Re:Burnt $72k testing Firebase and Cloud Run and almost went...
by Retailer on Thursday December 10, 2020 @08:16PM
(#25381132)
Google has alert thresholds (you set it up under your Budget). But practically speaking, an alert is not enough - what if you are unavailable to get the alert, it comes in the middle of the night, etc?
A better solution would have been 'limits' which they used to have (at least for Google App Engine) but which has been deprecated.
We had to spend sometime to research and see if there was a work around because just like the author of the article, we were quite worried about suddenly consuming a huge amount of resources, getting a spike in our bill and our accounts being cut off/suspended because we hadn't paid the bill. We've documented our solution here
https://retailingplatform.com/blog/how-to-control-costs-on-a...
Re:Burnt $72k testing Firebase and Cloud Run and almost went...
by patch_cable on Thursday December 10, 2020 @06:25PM
(#25380186)
Something like this for alerts? https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitori...
Re:Burnt $72k testing Firebase and Cloud Run and almost went...
by Alupis on Thursday December 10, 2020 @06:33PM
(#25380249)
Doesn't look like there's any cutoff mechanism there, and it's a separate, optional step instead of part of the setup flow with a mandatory opt-out warning.
Nor does that address the other complaint - Google (and possibly others) seem to be willing to extend an unlimited credit line to all customers without any prior vetting for ability to pay. That's crazy.
Email me when we cross $X amount in one day, Text when we cross $Y, and Call when we cross $Z. Additionally, allow the user to configure a hard cut-off limit if they desire.
Just provide the mechanisms and allow users to make the call. Google et al would have a much stronger leg to stand on when enforcing delinquent account collections if they provided these mechanisms and the user chose to ignore them.
Additionally, Google et al should protect _themselves_ by tracking usage patterns, and reaching out to customers that grossly surpass the average billable amount - just like OP with their near $100k bill in 1 day. Zero vetting to even have a reasonable guarantee the individual or company is even capable of paying such a large bill.
And then what? Sue a company that doesn't have $100k for $100k? This makes zero sense.