Additional cost to create Log Analytics workspace and Azure Subscription use for Windows Update for Business reports?

Question

Please validate for us that there will be no additional cost to create Log Analytics workspace and Azure Subscription use for Windows Update for Business reports

Answer 1

In your case you may have some additional costs, depending on several factors like the amount of data ingested and stored, and the level of analysis performed.

Charges are based on the volume of data ingested into the workspace. For WUfB, data typically includes logs from devices concerning their update status, which can vary greatly in size depending on the number of devices.

Data retention also has costs, and longer retention periods result in higher costs.

Check the Azure Monitor pricing :

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/pricing/details/monitor/#overview

Answer 2

Hello Guneet,

Yes, I can confirm that there is no charge to ingest Windows Update for Business reports data into Log Analytics. These are non-metered tables. Here's a link that confirms it: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/protect/windows-update-reports#use-windows-update-for-business-reports

However, just note that your retention settings matter. So, while it is free to ingest the data and retain for 31 days (90 if a Sentinel workspace - although I wouldn't recommend that), if you retain the data beyond 31 days there will be a retention charge based on your retention settings. You can see the retention charges here based for the region you've deployed the workspace: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/monitor/

So, if you create a Log Analytics workspace just for the Windows Update for Business reports and leave the default retention settings (31 days), you won't see any billing for the service.