Configure granular billing in Azure Backup by using Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, or Azure CLI

Granular billing in Azure Backup lets you view backup costs at a custom granularity level for improved chargeback and reporting across teams, applications, and cost centers.

Important

• Granular billing supports both Recovery Services vaults and Backup vaults.
• This feature is a management-plane reporting change only and doesn’t modify pricing meters or total backup costs.
• Existing historical bill lines remain in the earlier format, while only new charges use the selected granularity.
• Vault level is the default for existing and new vaults, which maintains backward compatibility.

Available billing granularity levels

Azure Backup provides multiple granularity levels to help you view and analyze backup costs based on your reporting and chargeback requirements.

You can select one of the following granularity levels as per the requirements:

• Vault level (default): Shows backup costs that surface under the associated Recovery Services vault or Backup vault. Costs for resources that map to a designated meter appear as one line item per vault.

• Protected item level: Shows backup costs for each protected item.

• Tag level: Aggregate backup costs by a tag to view and analyze spend at the resource level.

  • Default tag (recommended): When you select Tag level, Azure Backup automatically passes the built-in ms-resource-parent tag to Azure Cost Management. Backup charges for each protected item appear under the associated resource in Azure Cost Management, so you get a consolidated view of resource and backup costs without extra configuration.

  • Custom tag: To attribute backup costs to a different resource, add the cm-resource-parent tag and set its value to the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) resource ID of the target resource where you want the backup costs to appear. Azure Backup then aggregates the backup charges under that resource in Azure Cost Management, so you can support custom chargeback and cost reporting scenarios.

Set up granular billing by using Azure portal

The steps are the same for both vault types, except for the navigation to the Properties pane. Select the vault type that you want to configure:

Recovery Services vault

1. In the Azure portal, go to the Recovery Services vault, and then select Settings > Properties.

   

2. On the Properties pane, for Cost Management Granularity, select Update .

3. On the Cost Management Granularity pane, select a granularity option.

4. Select Update to save the setting.

Backup vault

1. In the Azure portal, go to the Backup vault, and then select Manage > Properties.

   

2. On the Properties pane, for Cost Management Granularity, select Update.

3. On the Cost Management Granularity pane, select a granularity option.

4. Select Update to save the setting.

The following table lists the granularity levels and the value that you pass to the -CostManagementGranularity parameter.

Granularity level (portal)	Value	Behavior
Vault level (default)	VaultLevel	All backups in the vault roll up to a single line item per vault.
Protected item level	ProtectedItemLevel	Shows backup costs for each protected item.
Tag level	ProtectedItemWithParentTag	Aggregates backup costs by a parent tag, so you can view spend at the resource level.

Prerequisites

Before you configure granular billing by using Azure PowerShell, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:

• Review the Recovery Services vault overview or the Backup vault overview, depending on the vault type that you use.
• Review the Az.RecoveryServices and Az.DataProtection cmdlet references in the Azure library.
• Verify that you have write access on the vault, such as the Backup Contributor or Contributor role.
• For the custom tag scenario, verify that you have permission to add tags to the vault and read access to the parent resource whose ARM resource ID you use.

Set up Azure PowerShell for granular billing configuration

Use the Azure Az PowerShell module to interact with Azure. Before you set up Azure PowerShell for granular billing configuration, install Azure PowerShell. To migrate to the Az PowerShell module, see Migrate Azure PowerShell from AzureRM to Az.

To set up Azure PowerShell, run the following cmdlets:

1. Install or update the required modules.

   Note

   The -CostManagementGranularity parameter requires Az.RecoveryServices 7.14.1 or later for Recovery Services vaults, and Az.DataProtection 3.1.0 or later for Backup vaults.

