How charges arise.
THE COMMON MODELS
Per user, per month Per resource, per hour or second Per unit stored Per unit transferred Per request or operation
WHY BILLS SURPRISE PEOPLE
Several of those apply at once, and usage varies.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH FOR ANY SERVICE
Which meters apply What drives each What a typical month looks like What a bad month looks like
THE BAD MONTH QUESTION
What happens if traffic spikes, a process loops, or something is left running.
WHAT COMMONLY CAUSES UNEXPECTED BILLS
Resources provisioned and forgotten Test environments left running Data transfer beyond expectation Storage accumulating Automatic scaling responding to unwanted traffic
THAT LAST ONE
Scaling in response to bots costs real money.
WHAT TO SET UP FROM THE START
Billing alerts Spending limits, where available
WHAT TO REVIEW
The bill, monthly, line by line, at least initially.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Assume a small initial bill remains small.
