With the retirement of Azure Enterprise Reporting APIs as of this month, Microsoft has forced users to the Cost Management APIs, marking a significant advancement in how Azure users can manage and analyze their cloud expenditures. These newer APIs not only streamline processes but also bring forth enhanced capabilities and improved security features, making them an essential upgrade for businesses relying on Azure EA billing and cost reporting.
Understanding the Changes
The new Cost Details API replaces all previous Usage Details APIs, offering asynchronous report generation. This will require a programmatic polling mechanism towards the Cost Management API to know when the CSV data is ready for download from Azure blob storage.
Another change is the API endpoint transition from https://consumption.azure.com to https://management.azure.com, signifying the integration of Cost Management APIs into the broader Azure Resource Manager framework. This transition allows for the usage of additional functionalities such as Budgets, Alerts, and Exports, providing a comprehensive toolkit for managing Azure costs more efficiently.
The shift from Azure Enterprise Reporting to Cost Management APIs isn't just a technical update—it's a strategic enhancement. The old APIs operated on basic authentication methods using generic API authentication, which is now replaced by the more secure Microsoft Entra authentication that utilises user tokens or service principals. This shift not only enhances security but also simplifies the management of permissions and scopes.
Practical Tips for a Smooth Transition
To ensure a seamless migration, organizations should begin by mapping their current usage of Azure Enterprise Reporting APIs to the corresponding Cost Management APIs. Testing these new API integrations in a controlled environment before full deployment is advisable to address any issues that may arise during the transition.
Leveraging Exivity for Azure Cost Reporting
For Exivity users, integrating these changes into your existing setups can be streamlined using our recently updated Azure EA Extraction and Transformation templates. These templates allow you to effectively report on Azure EA consumption data, aligning with the new API structures. Learn more about setting this up with our detailed tutorial.
If you aren’t an Exivity user yet but like to check it out, you can sign up and try an online demo here. It has a bunch of Azure usage data from the past few months already loaded.
Conclusion
The shift from Azure Enterprise Reporting to Microsoft Cost Management APIs marks a strategic move by Microsoft towards standardising and enhancing cloud management practices. Adapting to new authentication methods and API structures requires some initial effort, but the benefits of improved functionalities, increased security, and better resource management offer several advantages. With tools like Exivity, this integration is streamlined, ensuring efficient and effective cloud cost reporting, aligning with Microsoft's standardised approach to Azure cost management.
