Integrate your Azure Account with CloudSpend

CloudSpend allows you to integrate your Azure account and manage your cloud bills. You can connect your Azure account with CloudSpend by following the steps below:

  1. Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID
  2. Provide programmatic access to CloudSpend
  3. Connect your Azure account
According to Microsoft Azure billing process, the usage charges can continue to accrue and can change until the fifth day of the month after your current billing period ends, as Azure completes processing all data. Therefore, it takes CloudSpend a maximum of five to seven days to reflect the same billing data for the billing period.

CloudSpend-Azure integration workflowCloudSpend-Azure integration architecture

Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID

Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID to provide CloudSpend programmatic access to your Azure account.

Follow the steps below to complete the application registration process.

  1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal and navigate to the Microsoft Entra ID section.
    Azure active directory
  2. Click New registration in the App Registrations tab.
    Azure new registration

  3. In the Register an application window, enter the following details:

    FieldDescription
    Name The unique name of the application.
    Example: CloudSpend Azure App
    Supported account types

    The account types supported by the application. Select Accounts in any organizational directory or Accounts in this
    organizational directory only.
    Redirect URI A valid web URI. This is an optional field.
    Example: https://localhost:8080
    register the application
  4. Click Register.
  5. After registering the application in the Azure portal, you will be redirected to the Essentials section with the application details. Copy the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID to save them for later use.
  6. Navigate to Manage > Certificates & secrets.
    azure certificates
  7. Click +New client secret in the Client secrets section.
    new client

  8. In the Add a client secret window, enter the following details:

    FieldDescription
    Description The client secret description.
    Expires The expiry date. Select Custom from the drop-down list.
    Start The start date.
    End The end date. Select the maximum end date.

    Add secret key
  9. Click Add.
  10. Copy the Value that appears under the New client secret section and save it for later use. Note that this value will disappear after a while, so copy and paste the value as soon as you save it.
    save key

Provide programmatic access to CloudSpend

After successfully registering an application in Microsoft Entra ID, you have to add the required roles to the registered application. You can add the following roles to a registered application either through Subscriptions or Management groups based on the Azure account type.

Azure account typeRequired role
Pay As You Go (PAYG) Reader
Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) Reader, Billing account reader
Enterprise Agreement (EA) Reader, Enrollment reader

Obtaining the required permissions through Management groups

To obtain the required permissions through Management groups, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Management groups.
  2. Select the management group that has all the required subscriptions you want to track costs for. If you do not have a management group, follow the steps in the Creating a new Management group section below to create a new management group.
  3. Select Access Control (IAM) tab.
  4. Click Add role assignment.
    management groups add role
  5. On the Add role assignment page, select the required role based on the account type from the Roles section.
    Select the role
  6. Click Next.
  7. Select the custom application that you created from the Members > Select members drop-down list.
    select members
  8. Click Select.
  9. Click Review+assign. The required permissions will be added to the registered application.
    review and assign

Obtaining the required permissions through Subscriptions

To obtain the required permissions through Subscriptions, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Subscriptions.
  2. Select the subscription for which you want to track costs.
  3. Select the Access Control (IAM) tab.
  4. Click Add role assignment.
    Add Azure role
  5. On the Add role assignment page, select the required role based on the account type from the Roles section.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Select the custom application that you created from the Members > Select members drop-down list.
  8. Click Select.
  9. Click Review + assign. The required permissions will be added to the registered application.

Obtaining the additional permissions for MCA or EA account

In addition to the permissions obtained through Management groups or Subscriptions, the Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) and Enterprise Agreement (EA) account requires further role permissions. 

To obtain the necessary permissions through Cost Management and Billing for Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) account type, follow the steps below:

  1. Search for Cost Management + Billing in the Search bar and select Cost Management + Billing from the search results.
  2. Select Access Control (IAM).
  3. Click Add.
  4. Select Billing account reader role from the Add role assignment page.
  5. Choose the application you have created recently from the Users, groups, or app drop-down list.
  6. Click Add.

To assign Enterprise reader role to service principal follow the steps mentioned in the Azure documentation portal.

Creating a new Management group

To create a new Management group, follow the steps below:

  1. In the Microsoft Azure portal, navigate to the Management groups section.
    Azure management group
  2. Click Create to create a new management group.
    create management group
  3. In the Create management group window, enter the Management group ID and Management group display name.
  4. Click Submit.
  5. Click the management group that you created on the Management groups page.
    open management group
  6. Click + Add subscription and add all required subscriptions to the management group to analyze the cost data.
    Azure adding subscriptions
  7. Click Save.

Connect your Azure account with CloudSpend

After registering an application in Microsoft Entra ID and adding the required roles to the registered application, you can connect your Azure account with CloudSpend.

To connect your Azure account with CloudSpend:

  1. Provide a DisplayName.
  2. Set the Public Cloud Provider as Azure.
  3. Set the Azure Account Type as Pay As You Go,EA, MCA, or your Site24x7 Account.
    Azure integration
  4. Set Choose your Access Type as Subscriptions or Management Group.
  5. Enter the Tenant ID, Application ID, Application Secret Key, and Application Secret Key Expiration Date, which you created in the above steps.
  6. The Starting date for bill processing determines the date from which your bills get processed.
  7. Click Save to connect your Azure account with CloudSpend.
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