Chapter 12. Usage reporting with metrics-utility

Procedure

1. From the navigation panel, select ConfigMaps.
2. Click Create ConfigMap.
3. On the next screen, select the YAML view tab.

4. In the YAML field, enter the following parameters with the appropriate variables set:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: automationcontroller-metrics-utility-configmap
   data:
     METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET: directory
     METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH: /metrics-utility
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_TYPE: CCSPv2
     METRICS_UTILITY_PRICE_PER_NODE: '11' # in USD
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU: MCT3752MO
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU_DESCRIPTION: "EX: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Full Support (1 Managed Node, Dedicated, Monthly)"
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_H1_HEADING: "CCSP Reporting <Company>: ANSIBLE Consumption"
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_NAME: "Company Name"
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_EMAIL: "email@email.com"
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_RHN_LOGIN: "test_login"
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_BUSINESS_LEADER: "BUSINESS LEADER"
     METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_PROCUREMENT_LEADER: "PROCUREMENT LEADER"

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5. Click Create.

Procedure

1. From the navigation panel, select Installed Operators.
2. Select Ansible Automation Platform.
3. In the Operator details, select the automation controller tab.
4. Click Create automation controller.

5. Select the YAML view option. The YAML now shows the default parameters for automation controller. The relevant parameters for metrics-utility are the following:

   Expand

   Parameter	Variable
   metrics_utility_enabled	True.
   metrics_utility_cronjob_gather_schedule	@hourly or @daily.
   metrics_utility_cronjob_report_schedule	@daily or @monthly.

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6. Find the metrics_utility_enabled parameter and change the variable to true.
7. Find the metrics_utility_cronjob_gather_schedule parameter and enter a variable for how often the utility should gather usage information (for example, @hourly or @daily).
8. Find the metrics_utility_cronjob_report_schedule parameter and enter a variable for how often the utility generates a report (for example, @daily or @monthly).
9. Click Create.

Procedure

1. Modify your inventory file to enable metrics-utility container deployment by adding the following line under the [all:vars] section:

   metrics_utility_enabled=true

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   This setting instructs the installer to create and configure a dedicated automation-controller-metrics-utility container as part of your Ansible Automation Platform deployment. Be sure to place this line under the [all:vars] header in your inventory file, alongside your other global variables. Re-run the installer script to activate the container if your Ansible Automation Platform deployment has already been configured.

2. Run the following command to create the host report destination directory:

   mkdir -p /home/my-user/aap/controller/data/

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   This directory on your host machine stores the final generated reports.

3. Create a file named /home/my-user/cron-gather (replace /home/my-user/ with your desired path) and add the following content to create the cron-gather script:

   #!/bin/sh
   
   # Specify the following variables to indicate where the report is deposited in your file system
   export METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET=directory
   export METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH=/metrics_utility/data
   
   # Run metrics-utility inside the running container
   podman exec \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET="$METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH="$METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH" \
     automation-controller-task \
     metrics-utility gather_automation_controller_billing_data --ship --until=10m

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   This script runs metrics-utility to gather billing data from your Ansible Automation Platform instance and store it temporarily inside the container.

4. Create a file named /home/my-user/cron-report (replace /home/my-user/ with your desired path) and add the following content to create the cron-report script:

   #!/bin/sh
   
   # --- Configuration Variables ---
   # Define variables for the metrics utility parameters
   export METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET="directory"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH="/metrics_utility/data" # This is the *internal* path in the container
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_TYPE="CCSPv2"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_PRICE_PER_NODE="11.55"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU="MCT3752MO"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU_DESCRIPTION="EX: Red Hat {PlatformNameShort}, Full Support (1 Managed Node, Dedicated, Monthly)"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_H1_HEADING="CCSP Reporting <Company>: ANSIBLE Consumption"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_NAME="Company Name"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_EMAIL="email@email.com"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_RHN_LOGIN="test_login"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_BUSINESS_LEADER="BUSINESS LEADER"
   export METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_PROCUREMENT_LEADER="PROCUREMENT LEADER"
   
   podman exec \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET="$METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_TARGET" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH="$METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_TYPE="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_TYPE" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_PRICE_PER_NODE="$METRICS_UTILITY_PRICE_PER_NODE" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU_DESCRIPTION="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU_DESCRIPTION" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_H1_HEADING="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_H1_HEADING" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_NAME="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_NAME" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_EMAIL="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_EMAIL" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_RHN_LOGIN="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_RHN_LOGIN" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_BUSINESS_LEADER="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_BUSINESS_LEADER" \
     -e METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_PROCUREMENT_LEADER="$METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_COMPANY_PROCUREMENT_LEADER" \
     "automation-controller-metrics-utility" \
     metrics-utility build_report

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   This script METRICS_UTILITY_REPORT_SKU_DESCRIPTION metrics-utility to build a report from the gathered data and then copy the final report from the container to your specified host directory.