   Install-Module -Name Az.RecoveryServices -MinimumVersion 7.14.1 -Force
   Install-Module -Name Az.DataProtection -MinimumVersion 3.1.0 -Force
   

2. Confirm the installed module versions:

   Get-Module -Name Az.RecoveryServices, Az.DataProtection -ListAvailable |
       Select-Object Name, Version
   

   Example output:

   Name                Version
   ----                -------
   Az.DataProtection   3.1.0
   Az.RecoveryServices 7.14.1
   

3. Confirm that the new parameter is available in your installed modules:

   'New-AzRecoveryServicesVault',
   'Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault',
   'New-AzDataProtectionBackupVault',
   'Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault' | ForEach-Object {
       $cmd = Get-Command $_ -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
       [pscustomobject]@{
           Cmdlet       = $_
           Installed    = $null -ne $cmd
           HasParameter = ($null -ne $cmd) -and $cmd.Parameters.ContainsKey('CostManagementGranularity')
       }
   } | Format-Table -AutoSize
   

   Example output:

   Cmdlet                             Installed HasParameter
   ------                             --------- ------------
   New-AzRecoveryServicesVault             True         True
   Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault          True         True
   New-AzDataProtectionBackupVault         True         True
   Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault      True         True
   

4. Sign in to your Azure account by using Connect-AzAccount. On the webpage that appears, you're prompted to enter your account credentials.

5. Associate the subscription that you want to use with the account, because an account can have several subscriptions:

   Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionName $SubscriptionName
   

The following table lists the cmdlets that this article uses for each vault type.

Task	Recovery Services vault	Backup vault
Set granularity at creation	New-AzRecoveryServicesVault with -CostManagementGranularity	New-AzDataProtectionBackupVault with -CostManagementGranularity
Change granularity	Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault with -CostManagementGranularity	Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault with -CostManagementGranularity
Read granularity	Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault - read Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel	Get-AzDataProtectionBackupVault - CostManagementSettingGranularityLevel
Apply a custom parent tag	Update-AzTag	Update-AzTag

Configure granular billing by using Azure PowerShell

Select the vault type that you want to configure:

Recovery Services vault

Set the granularity when you create a vault

The -CostManagementGranularity parameter is optional on New-AzRecoveryServicesVault. If you don't specify this option when you create the vault, the default value is VaultLevel.

To create a vault with a granularity level, run the following cmdlet. Replace ProtectedItemLevel with any value from the granularity table.

$vault = New-AzRecoveryServicesVault `
    -Name "afs-vault" `
    -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
    -Location "westus" `
    -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemLevel

$vault.Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel

Example output:

ProtectedItemLevel

Change the granularity on an existing vault

Use Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault for day-2 changes. This cmdlet mirrors the portal flow Recovery Services vault > Properties > Cost Management Granularity > Update.

Switch a vault to protected item level

To switch a vault to protected item level, run the following cmdlet:

$updatedVault = Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault `
    -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
    -Name "afs-vault" `
    -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemLevel

$updatedVault.Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel

Example output:

ProtectedItemLevel

View the current granularity setting

Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault doesn't require a new parameter. The setting appears on the returned vault object under Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel, following the same pattern as CrossSubscriptionRestoreState.

To view the current granularity setting, run the following cmdlet:

$vault = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault `
    -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
    -Name "afs-vault"

$vault.Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel

Example output:

ProtectedItemLevel

To audit the granularity setting across every Recovery Services vault in the subscription, run the following cmdlet:

Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault | ForEach-Object {
    [pscustomobject]@{
        Name              = $_.Name
        ResourceGroupName = $_.ResourceGroupName
        Location          = $_.Location
        Granularity       = $_.Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel
    }
} | Format-Table -AutoSize

Example output:

Name       ResourceGroupName Location Granularity
----       ----------------- -------- -----------
afs-vault  backup-rg         westus   ProtectedItemLevel
fin-vault  finance-rg        eastus   VaultLevel
hr-vault   hr-rg             westus2  ProtectedItemWithParentTag

Configure tag-level granularity

Tag-level granularity involves the following independent responsibilities:

• Applying the tag on the vault: Reuse the standard Az.Resources cmdlets. The process requires no new backup cmdlet for tagging.
• Enabling tag-level cost grouping: Set the -CostManagementGranularity parameter to ProtectedItemWithParentTag on the vault.

Scenario 1: Use the default parent tag

The backup service automatically applies the ms-resource-parent tag, so you only need to enable tag-level granularity on the vault. No manual tagging is needed.

