Cost Monitoring: Continuous Alerting to Prevent Cost Overruns

Cost Monitoring: Continuous Alerting to Prevent Cost Overruns

Implement continuous monitoring and alerting systems to detect cost anomalies in real-time and prevent budget overruns before they happen.

Why Continuous Monitoring Matters

Reactive cost management (checking bills after the fact) is too late. Proactive monitoring catches issues while they're happening, allowing immediate intervention.

Key Metrics to Monitor

• Credits consumed per hour/day
• Warehouse utilization rates
• Query execution times
• Data scanned per query
• Failed query rates
• Storage growth rates

Implementing Alerts

-- Daily credit usage alert
CREATE TASK daily_credit_alert
WAREHOUSE = monitoring_wh
SCHEDULE = 'USING CRON 0 9 * * * UTC'
AS
SELECT
WAREHOUSE_NAME,
SUM(CREDITS_USED) as DAILY_CREDITS,
CASE
WHEN SUM(CREDITS_USED) > 100 THEN 'ALERT'
ELSE 'OK'
END as STATUS
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.WAREHOUSE_METERING_HISTORY
WHERE START_TIME >= DATEADD(day, -1, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
GROUP BY 1
HAVING STATUS = 'ALERT';

Best Practices

1. Set up resource monitors at account and warehouse levels
2. Configure alerts at multiple thresholds (75%, 90%, 100%)
3. Monitor daily vs monthly trends
4. Alert on unusual spikes (3x normal usage)
5. Review alerts weekly with team

Real-World Example

A company implemented daily monitoring alerts that detected a misconfigured ETL job consuming 500 credits/day (normally 50 credits). Alert triggered within 2 hours, team fixed the issue same day. Cost impact: $150 vs potential $15,000/month if undetected.

Key Takeaways

• Continuous monitoring enables proactive cost management
• Set up alerts at multiple threshold levels
• Monitor trends, not just absolute values
• Quick detection and response prevents major cost overruns