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Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Console Guide

 

This page provides a complete guide to using the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) section of the Namirasoft Bill Watch Console. You’ll find a breakdown of each tab and field involved in creating and managing GCP Watches, along with descriptions of monitoring metrics, and watch list details. Use this guide to understand how Namirasoft Bill Watch tracks GCP usage and detects anomalies effectively.

 

What Is Google Cloud Platform (GCP)?

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a suite of cloud computing services provided by Google. It includes a range of services for computing, storage, machine learning, data analytics, networking, and more, all designed to help businesses scale, innovate, and deploy applications with ease. Users of GCP are only charged for the resources they use, providing flexibility and scalability in managing cloud services.

 

The Challenge in GCP Cost Monitoring

Like other cloud providers, GCP uses a pay-as-you-go model that charges based on actual usage. However, this flexibility can lead to unexpected spikes in costs, especially when resources are not closely monitored. High resource consumption, unintentional overprovisioning, or unforeseen application behavior can lead to unanticipated bills. Without continuous monitoring and automated anomaly detection, it’s easy to miss these sudden increases, resulting in higher-than-expected charges.

 

How Namirasoft Bill Watch Solves the Problem

Namirasoft Bill Watch provides rule-based cost monitoring for GCP. It analyzes your GCP usage daily, compares it against your historical data and predefined rules, and sends alerts when costs deviate unexpectedly. By offering multi-dimensional visibility and proactive alerts, Namirasoft Bill Watch helps you stay on top of your cloud costs, detect anomalies quickly, and take corrective actions before the costs escalate.

 

With Namirasoft Bill Watch, you can reduce financial risk and gain control over your GCP expenses without compromising the flexibility of the platform.

 

 

Overview of GCP Watch Fields and Options

Below is a brief introduction to the fields and options you will encounter when creating a GCP Watch in Namirasoft Bill Watch. Each entry corresponds to an element or parameter you must configure; understanding these definitions will help you complete the setup accurately and know how each component affects monitoring behavior and reporting.

 

  • ID (string): This is a unique ID automatically assigned to the watch (by Namirasoft Bill Watch) once it’s created. You don’t set this yourself; it’s used internally to reference the watch record.

 

  • User ID (Namirasoft Account’s ID): This is the unique ID assigned to a user of the Namirasoft Account, which gives access to all Namirasoft apps. This ties the watch to a specific user (for access control and tracking). It does not directly affect the monitoring logic, but is used in the backend to manage permissions and history.

 

  • Workspace ID (Namirasoft Workspace’s ID): This refers to a workspace created in the Namirasoft Workspace app, which allows users to group projects, teams, or environments. In Namirasoft Bill Watch, the workspace name is displayed (not just the ID), and it links directly to the Workspace app where it displays the ID for that workspace. This ensures that each watch is tied to the correct environment and only monitors credentials and accounts associated with that workspace.

 

 

To allow Namirasoft Bill Watch to access your GCP billing data, the application needs the Billing Account Viewer role permission. This permission allows Namirasoft Bill Watch to securely read cost and usage data without altering any resources or configurations. How do I assign the Billing Account Viewer role in GCP?

 

  • Topic ID (Namirasoft Notification Sender’s ID): Namirasoft Bill Watch sends alerts via a notification system. The Topic ID identifies how alerts for this watch will be delivered. In Namirasoft’s system, a “Topic” is a channel configured to send messages (for example, SMS, Email, Telegram, etc.) through the Namirasoft Notification Sender. When an anomaly is detected by this watch, Namirasoft Bill Watch publishes an alert to the specified Topic. The Topic ID therefore links the watch to the chosen alert mechanism (and subscriber).

 

  • Log Group ID (Namirasoft Log Group’s ID): It identifies the specific log group within the Namirasoft Log app where Namirasoft Bill Watch will store detailed records of anomaly detections and watch executions. When a watch runs and detects unusual cost behavior, Namirasoft Bill Watch sends the event data to this log group to alert the user.