To use the default parent tag, follow these steps:

1. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault `
       -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
       -Name "afs-vault" `
       -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

2. Verify the configured setting.

   $vault = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" -Name "afs-vault"
   $vault.Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Note

The default ms-resource-parent tag doesn't apply as a visible tag on the vault or the protected resource. Azure Backup passes the tag to Azure Cost Management as part of the billing details, so you won't see it in the vault's Tags pane.

Scenario 2: Use a custom parent tag

To group cost by a custom parent, first apply the cm-resource-parent tag to the vault, with its value set to the parent resource's ARM resource ID. Then enable tag-level granularity on the vault.

Important

Use Update-AzTag -Operation Merge to preserve the existing tags on the vault. New-AzTag replaces all tags on the resource, so don't use it here.

To use a custom tag, follow these steps:

1. Apply the custom parent tag on the Recovery Services vault. The tag key is cm-resource-parent, and the tag value is the parent resource's ARM resource ID.

   $vault  = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" -Name "afs-vault"
   $parent = Get-AzResource -Name "financeparent" -ResourceGroupName "storage-rg"
   
   Update-AzTag -ResourceId $vault.ID `
       -Tag @{ "cm-resource-parent" = $parent.Id } `
       -Operation Merge
   

   Example output:

   Id         : /subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/backup-rg/providers/Microsoft.RecoveryServices/vaults/afs-vault/providers/Microsoft.Resources/tags/default
   Name       : default
   Type       : Microsoft.Resources/tags
   Properties :
                Name                Value
                ==================  ==========================================================
                cm-resource-parent  /subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resour
                                    ceGroups/storage-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAcc
                                    ounts/financeparent
   

2. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   Update-AzRecoveryServicesVault `
       -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
       -Name "afs-vault" `
       -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

3. Verify the configured setting.

   $vault = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" -Name "afs-vault"
   $vault.Properties.CostManagementSettings.GranularityLevel
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Backup vault

Backup vaults use the same -CostManagementGranularity parameter. Two differences apply compared to a Recovery Services vault:

• Creating a Backup vault requires a storage setting object, which you build with New-AzDataProtectionBackupVaultStorageSettingObject.
• The returned Backup vault object exposes the setting under Property (singular), not Properties.

Set the granularity when you create a Backup vault

The -CostManagementGranularity parameter is optional. If you don't provide the granularity level, the vault defaults to VaultLevel.

To create a Backup vault with a granularity level, run the following cmdlet. Replace ProtectedItemLevel with any value from the granularity table.

$storageSetting = New-AzDataProtectionBackupVaultStorageSettingObject `
    -Type GeoRedundant -DataStoreType VaultStore

$vault = New-AzDataProtectionBackupVault `
    -VaultName         "afs-backup-vault" `
    -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
    -Location          "westus" `
    -StorageSetting    $storageSetting `
    -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemLevel

$vault.CostManagementSettingGranularityLevel

Example output:

ProtectedItemLevel

Change the granularity on an existing Backup vault

Use Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault for day-2 changes. This cmdlet mirrors the portal flow Backup vault > Properties > Cost Management Granularity > Update, and it supports the -WhatIf and -Confirm switches.

Switch a Backup vault to protected item level

To switch a vault to protected item level, run the following cmdlet:

$updatedVault = Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault `
    -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
    -VaultName         "afs-backup-vault" `
    -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemLevel

$updatedVault.CostManagementSettingGranularityLevel

Example output:

ProtectedItemLevel

View the current granularity setting on a Backup vault

To view the current granularity setting, run the following cmdlet:

Get-AzDataProtectionBackupVault requires no new parameter. The setting appears on the returned vault's Property object, following the same pattern as other vault settings such as SoftDeleteState.

$vault = Get-AzDataProtectionBackupVault `
    -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
    -VaultName "afs-backup-vault"

$vault.CostManagementSettingGranularityLevel

Example output:

ProtectedItemLevel

Configure tag-level granularity on a Backup vault

You can configure tag-level granularity on a Backup vault by using default or custom tags.

Scenario 1: Use the default parent tag

The backup service automatically applies the ms-resource-parent tag, so you only need to enable tag-level granularity on the vault.

