects.

• Provide IT with a means to "charge" a currency amount to the consumers of resources.

• Provide consumers with reports detailing their consumption and associated charges.

43.1.2.1 Chargeback Entities

Chargeback calculates charges based on resource use. A resource is typically associated with an Enterprise Manager target. Chargeback collects metrics and configuration information for a subset of Enterprise Manager targets to calculate charges. A resource can also be something that an integrator customizes to be monitored and charged for in Enterprise Manager. Chargeback recognizes these Enterprise Manager targets and custom resources collectively as entities. For information on creating a custom entity, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Extensibility Programmer's Guide.

Note:

You can also add Chargeback support for Enterprise Manager target types for which there is no current out-of-box Chargeback support. See Chapter 56, "Chargeback and Metering EMCLI Verbs," for more information.

Within Chargeback there is the concept of usage mode; that is, how an entity is metered. Integrators who create entity types define associated usage modes. All entity types have a default usage mode. Administrators, when adding entities to Chargeback, decide which usage mode is applicable in a given context, if the entity in question has more than its default usage mode. Common usage modes include the following:

• Metered–where charges accrue against a single cost center

• Metered by service–a database instance with multiple services bills by the service; charges by service can be to different cost centers, or charges for all services can be to the same cost center

• Metered by J2EE application–a WebLogic Server bills by the J2EE application; charges by application are to different cost centers

See Section 43.2.6 for detailed information on adding entities to Chargeback.

43.1.2.2 Charge Plans

A charge plan defines the resources to charge for and their associated rates. Chargeback offers two types of charge plan—the universal charge plan and extended charge plans.

Universal Charge Plan

The universal charge plan contains the rates for three common resources:

• CPU

• Memory

• Storage

Note that the universal plan does not apply to all entity types. Universal rates are not applicable to J2EE applications, for example.

Extended Charge Plans

While CPU, memory and storage can be used for Chargeback across a variety of entity types, there may be situations where entity-specific charges are required. For example, you may want to base charges on the type of host OS (Windows or Linux), or on a database option such as Partitioning. In this instance, an extended charge plan can be used. The extended charge plan provides greater flexibility to Chargeback administrators, enabling them to:

• Define entity type-specific charges

• Define configuration and usage-based rates

• Define a flat charge independent of configuration or usage

• Override or adjust universal plan rates

Chargeback provides an out-of-box extended plan that you can use as a sample for creating your own extended plans tailored to your environment. The shipped plan defines charges for the Oracle VM Guest entity type where charge items and applicable rates vary depending on machine size.

See Section 43.2.4 for detailed information on working with charge plans.

43.1.2.3 Cost Centers

When charges for the consumption of resources are calculated, these charges must be assigned somewhere. In Chargeback, the assignment of these costs is to a cost center. Cost centers are typically organized in a business hierarchy and may correspond to business units—sales, engineering, human resources, and so forth. The cost center hierarchy is defined within the Chargeback application and is used for rollup and drill-down purposes when reporting on usage and charges. There are also default mechanisms in place based on cost center properties set outside of Chargeback. See Section 43.2.5 for detailed information on creating cost centers.

43.1.2.4 Reports

The payoff for setting up Chargeback is the wealth of information it puts at your fingertips. The information is available in a variety of formats, including pie charts and bar graphs. You can drill down to details by cost center, entity type, and resource. Trending reports show charges and resource utilization over time, up to a year in fact, which can help in IT resource planning. In addition to the reporting function available to administrators within the application, self service users can view Chargeback information related to their entities within the self service portal, and Line of Business users can view Chargeback information in BI Publisher reports.

Report Cycle

Chargeback calculates charges for the current calendar month. This constitutes the report cycle. Any adjustments to configured charge plans and rates are retroactively applied to usage from the first day of the report cycle (that is, the first day of the current month). Charges accrued in previous calendar months are considered closed. Thus, modifications to charge plans do not affect the calculated charges for previous months.

See Section 43.3 for detailed information on accessing Chargeback information.

43.2 Setting Up Chargeback

This section describes the following tasks, which must be completed to implement and support Chargeback services:

• Configuring Global Settings for Chargeback

• Working with Charge Plans

• Creating Cost Centers

• Adding Entities to Chargeback

• Assigning Cost Centers to Entities

• Assigning Charge Plans to Entities

• Running the Daily Data Collection Job

The person performing these tasks must have the necessary privileges. These privileges can be granted using the EM_CBA_ADMIN role.

Note:

To view a visual demonstration on setting up and using Chargeback, watch the video Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c: Metering and Chargeback, using the following URL:

https://apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=44785:24:0::NO:24:P24_CONTENT_ID,P24_PREV_PAGE:5772,1

Figure 43-1 shows a simple workflow of steps required to set up Chargeback.

Figure 43-1 Chargeback Setup Workflow

Following initial setup, you perform tasks on a regular basis, such as:

• Adding new entities to Chargeback

• Updating charge plans

• Assigning charge plans and cost centers

Other events happen automatically:

• SSA entity charges are rolled up to higher-level cost centers

• New entities that are members of a composite entity (a VM Guest in a VM zone, for example) are discovered and added to Chargeback

The daily data collection job is responsible for capturing these changes, in addition to collecting metric and configuration data.

See Section 43.2.10 for detailed information on the daily collection job.

43.2.1 Chargeback and Metrics

Chargeback uses information that Enterprise Manager collects as a basis for metering. Chargeback metrics can be configuration-based, usage-based, or availability-based.

• Configuration-based metrics refer to things such as number of CPUs or database version; these metrics are considered static and thus have a daily aggregation.

• Usage-based metrics refer to things such as CPU utilization or memory consumption; these metrics have an hourly aggregation.

• Availability-based metrics measure the time an entity is available, otherwise known as an entity's uptime. It is the number of minutes in a given hour an entity is considered available. The charge is prorated for downtime.

Charges can also be applied at a fixed rate.

Entity types for which charge rates can be defined for specific metrics include host, virtual machine, WebLogic Server, database instance, schema service, and pluggable database (PDB). Composite entity types can also be added to Chargeback. These include Cluster Database, Oracle WebLogic Cluster, Oracle WebLogic Domain, Oracle VM Zone, PaaS Infrastructure Zone, Oracle VM Server Pool, and so forth. Adding groups and systems automatically includes all members that are valid Chargeback entities. After an entity has been added to Chargeback, a collection job will run once a day against entity tables in Enterprise Manager to extract information for use by Chargeback.

Chargeback Data Retention Period

Chargeback retains the data it collects as follows:

• Hourly data remains available for three months by default. To see what your current retention period is for hourly data, execute the following query:

  select * from  EM_INT_PARTITIONED_TABLES where table_name like@ 'EMCT_CBA_CHARGE_1HOUR'
  

  To adjust the hourly retention period, execute the following command sequence:

  begin
  gc_interval_partition_mgr.SET_RETENTION('SYSMAN', 'EMCT_CBA_CHARGE_1HOUR', 
  4);
  end;
  

  This example extends the hourly retention period to four months.

