Billing FAQs
Q: Who is eligible to use AWS at Emory?
A: Please refer to the eligibility section in the service overview.
Q: Am I able to use my Emory P-Card or Emory Corporate Card for AWS at Emory?
A: AWS at Emory bills to a 10-digit SpeedType on a monthly basis and posts through a feed to Compass. You can see your charges in Compass or Emory Business Intelligence (EBI).
Q: Is there an advance authorization for the use of the SpeedType?
A: AWS is different from a typical purchase in EmoryExpress. Rather than a one-time purchase of a fixed amount (such as a computer or a piece of software), AWS is based on a pay-as-you go model. You may use as little as $0.00 in a given month or as much as you choose to consume.
Q: I am a business manager/RAS administrator/CBO. How can I see the details of a bill?
A: If the information you see in Compass or EBI is not sufficiently detailed, the full bill is available from the AWS portal. Please refer to ServiceNow article KB06050.
Q: I tried to log into the AWS portal, and I am not authorized for the account.
A: Submit a ticket to aws.help@emory.edu and we will help you determine who to contact for access to AWS at Emory.
Q: I have a new SpeedType. How do I update it in the portal?
A: Information on how to change your SpeedType in the VPCP app can be found in ServiceNow article KB06086.
Q: If there is no advanced authorization, how do you prevent people from using the wrong SpeedType?
A: ServiceNow will send an email to the requestor of the account using the SpeedType, but not the owner of the SpeedType, unless those two are coincidentally one in the same. When you enter a valid SpeedType, a warning appears that the SpeedType you entered is being recorded with your name associated with the account.
Q: I watched the demo(s), and I see that you log the use of the SpeedType and confront the user with the exact details of the SpeedType and only allow ones that are not just "valid" in Compass but also present details about project and activity end dates. Do you do anything to show users if they have any money left?
A: No, that functionality does not exist.
Q: There is a discrepancy between the charges I see in Compass and the charges I see in the AWS portal.
A: We have implemented new billing enchancements in April 2024. This billing enchancement now enables us to view accurate billing data from the AWS portal. To begin a support ticket where our team can further investigate a billing matter, please email awshelp@emory.eduto begin a support ticket and our team willinvestigate further.
Q: Is there a way to track AWS usage back to a particular user in an account?
A: Each AWS EC2 should be tagged with the tag “aws:createdby”automatically. The tag shows the ID of the user who launched the EC2, In addition, you can tag your resources will additional cost allocation tags outlined in this KB06213.
Q: What is multipart upload and will I get charged for part upload?
A: Multipart upload is a feature that allows you to upload a single large object as a set of parts. Each part is a contiguous portion of the object's data. This feature allows the upload of these object parts independently and in any order. If transmission of any part fails, you can retransmit that part without affecting other parts. After all parts of your object are uploaded, Amazon S3 assembles these parts and creates the object. In general, when your object size reaches 100 MB, you should consider using multipart uploads instead of uploading the object in a single operation.
After initiating a multipart upload and upload one or more parts, you must either complete or abort the multipart upload in order to stop getting charged for storage of the uploaded parts. Only after you either complete or abort a multipart upload will Amazon S3 free up the parts storage and stop charging you for the parts storage.
The Multipart upload documentation provides more details on how to perform a multipart upload
Q: What are GuardDuty charges and who is responsible for it?
A: GuardDuty provides threat detection that enables continuous monitoring and protection of your AWS accounts and workloads. Enabled by default for all AWS at Emory accounts, GuardDuty is a requirement for all accounts.
The GuardDuty charges is based on the volume of analysis performed on AWS CloudTrail Event, which provide information about requests for resources in your account, such as who made the request, the services used, the actions performed, and parameters for the action, VPC Flow Log, which provide information about the IP traffic going to and from network interfaces in your VPC and the DNS Log, which provide information required to review what hosts have made specific requests and domains they are trying to resolve.
OIT will cover the GuardDuty charges incurred on the account. The following link provides additional Information from Amazon on GuardDuty and the pricing.
Q: When will I be charged for usage of AWS services?
A: All AWS at Emory users will incur charges from day 1, based on the usage.
Q: Where is my data transfer out (egress) charges credited? I do not see it in my individual account bill.
A: AWS credits the data transfer out (egress) charges the following month. These credits will not show up in the individual account bill in AWS. The credits comes in as a credit memo to the master account, and is distributed as an egress credit to the individual account's speed type through Compass.