Manage Cloud Resources at ETH

What the IT Services Offer

Currently the Cloud Service Center offers that you can order a resource environment for a supported cloud provider via the  IT Shop and the user can use the admin specific console to create and manage his cloud resources.

How to manage cloud resources at ETH Zürich

To operate cloud resources, the following components are required:

• A cloud provider (e.g., Azure, Google Cloud Platform, AWS or Switch Cloud)
• A resource environment (this refers to the "container" in which cloud resources are managed and billed)
• A number of cloud resources (VMs, networks, storage, databases, etc.)

The costs generated by the cloud resources can be identified within the resource environment. However, the cloud provider issues a consolidated invoice, meaning that the allocation of costs to the responsible parties must be handled within the context of ETH Zurich.

As a result, ETH employees need to address the following questions:

• How can cloud resources be used?
  To facilitate the use of cloud resources, the Cloud Service Center (CSC) has established the Cloud Resource Management service, which is provided via the IT Shop. Through the IT Shop, a cloud environment can be requested, within which cloud resources can then be created and utilized.
• Why are cloud resources billed?
  Using cloud resources incurs real costs, which are paid by the CSC through a consolidated invoice. These costs are then passed on to the owners of the respective cloud resources, as the CSC cannot cover them centrally.
• What criteria are used to allocate cloud resource costs (Cost Center)?
  To use a cloud environment, a KOSTL (cost center) or PSP (project structure plan) must be specified so that the costs can be directly billed via SAP.
• Explanation of budget/cost credit (validity, alerting, increase, renewal):
  To enable direct billing via SAP, a budget approval or cost credit must be granted when the cloud environment is provisioned through the IT Shop. This cost credit includes a financial limit and a validity period (from/to), within which billing takes place. Based on this, alerts are sent to the responsible parties. The cost credit can also be extended or increased.
• How are cloud resource usage costs managed?
  To monitor the costs of used cloud resources, mechanisms provided by the cloud providers themselves can be used (e.g., Azure Cost Analysis). The CSC is developing a Pay-per-Use (PPU) service to allocate cloud costs from all CSC-supported cloud providers in a usage-based and transparent manner via a unified application. The PPU service reads cost data from the cloud providers and assigns it to the respective cloud environments and their associated KOSTL/PSP. It also initiates SAP billing based on the approved cost credit.
• At what intervals are invoices sent?
  By default, costs are billed monthly via SAP. However, other billing intervals can be defined, such as quarterly billing.

To make the use of cloud resources at ETH Zurich as simple and straightforward as possible, a process with three fundamental steps has been defined, covering end-to-end usage.

The following diagram illustrates the process surrounding the use of cloud resources:

The three fundamental steps in Cloud Resource Management can be defined as follows:

1. Set up the resource environment and approve a cost credit to monitor cost development.
2. Create and manage cloud resources, and adjust the cost credit if necessary.
3. Decommission the resource environment when the cloud resources are no longer needed.

These three steps in Cloud Resource Management are supported by dedicated tools:

• The IT Shop offers three service offerings to initiate the setup and decommissioning of the cloud environment, as well as to create and manage the cost credit.
• The Pay per user Service reads the costs of the cloud resources and allocates them within the context of the respective cloud environment.
• Cost allocation is transparently integrated and automated within ETHIS/SAP.
• The management of cloud resources is carried out directly in the admin console of the respective cloud provider.

Legend: Mapping of terms used in the text

PS: AWS Cloud and Switch Cloud is not yet integrated in the IT Shop. Please open a ticket in SmartDesk if you are interested in a "Resource Environment" for AWS or SwitchCloud.

Further Details can be found in the following pages: