Letting an employee or a collaborator create machines carries an obvious risk: a large machine forgotten and left running, or ten test machines nobody deletes, show up on the bill at the end of the month. AWS can alert you once the money has been spent, but it has no simple way of saying "this person can create, up to this much a month".
In Simplio you give each user a monthly budget in euros for what they create from here. Before creating a machine, a database, a bucket or a snapshot, Simplio checks that it fits. And when someone gets close to their limit, you get an alert.
How it works
You set a cap in Users
In each person's details, an amount in euros per month. Empty means no limit.
Every creation carries its cost
When a machine, a database, a bucket or a snapshot is created from Simplio, its estimated monthly cost is recorded using the AWS public price list.
It's checked before creating
If what they've created this month plus the new item goes over the cap, Simplio doesn't create it and explains why. Whatever is created and deleted within the same month is deducted.
It alerts you in time
When someone has spent 90% of their budget, or gone over it, you get an alert by email and in the app.
How secure it is
Only what was created from Simplio can be deleted
The list of what each person has created is also the only list of what can be deleted from Simplio: everything else is left untouched, even if someone tries.
You always know which account is charged
Before creating anything, the confirmation tells you which AWS account it will be charged to.
Creating is a separate permission
Viewing and managing what exists doesn't give permission to create. Creating is granted per person, and the budget is added on top of that permission.
The same task, in AWS and in Simplio
| On your own in AWS | In Simplio | |
|---|---|---|
| Limiting what an employee can spend | AWS Budgets alerts you once the money is spent; to prevent it you have to set up custom actions and policies | An amount in their details: it's checked before creating |
| Knowing who created what | Go through CloudTrail and the tags, if anyone added them | Each person's list of creations, with its cost |
Frequently asked questions
Is it an exact limit?
It's an estimate based on the AWS public price list, like the rest of Simplio's per-object costs. It's there so nobody creates too much; you see the real bill on the Costs screen.
Does it count what isn't created from Simplio?
No. The budget covers what each person creates from Simplio. Whatever already existed or is created from the AWS console doesn't count, although its cost does appear in Costs.