aws-ce

Create anomaly monitor

$ aws ce create-anomaly-monitor --monitor [monitor_name] --monitor-type [monitor_type]

$ aws ce create-anomaly-subscription --subscription [subscription_name] --monitor-arn [monitor_arn] --subscribers [subscribers]

$ aws ce get-anomalies --monitor-arn [monitor_arn] --start-time [start_time] --end-time [end_time]

$ aws ce get-cost-and-usage --time-period [start_date]/[end_date] --granularity [granularity] --metrics [metrics]

$ aws ce get-cost-forecast --time-period [start_date]/[end_date] --granularity [granularity] --metric [metric]

$ aws ce get-reservation-utilization --time-period [start_date]/[end_date] --granularity [granularity]

$ aws ce list-cost-category-definitions

$ aws ce tag-resource --resource-arn [resource_arn] --tags [tags]

aws-ce [COMMAND] [OPTIONS]

COMMAND
    Specifies the action to perform, e.g., get-costs to retrieve cost data, get-usage for usage data, or list-budgets to view defined budgets.

--start-date
    Sets the inclusive start date for the cost or usage report. Typically required for time-series queries.

--end-date
    Sets the inclusive end date for the cost or usage report. Typically required for time-series queries.

--granularity
    Defines the aggregation level for the data. Common defaults include MONTHLY or DAILY.

--group-by
    Groups results by one or more specified dimensions (e.g., SERVICE, ACCOUNT, REGION, TAG:TagName). Can often be used multiple times.

--filter
    Applies specific filters to narrow down the cost data based on dimensions or tags, often using a JSON-formatted expression that mimics AWS CE filter structures.

--metrics
    Specifies the cost or usage metric(s) to retrieve. Can be a comma-separated list. Default is usually UNBLENDED_COST.

--output
    Determines the format of the output. text or table are common for readability, while json is useful for scripting.

--profile
    Specifies the AWS CLI profile to use for authentication and configuration, overriding the default.

--region
    Specifies the AWS region for API calls, although AWS Cost Explorer is a global service.

--help
    Displays a help message or usage information for the specific implementation of the command.

The command aws-ce is not a standard Linux utility distributed with operating systems. It is commonly used as a conceptual representation or a custom shell script/alias to interact with AWS Cost Explorer (CE). Its purpose is to provide a simplified command-line interface to retrieve, filter, and analyze AWS cost and usage data.

While its exact implementation varies greatly from user to user or organization to organization, a typical aws-ce command would wrap complex aws ce CLI commands. This abstraction allows users to automate routine cost reporting, monitor spending against budgets, or quickly investigate cost trends without navigating the AWS Management Console.

A well-designed aws-ce script aims to streamline workflows by abstracting away the intricacies of AWS API calls, enabling users to specify parameters like time ranges, granularity, grouping dimensions, and filters using concise syntax. It might also offer various output formats for easy integration with other command-line tools like jq for further data processing or custom reporting.

The command aws-ce is not a standard Linux command. Its existence, functionality, and specific options depend entirely on whether a user or organization has created it as a custom script, alias, or function. Therefore, its behavior can vary significantly.

Limitations:

• Requires the AWS CLI to be installed and configured with valid credentials (e.g., via aws configure).
• The configured AWS identity (user or role) must have appropriate IAM permissions to access AWS Cost Explorer (e.g., ce:GetCostAndUsage).
• Subject to AWS API rate limits and potential costs associated with data retrieval, especially for large date ranges or granular data.
• Performance can vary depending on the data volume and complexity of the query.

Before attempting to use an aws-ce command, ensure that the AWS CLI is installed and configured with appropriate credentials and a default region. This setup is typically performed using the aws configure command. The aws-ce script will leverage these underlying AWS CLI configurations for authentication and region targeting.

For any aws-ce command to successfully retrieve data from AWS Cost Explorer, the AWS identity (IAM user or role) specified in your AWS CLI configuration must possess sufficient IAM permissions. The most crucial permission is ce:GetCostAndUsage. Depending on the script's specific capabilities, additional permissions such as ce:GetDimensionValues, ce:GetRightsizingRecommendation, or ce:GetReservationUtilization might also be required.

The conceptual 'aws-ce' command likely emerged from the practical necessity to streamline AWS cost management on the command line. As AWS environments grew in complexity and the official aws ce CLI commands became more verbose for detailed queries, developers and operations teams sought simpler ways to access cost data. This led to the creation of custom shell scripts, aliases, or wrapper functions to encapsulate the lengthy AWS CLI calls, providing a more intuitive and concise interface for common cost analysis tasks. This pattern of creating user-friendly wrappers for complex cloud APIs is a common practice to enhance efficiency and reduce the operational burden in cloud environments.

aws(1), jq(1)