Budget alerts configuration in GCP - Commands & Configuration

Introduction

Managing cloud costs is important to avoid surprises. Budget alerts help you track spending and get notified when costs approach or exceed limits.

When you want to avoid unexpected high bills by monitoring your cloud spending.

When you need to notify your team if the project costs reach a certain threshold.

When you want to set spending limits for different departments or projects.

When you want to receive email alerts or notifications about your budget status.

When you want to automate cost control by linking budget alerts to actions.

Config File - budget_alert.yaml

budget_alert.yaml

apiVersion: billingbudgets.googleapis.com/v1
kind: Budget
metadata:
  name: example-budget
spec:
  amount:
    specifiedAmount:
      currencyCode: USD
      units: 100
  budgetFilter:
    projects:
      - projects/my-example-project
  thresholdRules:
    - thresholdPercent: 0.5
      spendBasis: CURRENT_SPEND
    - thresholdPercent: 1.0
      spendBasis: CURRENT_SPEND
  notificationsRule:
    pubsubTopic: projects/my-example-project/topics/budget-alerts

This YAML file defines a budget for a Google Cloud project.

• amount: Sets the budget limit to 100 USD.
• budgetFilter: Applies the budget to the specified project.
• thresholdRules: Sets alerts at 50% and 100% of the budget spent.
• notificationsRule: Sends alerts to a Pub/Sub topic for notifications.

Commands

This command creates a budget alert in Google Cloud for the specified billing account and project. It sets a budget of 100 USD and alerts at 50% and 100% spending thresholds, sending notifications to a Pub/Sub topic.

Terminal

gcloud beta billing budgets create --billing-account=012345-6789AB-CDEF01 --display-name=example-budget --budget-amount=100 --threshold-rules=0.5,1.0 --projects=projects/my-example-project --pubsub-topic=projects/my-example-project/topics/budget-alerts

Expected Output

Created budget: projects/012345-6789AB-CDEF01/budgets/12345678-90ab-cdef-1234-567890abcdef

→

--billing-account - Specifies the billing account ID to apply the budget.

→

--budget-amount - Sets the total budget amount in USD.

→

--threshold-rules - Defines the spending percentages to trigger alerts.

Lists all budgets configured for the specified billing account to verify the budget creation.

Terminal

gcloud beta billing budgets list --billing-account=012345-6789AB-CDEF01

Expected Output

NAME            DISPLAY_NAME    AMOUNT  THRESHOLDS

12345678-90ab-cdef-1234-567890abcdef  example-budget  100 USD  50%, 100%

→

--billing-account - Specifies which billing account's budgets to list.

Creates a subscription to the Pub/Sub topic to receive budget alert messages.

Terminal

gcloud pubsub subscriptions create budget-alert-sub --topic=projects/my-example-project/topics/budget-alerts

Expected Output

Created subscription [projects/my-example-project/subscriptions/budget-alert-sub].

Pulls one message from the budget alert subscription to check if alerts are received.

Terminal

gcloud pubsub subscriptions pull budget-alert-sub --auto-ack --limit=1

Expected Output

ACK_ID: ACK_ID_VALUE

MESSAGE: {"budgetDisplayName":"example-budget","costAmount":50.0,"thresholdPercent":0.5,"alertType":"ACTUAL_SPEND"}

→

--auto-ack - Automatically acknowledges the message after pulling.

→

--limit - Limits the number of messages pulled.

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: budget alerts notify you before your cloud costs get too high so you can act early.

Common Mistakes

Not specifying the correct billing account ID when creating the budget.

The budget will not be created or will apply to the wrong account, so alerts won't work as expected.

Always verify and use the exact billing account ID from your Google Cloud Console.

Forgetting to create a Pub/Sub subscription to receive budget alert messages.

Alerts are sent to the Pub/Sub topic but you won't receive or see them without a subscription.

Create a subscription to the Pub/Sub topic to receive and process alert notifications.

Setting threshold percentages outside the valid range (0 to 1).

Invalid thresholds cause errors or no alerts to trigger.

Use decimal values like 0.5 for 50% and 1.0 for 100% thresholds.

Summary

Create a budget with spending limits and alert thresholds using gcloud commands.

Verify the budget exists by listing budgets for the billing account.

Set up a Pub/Sub subscription to receive budget alert notifications.

Pull messages from the subscription to confirm alerts are received.