 

  • Name (String): A human-friendly label you choose to identify this watch. The name helps you and your team recognize which watch is which, especially if you have many rules. It does not affect how costs are tracked; it’s purely for convenience.

 

  • Active (Yes/ No): This is a checkbox that controls whether the watch is currently running. If set to Active, Namirasoft Bill Watch will execute the watch on its schedule (for example, daily). If deactivated (no), the watch will not run and no alerts will be generated. You can use this to temporarily suspend monitoring without deleting the watch.

 

For example, if the status is Inactive, the system pauses all tracking, no API calls are made, and no charges apply while inactive.

 

⏳ Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2025 19:45:00 GMT
🔢 Watch ID: bwt-gcp-***********
🔡 Watch Name: Billing Healthcheck
🆔 Account: ************
☑️ Status: Watch is inactive.

 

  • Show on Deactive (Yes/ No): When enabled, this option ensures you receive a daily alert indicating that the watch is currently inactive and not monitoring your costs. This helps you stay informed and avoid unintentionally missing coverage due to a paused watch. You can see an example of this above.

 

  • Show on No Anomaly(Yes/ No): When this option is selected, the system will send a daily alert even if no anomalies are detected. It’s useful for users who want confirmation that their monitoring is active and functioning properly.

 

In the example below, the alert is sent because the Show on No Anomaly option is enabled. Although no unusual activity was detected, this message confirms that your watch ran successfully and found no anomalies during the selected period.

 

⏳ Date: Wed, 09 July 2025 19:00:29GMT
🔢 Watch ID: bwt-gcp-***********
🔡 Watch Name: Main
🆔 Account: ************
🕠 Period: 2025-07-08 to 2025-07-09
✅ No Anomalies Detected
💰 API Calls Made: 2

 

  • Show API Call (Yes/ No): This option controls whether Namirasoft Bill Watch should include GCP API call metrics in the alert logs. If enabled, the report or alert will show the number of GCP API calls made (for example, calls to start/stop instances) along with cost data. This can help diagnose if unusual API activity (like an automated script making many calls) is related to cost anomalies. Enabling this adds extra detail to alerts, but may also increase the data retrieved.

 

In the example below, the alert shows the number of API calls made because the Show API Calls option is set to Yes. The value 10 means the watch performed 10 calls to GCP services during the selected time range for cost and usage analysis.

 

⏳ Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2025 18:55:04 GMT
🔢 Watch ID: bwt-gcp-***********
🔡 Watch Name: GCP Costs
🆔 Account: ************
🕠 Period: 2025-06-02 to 2025-06-07
✅ No Anomalies Detected
💰 API Calls Made: 10

 

 

  • Show New Cost (Yes/ No): When checked, this tells Namirasoft Bill Watch to display the “new cost” portion of each metric, meaning it will highlight costs incurred during the watch’s time period. If disabled, the watch might report only percentages or absolute totals. (For example, “Show New Cost” might cause the alert to say “We spent $500 this day, which is a 25% increase.”) This setting affects the formatting of the alert log.

In the example below, the alert shows the new cost because the Show New Cost option is set to Yes. The value USD 50.88 indicates the latest cost for the specified key and metric. The system detected an increase from the previous value of USD 10, exceeding the defined threshold of 5, and triggered an anomaly alert.

 

⏳ Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2025 18:50:01 GMT
🔢 Watch ID: bwt-gcp-***********
🔡 Watch Name: Finance Check
🆔 Account: ***********
🕠 Period: 2025-06-01 to 2025-06-06
◻️ Metric: AmortizedCost
💬 Key: Tax
❌ Anomaly Detected
─────────────────────────────
Name: AmountByLast
Value Checked: 2025-06-01 => 50.88 USD
Previous Value: 10 USD
Change Type: Increased
Formula: `Math.abs(difference) >= threshold`
Threshold: 5
Difference: 40.88

 

  • Max API Call Total (Integer): If you are monitoring GCP API usage, this sets a threshold for the total number of API calls (across all operations) within the watch period. If Namirasoft Bill Watch counts more than this number of calls, it may trigger an anomaly alert. This is useful for catching runaway scripts or bugs. (For example, setting Max API Call Total = 1000 means the watch will alert if more than 1000 GCP API calls occurred in the period.)

