Bandwidth Usage

Bandwidth billing policies determine how an organization will be charged for bandwidth usage.

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What is a Bandwidth Billing Policy?

Bandwidth billing policies determine how an organization will be charged for bandwidth usage. When you define a bandwidth billing policy, the policy must be associated with an organization. The policy can be applied to one or more network interfaces in that organization. A single bandwidth billing policy cannot be applied to interfaces in multiple organizations.

When a user assigns network interfaces to a billing policy, SL1 creates a virtual interface. The virtual interface represents the network interface, as monitored by the billing policy. For example, if a billing policy drops 5 percent of the highest bandwidth readings, graphs for the virtual interface would not include those readings.

If multiple interfaces from a single device are assigned to a single billing policy, the virtual interface represents the "sum" of the interfaces assigned to the billing policy.

For example, suppose a device has two network interfaces. Suppose both interfaces are assigned to a single billing policy. The virtual interface for the device will represent both network interfaces.

You can view a list of virtual interfaces and their associated reports in the Virtual Interfaces page (Registry > Networks > Virtual Interfaces).

SL1 includes tools that allow you to define policies for interface billing, use those policies to monitor interfaces, and generate reports (bills) for the monitored interfaces.

To define bandwidth billing policies in SL1, you must perform two tasks:

Define product SKUs for each type of bandwidth-billing structure or use existing product SKUs. You can view, edit, and create product SKUs in the Product Catalog page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Product Catalog). See the Product Catalogs section for more information.
Define policies for bandwidth billing. This is described in the following sections.

Viewing and Filtering the List of Bandwidth Billing Policies

You can view, create and manage Bandwidth Billing Policies from the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).

The Bandwidth Billing Policies page displays information on existing bandwidth billing policies and allows you to search for policies, among other options.

To view a list of bandwidth billing policies:

Go to the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).
The Bandwidth Billing Policies page displays the following about each bandwidth billing policy:

NOTE: For users of type "user", the Bandwidth Billing Policies page displays only bandwidth billing policies that are aligned with the same organization as the user.

Policy Name. Name of the billing policy.
Organization. Organization to be billed according to the billing policy.
Bill On. Day of the month on which each billing cycle begins.
Rate. Charge per unit for bandwidth specified in the customer's contract.
Overage. Charge per unit when the customer exceeds the base commitment.
Commitment. Amount of base bandwidth/transfer specified in the customer's contract.
Product Name/ID: Alphanumeric ID of the SKU associated with the billing policy.
Product Description. Description of the SKU associated with the billing policy.
Edit User. User who created or last edited the bandwidth billing policy.
Edit Date. Date the bandwidth billing policy was created or last edited.

Filtering the List of Bandwidth Billing Policies

The Bandwidth Billing Policies page includes eleven filters, in the top row in the list of policies. You can specify one or more parameters to filter the display of bandwidth billing policies. Only bandwidth billing policies that meet all the filter criteria will be displayed in the Bandwidth Billing Policies page.

You can filter by one or more of the following parameters. The list of bandwidth billing policies is dynamically updated as you select each filter.

For each filter except Date Edit, you must enter text to match against. SL1 will search for billing policies that match the text, including partial matches. Text matches are not case-sensitive. You can use the following special characters in each filter:

, (comma). Specifies an "or" operation. For example:

"dell, micro" would match all values that contain the string "dell" OR the string "micro".

& (ampersand). Specifies an "and" operation. For example:

"dell & micro" would match all values that contain the string "dell" AND the string "micro".

! (exclamation mark). Specifies a "not" operation. For example:

"!dell" would match all values that do not contain the string "dell".

