SCAD Containers Cost Allocation Dashboard
Introduction
The SCAD Containers Cost Allocation Dashboard provides insights into EKS and ECS in-cluster cost based on data from CUR’s Split Cost Allocation Data (SCAD) feature. DevOps teams, FinOps team or any relevant stakeholder can gain insights into cost of Kubernetes workloads inside their EKS and ECS clusters, down to the EKS pod/ECS task level, and aggregated based on different Kubernetes constructs (pod, namespace, controller, and more) or ECS and Batch dimensions. You can use it to implement showback and chargeback methodologies for multi-tenant EKS and ECS clusters. The dashboard’s visualizations include high-level KPI visuals to understand general spend, and interactive visuals that allow easy-to-use experience to drill down into EKS and ECS in-cluster cost.
The dashboard has three tabs:
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Executive Summary:
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KPI visuals per cost metric (CPU cost, RAM cost, shared cost, total cost)
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Total Cost by Account ID
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Top Spending Clusters
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Workloads Explorer:
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Interactive stacked-bar chart and pivot table visuals that show cost by different dimensions based on in-dashboard aggregations and filters
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Cluster Breakdown
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Coverage and drill-down visuals
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Demo Dashboard
Get more familiar with Dashboard using the live, interactive demo
dashboard following this
link
SCAD - Containers Cost Allocation Dashboard

CID’s Containers Cost Allocation Dashboards Comparison
The CID framework has two Containers Cost Allocation dashboards:
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This one, which is based on CUR’s Split Cost Allocation Data (SCAD)
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The Kubecost Containers Cost Allocation Dashboard, which is based on data collection from Kubecost
Please visit review the Containers Cost Allocation dashboards comparison in the FAQs for more information.
Prerequisites
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Deploy one or more of the foundational dashboards: CUDOS, Cost Intelligence, or KPI Dashboard.
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Enable Split Cost Allocation Data:
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In Cost Management Preferences:
You can enable SCAD for ECS, SCAD for EKS or both. If you enable SCAD for EKS, selecting "Resource requests" will include only resource requests data, without actual usage. To have actual usage data for your pods in CUR, either select the "Amazon Managed Service for Promentheus" option and follow this guide, or select the "Amazon CloudWatch Container Insights" option and follow this guide
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In your CUR:
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Make sure that the following AWS-generated cost allocation tags are active:
Please notice that these tags are present only once you enabled SCAD for the relevant service (EKS/ECS), and that it takes some time for them to be present after enabling SCAD. The tags may not be present if you don’t use the respective service.
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Wait till the SCAD data updated in Athena:
After enabling Split Cost Allocation Data for EKS or ECS, and activating the AWS-generated cost allocation tags, allow at least 24h (can get up to 48h) for new columns and data to be reflected in Athena CUR table.
Also, please note that CUR Backfill isn’t supported for SCAD. Even if you request the CUR Backfill from AWS Support, the SCAD fields won’t be populated. Data will only be populated for the current month, as stated in the SCAD documentation:
Once activated, split cost allocation data automatically scans for tasks and containers. It ingests the telemetry usage data for your container workloads and prepares the granular cost data for the current month.
To validate that the new Split Cost Allocation Data columns exist in CUR:
Only once you see all these columns (respective for the service you use), proceed with the dashboard installation below.
Deployment
Note
Please note that DataExport can take up to 24-48 hours to deliver the first reports. If you just installed Data Exports, the dashboard will be most likely empty. Please come back after 24 hours.
Update
Please note that dashboards are not updated with update of CloudFormation Stack. When new version of the dashboard template is released, you can update your dashboard by running the following command in your command-line interface:
cid-cmd update --dashboard-id scad-containers-cost-allocation
Note:
Starting from version (v2.0.0), the scad_cca_hourly_resource_view
QuickSight dataset and Athena view are no longer used by the dashboard,
and can be deleted.
Please check the SCAD Containers Cost Allocation Dashboard v2.0.0 changelog
Learn more
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Split Cost Allocation Data for EKS documentation:
Authors
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Udi Dahan, Technical Account Manager
Feedback & Support
Follow Feedback & Support guide
Have a success story to share with the Team, suggest an improvement or report an error?
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Please email: containers-cost-allocation-dashboard@amazon.com
Note
These dashboards and their content: (a) are for informational purposes only, (b) represents current AWS product offerings and practices, which are subject to change without notice, and (c) does not create any commitments or assurances from AWS and its affiliates, suppliers or licensors. AWS content, products or services are provided "as is" without warranties, representations, or conditions of any kind, whether express or implied. The responsibilities and liabilities of AWS to its customers are controlled by AWS agreements, and this document is not part of, nor does it modify, any agreement between AWS and its customers.