• Daily data remains available for 24 months by default. To see what your current retention period is for daily data, execute the following query:

  select * from  EM_INT_PARTITIONED_TABLES where table_name like
  @ 'EMCT_CBA_CHARGE_1DAY'
  

  To adjust the daily retention period, execute the following command sequence:

  begin
  gc_interval_partition_mgr.SET_RETENTION('SYSMAN', 'EMCT_CBA_CHARGE_1DAY', 
  36);
  end;
  

  This example extends the daily retention period to 36 months.

43.2.2 Self Service Applications and Zones within Chargeback

A key component of cloud computing is availability of self service applications. Enterprise Manager includes SSAs for Oracle VM, database, and middleware.

1. To access the respective portal, from the Enterprise menu, select Cloud, then select Self Service Portal.

2. On the Self Service Portal page, select a service type from the Manage drop-down menu.

3. Click the Chargeback icon in the left pane to view charge trends and details for the selected service type, provided it was configured for Chargeback.

While performing cloud setup, you can link directly into Chargeback to configure the respective zone. Note that zone setup is a prerequisite.

1. From the Setup menu, select Cloud, then select as follows:

   • Infrastructure–to set up VM types.

   • PaaS Infrastructure Zones–to manage PaaS Infrastructure zones.

   • Database–to set up database resource pools.

   • Middleware–to set up middleware resource pools.

   • Testing–to add application types for use by test designers to organize test-related activities.

2. Each respective home page has a Chargeback selection on the left. Click it to display an informational page on Chargeback setup that includes links into Chargeback to perform setup.

Chargeback supports several zones including Oracle VM and PaaS Infrastructure, which includes DBaaS, MWaaS, Schema as a Service (SchaaS), and Pluggable Database as a Service (PdbaaS).

Within Chargeback, the respective zone hierarchies appear as follows on the Entities tab, PaaS Infrastructure under the Cloud category and Oracle VM under the Servers, Storage and Network category:

Note:

A PaaS Infrastructure zone can contain a database instance, a RAC instance, a database service, a composite application, or any combination of these, as represented below.

Zones	Zone Hierarchy
PaaS Infrastructure	PaaS Infrastructure Zone    Single Instance Database    Cluster Database       Database Instance1       Database Instance2    Schema Service    Pluggable Database    Oracle Composite Application       WebLogic Domain           WebLogic Cluster             Oracle WebLogic Server1             Oracle WebLogic Server2           Oracle WebLogic Server
Oracle VM	Oracle VM Zone    Oracle VM Server Pool       Oracle VM Guest1       Oracle VM Guest2

The following characteristics apply to all entity type zones:

• Adding a zone to Chargeback automatically includes all child instances.

• Removing a zone from Chargeback automatically removes all child instances.

• A child instance with no explicitly assigned charge plan inherits the plan of its nearest ancestor above it in the hierarchy.

• A child instance with no explicitly assigned cost center inherits the cost center of its nearest ancestor above it in the hierarchy.

• Querying on charges at a given level within the hierarchy will include all charges for the levels below (either directly or indirectly).

• New members discovered or added to a zone are automatically recognized by Chargeback at the next data collection cycle.

As the Chargeback Administrator with respect to self service, you should perform all configuration-related tasks on the self service zone rather than on child entities.

The SSA user is automatically associated with the SSA entity as the cost center, when the SSA entity is added to Chargeback. See Section 43.2.7 to learn about assigning cost centers.. When assigning charge plans, a plan assigned to a zone applies to all members within the zone that do not otherwise have a plan assigned. See Section 43.2.8 to learn about assigning charge plans.

43.2.3 Configuring Global Settings for Chargeback

Click the Settings subtab on the Home tab to configure global settings for currency symbol and uptime calculations.

Currency Symbol

You can change the default currency (USD) by clicking in the currency symbol text box and entering the desired currency symbol. The new selection becomes the default currency across all charge plans; that is, the universal plan and all extended charge plans. All reports, including historical reports, reflect the new currency. Note that no rate conversion occurs when you change the currency; that is, the numbers stay the same. Change from dollars to euros and a one dollar charge becomes a one euro charge.

Uptime Calculations

Select the appropriate radio button to ignore or include uptime in charge calculations. The default is to include uptime as a consideration. Note that to include uptime has an impact on all fixed and configuration-based charge calculations for all entities.

Chargeback prorates charges and discounts accordingly. So, for example, if an entity was available 22.5 hours in a 24-hour period, the daily charge would be adjusted 1.5 hours. A change in the uptime setting is effective from the beginning of the current report cycle, but does not impact previous report cycles; that is, charges in historical reports are not prorated based on a change made to the setting in the current cycle.

Click Save to update the settings.

Example

To demonstrate the difference in factoring in uptime, consider the following charge plan configurations:

• A universal charge plan that charges two dollars a day per gigabyte of memory allocation, a dollar a day per gigabyte of storage, and no charge for CPU usage

• An extended charge plan for a Guest VM (medium), with a base charge of a dollar an hour and a memory allocation adjustment of x5

Given these charge plans, a user requisitions a Guest VM with 4 GB of memory and 100 GB of disk space for two consecutive days. The first day the uptime metric records 20 hours and the second day, 24 hours.

When uptime is not a factor in the calculations, the charge per day is 164 dollars, computed as follows:

• Forty dollars a day for memory (4 GB* $2 * 5)

• A hundred dollars a day for storage (100 GB * $1)

• A base charge of 24 dollars a day (24 hours * $1)

When uptime is a factor, charges for the first day are 137 dollars (rounded up), computed by subtracting the four hours of downtime from the per day charge (20/24 * 164).

43.2.4 Working with Charge Plans

As described in the Overview, there are two types of charge plan, the universal charge plan and extended charge plans.

The universal charge plan establishes rates for three basic metrics (CPU, memory, and storage). For example, charge a dollar a day for a CPU (generic), two dollars a week per GB of memory, and a dollar a week per GB of storage. Optionally, different rates can be applied per CPU architecture. For example, charge different rates for a PA-RISC, a SPARC, and an x86. You can create multiple revisions of the universal charge plan for use in the future.

An extended charge plan enhances the universal plan to include entity-specific metrics. You may want to implement charges that relate to specific characteristics of an entity. An extended charge plan affords that flexibility. The entity type determines the items for which rates can be charged.

In defining an appropriate charge plan for use with a given entity type, you have to decide on a case-by-case basis whether the three basic metrics of CPU, memory, and storage are sufficient to charge for resource use. If the answer is no, then you have to define an extended plan for the entity type.

In any case, you want to define the universal charge plan for general use. You can then indicate in an extended charge plan how the universal plan rates apply.

An extended charge plan consists of groups of entity-type specific charge items. Entity-specific charge templates are available for the following entity types:

• Host

• Oracle WebLogic Server (includes J2EE applications)

• Oracle VM Guest

• Database Instance (includes database services)

• Pluggable Database (PDB)

• Schema Service

Chargeable items and applicable rate adjustments vary, depending on the entity type.

With an extended plan you can base charges on entity-specific charge items. For example, you may want an additional charge for a host running Windows OS, or a database with the Partitioning option installed. In addition to configuration- and usage-based charge items, you can include a fixed charge. For example, charge $100 a month for each host, regardless of consumption.

