Peak times establish days and hours of operation when premium rates apply to charges as defined in the associated charge plan. Chargeback ships with a default peak time window named Global, which defines peak hours as Monday through Friday, midnight to midnight. This in turn defines Saturday through Sunday, midnight to midnight as off-peak hours. The Global peak window is always associated with the universal charge plan, and with an extended charge plan by default. You can change an extended charge plan's association to a custom peak time window that you create.

You also can perform these other actions with peak time windows:

• Rename the time window.

• Remove the time window.

• Edit the day and time settings or add new days and times to the time window. Edits to peak windows are considered plan revisions. When you change a peak window currently associated with a charge plan, charges are recalculated for the current report cycle.

• Remove row settings from a time window.

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.

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).

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.

Set up an extended charge plan as follows:

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.

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.

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.

The estimate charges feature supports the following use cases:

• Project the likely effects of rate changes in a charge plan on an entity or a cost center based on prior average usage where available.

• Compare the effects of different charge plans on entities or cost centers based on prior usage.

To see the effects of rate changes in a charge plan:

1. On the Charge Plans tab, click the Estimate button.

2. On the Estimate Charges page, select a charge plan in which rates have been changed and the effective date of the plan.

3. Choose the basis on which to estimate charges; that is, based on entities or cost centers, then click Add.

4. Select entities assigned to a specific charge plan, or entities not yet added to Chargeback. Select cost centers from the list of available cost centers, including the default cost center.

5. After you make your selections, review the results. Click the respective radio button to view estimated charges in a tabular or graphical format.

   Select a table row to see the details for an entity or cost center in the region below the table.

To compare different charge plans:

Chargeback bases estimations on usage for the selected date range. The system first identifies all chargeable entities. The system then applies plan rates to the daily average to determine daily estimated charges. Next it multiplies the daily estimated charges by the number of days in the report cycle to determine total estimated charges. Even if an entity is added mid-month, the system shows the estimation as if available for the whole month.

If the entity selected is not already in Chargeback, the system runs the Enterprise Manager ETL job on the entity to collect configuration and metering data; the job takes into account any child entities. If Chargeback metrics are not available, the system runs the daily collection job. The system then builds the daily average in order to display the estimated charges.

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:

The selection of entity or entity type has consequences as described in Step 2 of the process.

The configurations you set up here are the same as when you create a charge plan; that is, you set conditions upon which to base charges, OS is like Linux 6, for example.

Recovery refers to amortizing your investment in resources over a fixed period of time to determine how much in monthly charges you have to generate to recover your investment.

Complete the plan by providing a weighting factor for charge items; that is, the percentage of monthly income each item should generate. The charge items that appear derive from the plan's entity type. You can include configurations as additional charge items.

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

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.

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 Creating High-Level Cost Centers in Chargeback.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Figure 39-5 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.

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 Configuring Metric Collection for Enterprise Manager Database Services.

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 the entity in the table and click the Assign Plan button.

2. In the dialog that opens:

   1. Specify plan inheritance. Propagate assigns the plan to children of the entity if they have no plan assigned. Override assigns the plan regardless, removing the current plan assignment, if any.

   2. Select the extended charge plan appropriate to entity selection.

   3. 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 Assigning Charge Plans to Entities for more information.

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

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

2. In the dialog that opens:

   1. Specify cost center inheritance. Propagate assigns the cost center to children of the entity if they have no cost center assigned. Override assigns the cost center regardless, removing the current cost center assignment, if any.

   2. Select the cost center appropriate to entity selection.

   3. 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 Assigning Cost Centers to Entities for details.

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

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 After Adding Entities to Chargeback..

After adding entities to Chargeback, you can use various filtering criteria in the search pane on the left to alter the display in the table on the right. When you select a check box, the display changes to reflect your selections.

• Use the filtering capabilities to search by entity type or entities within type.

• Search to differentiate between entities that are assigned a cost center or charge plan and those that are unassigned.

• Use filtering criteria to check on collection status.

• Follow charge trends for those entities with a history of data collection and charge activity.

Use the save search capability as follows:

Note that the entities table has a flat structure. When you add entities that include members, they appear as singular entries in the table, without regard to hierarchy. To see the hierarchical relationship, select an entity row and click the Hierarchy subtab in the Details region. For more information, see Viewing an Entity's Collected Metric Data and Other Entity Details.

You can define rules to assign a charge plan to an entity based on criteria you select. Rules fire prior to the daily data collection job. Entities without assigned charge plans are assigned a plan based on rule order.

When you make a plan assignment, you have the option of selecting a plan from a list of available plans or of letting rules criteria determine the plan.

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

2. From the Action menu, select Set Plan Assignment Rules.

3. Click the Add button.

4. Select a charge plan to assign from the drop-down list and provide a description for the rule.

5. Click Add Group to define criteria.

   1. Select the left operand from the drop-down list (Entity Type, Parent Entity, Tenant).

   2. Select an operator (Equals, Not Equals).

   3. Click the search icon to select the right operand. The left operand determines the list of available choices. For example, if the left operand is Tenants, the list of available tenants known to Chargeback appears in the right operand drop-down list.

6. To add additional criteria, click the Add Item button. A new set of selection drop-down boxes appear that includes a Boolean operator. Set the Boolean to AND or OR to indicate whether all sets of criteria must match or any one constitutes a match.

   Select the operands and operator as above.

7. When done with criteria, click Add to complete rule creation.

8. Rules fire in the order of appearance. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to reorder rule precedence as necessary.