Policy Name. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching name.
Organization. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that are associated with a matching organization.
Email Address. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching email address.
Bill On. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching "bill on" date.
Rate. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching billing rate.
Overage. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching overage charge.
Commitment. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching commitment value.
Product Name. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching product name.
Product ID. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching product ID.
Product Desc. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching product description.
User Edit. You can enter text to match, including special characters (comma, ampersand, and exclamation mark), and the Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have a matching "edited by" value.
Date Edit. You can select from a list of time periods. The Bandwidth Billing Policies page will display only bandwidth billing policies that have been created or edited within that time period. The choices are:

All. Display all escalation policies that match the other filters.
Last Minute. Display only policies that have been created within the last minute.
Last Hour. Display only policies that have been created within the last hour.
Last Day. Display only policies that have been created within the last day.
Last Week. Display only policies that have been created within the last week.
Last Month. Display only policies that have been created within the last month.
Last Year. Display only policies that have been created within the last year.

Customizing the Bandwidth Billing Policies Page

You can customize the display of the pages under Business Services, such as the Bandwidth Billing Policies page, by hiding the header bar and navigation bar. To hide the header bar, click on the arrow in the top right of the page (above the [Guide] button).

To hide the navigation bar, click on the arrow at the bottom left of the page (next to the Find button).

Creating a Bandwidth Billing Policy

You can create new bandwidth billing policies from the Bandwidth Billing Policies page. To create a new bandwidth billing policy:

NOTE: Users of type "user" can create bandwidth billing policies only for organizations that are aligned with the user. These bandwidth billing policies can therefore contain only devices and interfaces aligned with the same organization as the user.

Go to the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).
In the upper right of the page, click the Create button.
The Bandwidth Billing Editor modal page appears. Provide a value in each field:

Organization. Organization to assign to the billing policy. Users of type "administrator" can select from a list of all organization in SL1. Users of type "user" can select from a list of all organizations of which they are a member.
Policy Name. Name of the billing policy.
Product SKU. Select a SKU. The SKUs selected in the Product Manager page will appear in this drop-down list.

Filter Interfaces. Specifies the parameter you want to use to filter the list of interfaces. You can select from the following:

Device Name is like. Filter by device name. Only interfaces on the specified device(s) will appear in the Available Interfaces field.

Organization is like. Filter by organization name. Only interfaces associated with the specified organization(s) will appear in the Available Interfaces field.
Interface Name is like. Filter by interface name. Only interfaces with names that match the search string will appear in the Available Interfaces field.
Interface Alias is like. Filter by interface alias. Only interfaces with aliases that match the search string will appear in the Available Interfaces field.
Interface Description is like. Filter by interface description. Only interfaces with descriptions that match the search string will appear in the Available Interfaces field.

regular expression. In this field you manually enter the text to filter by. You can use the following special characters in this field:

* Match zero or more characters preceding the asterisk. For example:

"dell*" would match "dell", "dell2650", "dell7250" and "dell1700N”.

"*dell*" would match "mydell", "dell", "dell2650", "dell7250" and "dell1700N".

% Match zero or more characters preceding the asterisk. This special character behaves in the same way as the asterisk.

Click the Filter button. The Available Interfaces field is refreshed and displays only interfaces that match the search parameters.

To go back to the entire list of interfaces, click the Clear button.

Available Interfaces. By default, all interfaces on all devices associated with the specified organization will appear in this list. If you use the filtering fields, the list of interfaces that match the search parameters are displayed in this field. When you select an interface from this list, SL1 collects and manages billing data for that interface, using the parameters of the billing policy. To select multiple entries, hold down the <Ctrl> key and left-click the entries.

When you assign a network interface to a billing policy, SL1 creates a virtual interface. The virtual interface represents the network interface, as monitored by the billing policy. For example, if a billing policy drops 5 percent of the highest bandwidth readings, graphs for the virtual interface would not include those readings. If multiple interfaces from a single device are assigned to a billing policy, the virtual interface represents the "sum" of the interfaces assigned to the billing policy. For example, suppose a device has two network interfaces. Suppose both interfaces are assigned to a single billing policy. The virtual interface for the device will represent both network interfaces.