You may find that even with an extended plan, the charge items available for a given entity type are insufficient for your particular needs. In this case, you can introduce custom charge items through use of CLI verbs. For additional information, see Chapter 56, "Chargeback and Metering EMCLI Verbs."

This section covers the following topics:

• Charge Plans and Effective Dates

• Creating and Revising the Universal Charge Plan

• Creating an Extended Charge Plan

• Viewing Charge item Metadata

• Using Conditions in Charge Plans

• Revising Extended Charge Plans

43.2.4.1 Charge Plans and Effective Dates

When you create a charge plan (universal or extended), you establish the plan's effective date, which is always the first of a month. The plan revision remains in effect until you create a new plan revision whose effective date determines the previous plan revision's termination.

Say, for example, you want to set up a charge plan for a calendar year, in which a new plan revision goes into effect each quarter. You create an initial plan revision that goes into effect January 1. The plan shows an effective date of Jan. 1, yyyy - Onward. You create a plan revision that goes into effect April 1. The initial plan revision now shows an effective date of Jan. 1, yyyy - Mar. 31, yyyy, and the new plan revision, Apr. 1, yyyy - Onward. You create two more plan revisions, one with an effective date of July 1 and the other with an effective date of October 1. You now have four plan revisions with effective dates as follows:

• Jan. 1, yyyy - Mar. 31, yyyy

• Apr. 1, yyyy - Jun. 30, yyyy

• Jul. 1, yyyy - Sep. 30, yyyy

• Oct. 1, yyyy - Onward

Only current and future plan revisions appear in the Charge Plans navigation pane. You can retrieve expired plan revisions by selecting Historical Revisions from the View menu.

43.2.4.2 Creating and Revising the Universal Charge Plan

Set up the universal charge plan as follows:

1. How to proceed depends on the revision date:

   • If the effective date under Universal Charge Plan starts in the past, select the revision in the navigation pane, then select Revision from the Create menu.

   • If the effective date under Universal Charge Plan is current or in the future, select the revision in the navigation pane and click Set Rates.

2. In the dialog that opens, select the effective date of the revision. Note that a change to rates currently in effect is retroactive to the beginning of the cycle. Click OK.

3. In the Charge Plan editor, set the rates and charge frequency for the three basic metrics.

   Select a row, enter the rate and select the frequency from the drop-down menu.

   The rates set here are effective from the beginning of the current month, and have no impact on any previous month.

4. Make additional entries for different CPU architectures, as required.

   1. Click the Add button.

   2. Select a CPU from the drop-down menu and click OK.

   3. In the new row added to the table, enter the rate and select the charge frequency from the drop-down menu.

5. When done, click the Save button in the upper right hand corner to complete the universal charge plan revision.

43.2.4.3 Creating an Extended Charge Plan

Set up an extended charge plan as follows:

1. From the Create menu, select Plan. The Charge Plan editor opens.

2. Enter a name for the plan. The name must be unique but the plan can have multiple, date-based revisions.

3. Click Add. The Add Entity Types dialog opens.

4. Select from the list of supported entity types. As a plan can serve more than one entity type, you can multiselect in the dialog. Click OK.

   Selected entity types appear in a table with one configuration (default) indicated.

5. Click Set Up Configurations to open the Set Up Configurations dialog, then click Add to open the Add Configuration dialog.

   Add a condition to set up a configuration for the entity type selected. The list of conditions available derives from the entity type. Select from the list, choose an operator, and set the condition value. You can specify a value or click the search icon to select the condition value from a list, or to search for some other value.

   You might, for example, set a condition of machine architecture for a host entity type, where there are two options: sparc sun4u and AMD64. You can then use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to establish the order of precedence in matching conditions, if applicable.

   Click OK when done with configuration setup.

   As Figure 43-2 shows, the charge plan table now displays separate columns for conditional configurations and the default configuration called Other.

   Figure 43-2 Setting Up an Entity Configuration

   
   

   Note that you can set only a single condition for a configuration. Suppose you want to change the condition from machine size to high availability for VM Guest. To do so, open the Set Up Configurations dialog and remove the machine size condition items. When you click Add, the high availability condition item is now available.

6. Click Add Item to open the Add Item dialog. Use this dialog to add charge items based on entity type for billing purposes.

   Select a charge item from the drop-down list. The list of items derives from the entity type. For certain items, you can select the charge type from a drop-down list—flat rate, per unit, and so forth. You can also set conditions, the same as for configurations in Step 5. For a database metered by service, charges are per service. For a WebLogic Server metered by J2EE application, charges are per application. Make your selection and click OK.

   The charge plan table now displays a row for the charge item just added. A column appears for each configuration. Click the help icon to see a pop-up description of the charge item.

7. In the charge item row, specify the rate and select the frequency for each configuration. Say, for example, you added a CPU count charge item for entity type host, for which you want to charge a $1 a week per unit for the SPARC architecture, $.50 a week per unit for the AMD architecture, and $.75 per unit a week for all other architectures. Make the appropriate entries in the respective columns as displayed in Figure 43-3.

   Figure 43-3 Setting a Condition on a Charge Item

   
   

8. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 to include additional charge items for the entity type.

9. Optional. Make rate adjustments to the universal charge plan basic metrics for this extended charge plan. Make adjustments by specifying a factor of the base rate, where 1, the default, represents the prevailing base rate. So, for example, enter 1.5 to increase the rate by 50 percent; enter .5 to decrease the rate by 50 percent. If you want to ignore a universal plan rate altogether, enter 0.

   Expand the rate factor for a metric to see what the actual charge is. For example, if the rate adjustment for memory allocation is 1.5 and the rate is $2 a month, the adjusted rate will be $3 a month.

   The metrics available for an entity type determine which rate adjustments are possible. For example, you cannot make rate adjustments for a WebLogic Server metered by J2EE application.

   Suppose, given the example, you want to adjust the CPU rate to 75 percent for the AMD architecture and to 125 percent for the SPARC, leaving the rate as is for the rest. Make appropriate entries as shown in Figure 43-4.

   Figure 43-4 Extended Plan Showing Customized Charge Items

   
   

10. When done, click the Save button in the upper right hand corner to complete the extended charge plan revision for the entity type.

    You can now assign the extended charge plan to an entity instance of the appropriate entity type. Remember that extended charge plans are automatically effective from the beginning of the month.

43.2.4.4 Viewing Charge item Metadata

The charge item library enables you to see at-a-glance detailed information about the charge items known within your Chargeback installation. This includes all charge items for well-known Enterprise Manager target types as well as for custom entity types introduced by integrators.

In many cases, charge items can be taken at face value: amount of memory used. In other cases, however, it is not so clear cut. Is the charge for database memory use computed based on allocated SGA memory or on the amount of memory used? What is the underlying metric or configuration used to determine CPU time or DB time usage? In cases such as these the usage value is only a part of some formula or customized query used to compute charges. In any event, you can take advantage of the detailed information available as you create extended charge plans.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback and click the Charge Plans tab

2. Click the Charge Item Library icon.

   The charge items metadata browser opens, displaying a table of all known charge items.

