November 2024 Summaries

Vantage has introduced a new feature that allows customers to filter Resource Reports using Virtual Tags, enhancing the ability to create detailed reports based on specific criteria such as teams, business units, and applications. This feature enables users to consistently map costs across different dimensions, even when provider-native tags are inconsistent or missing, by using these Virtual Tags for more refined cost allocation and reporting. Customers previously could create reports based on various metadata, but the addition of Virtual Tags ensures more precise tracking and visualization of resources across all integrated providers. The update is available to all customers at no additional cost, and it can be accessed through the Resource Reports screen in the Vantage console. This enhancement facilitates better inventory management and cost-tracking capabilities, supporting users in distinguishing resources according to their specific business logic.

AWS is introducing a new policy change that will prevent the sharing of Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans (SPs) across end customers within the same AWS Organization, effective June 1, 2025. This move is set to impact Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and resellers who have traditionally facilitated customer savings by centralizing RIs and SPs. The policy change requires end customers to make direct commitments to benefit from savings, potentially exposing MSPs and resellers to financial risks as they remain liable for existing commitments without the ability to pass savings down to customers. AWS's decision is driven by a desire to limit the bargaining power of resellers and ensure that RIs and SPs remain customer-specific pricing tools. Customers directly using AWS services without resellers are unaffected, while those using resellers are advised to engage with them for next steps. The policy change may lead to significant challenges for resellers and MSPs unless AWS provides avenues for redistributing commitments to individual customers.

Vantage has introduced support for tracking Linode costs from Akamai Connected Cloud within its platform, allowing users to visualize these expenses alongside costs from other infrastructure providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. This integration simplifies the process for users to obtain a comprehensive view of their application expenditures, which previously required manual effort. By providing a read-only API key, customers can grant Vantage access to their Linode billing data, enabling automatic ingestion and visualization of costs, including usage-related expenses, discounts, and taxes. The integration supports filtering and aggregating Linode data to display combined costs in a single report, and Linode resources are represented as Active Resources in Vantage for detailed cost analysis. Additionally, the Vantage Kubernetes Agent can be installed in Linode Kubernetes Clusters to offer insights into real-time resource utilization and cost allocation. This feature is available to all Vantage customers at no extra cost, with Linode data refreshing daily in the Vantage console and historical cost data available for up to six months.

Vantage has introduced a new API endpoint that allows users to programmatically generate Kubernetes Efficiency Reports, enhancing the ability to monitor cost efficiency at the pod level within clusters. Previously available only through a manual process on the console, this API enables users to automate the creation, update, and management of reports, thereby streamlining operations for those overseeing multiple clusters. The API uses Vantage Query Language (VQL), a SQL-like syntax for filtering cloud cost data, and is accessible to all users, including those on the free tier, without additional charges. The API supports various operations such as creating, updating, retrieving, and deleting reports, with immediate updates visible in the console. While Terraform support is anticipated soon, users can currently utilize multiple resources like the API documentation and "FinOps as Code" tutorials to get started with this feature.

The blog post explores the use of FinOps as Code to analyze active cost-generating resources within a cloud environment using the Vantage API. It provides a tutorial that guides users through utilizing a Jupyter Notebook and Python libraries such as requests, pandas, matplotlib, and seaborn to visualize and gain insights into their cloud spending. By examining active resources, users can identify where their organization incurs the most significant costs, helping them make informed decisions on resource configuration and usage patterns. The tutorial covers steps for retrieving data from the Vantage API, handling pagination and rate limits, and creating data visualizations like bar charts and heatmaps to highlight top cost-contributing resources by type, region, and provider. These visualizations assist in identifying areas for potential cost optimization, such as investigating high-cost regions or resource types and considering cost-reduction strategies like shifting workloads to more cost-effective locations. The post emphasizes the importance of monitoring cloud resources to prevent unexpected expenses and suggests further analysis for deeper insights into resource usage and costs.

Vantage has introduced a new user role, the Integration Owner, enhancing its user management system by allowing users to manage cloud provider integrations without accessing other sensitive administrative functions. Previously, users needed the Owner role, which included broader administrative privileges, to configure integrations. The Integration Owner role provides all the privileges of the Editor role and adds the ability to handle provider integrations, fulfilling customer demand for more specific access control. Integration Owners can manage these integrations via the Settings > Integrations tab in the Vantage console, and this role is now available to all accounts without additional costs. Only an account Owner can assign this role, and there is no limit on the number of users who can be assigned as Integration Owners.