AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Cert Prep: 4 Billing, Pricing, And Support
This course focused on the billing of resource use and how it prices its services. It is specifically made to prepare for the AWS Certifies Cloud Practitioner Exam. I find this to be an interesting topic because although we cover AWS in our coursework, we do not discuss any of the billing or pricing.
In the AWS Billing Dashboard, you are able to estimate and plan for costs, as well as set thresholds for service usage. It also allows users to visualize their usage and bills. This is useful due to AWS’s “Pay As You Go” model, which allows users to pay for only what they use. The 3 main things you will be charged for are, compute, storage, and outbound data transfer. Incoming data transfer are typically free. AWS also has a free tier, which allows use of limited resources for no cost.
AWS Budgets allows users to set up custom budgets to track AWS cost and usage, which can then send alerts when thresholds are hit. You can also set custom actions to decide what to change automatically when a threshold is hit. AWS Cost explorer allows users to analyze costs after they spend so you can project future costs. You can create custom reports based on usage to analyze data at high or granular levels. AWS Cost and Usage Reports helps identify ways to optimize monthly AWS usage bills.
I enjoyed learning about billing and pricing in AWS as I believe it gives me a better understanding of the service as a whole. By familiarizing AWS cost management, I am equipping myself with skills to optimize cloud spending, which will be valuable in advancing my future career in tech-driven roles.