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If you’re trying to figure out how much it costs to log Aurora data in CloudWatch and then move those logs to S3 using Firehose, here’s a simple way to understand it.
First, there are three main costs to consider:
- Data Ingestion: CloudWatch charges $0.50 per gigabyte (GB) for the logs you bring into the service.
- Data Storage: Keeping your logs stored in CloudWatch costs $0.03 per GB each month.
- Data Transfer (if using Firehose): If you move logs from CloudWatch to S3 with Firehose, there’s an additional fee of $0.029 per GB. Firehose bills in 5KB chunks, which means even if your logs are smaller than 5KB, you’ll be billed for a full 5KB.
For example, suppose each log record is only 0.2KB. To figure out how much Firehose will cost, use this:
Firehose Cost = $0.029 per GB × total GB transferred each day × (5KB / 0.2KB)
This calculation adjusts for the billing chunk size versus your actual log size.
To work through your total costs:
- First, find out how many GB of logs you’re generating daily.
- Multiply that by $0.50 to determine your daily ingestion cost.
- Multiply your total log size by $0.03 to see the monthly storage cost.
- If you’re moving logs with Firehose, use the formula above to estimate your transfer costs, taking your log size into account.
Remember, storage costs add up over time since they’re billed each month based on how long you keep the logs. By calculating these components carefully, you can better understand and manage your logging expenses.
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