To use the default parent tag, follow these steps:

1. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault `
       -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
       -VaultName         "afs-backup-vault" `
       -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

2. Verify the configured setting.

   $vault = Get-AzDataProtectionBackupVault -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" -VaultName "afs-backup-vault"
   $vault.CostManagementSettingGranularityLevel
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Scenario 2: Use a custom parent tag

Apply the cm-resource-parent tag to the Backup vault, with its value set to the parent resource's ARM resource ID, then enable tag-level granularity.

Important

Use Update-AzTag -Operation Merge to preserve the existing tags on the vault. New-AzTag replaces all tags on the resource, so don't use it here.

To use a custom tag, follow these steps:

1. Apply the custom parent tag on the Backup vault.

   $vault  = Get-AzDataProtectionBackupVault -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" -VaultName "afs-backup-vault"
   $parent = Get-AzResource -Name "financeparent" -ResourceGroupName "storage-rg"
   
   Update-AzTag -ResourceId $vault.Id `
       -Tag @{ "cm-resource-parent" = $parent.Id } `
       -Operation Merge
   

   Example output:

   Id         : /subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/backup-rg/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/afs-backup-vault/providers/Microsoft.Resources/tags/default
   Name       : default
   Type       : Microsoft.Resources/tags
   Properties :
                Name                Value
                ==================  ==========================================================
                cm-resource-parent  /subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resour
                                    ceGroups/storage-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAcc
                                    ounts/financeparent
   

2. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   Update-AzDataProtectionBackupVault `
       -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" `
       -VaultName         "afs-backup-vault" `
       -CostManagementGranularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

3. Verify the configured setting.

   $vault = Get-AzDataProtectionBackupVault -ResourceGroupName "backup-rg" -VaultName "afs-backup-vault"
   $vault.CostManagementSettingGranularityLevel
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

The following table lists the granularity levels and the value that you pass to the --cost-management-granularity option.

Granularity level (portal)	Value	Behavior
Vault level (default)	VaultLevel	All backups in the vault roll up to a single line item per vault.
Protected item level	ProtectedItemLevel	Shows backup costs for each protected item.
Tag level	ProtectedItemWithParentTag	Aggregates backup costs by a parent tag, so you can view spend at the resource level.

Prerequisites

Before you configure granular billing by using the Azure CLI, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:

• Review the Recovery Services vault overview or the Backup vault overview, depending on the vault type that you use.
• Review the az backup vault and az dataprotection backup-vault command references.
• Verify that you have write access on the vault, such as the Backup Contributor or Contributor role.
• For the custom tag scenario, verify that you have permission to add tags to the vault and read access to the parent resource whose ARM resource ID you use.

Set up the Azure CLI for granular billing configuration

Before you set up the Azure CLI for granular billing configuration, install the Azure CLI. You can also run these commands in Azure Cloud Shell, which always includes a recent CLI version.

To set up the Azure CLI, run the following commands:

1. Check the installed Azure CLI version:

   az version
   

   Example output:

   {
     "azure-cli": "2.65.0",
     "azure-cli-core": "2.65.0",
     "azure-cli-telemetry": "1.1.0",
     "extensions": {}
   }
   

2. Add the dataprotection extension. The az dataprotection command group is an extension, not part of the CLI core, so you must install it before you can manage Backup vaults. Skip this step if you only use Recovery Services vaults.

   az extension add --name dataprotection --upgrade
   

3. Confirm that the extension is installed:

   az extension list --query "[].{Name:name, Version:version}" -o table
   

   Example output:

   Name             Version
   ---------------  ---------
   dataprotection   1.5.1
   

4. Confirm that the granularity option is available in your installed Azure CLI version. The option appears in the help output of the command:

   az backup vault update --help
   

   Example output:

   --cost-management-granularity
       Use this parameter to configure cost management settings for the vault.
       By default, the property is "VaultLevel" for the vault.
       Allowed values: ProtectedItemLevel, ProtectedItemWithParentTag, VaultLevel.
   