3. Optional. Select Columns from the View menu to alter the display and to show hidden columns, which might be of interest to you.

4. Optional. Click Export to save the charge items metadata content in a spreadsheet.

Consider the following as you view charge item metadata:

• The information is organized by entity type.

• Resource category is an internal bucket that Chargeback uses to organize charge items.

• Source type denotes a charge item as usage-based, configuration-based, or fixed.

• Chargeable means a rate can be defined for the item. An item without the check in the Chargeable column does not itself have a rate defined. Machine Architecture, for example, is a condition rather than a chargeable item.

• An Invalid indicator means the selected usage mode is not appropriate for the entity type.

• User-defined distinguishes custom charge items from out-of-box charge items.

• Charge items that are inactive cannot be added to new plans but can still be used in existing plans. They may also have meaning to historical plans.

• Metric Group and Metric Column link a charge item to its Enterprise Manager collection data. See the "Using Metric Extensions" chapter in the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administrator's Guide for more information.

43.2.4.5 Using Conditions in Charge Plans

Conditions introduce considerable flexibility when creating extended charge plans. You can create variations known as configurations that allow you to determine a set of rates to charge based on entity configuration. You base configurations on a property or attribute of an entity, such as the size of a virtual machine. The sample extended plan (identified as Sample Charge Plan), for example, sets conditions on a VM Guest entity type, based on the machine size of the virtual machine, allowing for different sets of charges to apply depending on machine size. There is also an implied default configuration, which is the charge plan itself if no configurations are set up, or the charge plan of record if there is no match for a configuration condition. The sample extended plan thus has four configurations, one each for machine sizes small, medium, and large, plus the default "Other."

Similarly, you can place a condition on an individual charge item that determines if a charge will be applied. For example a condition set on Partitioning means charge only if partitioning is used.

Use the Like condition operator with string-based entity type and charge items to match a range of string values. For example, set a Like condition on a database instance to match on all 11g releases (Like 11%). Or use it as a wildcard (Like %) to match on any string of characters (or none). Use an underscore (Like _) to match any single character. Use backslash to escape a wildcard character (Like \%). Use a double backslash to escape the escape character (Like\\%).

When you have multiple configurations, you have to set the order of precedence to determine how conditions are applied. Suppose you have the following sequence of configurations based on the host operating system:

• OS Like %Linux%

• OS Like %Linux 6%

• Default

The second condition (Linux 6) will never be tested because the first will always take precedence when the OS is any version of Linux. Thus, you have to make the test for Linux 6 first to base charges specifically on the Linux 6 OS.

Contrast the Like operator with the Equals operator, where the match must be exact, and there is no wildcard recognition. So, for example, Equals 11.2% does not match 11.2.0 or 11.2.1. You must specify Equals 11.2.0 or Equals 11.2.1. Note also that all string matching is case-sensitive. Equals UPPER is not the same as Equals upper. There is also a Not Equals operator with which you can exclude specific string values.

Consider these other condition examples:

• For a shared database, set a condition to base the charge on the nodes of a RAC.

• For a dedicated database instance, use the SQL Executions charge item to set a charge rate on SQL statement executions per second.

Conditions give you flexibility. For example, you may want to create many charge plans with no conditions and assign individually to entities. Or, you can create a single charge plan with many conditions, and assign to many entities.

43.2.4.6 Revising Extended Charge Plans

You can update an extended charge plan in the following ways:

• Make changes to the charge rates in effect for the current or a future cycle.

• Create a plan revision for the next or a later report cycle, based on an existing plan.

To make changes to the charge rates in effect for the current or a future cycle:

1. Select the plan revision in the navigation pane and click Set Rates.

2. Make adjustments to the charge items and rates in effect.

3. Click Save to update the plan revision.

Note the warning when changing charge rates for the current cycle that the changes are retroactive to the beginning of the cycle.

To create a plan revision for the next or a later report cycle, based on an existing plan revision:

1. Select a plan in the navigation pane, then select Revision from the Create menu.

2. In the dialog that opens, select the effective date of the revision. The default date is the first month after the most recently added revision. For example, if the current cycle is for May and a June revision already exists, July 01 is the default effective date. Click OK.

3. In the familiar create-like model, the configurations, charge items, and rate adjustments for the plan you selected in the navigation pane appear in the plan details table on the right.

   Edit the plan details as desired:

   • Add and remove entity types.

   • Add and remove configurations.

   • Add, change, and delete charge items.

   • Make adjustments to metric rates.

4. When done, click Save to complete the plan revision.

43.2.5 Creating Cost Centers

Cost centers are vehicles for aggregating charges. A cost center can be an individual, a department within an organization, or a multitiered business hierarchy that spreads charges across the enterprise. You can create a business hierarchy by setting up cost centers and assigning users to the business units.

As part of Enterprise Manager user setup, an administrator can be assigned to a cost center. This cost center property then becomes the parent within Chargeback in place of the default cost center. For example:

• The daily data collection job creates a cost center for each Enterprise Manager user. If a cost center was assigned as part of user setup, it becomes the parent of the user's daily collection cost center; otherwise, the Chargeback default cost center becomes the parent of the user's daily collection cost center.

• A cost center is automatically assigned to an SSA entity during setup. If a cost center was assigned to the SSA requestor as part of Enterprise Manager user setup prior to the SSA entity being added to Chargeback, it becomes the parent of the SSA cost center; otherwise, the Chargeback default cost center becomes the parent of the SSA cost center.

Oracle recommends use of the Enterprise Manager user cost center property as a way to better manage cost center hierarchies within Chargeback.

A cost center can originate in the following ways:

• Setting the Cost Center Property for an Enterprise Manager User

• Setting the Cost Center Property on the Target Home Page

• Creating High-Level Cost Centers in Chargeback

• Importing a Business Hierarchy from an LDAP Server

43.2.5.1 Setting the Cost Center Property for an Enterprise Manager User

Enterprise Manager users who administrate Chargeback should be assigned to a cost center in their account profile.

1. From the Setup menu, select Security, then select Administrators.

2. Search for and select the administrator in question, then click Edit.

3. On the Properties page, enter an appropriate value for the Cost Center property as it relates to charges accruing to this user.

4. Advance to the Review page and click Finish.

You can of course also set the cost center property as part of the overall user account creation process.

This cost center will take precedence over the default cost center in Chargeback.

43.2.5.2 Setting the Cost Center Property on the Target Home Page

When you make a server request in the process of setting up a self service application, the Cost Center target property of the target, VM Guest for example, is automatically set to the user login of the person making the request. When the entity is configured for Chargeback, the user login is imported and appears in the Cost Center column for that entity on the Entities tab. Its parent is the Enterprise Manager user cost center if assigned; otherwise, it is consigned to the Chargeback default cost center.

You cannot change the cost center assignment for an SSA entity, but you can reassign the SSA user out of the default cost center to a more appropriate cost center, if desired, as described in Section 43.2.5.3.