 

  • Max API Call Per Operation (Integer): Similar to the above, but this is threshold per API operation type. If any single operation’s count exceeds this number, an alert is triggered. For example, Max API Call Per Operation = 100 would alert if one operation type is called over 100 times. This helps detect unusual spikes in specific actions (e.g. a sudden burst of StartInstances calls).

 

  • Description (String): A free-text field where you can explain the purpose or scope of this watch. The description itself doesn’t change cost tracking; it just helps users understand the watch’s intent when browsing the UI.

 

  • Rules: Defines the conditions that trigger anomaly detection. Each rule is evaluated independently, and if any rule flags an anomaly, a notification is triggered. This setup follows a logical OR structure between rules. Learn more about Creating Rules.

 

  • Lookback Periods (Enum, multi-select): These define the past time intervals Namirasoft Bill Watch uses to establish a baseline for comparison. You can select multiple lookback periods. During analysis, Namirasoft Bill Watch compares current spend against each selected period. For example, if you select 7-day and 30-day lookbacks, it might compute “cost this week vs. average of last 7-day period” and “cost this month vs. average of last 30 days.” Using multiple lookback periods helps catch short-term or medium-term anomalies.

 

  • Metrics (Enum): Specifies the cost or usage metric to monitor. The metric represents the financial or usage data point being analyzed for anomalies.

 

  • Actual Cost: This metric shows the real amount GCP charged you each day for the resources you used. It reflects the unadjusted daily spend without spreading pre-paid or reserved costs. For example, if your services cost $15 today, the actual cost for that day is $15.

 

  • Amortized Cost: Amortized cost spreads upfront or reserved payments across the relevant time period to provide a smoother daily cost view. For instance, if you pre-pay $300 for three months of a service, the amortized cost shows $100 per month, helping you track daily expenses more evenly rather than seeing a single large upfront charge.

 

  • Usage: Usage tracks the quantity of resources consumed each day, independent of cost. For example, it measures compute hours, storage transactions, or network bandwidth. Monitoring usage anomalies helps detect unusual activity patterns even when the associated costs remain stable.

  • Last Run At (DateTime): This shows the date and time when the watch was last processed. For example, “Last Run At: 2025-06-07 08:00:00” means the most recent check occurred at that date/time.

 

  • Last Run Status (Enum): Indicates how the last run completed. Common statuses include:

 

    • Not Started: The watch has never been run (e.g. just created and not yet scheduled).

 

    • Processing: The watch is currently running.

 

    • Scheduled: The watch is set up and waiting to run at its next scheduled time.

 

    • Deactive: The watch was inactive (deactivated) at the time of the last scheduled run.

 

    • Failed: The last run encountered an error (e.g. invalid data).

 

    • Succeeded: The last run completed successfully without errors.

 

  • Last Run Anomaly Found (Yes/ No): This is a Yes/No indicator. If Yes, it means the last run found at least one cost anomaly based on your rules (and sent an alert). If No, no anomalies were flagged during that run. This helps you quickly see if there were any alerts last time.

 

  • Last Run Message (String): This field contains a short message from the last execution. It could be a success message (like “Watch completed, no anomalies found”) or details about what triggered the alert. If the run failed, it might contain an error message. Essentially, it provides context about the outcome of the last run.

 

  • Next Run At (DateTime): Shows when the watch is scheduled to run next (for example, “Next Run At: 2025-06-08 08:00:00”). This allows you to know when Namirasoft Bill Watch will check costs again.

 

  • Created At (DateTime): The date and time when this watch was originally created. This is set once when the watch is first made and does not change.

 

  • Updated At (DateTime): The date and time when any of the watch’s settings or options were last changed. This updates whenever you edit the watch (e.g. change thresholds or filters).

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