Implementing a Billing Adapter
Applies To: Windows Azure Pack
The implementation of a Windows Azure Pack billing adapter requires the consumption of usage data and the ability approve tenant subscription/add-on events before they are committed. A billing adapter can optionally provide pricing information for services. Implementing a billing adapter requires the consumption or implementation of the following REST endpoints:
Windows Azure Pack Usage Service REST API Endpoint
The Windows Azure Pack Usage Service REST API endpoint exposes tenant usage data and recent events to a billing system. A billing adapter will need to consume the two types of data from this endpoint.
Event data about tenant management of plans, subscriptions, and so on. Use the Usage Service REST API to get this event data. For more information, see Windows Azure Pack Usage Service Usage REST API Reference. For more information about handling the event data collected, see Handling Usage Event Data.
Resource utilization for the services the tenant subscribes to. Use the Retrieve Usage Data for Tenant Resources REST call to get this information. For information about handing the utilization data collected, see Handling Tenant Resource Utilization Data.
The Usage Service REST API endpoint on the host computer will need configuring. For more information, see Configuring the Windows Azure Pack Usage Service.
Billing Approval REST API Endpoint
The billing adapter implements the Windows Azure Pack Usage Service Billing Approval REST API Reference endpoint to give a billing system the opportunity to approve, in real-time, a tenant subscription /subscription add-on creation or deletion. For information about handing the data sent to the billing adapter from Windows Azure Pack, see Handling Billing Approval Requests. Implementation of the Billing Approval REST API endpoint is optional.
A billing adapter registers its implementation of the Billing Approval REST API with the Usage Service. For more information, see Configuring the Windows Azure Pack Usage Service.
Important
If you have registered other mandatory subscribers to the approval notification event system, ensure your billing system also uses it. Since other subscribers to the approval notification event system may deny a request, a billing system must use the Usage Service REST API to confirm that the request was approved across the system. Using REST API events as confirmation does not account for other subscriber approvals and would likely result in incorrect event processing across the system.
Pricing REST API Endpoint
Optionally, the Windows Azure Pack Usage Service Pricing REST API Reference REST API endpoint can be implemented to provide pricing information to the Windows Azure Pack system. For more information, see Handling Pricing Information.