After you create a bandwidth billing policy, SL1 will not prevent a user from changing the Collection Frequency setting for the associated interfaces. If the collection frequency of an interface that is already included in a bandwidth billing policy is changed, SL1 will calculate incorrect bandwidth billing data.

Aligned Interfaces. Appears only for existing billing policies. Displays the interfaces already assigned to this billing policy. To un-assign an interface, select it.

Bill On. Day of the month on which each billing cycle begins.
Base Commitments. Amount of base bandwidth/transfer specified in the customer's contract.
Base Rate Per Unit. Charge per unit for bandwidth specified in the customer's contract.
Overage Rate Per Unit. Charge per unit when the customer exceeds the base commitment.

Click the Save button to save the bandwidth billing policy. Clicking the Reset button will clear and refresh the fields in the Bandwidth Billing Editor page.
The new bandwidth billing policy will appear in the list in the Bandwidth Billing Policies page.

Editing a Bandwidth Billing Policy

You can edit a bandwidth billing policy from the Bandwidth Billing Policies page. To edit a bandwidth billing policy:

NOTE: For users of type "user", the Bandwidth Billing Policies page displays only bandwidth billing policies that are aligned with the same organization as the user.

Go to the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).
Find the bandwidth billing policy you want to edit. Click its wrench () icon.
The Bandwidth Billing Editor page appears with the same fields described in Creating a Bandwidth Billing Policy. You can edit the values in one or more fields.
Click the Save button to save your changes. Clicking the Refresh button will discard all changes and reset all fields with their previous content.

Deleting One or More Bandwidth Billing Policies

You can delete bandwidth billing policies from the Bandwidth Billing Policies page. To delete one or more bandwidth billing policies:

Go to the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).
Find the bandwidth billing policy or policies you want to delete. Select the checkbox () for each policy that you want to delete. To select all bandwidth billing policies, select the checkmark in the upper right of the page.
In the Select Action menu in the lower right of the page, select Delete Policy.
Click the Go button.
You will be asked if you want to delete the selected bandwidth billing policies. Click the OK button to continue to delete the policy or policies.
The selected bandwidth billing policies will be deleted.

Viewing Virtual Interface Data

You can view the data associated with a virtual interface from the Bandwidth Billing Policies page. The report displays the Mbps in and Mbps out for the virtual interface. To view a report for a virtual interface associated with a bandwidth billing policy:

Go to the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).
In the Bandwidth Billing Policies page, find the policy you want to view a report on. Click its bar graph icon ().

The Billing Report page appears and displays the following graphical report:

The y-axis displays bandwidth usage, in Mbps.
The x-axis displays time. The increments vary, depending upon the selected data type (from the Options menu) and the date range (from the Date Range Selection pane).
Each parameter is represented by a color-coded line.
Mousing over any point in any line displays the high, low, and average value at that time-point in the Data Table pane.
You can use your mouse to scroll the report to the left and right.
In a graph of normalized data, clicking on a data point zooms in on that time period and shows the non-normalized data.

Purging Billing Data

From the Bandwidth Billing Policies page, you can purge all the historical bandwidth information associated with a bandwidth billing policy. All billing data associated with the policy will be deleted. The policy starts collecting and computing again, but with a "clean slate". To purge historical data associated with a bandwidth billing policy:

Go to the Bandwidth Billing Policies page (Registry > Service Provider Utilities > Bandwidth Billing).
In the Bandwidth Billing Policies page, find the policy for which you want to purge historical data. Select its checkbox ().
Select the checkbox for each policy you want to delete and purge.
In the Select Action drop-down field in the lower right of the page, select Purge Historical Interface Data.
Click the Go button.
You will be asked if you want to alter or remove the selected bandwidth billing policies. Click the OK button to purge the data.
The billing data for each selected bandwidth billing policy will be deleted.