Similarly, you can manually set an entity's Cost Center target property to an appropriate value (user ID), which will subsequently be imported and appear in the Cost Center column on the Entities tab when the entity is configured for Chargeback. Its parent is the Enterprise Manager user cost center if assigned; otherwise, the user ID is consigned to the Chargeback default cost center from which it can subsequently be reassigned to another cost center. This method is relevant only for non-self service entities; it provides a way to automatically set the cost center when the entity is added to Chargeback.

To create a cost center in this fashion:

1. On the All Targets page, select the target in question and go to the target home page.

2. From the target type menu, select Target Setup, then select Properties.

3. Click Edit and enter a value for the Cost Center property, then click OK.

   The value will appear as described when the target is configured for Chargeback.

Note that if you change the Cost Center property for an entity that has already been added to Chargeback, the system does not recognize the new value.

43.2.5.3 Creating High-Level Cost Centers in Chargeback

A user who provisions an entity using the self service portal appears under the associated Enterprise Manager user cost center as a consequence of adding the SSA entity to Chargeback. If there was no Enterprise Manager user cost center assigned, the SSA user appears under the Chargeback default cost center, from which the user can subsequently be reassigned to an appropriate cost center as described in Step 4 of the process below. Reassignment can also be automated using LDAP.

To create a cost center manually:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Cost Centers tab and then click the Add button.

3. Enter the appropriate information in the New Cost Center dialog:

   • The cost center takes a unique name by which it is known internally in the system.

   • The cost center also takes a meaningful name that appears in the user interface and generated reports.

   • Indicate the cost center's position in the tree hierarchy; that is, whether it should be root or nested. You can subsequently change its position in the hierarchy.

   When you click OK, the new cost center appears in the table.

4. Cost centers typically equate to business organizations. When you select a cost center row, users who are part of the organization appear in the region below. Users can also be unassigned.

   In addition to the cost centers you create, there also is a system default cost center that serves as a clearinghouse for unassigned users. These include:

   • Self service users; that is, the user login of the person setting up the SSA who do not otherwise have an Enterprise Manager user cost center assigned

   • Users designated as the Cost Center target property on the target home page who do not otherwise have an Enterprise Manager user cost center assigned

   You can reassign these users to roll up charges to a higher-level cost center.

   1. First, select the default cost center row in the Cost Center table. This exposes the users consigned to the default cost center.

   2. Next, select a user row in the Users table.

   3. Click the Assign to Cost Center button that is now active.

   4. In the dialog that opens, designate the cost center to which to assign the user, then click OK.

      The user now appears in the designated cost center.

5. As the cost centers list grows, you may find that you want to combine cost centers, sales under marketing, for example. To do so, select the cost center row, then select Move from the Action menu. The change is effective from the beginning of the current reporting cycle.

   In the dialog that opens, indicate whether to include nested cost centers and choose where in the tree to move the cost center, then click OK.

6. At some point, you may decide to deactivate the cost center. To do so, select the cost center row and click the Remove button. Indicate whether to deactivate nested cost centers as well. The change is effective from the beginning of the current reporting cycle. Deactivation means the cost center can no longer be assigned to an entity, but its association with entities remains in previous report cycles; that is, if you run a report for a previous cycle, the entity assignment reflects the deactivated cost center.

Note the following about cost center moves, for example when a cost center (and its users) move to a different parent:

• The user assignment of an entity resource remains the same: the PC assigned to JDoe remains assigned to JDoe.

• Likewise, the resource usage assignment remains the same, but the report rollup reflects the new cost center parent child relationship, unless the administrator changes the assignment. The cost center move effects a change in the usage assignment, which is associated with the cost center and user ID.

43.2.5.4 Importing a Business Hierarchy from an LDAP Server

You can import a business hierarchy from an LDAP server. LDAP servers supported include:

• Oracle Internet Directory

• Microsoft Active Directory

• Sun iPlanet

• Novell eDirectory

• OpenLDAP

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Cost Centers tab.

3. From the Action menu, select LDAP Settings.

4. The LDAP Settings dialog opens; it takes the following values:

   • Select the LDAP server type from the drop-down list (default is Oracle Internet Directory).

   • Specify host name of the LDAP server.

   • Select what to use as the authentication ID (which attribute the LDAP server uses to authenticate: user name or e-mail address).

   • If a login is required, mark the check box and provide the credentials (where username is the LDAP server Principal, for example, cn=orcladmin).

   • Enter the port number of the LDAP server.

   • Check the box for a secure connection.

   • Check the box to enter a custom search base (base DN where users are stored; for example, dc=oracle,dc=com).

   • Select the level to which to maintain the cost center. This refers to the level within the cost center hierarchy to be synchronized with the LDAP server at the end of each report cycle. Note that any levels lower in LDAP than the specified level are subsumed into the specified level in Chargeback. So, for example, if you specify level 5, and LDAP has 7 levels, LDAP levels 6 and 7 are subsumed into level 5 in Chargeback.

     Click OK.

An LDAP cost center overwrites a manually created cost center of the same name while maintaining entity assignments. You can opt to reassign entities to some other cost center.

A successfully imported LDAP cost center hierarchy generates a scheduled repeatable job to run at the beginning of each report cycle (typically the first of the month) to sync the hierarchy with its counterpart on the LDAP server. You can also perform this operation on an ad hoc basis by selecting On-demand LDAP Sync from the Action menu.

Note that the LDAP Sync job only synchronizes existing SSA users; that is, SSA users who are already known to Chargeback as a result of their SSA entities being added to Chargeback. The sync job does not automatically synchronize any other (SSA or other) users in the LDAP directory.

When an SSA entity is added to Chargeback, the SSA user appears in the default cost center automatically. The LDAP Sync job then populates the cost centers hierarchy with default cost center SSA users, based on the management hierarchical structure, as determined by the MANAGER attribute in the LDAP directory. The sync job also overwrites the cost centers of any SSA users who were manually reassigned, based on the same management hierarchical structure.

43.2.6 Adding Entities to Chargeback

Decide on the entities whose resources you want to manage within Chargeback. You have to add entities to start collecting metrics against which to calculate charges. Note that if you want to add a Real Application Cluster (RAC) that has member instances already monitored in Chargeback, you must first remove those instances from Chargeback.

For certain database entity types, you have to enable metric collection before you can add entities of these types to Chargeback:

• Database instance where metering is by service

• Cluster database where metering is by service

• CDB (both single instance and RAC)

• Pool databases used for provisioning schema services and pluggable database services provided as part of a PaaS Infrastructure zone

For information on enabling metric collection, see Section 43.2.6.1.

A CDB is a composite entity. When you add a CDB instance, all of its pluggable databases (PDBs) are automatically discovered and reported as children of the CDB instance. Usage and charges are calculated at the PDB level.

When you add a PaaS Infrastructure Zone entity, all of its databases (single instance and RAC), database services, and PDBs are automatically discovered and reported as children of the zone. Usage and charges are calculated at the entity level.

Note:

Pool entities that provision services for a PaaS Infrastructure Zone tracked in Chargeback, cannot also be tracked independently as entities in Chargeback. This may lead to nondeterministic behavior in charge plan assignments. So, for example, a CDB that serves as a pool entity for a PDB service entity that is part of a PaaS Infrastructure Zone, cannot also be added to Chargeback as a composite entity.

