Azure CSP Billing Export

Azure Service Principal Onboarding with Billing Analytics

A Complete Guide to Automated Azure Billing Export and Analysis

Executive Summary

This solution provides automated Azure billing data export and analysis using Azure Synapse Analytics with Managed Identity authentication. It creates a service principal (wiv_account) that handles all authentication without tokens or manual maintenance.

Key Benefits:

• ✅ Zero maintenance - No tokens to renew

• ✅ Automated setup - Single script deployment

• ✅ Cost-effective - Pay only when querying data

• ✅ Cross-subscription support - Centralized billing view

Cost Summary

What Will This Cost Me?

What Am I Paying For?

• Storage: ~$0.10/month (storing billing data)

• Queries: $5 per TB of data analyzed (you'll use < 0.3 TB = $1.50/month)

• No hidden costs: No VMs, no licenses, no idle charges

Cost Comparison

• This Solution: $0.06 - $15/month

• Manual Reports: 4 hours × $50/hour = $200/month

• Your Savings: ~$185-195/month

Quick Start Guide

Prerequisites

• Azure subscription with billing access

• Azure CLI installed

• Bash shell (Linux/Mac/WSL)

• Python 3.x (optional, for remote queries)

One-Command Setup

Copy

# Clone and run git clone -b feature/billing-export-synapse https://github.com/wiv-ai/AzureOnBoarding.git cd AzureOnBoarding ./startup_with_billing_synapse.sh

That's it! The script handles everything automatically.

What Gets Created

1. Service Principal (wiv_account)

A secure identity for accessing Azure resources without passwords.

Assigned Roles:

• Cost Management Reader (view billing data)

• Storage Blob Data Reader (access exports)

• Synapse Administrator (manage analytics)

• Monitoring Reader (track usage)

2. Resource Group (wiv-rg)

Container for all billing analytics resources.

3. Storage Accounts

• Billing Export Storage: Stores daily cost data

• Synapse Data Lake: Required for analytics workspace

4. Synapse Workspace (wiv-synapse-billing)

Analytics engine for querying billing data.

5. Billing Export Configuration

Automated daily export of Azure costs to storage.

Architecture Overview

Your Azure Account
    │
    ├── Service Principal (wiv_account)
    │   └── Manages all authentication
    │
    ├── Daily Billing Export
    │   └── Automatically saves to Storage
    │
    └── Synapse Analytics
        └── Query billing data on-demand

Setup Options

Fresh Setup (Recommended)

./startup_with_billing_synapse.sh # When prompted: Use existing billing export? (y/n): n

Use Existing Billing Export

./startup_with_billing_synapse.sh # When prompted: Use existing billing export? (y/n): y # Then provide: # - Storage Account Name # - Resource Group # - Container Name # - Export folder path

⚠️ Important Notes

First-Time Setup

• Initial export: Takes 5-30 minutes to appear

• Daily updates: Run at midnight UTC

• Historical data: Available after first export

Data Deduplication

The system automatically handles Azure's cumulative exports:

• Day 1: Contains Day 1 data

• Day 2: Contains Day 1 + Day 2 data

• Solution: Views automatically query only the latest file

Cross-Subscription Access

• ✅ Can read billing from other subscriptions

• ✅ Requires proper permissions

• ✅ Centralized cost analysis

Manual Verification

# Check service principal az ad sp show --id wiv_account  # Check Synapse workspace az synapse workspace show --name wiv-synapse-billing --resource-group wiv-rg  # Check billing export az costmanagement export list --scope "/subscriptions/YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"