Generating a Bandwidth Billing Report

You can use the Interface Billing custom report to generate a billing report that includes the costs incurred for one or more bandwidth billing policies. For a description of how to generate the Interface Billing report, see the Creating a Bandwidth Billing Report example. For more information on generating and scheduling custom reports, see the Reports section.

Bandwidth Billing Calculations

The report includes the following three dollar amounts for each selected bandwidth billing policy:

Base Amount ($)
Overage Amount ($)
Total Bill ($)

To calculate these values, the report used the data collected for the virtual interface associated with the bandwidth billing policy, and the values from the following fields in the product SKU and bandwidth billing policy:

Bill On (from billing policy). This value is used to adjust the time period for the policy data.

Base Commitment (from billing policy). After the bandwidth usage for the time period is calculated, this value is used to calculate the Base Amount ($) value.
Base Rate Per Unit (from billing policy). After the bandwidth usage for the time period amount is calculated, this value is used to calculate the Base Amount ($) value.
Overage Rate Per Unit (from billing policy). After the bandwidth usage for the time period amount is calculated, this value is used to calculate the Overage Amount ($) value.
Interface Service Type (from SKU). This value is used to calculate the total amount of bandwidth the customer is billed for.
Interface Percentile Rate (from SKU). This value is used to calculate the total amount of bandwidth the customer is billed for.

To calculate the billing amounts, the following calculations are performed when the report is generated:

The report calculates the time period for each policy:

If a report span of one month was selected in the report input form, the time span is adjusted based on the Bill On value defined in the billing policy. If the Bill On value is between 2 and 28, the report adjusts the start and end times forward so that the time span starts on the correct day. For example, if on the report input form, you select Last Month as the time span and a billing policy has a Bill On value of 3, the time span used by the report for that policy will start at the beginning of the 3rd day of last month and end at the end of the 2nd day of the current month. The time span for a policy is not adjusted if the bill on value is less than 2 or greater than 28.

If the time span for a billing policy is not adjusted , the time period used by the report is the time span that you specified in the input form.

The report calculates the total amount of bandwidth the customer is billed for. For Interface Service Types of "Committed Transfer", this amount is the total amount of inbound and outbound bandwidth used for the entire billing period, i.e. the sum of all collected inbound and outbound values. For the other Interface Service Types, the calculation of this value is based on the collected data for a single poll. First, the report calculates a value for each poll during the time span. The value is different for each Interface Service Type:

Percentile In & Out: The value for each poll is the combined inbound & outbound utilization, measured in the units specified in the SKU.

Percentile Inbound: The value for each poll is the inbound utilization, measured in the units specified in the SKU.
Percentile Outbound: The value for each poll is the outbound utilization, measured in the units specified in the SKU.
Percentile: Highest Poll: The value for each poll is either the inbound utilization or the outbound utilization, whichever is higher, measured in the units specified in the SKU.

For Interface Service Types other than "Committed Transfer", the report orders the data for each poll from the lowest value to the highest value. The value at the percentile specified in the Interface Percentile Rate specified in the SKU is selected. For example, if there were 100 polls during the time period specified in the report, the values would be ordered with the lowest value at position 1 and the highest value at position 100. If the Interface Percentile Rate specified in the SKU is 95%, the report would select the value at position 95.

When the percentile option is selected, the Billing Report performance graph displays a calculated value at each percentile point. The Interface Billing report uses the actual reading that is closest to the 95th percentile to calculate billing values.

The report now uses either the total amount of inbound and outbound bandwidth used (for "Committed Transfer" Interface Service Types) or the single selected value (for other Interface Service Types) as the calculated bandwidth usage. The calculated bandwidth usage is used to calculate three dollar amounts:

Base Amount ($) = Base Commitment defined in billing policy * Base Rate defined in billing policy
Overage Amount ($). If the calculated bandwidth usage is less than the base commitment, this value is 0. If the calculated bandwidth usage is greater than the base commitment, this value equals: (calculated bandwidth usage – base commitment) * overage rate defined in policy
Total Bill ($) = Base Amount + Overage Amount