Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Enable Exadata Cost Management

As a first step towards using Exadata Cost Management, you must enable it for your Exadata system.

To enable Exadata Cost Management:

  1. In the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure console, open the navigation menu and click Observability & Management. Under Ops Insights, click Exadata Insights.
  2. From the left menu, select Exadata Cost Management.

    The Exadata Cost Management page is displayed.

  3. Ensure that the compartment in which your Exadata system resides is selected.
  4. Select the Exadata system, click the Actions button, and then click Enable cost management.

    The Enable cost management panel is displayed. If you do not have the required permissions to enable Exadata Cost Management, click Complete the prerequisites. For information, see Prerequisites for Exadata Cost Management.

  5. Select a plan to allocate resource costs to the consumers of those resources:
    • Chargeback Plan - Equal Allocation: Unused hourly cost is distributed equally across all databases in the VM cluster.
    • Chargeback Plan - Unused Allocation: Unused hourly cost is not attributed to databases; each database is attributed only for the CPU it utilized during that hour.
    • Chargeback Plan - Weighted Allocation: Unused hourly cost is allocated proportionally based on each database's share of the total VM cluster CPU utilized during that hour.
    Note

    Cost allocation is supported for both PDBs and non-CDBs. CDBs are supported as aggregate groupings that represent the combined costs of their associated PDBs.

    For more information, see About Cost Allocation Plans.

  6. Click Enable.

Once cost management is enabled, the Exadata Cost Management page is displayed, and the Cost allocation and Plan enabled columns are updated with details of the selected allocation plan and the date and time it was enabled.

Note that cost management data becomes available for monitoring and analysis up to 24 hours after enablement. Once available, you can access it on the Exadata Cost Management details page.

To disable Exadata Cost Management for an Exadata system, select the Exadata system, click the Actions button, and then click Disable cost management.

About Cost Allocation Plans

Selecting a cost allocation plan determines how VM cluster costs are distributed across PDBs and non-CDBs. This ensures transparent, consistent, and policy-driven cost distribution aligned with organizational financial management practices.

Note

For ease of understanding, this section refers only to PDBs; however, the same concepts apply to non-CDBs.

Cost Allocation Calculation

To accurately distribute VM cluster costs, it's important to understand the following components:

  • Measurement window: Each calculation is based on a one-hour period.
  • Average CPU usage: For each PDB, this represents the average number of CPUs utilized during the specified hour.
  • Allocated CPUs (cpuAllocated): The total number of CPUs allocated to the VM cluster for that hour.
  • Hourly cost: The cost associated with operating the VM cluster for the given hour.
    Note

    All charges are calculated independently for each hour to ensure precise tracking and allocation of resources and costs.

Key Definitions (Per Hour)

The following definitions describe how hourly utilization and cost components are derived.

  • Utilization (per PDB) = Average CPU usage for the hour/cpuAllocated
  • Total cluster utilization = Sum of PDB CPU usage (avg for the hour)/cpuAllocated
  • Used cost = Hourly cost × Total cluster utilization
  • Unused cost = Hourly cost × (1 − Total cluster utilization)

Cost Allocation Plans

The following cost allocation plans define how the unused portion of hourly cost is distributed across PDBs. When enabling Exadata Cost Management you must select a cost allocation plan.

Example Scenario (Hour H)

This example illustrates a one-hour cost calculation that is referenced by the cost allocation plans listed later in this section.

  • cpuAllocated = 10 ECPUs
  • Hourly cost = $100
  • CPU usage (Average for H):
    • PDB1 = 1 ECPU
    • PDB2 = 2 ECPUs
    • PDB3 = 3 ECPUs
  • Utilization:
    • PDB1: 0.10
    • PDB2: 0.20
    • PDB3: 0.30
    • Total utilization = 0.60
  • Cost calculation:
    • Used cost = $60
    • Unused cost = $40

Chargeback Plan – Equal Allocation

The unused cost for the hour is divided equally among all PDBs in the VM cluster, regardless of their individual CPU usage. This approach ensures that each PDB shares the cost of unused capacity equally.

Using the inputs as detailed in Example (Hour H).

Used charges:

  • PDB1 $10
  • PDB2 $20
  • PDB3 $30

Unused charges: $40 ÷ 3 = $13.33 each

Total charges:

  • PDB1 = $23.33
  • PDB2 = $33.33
  • PDB3 = $43.33

Chargeback Plan – Unused Allocation

The unused cost for the hour is not attributed to the PDBs in the VM cluster; each PDB is attributed only the CPU cost corresponding to its usage during that hour. This approach ensures that each PDB is charged solely based on its actual usage.

Using the inputs as detailed in Example (Hour H).

Used charges:

  • PDB1 = $10
  • PDB2 = $20
  • PDB3 = $30

Total charges:

  • PDB1 = $10
  • PDB2 = $20
  • PDB3 = $30

Chargeback Plan – Weighted Allocation

The unused cost for the hour is allocated in proportion to each PDB’s share of the total CPU utilized in the VM cluster. This approach assigns a larger portion of the unused cost to PDBs with higher usage.

Using the inputs as detailed in Example (Hour H).

Total utilization = 0.60

Usage shares:

  • PDB1 = 0.10 ÷ 0.60 = 0.1667
  • PDB2 = 0.20 ÷ 0.60 = 0.3333
  • PDB3 = 0.20 ÷ 0.60 = 0.5000

Used charges:

  • PDB1 = $10
  • PDB2 = $20
  • PDB3 = $30

Total charges:

  • PDB1 = $16.67
  • PDB2 = $33.33
  • PDB3 = $50.00

Breakdown: Used charge + proportional share of unused cost (usage share × unused cost). For example, for PDB1: $10 + (0.1667 × $40) = $16.67

Note

  • Calculations are performed for each hour in the billing period. The total attributed cost is the sum of the hourly totals.
  • If a PDB records zero CPU usage during a given hour:
    • Chargeback Plan – Equal Allocation: The PDB is charged an equal share of that hour’s unused cost.
    • Chargeback Plan – Unused Allocation: The PDB incurs no charge for that hour.
    • Chargeback Plan – Weighted Allocation: The PDB incurs no charge for that hour, as cost distribution is based solely on usage during that hour.