You must have the ADD_CHARGEBACK_TARGET role assigned to add any entity monitored in the Enterprise Manager instance that qualifies for Chargeback support. Without it, the Add Entities button is disabled. As in the process of adding entities you can also assign charge plans and cost centers, these privileges must be included: MANAGE_CBA_ENTITY_OBJ_PRIV, ASSIGN_CHAREG_PLAN_PRIV, and ASSIGN_CBA_COST_CENTER_PRIV.

The VIEW_CAT_TARGET role allows you to see Chargeback data related to a specific entity. The VIEW_ANY_CAT_TARGET role allows you to see Chargeback data related to any entity.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Entities tab and click the Add Entities button.

   The Add Entities wizard opens, where you perform the following steps:

   1. Selecting Entities for Chargeback

   2. Making Assignments

   3. Reviewing Entity Setup

It may take up to 24 hours after an entity is added to Chargeback for its metering data to appear. To stop collecting data on entities, select the entities involved and click the Remove Entities button.

Note:

When you remove an entity from Chargeback scope, its usage and charge data are dropped from the current report cycle. A warning to this effect appears as part of the removal process.

As new services for cluster members are discovered as part of the daily collection, they appear automatically in the tree hierarchy under the RAC node. The charge plan in effect is automatically assigned. Make cost center assignments accordingly.

43.2.6.1 Configuring Metric Collection for Enterprise Manager Database Services

Metric collection for Enterprise Manager database services is disabled by default for the following entity types:

• Database instance metered by database service

• RAC metered by database service or PDB

• CDB (both single instance and RAC)

• Pool databases used for provisioning schema services and pluggable database services provided as part of a PaaS Infrastructure zone

You have to enable metric collection before Chargeback can manage resources on these entities.

To effect change to metric data collections, you must be assigned the MANAGE_TARGET_METRICS role on the specific target.

1. From the Targets menu, select Databases.

2. Locate the target in the table and open its home page (provide credentials if requested).

3. From the Oracle Database menu, select Monitoring, then select Metric and Collection Settings.

4. On the Metric and Collection Settings page, change the view to All Metrics.

5. As shown in Figure 43-5, scroll down to EM Database Services (not simply Database Services), click Disabled, and complete the enabling process.

Figure 43-5 Enabling Metric Collection for Database Services

Do this for each cluster member in a RAC and for each CDB instance.

Alternatively, you can use the following EMCLI command to enable the metric collection on the corresponding database entity instance:

emcli modify_collection_schedule -targetType='oracle_database' -targetNames=target_name1;target_name2 -collectionStatus='ENABLED' -collectionName='DBService' -preview='N';

Where target_namen is an appropriate database target instance.

43.2.6.2 Selecting Entities for Chargeback

Step 1 in the Add Entities wizard is to select the entities you want to add to Chargeback and establish a usage mode where applicable.

For certain database entity types, you have to enable Enterprise Manager metric collection before you can add entities of these types to Chargeback:

• Database instance where metering is by service

• Cluster database where metering is by service

• CDB (both single instance and RAC)

• Pool databases used for provisioning Oracle Database Services and pluggable database services provided as part of a PaaS Infrastructure zone

For information on enabling metric collection, see Section 43.2.6.1.

1. Click the Add button.

2. In the dialog that opens search for the entity types you want to add. Use criteria to filter your search.

   To add a database as a service entity type (DBaaS or SchaaS), select the PaaS Infrastructure Zone entity type. Database services and PDBs appear as children of the zone parent.

   Note:

   Database (single instance and RAC) and CDB entities that provision service entities for a PaaS Infrastructure Zone cannot themselves be added as entities to Chargeback. To do so may lead to nondeterministic behavior in charge plan assignments.

3. In the search results list, select the specific entities you want to add. Note that you can multiselect entities. Click Select.

   The dialog closes and a progress indicator notes the search for associated entities. The selected entities then appear in the table. For a composite entity, its members are accounted for in the Members column. The metered flag indicates that metrics and configuration data will be collected for the entity and used in charge calculations. So, for example, the metered flag is not set for a WebLogic domain because data collection occurs at the WebLogic Server level.

4. Optional. Set the usage mode to other than the default where applicable to declare how to perform metering.

   Select the usage mode from the drop-down list. Choices depend on the entity type; in some cases, there is only one choice, Metered. A database, for example, offers three choices: Metered by Database Instance, Metered by Service, or Metered by PDB.

5. Click Next to make charge plan and cost center assignments.

43.2.6.3 Making Assignments

Step 2 in the Add Entities wizard is to make charge plan and cost center assignments.

Charge plans provide a basis for calculating the cost of resource consumption.

1. Select entities in the table and click the Assign Plan button.

2. In the dialog that opens, select the universal or extended charge plan appropriate to entity selection and click OK. The dialog closes, and the plan assignment appears in the entity table row.

You can opt not to assign charge plans now and assign them after adding the entities for Chargeback. See Section 43.2.8 for more information.

Cost centers provide a way to aggregate the charges accrued for resource consumption.

1. Select entities in the table and click the Assign Cost Center button.

2. In the dialog that opens, select the cost center appropriate to entity selection and click OK.

   The dialog closes, and the cost center assignment appears in the entity table row.

You can opt not to assign cost centers now and assign them after adding the entities for Chargeback. See Section 43.2.7 for details.

When done, click Next to review entity setup and complete the task of adding entities to Chargeback.

43.2.6.4 Reviewing Entity Setup

Step 3 in the Add Entities wizard provides an opportunity to review your selections and assignments, before completing the task. If satisfied, click Submit.

You return to the Entities tab where a message confirms that n number of entities were successfully added. For more information on what happens after entities are added, see the paragraphs after the three wizard steps in Section 43.2.6.

43.2.7 Assigning Cost Centers to Entities

Cost centers are a way of distributing charges for resource usage. A cost center is automatically assigned to an SSA entity as part of SSA setup (Cost Center target property). Use this manual process only for assigning cost centers to non-SSA entities.

Note:

You also can perform cost center assignment when adding an entity for Chargeback. See Step 2 of the Add Entities wizard described in Section 43.2.6.3.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Entities tab.

3. Select the entities to which you want to assign a cost center and click the Assign Cost Center button.

4. A dialog opens displaying a list of cost centers. Choose the cost center for the entities and click OK.

   The table of entity assignments refreshes to reflect the assignment.

When charges are calculated, unassigned entities are assigned to the default cost center. Note that assigning a cost center to a composite entity maps directly to the composite entity, and to any children that otherwise have no direct cost center assignment.

A group member with one cost center assignment who is a member of another group with a different cost center assignment is in conflict as noted on the Entities tab for the affected group member. It is also possible that a group member is part of a regular target hierarchy as well as a group. For example, a database (DB1) appears under a zone (PaaS zone 1) and under a group (Group 1). In these cases, charges continue to be calculated, but are charged to the default cost center until an administrator resolves the conflict, at which time charges will accrue against the appropriate cost center.

Shared services under a RAC node can be assigned to different cost centers.