Procedure

1. Run the following command:

   chmod a+x /home/my-user/cron-gather /home/my-user/cron-report

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   Note

   Ensure that you have replaced /home/my-user/ with your actual path.

Procedure

1. Open the cron file for editing:

   crontab -e

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2. Add the following lines to the end of the crontab file to add cron schedule entries:

   0 */1 * * * /home/my-user/cron-gather
   0 4 2 * * /home/my-user/cron-report

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   These examples configure the gather command to run every hour at 00 minutes and the build_report command to run on the second day of each month at 4:00 AM.

3. Adjust the cron syntax as needed to fit your desired schedule. For example:

   1. 0 */1 * * *: Runs at minute 0 of every hour.
   2. 0 4 2 * *: Runs at 04:00 on day-of-month 2.
4. Save and close the file.

1. To confirm that your cron job entries have been saved correctly, run:

   crontab -l

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   If your cron job entries have been saved correctly, you will see the two lines you added for cron-gather and cron-report.

2. Inspect the cron log to check if the cron daemon is executing the commands and if metrics-utility is producing output:

   cat /var/log/cron

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   For reference, see the following example output:

   # Example Output:
   
   Aug 20 09:55:01 aap CROND[72746]: (aap) CMD (/home/aap/Documents/scripts/cron-gather)
   Aug 20 09:55:03 aap CROND[72744]: (aap) CMDOUT (2025-08-20 08:55:03,581 INFO     [-] awx.main.analytics /tmp/3292ca44-3314-4f0b-b3f6-ba4a1e47a2b1-2025-08-20-083506+0000-2025-08-20-084503+0000-0.tar.gz)
   Aug 20 09:55:03 aap CROND[72744]: (aap) CMDOUT (/tmp/3292ca44-3314-4f0b-b3f6-ba4a1e47a2b1-2025-08-20-083506+0000-2025-08-20-084503+0000-0.tar.gz)
   Aug 20 09:55:03 aap CROND[72744]: (aap) CMDOUT (2025-08-20 08:55:03,581 INFO     [-] awx.main.analytics /tmp/3292ca44-3314-4f0b-b3f6-ba4a1e47a2b1-2025-08-20-083506+0000-2025-08-20-084503+0000-1.tar.gz)
   Aug 20 09:55:03 aap CROND[72744]: (aap) CMDOUT (/tmp/3292ca44-3314-4f0b-b3f6-ba4a1e47a2b1-2025-08-20-083506+0000-2025-08-20-084503+0000-1.tar.gz)
   Aug 20 09:55:03 aap CROND[72744]: (aap) CMDEND (/home/aap/Documents/scripts/cron-gather)
   Aug 20 10:00:02 aap CROND[77629]: (aap) CMD (/home/aap/Documents/scripts/cron-report)
   Aug 20 10:00:02 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (Generating metrics report inside the container...)
   Aug 20 10:00:04 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (2025-08-20 09:00:04,639 INFO     [-] awx.main.analytics No billing data for month 2025-07)
   Aug 20 10:00:04 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (No billing data for month 2025-07)
   Aug 20 10:00:05 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (Copying generated reports from container to host: /tmp/ansible_metrics_reports)
   Aug 20 10:00:05 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (Reports successfully moved to: /tmp/ansible_metrics_reports)
   Aug 20 10:00:05 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (Files in destination:)
   Aug 20 10:00:05 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (total 0)
   Aug 20 10:00:05 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDOUT (drwxr-xr-x. 3 aap aap 18 Aug 20 09:43 data)
   Aug 20 10:00:05 aap CROND[77623]: (aap) CMDEND (/home/aap/Documents/scripts/cron-report)

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3. Locate generated reports:

   • The generated report has a default name format of CCSP-<YEAR>-<MONTH>.xlsx (for example, CCSP-2024-07.xlsx). The report is deposited in the METRICS_UTILITY_SHIP_PATH with the prefixed path you specified in Step 2 (for example, /home/my-user/aap/controller/data/metrics_utility/data).