5. Sign in to your Azure account:

   az login
   

6. Set the subscription that you want to use, because an account can have several subscriptions:

   az account set --subscription "<subscription-name-or-id>"
   

The following table lists the commands that this article uses for each vault type.

Task	Recovery Services vault	Backup vault
Set granularity at creation	az backup vault create with --cost-management-granularity	az dataprotection backup-vault create with --cost-management-granularity
Change granularity	az backup vault update with --cost-management-granularity	az dataprotection backup-vault update with --cost-management-granularity
Read granularity	az backup vault show	az dataprotection backup-vault show
List vaults and granularity	az backup vault list	az dataprotection backup-vault list
Apply a custom parent tag	az tag update	az tag update

Configure granular billing by using Azure CLI

Select the vault type that you want to configure:

Recovery Services vault

Create a vault with a granularity level

To create a vault with a granularity level, run the following command:

az backup vault create \
    --name "afs-vault" \
    --resource-group "backup-rg" \
    --location "westus" \
    --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemLevel \
    --query "{name:name, granularity:properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel}"

Example output:

{
  "granularity": "ProtectedItemLevel",
  "name": "afs-vault"
}

Change the granularity on an existing vault

To change the granularity on an existing vault, run the following command:

az backup vault update \
    --name "afs-vault" \
    --resource-group "backup-rg" \
    --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag \
    --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv

Example output:

ProtectedItemWithParentTag

View the current granularity setting

The az backup vault show command doesn't accept a new option. To view the granularity level, read properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel from the JSON output.

To retrieve the cost-management granularity level configured for the vault, run the following command:

az backup vault show \
    --name "afs-vault" \
    --resource-group "backup-rg" \
    --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv

Example output:

VaultLevel

To audit every Recovery Services vault in the subscription, run the following command:

az backup vault list \
    --query "[].{Name:name, ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, Granularity:properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel}" \
    -o table

Example output:

Name       ResourceGroup    Granularity
---------  ---------------  --------------------------
afs-vault  backup-rg        VaultLevel
fin-vault  finance-rg       ProtectedItemLevel
hr-vault   hr-rg            ProtectedItemWithParentTag

Configure tag-level granularity

Tag-level granularity involves the following independent responsibilities:

• Applying the tag on the vault: Use the standard az tag command group. No backup-specific command is required for tagging.
• Enabling tag level cost grouping: Set the --cost-management-granularity parameter to ProtectedItemWithParentTag on the vault.

Scenario 1: Use the default parent tag

The backup service automatically applies the ms-resource-parent tag. You only need to enable tag level granularity on the vault, and no manual tagging is needed.

To use the default parent tag, follow these steps:

1. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   az backup vault update \
       --name "afs-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

2. Verify the configured setting.

   az backup vault show \
       --name "afs-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Note

The default ms-resource-parent tag doesn't apply as a visible tag on the vault or the protected resource. Azure Backup passes the tag to Azure Cost Management as part of the billing details, so it doesn't appear in az backup vault show --query tags.

Scenario 2: Use a custom parent tag

To group cost by a custom parent, first apply the cm-resource-parent tag to the vault, with its value set to the parent resource's ARM resource ID. Then enable tag level granularity on the vault.

Important

Use az tag update --operation Merge to preserve the existing tags on the vault. The Replace operation overwrites all tags on the resource.

To use a custom tag, follow these steps:

1. Apply the custom parent tag on the vault. The tag key is cm-resource-parent, and the tag value is the parent resource's ARM resource ID.

   vaultId=$(az backup vault show \
       --name "afs-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --query id -o tsv)
   
   parentId=$(az storage account show \
       --name "financeparent" \
       --resource-group "storage-rg" \
       --query id -o tsv)
   
   az tag update \
       --resource-id "$vaultId" \
       --operation Merge \
       --tags "cm-resource-parent=$parentId" \
       --query "properties.tags" -o json
   

   Example output:

   {
     "cm-resource-parent": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/storage-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/financeparent"
   }
   

2. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   az backup vault update \
       --name "afs-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

3. Verify the configured setting.

   az backup vault show \
       --name "afs-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Backup vault

