Azure API usage cost calculation
Instana interacts with Azure APIs that includes Azure Monitor, ARM, and data transfer cost factors, and introduced optimization practices such as throttling protection and cost-tracking options to help estimate and manage Azure API usage costs.
When you monitor Azure environments with Instana, consider the following cost factors that are related to Azure API usage:
Azure API cost factors
1. Azure Monitor API calls
Instana starts the Azure monitor API to gather the metrics. For more information, see the Azure monitor usage cost.
Each metric request that Instana makes to Azure Monitor counts toward your Azure Monitor API quota.
2. Azure Resource Manager (ARM) API calls
ARM API calls for resource discovery do not incur charges, but they have rate limits. If Instana sends a high number of API calls, you might need higher rate limits, which can increase your costs.
For more information, see Azure subscription service limits and Request limits and throttling.
You can estimate and track these costs by using:
- Azure pricing calculator
- Azure cost management + billing in the portal or programmatically through the Azure Retail Prices API
- Azure Cost Management APIs (to generate cost details reports).
3. Data transfer costs
Instana transfers data out of Azure when retrieving metrics and logs. Data transfer is charged based on the region and the volume of data transferred. For more information, see Azure bandwidth pricing.
Optimizing Azure API usage in Instana
1. Throttling protection
Instana starts the Azure monitor API to gather the metrics. For more information, see the Azure monitor usage cost.
Each metric request that Instana makes to Azure Monitor counts toward your Azure Monitor API quota.
2. Resource filtering
You can reduce API calls by configuring Instana to monitor only specific resources. Apply resource filtering based on tags or resource groups. For more information, see Filtering of Azure services.