AWS Cloud Cost for MSP Partners
Documentación sobre redes de socios de Datadog
Overview
This guide explains how AWS Managed Service Providers (MSPs) configure AWS Billing Conductor and generate pro forma Cost and Usage Reports (CURs) so that a customer’s member account can be connected to Datadog CCM without exposing the MSP’s management account.
The steps on this page are divided between what you (the MSP partner) configure and what your customer configures in their member account.
For general (non-MSP) CCM setup instructions, see the Datadog CCM AWS setup guide.
About AWS Billing Conductor
AWS Billing Conductor is a custom billing service for AWS Marketplace Channel Partners and organizations that have chargeback requirements.
Billing Conductor enables customers to create a second, pro forma version of their costs to share with their customers or account owners.
Billing rates, credits and fees, and overhead costs can be customized at your discretion. You can also select which accounts to include in the CUR.
- Pro forma Cost and Usage Reports do not include discounts and taxes, which makes it difficult to compare costs in Datadog to AWS Cost Explorer.
- Adding accounts to a billing group changes how Reservations and Savings Plan are shared, which can lead to account-level cost differences.
- Datadog Cloud Cost Management is best used for cost trends, anomaly detection, optimization insights, and FinOps workflows, rather than a replacement for AWS billing invoices.
To create a billing conductor CUR, follow the AWS Cost and Usage Reports user guide. Ensure the CUR meets Datadog’s requirements.
Prerequisites
Before starting, verify the following:
MSP access
Access to the management account to configure Billing Conductor (Pricing Rules, Pricing Plans, Billing Groups).
Customer permissions
The customer must have permission to:
- deploy CloudFormation stacks
- create and manage Cost and Usage Reports (CURs)
- grant Datadog access to the S3 bucket containing the CUR
Datadog integration
The AWS integration must be installed for the member account in Datadog.
For more information, see the AWS integration setup.
These steps must be completed in the MSP’s management account.
Step 1 - Create a pricing rule
Billing Conductor computes pro forma costs by adjusting AWS public on‑demand rates using a Discount or Markup.
You must explicitly choose between these options:
- Discount: applies a percentage discount to public on-demand
- Markup: applies a percentage increase to public on-demand
Entering 0% (whether Discount or Markup) results in public on-demand pricing. The allowed range is 0-100%.
For example:
| Type | Calculation |
|---|
| Discount (20%) | public on-demand × 0.8 |
| Markup (30%) | public on-demand × 1.3 |
Step 2 - Create a pricing plan
Create a pricing plan and attach the pricing rule created in the previous step.
A pricing plan can contain only one global Discount or Markup rule.
Step 3 - Create a billing group
Create a billing group and assign one customer’s member account as the primary account.
You can add one or more member accounts to the billing group, but only the primary member account generates the pro forma CUR that Datadog ingests.
Step 4 - Confirm customer-side requirements
If the customer manages their member account independently, confirm they understand that they must:
- deploy the CloudFormation template
- create the CUR in their account
- grant Datadog access to the CUR bucket
These steps must be performed by the customer in their member account.
Pro forma CURs do not support the SPLIT_COST_ALLOCATION_DATA option.
Because of this limitation, the customer must modify the template before deployment:
- Download the Datadog CCM CloudFormation template.
- Remove the
SPLIT_COST_ALLOCATION_DATA field from the template. - Save the modified template to use in the next step.
- Use the template above and deploy a stack in the customer’s member account.
- To deploy the stack, follow the AWS documentation: Create a stack from the CloudFormation. When creating the stack, choose: With new resources (standard).
Enter the following information during deployment:
- Bucket Name: S3 bucket where CUR files are stored
- Bucket Region: AWS region of that bucket (for example,
us-east-1) - Export Path Prefix: S3 path prefix for CUR files
- Export Name: Name of the Cost and Usage Report
These values define where AWS writes the CUR and where Datadog reads it.
Step 4 - Enter the member account’s CUR parameters in Datadog
After deploying the CloudFormation stack, navigate to Datadog → Cloud Cost → Settings → Accounts.
Select the member account and enter the following fields using the exact values from Step 3:
- Bucket Name
- Bucket Region
- Export Path Prefix
- Export Name
Skip the Create CloudFormation stack step (the stack was already deployed in Step 3).
Click Activate now to activate CCM for the member account.
After configuration is complete, the account status updates as shown below.
Validation
After activation, verify that cost data is flowing into Datadog:
- Go to Cloud Cost > Cost Explorer in Datadog.
- Select AWS as the provider, then use filters such as Product, Member Accoun Id, or other dimensions to group and validate the data.
- Confirm that cost data appears for the expected time range.
Note:
It may take 48–72 hours after a Cost and Usage Report (CUR) is generated for data to appear in Datadog.
CURs use hourly granularity, so AWS CUR delivery timing and Datadog processing may not align perfectly in real time.
Further reading
Más enlaces, artículos y documentación útiles:
