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DPeaco's avatar
DPeaco
Moderator
3 months ago

Chargeback Reporting Issue

Greetings ( again ),

I'm working through setting up a chargeback report for customer server groups. The issue that I'm running into is on the part of the report that is reporting on TAPES used. The same tape is used across multiple groups and the report shows that one group has a total tape usage cost of over $100K..!!!!! For this ONE group, would mean that they would need over $1M per year for tapes alone. These are LTO-9 tapes that typically will hold 50 TB of data each.
So....how do you put a per tape cost in the setup that would reflect correct reporting?
Example: 150TB of data backed up is only (and honestly) only 3 tapes - $125.24 per tape - real cost is about $376.00 and NOT almost $100K.

Is anybody really using chargeback yet - based on server groups? How are you handling backup to tape - well, duplicated to tape from MSDP. :-)

ALSO - why can I NOT look at a "Template" to see what it's doing? The Chargeback Template does almost everything I need done - I just need to hack how the tape cost is being used. Or Cohesity/Veritas truly needs to look at how this report works and fix it to where it's reporting correctly.....or just teach me how to fish with it. ;-)

8 Replies

    • DPeaco's avatar
      DPeaco
      Moderator
      3 months ago

      Yup, this is where I put the numbers in.
      Cost per tape: - What value is this truly asking for?
      How much a tape cost? or How much am I charging per GB backed up to a tape?

      Cost per tape - $125.24 each
      LTO-9 - Holds as average of 40 TB per tape.
      If I backup a server to this tape and the backup is only 60 GB, why do I charge them for 1 tape of $125.24?

      To me, it's
      $125.24 for 1 tape
      Accepted Tape Capacity - 40 TB or 40,000 GB
      Now we take the per tape cost of $125.24 and
      divide that by the Avg Tape Capacity of 40,000 GB = $0.003131 per GB
      Now we take $0.003131 multiplied by 60.13 GB
      This equals - $0.188 for the data charge to the tape.

      Now, I realize that there's more to the cost for backing up to a tape than just $0.003131 per GB. There is:
      Cost per tape
      Tape drive cost
      Tape library cost
      Environmentals
      Floor space
      Data Center Support Staff
      ---- to name a few things to consider if we want to get "in the ditch on this".

      Robert_Geller​ - What are your thoughts on this "kind sir".??

      • DPeaco's avatar
        DPeaco
        Moderator
        3 months ago

        Ok, scratch that. This would be more simple.

        Aggregate GB Backed up for the server group = 61,055.22 GB or roughly 61 TB
        Each tape can hold, on average - 40 TB or 40,000 GB
        Take the aggregate of the total GB backed up and divide that by the avg tape capacity and that would give us 1.525 tapes used for the server group.

        Take the 1.525 tapes used by the group and multiply that by the Cost Per tape of $125.24.......so the real cost to backup to tape would be $190.991 or $190.99
        And THIS would be the real cost to the customer for the amount of aggregate data backed up. 

    • DPeaco's avatar
      DPeaco
      Moderator
      3 months ago

      Also on this topic of tapes and chargeback.
      If I have 31 backups that backup to L01234, nbuita should not report 31 tapes used in the chargeback. It should report ONE Tape used in the chargeback.
      Now, I realize that this gets complicated in a hurry. Different backup hosts use the same tape pool.....so 31 servers use L01234 so the report reflects 31 tapes used. Which isn't the real truth but I "smell what you steppin in".   :-) 

  • Robert_Geller's avatar
    Robert_Geller
    Level 5
    3 months ago

    Also, the Template Type "Template" is a DB stored procedure, this is why the query/code is not visible in the UI

    • DPeaco's avatar
      DPeaco
      Moderator
      3 months ago

      Then how do I get to "see" it? :-) 

  • Robert_Geller's avatar
    Robert_Geller
    Level 5
    3 months ago

    it probably wouldnt help you because it would be double counting (or more) since its based on client per tape.  It would be easier to write a new report based on client backup size with media (tape) and using your calculation (.003131 per GB)

  • jnardello's avatar
    jnardello
    Moderator
    3 months ago

    Or you could always just toss $0 in for the tape cost and add some additional padding to the per-GB cost for everyone. And if you end up making a little extra well hey, that's why you're a profit center right ? =)