Kubernetes Cost Allocation

Our cost platform (CloudBolt Platform) reports what your Kubernetes clusters cost, broken down by namespace, workload, pod, and container. It builds that view from two sources:

• Cloud billing data: a FOCUS cost and usage export from AWS, Azure, or GCP, which provides the cost of your cluster infrastructure.
• Cluster usage metrics: the CPU, memory, and network metrics the StormForge Agent already collects, which show how that capacity was consumed.

CloudBolt joins the two and attributes infrastructure cost down to the workload level, including idle capacity and overhead such as system pods.

Both halves are required. Without the export there’s no cost to allocate; without the metrics, a cluster’s spend can’t be broken down by namespace or workload. This guide covers enabling the metrics on your clusters, then connecting a cloud provider in CloudBolt.

Prerequisites

• A CloudBolt Platform account. Log in at app.cloudbolt.io.
• The StormForge Agent installed on each cluster you want cost data for, at version 2.25 or later. Cost metrics are supported on both the v2 and v3 charts, so at 2.25 or later you don’t need to change versions.
• Permission to run helm upgrade against the StormForge release in each cluster.
• No namespace allow or deny list on the release. Cost allocation can’t calculate unallocated cost from a partial view of the cluster, so enableCostMetrics is mutually exclusive with clusterAgent.allowNamespaces and clusterAgent.denyNamespaces (workload.allowNamespaces and workload.denyNamespaces in the v2 Agent).

Enable cost metrics

Cost metric collection is off by default. Helm applies configuration changes by upgrading the release, so you use helm upgrade even when the version stays the same.

1. Review the current release to confirm its name and version, and to keep a copy of your values:

   helm list -n stormforge-system
   helm get values stormforge -n stormforge-system
   

2. Add the following to your values file:

   enableCostMetrics: true
   

3. Upgrade the release, reusing your existing values:

   helm upgrade stormforge oci://registry.stormforge.io/library/stormforge \
     -n stormforge-system \
     --version YOUR_CURRENT_VERSION \
     --reset-then-reuse-values \
     -f values.yaml
   

   To set the value without a values file, replace -f values.yaml with --set enableCostMetrics=true.

   Pin --version to the version you’re running so the command changes your configuration only. Omitting it resolves the latest published chart, which also changes the Agent version.

4. Confirm the value is applied and the pods restarted cleanly:

   helm get values stormforge -n stormforge-system
   kubectl get pods -n stormforge-system
   

Repeat for every cluster you want cost data for.

Connect your cloud provider in CloudBolt

CloudBolt needs a FOCUS cost and usage export from each cloud provider running your clusters. Connect the account or subscription billed for your cluster nodes — usually the management or payer account in a multi-account setup.

1. Log in to CloudBolt Platform.

2. Go to Settings > Connections.

3. Next to your provider, click Add connection, then follow the instructions.

Each provider has its own preparation steps. See Connect cloud accounts in the CloudBolt documentation.

View your Kubernetes costs

In CloudBolt, click Kubernetes Report in the left navigation. Cost allocation needs both the billing export and the cluster metrics before it reports anything, so allow time for the first of each to arrive.

Costs can be grouped and filtered by cluster, namespace, workload, container, pod, node, and Kubernetes label. Capacity the cluster paid for but didn’t hand to a workload appears as IDLE and OVERHEAD line items; a Distribute idle & overhead costs option spreads that cost across your workload namespaces instead.

For the full report, see Kubernetes Report in the CloudBolt documentation.

Troubleshooting