Cisco-related workloads in cloud environments are typically deployed using clusters, policy-based configurations, and autoscaling components. These resources run on cloud infrastructure and generate costs through underlying services such as compute, storage, and data transfer.
Tracking these costs can become complex, especially in multi-cloud environments where resource usage and billing structures vary across providers.
CloudSpend provides a unified view of Cisco-related cloud spending across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments by identifying resources using predefined Cisco tags. It maps cloud billing data to these tagged resources and aggregates the costs, helping you track usage, analyze cost drivers, and optimize overall cloud spend.
Cisco cost management is the process of tracking, analyzing, and optimizing cloud expenses associated with Cisco-related resources such as clusters, policy groups, and autoscale groups.
In CloudSpend, this is achieved by using Cisco-specific tags applied to cloud resources. These tags allow costs to be attributed to logical Cisco entities, even though the actual charges originate from cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Effective Cisco cost management involves:
CloudSpend simplifies Cisco cost management across AWS and Azure by connecting cloud billing data with tagged resource usage.
Instead of relying on separate billing files or manually correlating resources, CloudSpend automatically identifies Cisco-related resources using predefined tags such as cluster ID, policy group, and autoscale group. It then maps the associated cloud costs to these tagged entities.
This approach allows you to:
CloudSpend also separates Cisco-related costs from underlying infrastructure components. This helps you understand whether cost changes are driven by tagged Cisco resources or by supporting cloud services.
Trend analysis and anomaly detection help highlight unusual spending patterns. For example, if resources associated with a specific autoscale group increase unexpectedly, the change is reflected in the report.
You can also set budgets and configure alerts based on these tagged cost groupings, enabling proactive cost monitoring and control.
By organizing cloud costs using Cisco-specific tags, CloudSpend makes it easier to move from raw billing data to meaningful cost insights.
CloudSpend uses the following entities to tag and track your Cisco resources across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments.
| Report category | Report display name | Description | Tag key | Tag value |
| Cisco | Cluster ID | The Cisco cluster ID | cisco:cluster-id | <cluster-id> |
| Cisco | Policy Group | The Cisco policy group | cisco:policy-group | <policy-group> |
| Cisco | Autoscale Group | The Cisco autoscale group | cisco:autoscale-group | <autoscale-group> |
These tags are used to group cloud costs and enable detailed cost analysis based on Cisco-related resource organization.
CloudSpend uses the above entities to tag and track your Cisco resources across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments. These entities help connect cloud billing data with how your Cisco networking and security resources are structured, making it easier to understand cost distribution.
The Cluster ID tag represents the logical grouping of Cisco resources that handle network traffic and connectivity. By using this tag, CloudSpend attributes cost to specific clusters, allowing you to analyze how different deployments contribute to overall spend.
The Policy Group tag represents the set of network policies and rules applied to traffic. CloudSpend uses this tag to map costs to policy-driven configurations, helping you understand how routing decisions, access rules, and traffic control impact cost.
The Autoscale Group tag (cisco) represents resources that scale dynamically based on network demand. CloudSpend uses this tag to track how scaling behavior affects cost, making it easier to identify whether increased spend is due to higher traffic or scaling configurations.
By organizing cost data using these Cisco-specific tags, CloudSpend enables granular cost attribution across network deployments. You can break down costs by cluster, policy group, and autoscale group; compare usage patterns; and identify optimization opportunities such as refining network policies or adjusting scaling thresholds.
This structured tagging approach improves cost visibility and helps teams take ownership of their network usage, leading to more informed decisions and better cost control.
Here are some of the key benefits of the Cisco cost report:
With the Cisco cost report, you get a unified view of your Cisco-related spending across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments.
Follow these steps to view the report:
1. Log in to CloudSpend and go to Reports.
2. Select the Cisco cost report.
3. Use filters to narrow down by account, region, or resource.
4. Select the required account to view the Spend Analysis dashboard.
The Spend Analysis view provides a consolidated understanding of what is driving your Cisco-related cloud costs across AWS, Azure, and GCP. It connects cost data with tagged resource usage, allowing you to analyze spending patterns across different environments without relying on raw billing files.
From this view, you can monitor total cost for the selected time range, identify the highest-spending accounts or subscriptions, and detect anomalies that indicate unusual cost spikes. It also helps you compare cost distribution across accounts, subscriptions, or projects, depending on the cloud provider.
You can break down costs by key dimensions such as services, locations or regions, and resource groups to understand how infrastructure usage contributes to overall spend. The ability to analyze trends over time, whether monthly, quarterly, or yearly, makes it easier to identify when cost changes began and how they evolved.
Since Cisco-related costs are derived from tagged resources, this view helps you isolate cost increases linked to specific clusters, policy groups, or autoscale groups. Instead of investigating across multiple billing sources, you can quickly identify whether a cost change is tied to a particular tagged resource group, service usage, or region.
The Resource Explorer provides a deeper level of analysis by allowing you to explore Cisco-related costs across multiple dimensions and understand how costs are distributed across your cloud environment.
It enables you to analyze cost data by accounts, subscriptions, projects, regions, services, and tags, depending on the cloud provider, giving you flexibility in how you view cost ownership. You can also examine costs by locations or regions to identify where spending is higher, and by services to distinguish between Cisco-related resource usage and underlying infrastructure components.
The Resource Explorer also allows you to group costs by resource groups and tags, which is especially useful for analyzing Cisco-specific tags such as cluster ID, policy group, and autoscale group. This helps you attribute costs to the correct logical entities and understand how different deployments contribute to overall spend.
In addition, you can view the total cost for a selected period, track cost trends over time, and evaluate the contribution of each dimension to the total spend. Filters can be applied to narrow down the analysis to specific workloads, environments, or tagged resources.
By providing a flexible way to slice and analyze cost data, the Resource Explorer helps improve cost visibility and accountability across teams. It allows you to move from a high-level overview to detailed insights, making it easier to identify cost drivers and take targeted optimization actions.