Pricing View

Abiquo has a flexible pricing system that is designed to enable cloud providers to supply estimates for cloud services.

Introduction to Pricing

With Abiquo pricing, you can create pricing models to match service level agreements and assign them to your enterprises. Pricing models can use different currencies and cost codes for virtual machine image templates. In general, the pricing system is not connected to the accounting system, although the pricing cost code information is included in the accounting system.

Manage Pricing Workflow

If you have the appropriate privileges, click the icon to access Pricing view. In sequential order, the four tabs in this view are:

Pricing Models
Enterprise Association
Cost Codes
Currencies

The Pricing Model tab is displayed first, because it shows the information that will be most often consulted. However, the tabs are explained here in the order that you will need to work with them when you first create a pricing model.

The workflow to create a new pricing model is:

Enter currencies
Create cost codes
Create the pricing model
Assign the model to an enterprise

Pricing Estimates

The user will see a pricing estimate when they deploy a virtual machine if the administrator chooses to show charges before deployment. The administrator can customize the message and include pricing system variables. The default text is "The charge for this Virtual Appliance will be %CHARGE_FORMATTED% %CHARGEPERIOD%, subject to a minimum charge of %MINCHARGE_FORMATTED% %MINPERIOD%".

An estimate only includes the costs that are directly related to a virtual machine; it does not include the VLAN cost or the standing charge. Public IP addresses are billed from the time of reservation, but the estimate for a virtual machine will not include the time before deployment.

Pricing is also available in the Abiquo API. However, instead of a VM popup on deployment, you can perform a query to receive an estimate of the cost of a virtual appliance. See CurrencyResource, CostCodeResource, PricingTemplateResource, EnterpriseResource

Manage Currencies

Use the Currencies tab to manage the currencies in the pricing system. The default currencies are euros, US dollars and Japanese yen. You may delete currencies but one currency must always remain in the system; this does not have to be a default currency.

Click the header line to sort the currencies by ascending or descending order of the currency code or currency name.

Add new currencies before you create a pricing model.

Button	Action
	Create a new Currency
	Remove an existing Currency
	Edit the selected Currency

Add a New Currency

Open the currency tab and click the button to add a new currency.

Delete or Edit a Currency

To delete or edit a currency, first select the currency. Then from the options menu, select edit or delete.

Manage Cost Codes

On the Cost Codes tab, you can create cost codes to set pricing for virtual machine templates. The pricing estimate popup will include the image cost when users in enterprises with a pricing model assigned deploy a virtual machine using a template with a cost code.

Add cost codes before you create a pricing model.

Assign a cost code to a virtual machine template in the Appliance Library view.

Button	Action
	Create a new Cost Codes
	Remove an existing Cost Codes
	Edit the selected Cost Codes

Open the Cost Code tab and click the plus button to add a new cost code.

Cost Codes General Information

Cost Codes Default Prices

Set the default image prices in all of your currencies. You can later change these prices in a specific pricing model on the Image Prices tab.

Manage Pricing Models

This tab allows you to create a Pricing Model by entering prices for the virtual machine elements. You can clone an existing pricing model to create a new one.

Before creating the pricing model:

To use a currency that is not one of the defaults (US dollars, euros, Japanese yen), add the currency on the Currencies Tab.
To assign a cost to a virtual image, create a cost code on the Cost Codes Tab.

Button	Action
	Create a new pricing model
	Remove an existing pricing model
	Edit the selected pricing model
	Make a clone copy of this pricing model. It will be called PricingModelName (copy)

Click the add button to add a new pricing model.

Pricing Models General Information

Complete this tab first if you can. You must enter all the required fields on this tab before you save the pricing model.

Pricing Estimate Message

When the checkbox to "Show charges before deployment" is ticked, the pricing estimate popup is shown when the user deploys a virtual appliance. You can customize the pricing estimate message.

The default Pricing Estimate message is:
The charge for this Virtual Appliance will be %CHARGE_FORMATTED% per %CHARGEPERIOD%, subject to a minimum charge of %MINCHARGE_FORMATTED% per %MINPERIOD%.

You can edit the message and use the standard cut and paste keys to change the location of the variables. You can select variables to add to this message from the pull-down list.

Pricing Models Image Prices

This tab displays all of the images as set in the main cost code tab, with their current price. The default for this field is the default price set in the main cost code tab. You can set a new price for a cost code in this tab only, but you cannot modify the other cost code details.

Pricing Models Tiered Storage

Storage tiers set service levels for storage, so different storage devices can be assigned to different tiers. You can edit the storage tier details in the Datacenter Storage tab in Infrastructure View. This tab displays the current price and you can enter a new price for each tier.

Change the prices for the tiers and click Save. You can change the price for more than one tier at a time.

Manage Enterprise Associations

In the Enterprise Associations tab you can associate a pricing model with each enterprise. This tab displays a list of pricing models and two panes of enterprises. The default display is all pricing models and all enterprises.

Click on a pricing model to display the enterprises with this pricing model assigned in the left pane and the enterprises without it in the right pane.

To assign a new pricing model to an enterprise:

Select a pricing model from the pull-down list next to an enterprise name to assign the current pricing model to this enterprise.

To remove a pricing model from an enterprise:

Select a new pricing model from the pull-down list next to an enterprise to replace this pricing model or select "None" to remove this pricing model from an enterprise without replacing it. The enterprise will now move from the left enterprise pane to the right enterprise pane for this pricing model.