AWS Standalone FAQs

What is "Native Rating"?

This connector is an alternative to using CloudCheckr to compute the charges and usage for customers. All our previous connectors use CloudCheckr to compute usage and billing. However, with Native Rating we will leverage the in-house capabilities of AWS such as Athena and CUR to compute the usage and then upload it to Connect. The connector is price-rated and will therefore calculate the customer price (for example, MSRP).

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Is a markdown possible for this connector?

You can use the AWS Discount and Credit Manager to perform AWS rating within CloudBlue, without relying on third-party systems. For additional information, refer to the AWS Discount and Credit Manager documentation.

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How can I specify margin for AWS Marketplace Services?

You can use the AWS Discount and Credit Manager to configure discounts for items of "Marketplace" type. For additional information, refer to the AWS Discount and Credit Manager documentation.

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How can I set up the manual acceptance of usage files?

If a distributor needs to modify the exchange rate parameters, the custom markup parameters, or something else after the usage file for that billing cycle has been generated, they can use this process to request a new usage file or to reprocess a usage file.

To reprocess the usage file, it is important to change the Usage Rules. To do so, complete the following steps:

  1. Go to the Distributor portal in CloudBlue Connect and click Usage Rules.

  2. Set the default action to Wait for operator assistance.

To learn more about this feature, refer to the following article in CloudBlue Connect documentation: Usage - Distributor & Reseller Portals - CloudBlue Connect

Important: Reprocessing the usage file is considered an exception. It should not be requested on a regular basis. Please only consider requesting the reprocessing of a usage file after you have tried all other available options. Contact your assigned product manager for more information.

How does the billing work?

To ensure billing data reliability, each new AWS Standalone Account needs to be managed using a different S3 bucket and Athena table per Standalone Account in the AWS Master account. In this scenario, the customer needs to set up an S3 bucket replication that will copy CUR data from their S3 bucket to the S3 bucket in the main account (https://aws.amazon.com/s3/features/replication/). The connector then reads all the information within all the created tables for the Standalone accounts.

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How does the exchange rate work?

The distributor can apply the corresponding exchange rate parameter value in the Connect Distributor Portal. This activity will have to be done manually by the distributor. The usage file available in Connect has the adjusted values. Our Connector receives the CUR file from AWS and uses the configured value under the fxRate exchange rate parameter (available in the Connect Distributor portal) to calculate the new price. It makes the changes in the usage file and then uploads the file into the Connect Distributor Portal.

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Can discounts be applied for customers?

Yes, you can use the AWS Discount and Credit Manager to manage discounts. For additional information, refer to the AWS and Credit Manager documentation.

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What type of orders are supported?

Import Scenario

  • What is an import scenario?
    The scenario in which we need to create an AWS subscription in CloudBlue Connect and CloudBlue Commerce platforms for already existing AWS accounts.

  • Which type of AWS accounts can be used for the import scenario?
    AWS Standalone accounts that have been onboarded in the AWS Partner Network Portal and have completed the required manual steps described here .

    Provisioning AWS Standalone accounts to CloudBlue end customers

    • As a provider, you can define a pool of preconfigured accounts to avoid lengthy waiting periods for customers.

    • The connector will validate the pre-created accounts configured via the AWS Management extension and it will select the next "available" account during the provisioning process to allocate it to the customer.

     

    For additional details, see the Creating an AWS Standalone Account section.

    Assisted Manual Account Cancellation

    • As AWS does not support account off-boarding or cancellation via API, manual steps are required to complete cancellation requests received in Connect. Two options are possible:

      • Account closure: The CloudBlue provider should manually close the account so that it is moved to Suspended status on the AWS side.

      • Account Transfer-out: CloudBlue Provider should remove the role OrganizationAccountAccessRole that was originally created to provide access to usage data.

      Once these steps have been completed, the provider should click a link available in an email that will be sent to mark the account as already canceled. For additional details, see the Canceling an Account section.

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How can I sign in to new AWS accounts? (SSO or OTP)

The Single Sign-On (SSO) feature is no longer available as mandated by AWS. Instead, a one-time password (OTP) will be used to set up access to the accounts. In the screenshot below you can see how this will look like from now onwards.

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Is it necessary to perform manual actions for the proper functioning of this connector?

The following manual steps are required :

 

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Is it possible to suspend an AWS account?

The suspend scenario is not supported in any AWS connector because AWS does not support the suspension of the resource. Therefore, whenever a customer or a reseller sends a suspend request from CloudBlue Commerce on behalf of a customer, Connect will automatically fail it and the following error may be displayed. This is the expected behavior.

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Is it possible to cancel an AWS subscription?

  1. An email message is sent to the provider informing about a pending cancellation. The email provides information on the options available to cancel the account on the AWS side:

    • The account can be closed, so the account status will switch to Suspended.

    • The account can be moved to another distributor. This can be done by deleting the OrganizationAccountAccessRole, which has the trusted entity for the distributor account. If this role is not deleted, the connector will not know that the account was migrated to another distributor, the cancel request will be stuck in the pending status and the usage will continue to be billed for that customer.

  2. Once the provider has canceled the account on the AWS side, the provider must click the link available in the email to mark the account as canceled.

  3. The connector checks if the account was canceled on AWS side.

  4. When the account is no longer available, the connector will wait until a configurable number of days has passed before approving the cancellation request in Connect, as long as the account was marked as canceled by the provider.

Note: Providers will be able to configure cancellation emails in different languages by using product and marketplace configuration parameters.

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When is the usage file generated for this connector?

Usage is processed on the 5th of every month, generally at 00:00 hours (time zone: CEST – 2). For example, usage for the month of April will be generated on the 5th of May.

Do the invoices generated by this connector include the AWS support plan charges?

Yes, these charges are billed to the end customer and they will be seen as a separate line in the invoice. The AWS usage file generates the usage charges for linked accounts, and these charges flow into Commerce for invoice generation.

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