Create a Backup vault with a granularity level

To create a Backup vault with a granularity level, run the following command:

az dataprotection backup-vault create \
    --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
    --resource-group "backup-rg" \
    --location "westus" \
    --storage-setting "[{type:'LocallyRedundant',datastore-type:'VaultStore'}]" \
    --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemLevel \
    --query "{name:name, granularity:properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel}"

Example output:

{
  "granularity": "ProtectedItemLevel",
  "name": "afs-backup-vault"
}

Change the granularity on an existing Backup vault

To change the granularity on an existing Backup vault, run the following command:

az dataprotection backup-vault update \
    --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
    --resource-group "backup-rg" \
    --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag \
    --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv

Example output:

ProtectedItemWithParentTag

View the current granularity setting on a Backup vault

To view the current granularity setting on a Backup vault, run the following command:

az dataprotection backup-vault show \
    --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
    --resource-group "backup-rg" \
    --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv

Example output:

VaultLevel

To audit every Backup vault in the subscription, run the following command:

az dataprotection backup-vault list \
    --query "[].{Name:name, ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, Granularity:properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel}" \
    -o table

Example output:

Name              ResourceGroup    Granularity
----------------  ---------------  --------------------------
afs-backup-vault  backup-rg        VaultLevel
db-backup-vault   db-rg            ProtectedItemWithParentTag

Configure tag-level granularity on a Backup vault

Configure tag-level granularity on a Backup vault with default or custom tags.

Scenario 1: Use the default parent tag

To configure tag-level granularity on a Backup vault with the default tag, follow these steps:

1. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   az dataprotection backup-vault update \
       --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

2. Verify the configured setting.

   az dataprotection backup-vault show \
       --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Scenario 2: Use a custom parent tag

Important

Use az tag update --operation Merge to keep the existing tags on the vault. The Replace operation removes all tags on the resource.

To configure tag-level granularity on a Backup vault with a custom tag, follow these steps:

1. Apply the custom parent tag on the vault.

   vaultId=$(az dataprotection backup-vault show \
       --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --query id -o tsv)
   
   parentId=$(az storage account show \
       --name "financeparent" \
       --resource-group "storage-rg" \
       --query id -o tsv)
   
   az tag update \
       --resource-id "$vaultId" \
       --operation Merge \
       --tags "cm-resource-parent=$parentId" \
       --query "properties.tags" -o json
   

   Example output:

   {
     "cm-resource-parent": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/storage-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/financeparent"
   }
   

2. Enable tag level cost grouping on the vault.

   az dataprotection backup-vault update \
       --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --cost-management-granularity ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

3. Verify the configured setting.

   az dataprotection backup-vault show \
       --vault-name "afs-backup-vault" \
       --resource-group "backup-rg" \
       --query "properties.costManagementSettings.granularityLevel" -o tsv
   

   Example output:

   ProtectedItemWithParentTag
   

Validate backup charges in Cost Analysis

After you configure granular billing for Azure Backup, verify that the updated backup charges reflect correctly in Cost Management by using the selected granularity.

Note

• New charges appear in the selected format after you update Cost Management granularity.
• Older charges keep the previous format.
• Activity logs capture the change to the cost setting.
• The updated changes might take up to 2 hours to appear in Cost Analysis.

To validate backup charges in Cost Analysis, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Cost Management + Billing in Azure Portal and select Cost Management > Cost analysis. Set the scope to the target subscription.

2. On the Cost analysis pane, set the View as Resources and verify if the new backup charges appear in the selected granularity format.

   The prices shown in the following screenshot are for example purposes only.

   

Troubleshoot granular billing issues

This section provides troubleshooting steps to resolve issues related to granular billing in Azure Backup.

The expected charges don’t appear in Cost Analysis.

To resolve the issue:

1. Confirm that the vault type is Recovery Services vault or Backup vault.

2. Verify that you saved the granularity setting.

3. Check the activity log that the update operation completed successfully.

4. Wait up to 2 hours and refresh Cost Analysis to view the changes.

5. Ensure that you select the correct subscription and time range scope in Cost Analysis.

Related content

Estimate and understand Azure Backup pricing.