Note:

For entities requested and provisioned through SSA, the Cost Center target property is set to the user login. The SSA user appears under the associated Enterprise Manager user cost center as a consequence of adding the SSA entity to Chargeback. If there was no Enterprise Manager user cost center assigned, the SSA user appears under the Chargeback default cost center. You cannot change the cost center assignment of an SSA entity, but you can reassign the SSA user out of the default cost center to a more appropriate cost center, if desired, as described in Section 43.2.5.3.

To unassign a cost center, select the entities involved and select Unassign Cost Center from the Action menu.

43.2.8 Assigning Charge Plans to Entities

When assigning charge plans to entities, you have the option of assigning plans individually to child members or assigning at an ancestor level and having the child members inherit the assigned plan.

An extended charge plan includes parameters for how to apply universal charge rates to an assigned entity. You also can replace an extended plan by reassigning the universal plan to an entity.

For SSA entities (zones), the person performing SSA setup assigns the charge plan to the zone as part of setup so that all entities within the zone inherit the plan.

Note:

You also can perform charge plan assignment when adding an entity for Chargeback. See Step 2 of the Add Entities wizard described in Section 43.2.6.3.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Entities tab. A hierarchical list of entities appears showing assigned cost centers and charge plans.

3. Select the entities to which you want to assign a charge plan and click the Assign Plan button.

4. A dialog opens displaying a list of plans that apply only to the entity type selected. Choose the plan you want to assign, then click OK.

   The table of entity assignments refreshes to reflect the assignment.

Note that assigning a charge plan to a composite entity maps directly to the composite entity, and implicitly to any children that otherwise have no direct plan assignment.

A group member with one plan assignment who is a member of another group with a different plan assignment is in conflict as noted on the Entities tab for the affected group member. It is also possible that a group member is part of a regular target hierarchy as well as a group. For example, a database (DB1) appears under a zone (PaaS zone 1) and under a group (Group 1). In these cases, no charges are calculated for the entity until an administrator resolves the conflict, at which time calculations resume. If there is no resolution before the close of the reporting cycle, charges can no longer be calculated.

A RAC can be metered by database instance, database service, or PDB. Each RAC member appears under the RAC node in the tree hierarchy and can be assigned to different charge plans and different cost centers.

To unassign a charge plan, select the entities involved and select Unassign Plan from the Action menu.

43.2.9 Setting Default Charge Plans for Entity Types

As part of the process of adding entities to Chargeback, you have the option of setting a default charge plan for an entity type. This way, whenever you add an entity of that type or one is discovered, the designated plan will automatically be assigned. Charge plan availability presupposes that at least one extended charge plan has been created for a given entity type; the universal charge plan is available for all entity types.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback and click the Entities tab.

2. From the Action menu, select Set Default Plans.

3. Click an entity type row; a drop-down control appears in the Default Plan column.

4. Select a plan from the drop-down list.

5. When you are finished setting default plans, click OK.

   When you add an entity for which a default plan has been set, the plan automatically appears in the Charge Plan column when you advance to the Make Assignments step in the Add Entities wizard.

Note the following about default charge plans:

• You can subsequently change the charge plan assignment for an entity that is assigned a default plan.

• A charge plan designated as a default for an entity type cannot be deleted until removed from default status.

• Default assignment and plan inheritance can vary. Consider the following scenarios where default plans are in place for WebLogic Domain and WebLogic Server entity types:

  • You add a WebLogic Domain that has WebLogic Servers. The default plan is assigned only at the domain level.

  • You add a WebLogic Server where there was no WebLogic Domain previously added. The default plan is assigned to the WebLogic Server.

  • You add a WebLogic Server where a WebLogic Domain was previously added. The default plan is not assigned to the WebLogic Server.

43.2.10 Running the Daily Data Collection Job

The daily data collection in Chargeback is an ETL— extract, transform, load—process where information is extracted from one source, transformed into an appropriate format, and loaded into a repository.

Enterprise Manager collects metric and configuration information on entities and stores it in the Management Repository. These collections occur with varying frequencies. When an entity is added to Chargeback, the application extracts the data from the repository and transforms it for use in Chargeback-dedicated tables. This process of extracting and transforming data is the Chargeback data collection process, which is scheduled to run every 24 hours. Chargeback maintains its own data collection tables because it needs to perform various transformations on the data, and to provide a historical data reference.

Given the 24-hour cycle, any Chargeback activity is not immediately apparent. For example, if you change a cost center assignment, it may take up to 24 hours (until the next data collection job runs) for reports to show the change. To circumvent the cycle, you can run the collection job on-demand to update the tables immediately.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Entities tab.

3. From the Action menu, select On-demand data collection.

   Chargeback data collection tables are updated to reflect the most recent activity.

To check on the job schedule:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Job, then select Activity.

2. On the Job Activity page, click Advanced Search.

3. In the Advanced Search region, select Chargeback Data Loader from the Job Type drop-down list, then click Go.

4. Check the Scheduled column for the next scheduled job execution.

Do not change the job schedule.

Upgrade Consideration

If you upgraded from Chargeback 12.1.0.5 to 12.1.0.6, where you had database or WebLogic Server shared targets, they will not display properly on the Entities and Reports tabs until you run the daily data collection job on-demand (or the job runs as scheduled). Note that after the job runs, the shared components become Chargeback entities that can be assigned to their own cost center and charge plan, per the new release.

43.3 Accessing Chargeback Information

Once a Chargeback data collection cycle completes, you can begin to parse the information in a variety of ways. This section covers the following topics

• Following Usage and Charge Trends

• Viewing an Entity's Collected Metric Data

• Generating and Distributing Chargeback Reports

• Viewing Chargeback Information in the Self Service Portal

• Sharing Chargeback Data with Other Applications

43.3.1 Following Usage and Charge Trends

Once you define charge plans, set up cost centers, and begin to monitor entities, trends in usage and charges emerge. Trending reports show metric or charge trends over a defined period of time and are useful for end users who want to see how their charges change over time. They are also useful to the IT department for capacity planning purposes.

The Home tab displays bar graphs that denote usage and charge trends over time. Each trend region has an Option link in the upper-right corner that opens a dialog where you can customize the display.

Usage Trend Options

Customize the usage trend display as follows:

• Time Period–Select the desired time period to chart usage trends; default is the current year

• Aggregation–Select how to group usage across the selected time period; default is monthly

• Usage Value Type–Show usage as a percent (utilization) or as a consumptive value; default is utilization

• Resource–Show usage in terms of a particular metric (CPU, memory, or storage); default is the three metrics

Figure 43-6 displays a usage trend showing CPU, disk, and memory utilization over the past week, aggregated daily.

Figure 43-6 Sample Usage Trend Graph

Charge Trend Options

Customize the charge trend display as follows:

• Time Period–Select the desired time period to chart charge trends; default is current year

• Aggregation–Select how to group charges across the selected time period; default is monthly

• Group By–Group charges by either cost center or entity type; default is cost center

• Cost Center–Display charge trends for all cost centers, a particular cost center, or for unassigned users; default is all

Figure 43-7 displays a charge trend showing last week's charges for the VM Guest entity type, aggregated daily.

