Follow the steps below to configure CloudMonitor with your Azure cost data and start generating personalized cost insights and recommendations. These setup steps only need to be completed once.
Important:
The instructions below apply only to the free one-month trial of CloudMonitor. The trial version is available exclusively as a SaaS offering and is designed to help you quickly connect your data and experience the product before making a purchase decision.
If you intend to install the paid version, please click here to refer to the separate installation guide. The paid version requires deploying the CloudMonitor engine into your own tenant and performing additional configuration steps.
Please note:
The SaaS trial version does not accurately reflect the full infrastructure costs associated with the paid deployment, as limited resources are provisioned in your own Azure environment during the trial. Once you transition to the paid version, you will incur additional infrastructure costs, typically ranging between $100 and $250 per month, depending on the volume of data in your tenant.
Step 1: Configure Permissions
Step 1.1: Create a Service Principal
To proceed with the setup, a Service Principal must be created within the customer's Azure tenant. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to create the Service Principal required for CloudMonitor integration.
Click here to Create a Service Principal.
Step 1.2: Configure your Service Principal to Monitor Subscriptions
The next step is to assign Reader permissions to the Azure subscriptions that need to be monitored by CloudMonitor. These permissions must be granted to the Service Principal created in the previous step. For detailed, step-by-step instructions, please refer to the article below.
Click here to configure your Service Principal to Monitor Subscriptions
Step 1.3: Configure CloudMonitor Service Principal to allow access and view Billing Information
The next step is to assign the required permissions to the billing account of the Azure tenant. These permissions are essential for CloudMonitor to access and analyze cost data. Please refer to the article below for a detailed step-by-step guide.
Click here Configure CloudMonitor Service Principal to allow access and view Billing Information.
Step 1.4: Configuring Storage for CloudMonitor to schedule Exports (For Saas Free Trial)
The next step is to configure the Storage Account that will be used to store Azure cost export data.
Please refer to the article below for a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to complete this configuration.
Click here to Configuring Storage for CloudMonitor to schedule Exports (For Saas Free Trial)
Step 2: Raise Support Ticket with necessary details
Create a Support Ticket on our Helpdesk and we’ll configure your deployment and process the cost metadata. Once we have run our health checks on historic costs, we'll supply you with the credentials to connect Power BI to the Engine that you have just installed.
Step 3: Download and Connect Power BI to the CloudMonitor Analytics Engine
The CloudMonitor PowerBI Reporting suite gives you visibility of your costs by Cost Group and cost-saving insights and recommendations. It is free to install from the Microsoft AppSource marketplace.
Click here to download the Power BI App into Power BI and connect your data
Step 4: Configure the Admin App, Cost Groups and Budgets
The next step is to create Cost Groups and choose which users can access which Cost Groups. First, we need to configure the Admin App Service Principal.
Click here to configure the Admin App.
Was this article helpful?
That’s Great!
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry! We couldn't be helpful
Thank you for your feedback
Feedback sent
We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article