Figure 43-7 Sample Charge Trend Graph

43.3.2 Viewing an Entity's Collected Metric Data

You can view an entity's metrics in graph form or as a time-stamped report of raw metric data. You can export the latter view to an external application such as a spreadsheet. You also can check metric collection status.

Note that you might have to expand the metric data region at the bottom of the Entities tab to expose the subtabs referenced in the instructions below.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Entities tab and then select an entity to view.

   • Select the Metered Data (Chart) subtab below the entities list, to view a wave graph of data metrics for the entity. Select the metric to display from the drop-down list on the right. The metric selection is entity-type dependent. For a WebLogic Server metered by J2EE application, the metrics are per application. For a database metered by service, the metrics are service-related. For a RAC, metrics are represented as a multiline graph grouped by cluster member, where each line maps to usage by a particular member for the selected service.

   • Select the Metered Data (Table) subtab to view the raw numbers. In this view, you can filter the data and export it as a csv-formatted file. You also can change the focus to another entity. For a RAC, the view shows the same service data for all cluster members within the RAC.

   • Select the Collection Status subtab to glean statistical data such as error count and when metric data was last collected. For a RAC, collection status is for all cluster members within the RAC regardless of service selected.

   • Select the Problems subtab to view any problems related to the selected entity such as with the data collection process. The summary entry links directly to Incident Manager where you can learn more about the problem and potential solutions. A service request (SR) number appears if assigned. There is also a Problems subtab on the Home tab that notes issues related to the whole of Chargeback. There are here likewise direct links to Incident Manager.

     Note:

     Within Incident Manager, you can view, track, and manage the life cycle of a problem and its associated incidents. Support Workbench allows your to further investigate and report a problem. As the Chargeback Administrator, you require full privileges on all hosts and Management Agents associated with the Oracle Management Service to view problem details in the Support Workbench.

   • Click the help icon that appears in a charge details row to see a pop-up description of the applicable charge item.

Figure 43-8 shows a chart tracking instance uptime for the selected entity over a span of 16 days.

Figure 43-8 Sample Entity Metric Data

Note that you can see additional details on the Job Activity page.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Job, then select Activity.

2. Click Advanced Search and specify the following filtering criteria:

   • Select Chargeback Data Loader as Job Type.

   • Select Targetless as Target Type.

   • Select appropriate values for Status and Scheduled Start.

3. Click Go.

The log output for each job step captures any warnings or errors encountered.

43.3.3 Generating and Distributing Chargeback Reports

Chargeback summary reports are a powerful analytical tool for tracking resource usage and charge distributions. These summary reports show information related to charge or resource utilization broken down by Cost Center, Entity Type and Resource. They enable you to quickly assess the entities or cost centers with the greatest charges or resource utilization. Summary reports are primarily useful for drill-down purposes.

Data collection occurs once a day. The daily data collection job for the current cycle is based on charge plan and cost center assignments. The reporting cycle defines the time period for which to calculate charges. The cycle is for the current month starting on the first day of the month.

To generate ad hoc reports:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Chargeback.

2. Select the Reports tab.

3. Design your report from the following options:

   • Use the current report cycle or customize a date range to report on.

   • Choose between summary and trend report types. A summary report presents a pie-chart breakdown, while a trend report uses a y-axis multiple bar chart to denote usage trends.

   • Select specific cost centers or report on all users.

   • Select specific entities or entity types or report on all entities within all entity types.

   • Choose the metric to report on.

   Click View Report to see the results.

   The report displays color-coded graphs summarizing charges by cost center, entity type, and resource, with details displayed in the table at the bottom. Click a color box link in the respective graph to recalculate the report contents for the color-coded selection, for example memory in the resource graph.

   Figure 43-9 displays a summary report showing charges for the current reporting cycle for all cost centers and entity types, with a breakdown by resource.

   Figure 43-9 Summary Report for a Cost Center and Entity Type

   
   

4. Filter the details by choosing from the drop-down list; the default is All. Use the query-by-example feature (icon to the right of the action buttons) to search report details. The icon acts as a toggle; clicking it alternately shows or hides text and selection boxes above the table columns. The feature is also available in the View menu. Enter search criteria in various combinations by selecting a date and by typing values in the respective columns. Press Enter to activate the search.

5. Click the Export button in the details region to export report contents to file.

6. Click Publish Report to make report contents public. This action integrates with BI Publisher, where you can:

   • Save reports in a variety of formats (Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, PDF)

   • Distribute generated reports to e-mail lists (users who do not have access to Enterprise Manager, for example) on a defined schedule

   For information on BI Publisher setup, see the "Installing BI Publisher on Enterprise Manager" chapter in the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Advanced Installation and Configuration Guide.

Reporting on Uptime

When you choose to report on the uptime metric, the details display the fractions of hours in a day an entity was available over the course of the reporting cycle. Note that reporting uptime does not prorate charges. The prevailing sense is to put in the hands of the customer how best to make adjustments to charges based on the report results. To this end, export the results to a Microsoft Excel html-formatted file for further analysis and consideration.

43.3.4 Viewing Chargeback Information in the Self Service Portal

You can access Chargeback information as it relates to self service applications from the self service portal.

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Cloud, then select Self Service Portal.

2. On the Self Service Portal page, select a service type from the Manage drop-down menu.

3. Click the Chargeback icon in the left pane to view charge trends and details for the selected service type, provided it was configured for Chargeback, to view the following informational breakdown:

   • Charge Trend calculates charges across a date range for various metrics. If you hover over a metric, memory for example, the bar graph changes to reflect only that metric. Set a date range and click Go to recalculate charges.

   • Details below are a reflection of the charges and date range above. You can reorder the data by selecting from the Detail Level drop-down menu. You can also display additional information by exposing more columns.

   • Charge Plans allows you to select a zone to see the charge plan in effect, in this case, an extended charge plan defined for a specific entity type. That entity type, Oracle VM Guest for example, has certain charge items that were set as part of the plan definition and are displayed on the Charge Items tab. The charge plan determines the charges displayed in trends and details on the left. The other tab, Universal Rate Adjustments, shows adjustments if any made to the base plan rates (CPU, memory, and storage).

Figure 43-10 shows a sample Chargeback informational breakdown in the self service portal.

Figure 43-10 Chargeback Breakdown for a Self Service Application

43.3.5 Sharing Chargeback Data with Other Applications

Amassed Chargeback data is a valuable commodity that can be made available to other applications. There are several ways to do this:

• Export administrative reports (Export button on the Reports tab in Chargeback)

• Publish administrative reports via BI Publisher (Publish button on the Reports tab in Chargeback)

• Export details of charge trends for self service applications (Export button on the Chargeback tab in the self service portal)

• Execute the EM CLI verb get_metering_data to generate comma-separated output on usage and, optionally, charge data (see Chapter 56, "Chargeback and Metering EMCLI Verbs," for more information)

In addition, Enterprise Manager supports repository views to access information in the Management Repository for further processing and presentation. There are two views available (MGMT$EMCT_CBA_CHARGE_HOURLY and MGMT$EMCT_CBA_CHARGE_DAILY) to access Chargeback information in the Management Repository. See the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Extensibility Programmer's Reference for more information.