Credit Based Allocation

Introduction to Credit Based Allocation​

Credit-based allocation is a new feature offering from CloudLabs. Credit is a representation of the Cloud Expenditure. This feature allows instructors/admins to set a credit limit for each student. When a student reaches their credit limit, the CloudLabs support team and the instructor are notified through emails. If the students want to extend their credits, they can reach out to the instructor. Also, The instructor can set thresholds for both themselves and also for the students. This threshold is the percentage of the consumption of credits. These thresholds are monitored to send out alert emails to the instructor and the students.

Setting up Alert Thresholds​

Here's an example of how an instructor can set a Credit-Based Allocation alert threshold. First and foremost, the instructor must enable Credit Based Allocation (1). The instructor can then specify an alert threshold for both Instructor (2) and Attendee. After that, the instructor must press the Submit button (3).

For example, as per the below configuration, the instructor will receive alerts when the environments of users use up at least 70%, 80% and 90% of their credits. Instructor will receive an alert three times based on these configurations.

The students/users will receive alerts when they use up at least 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of their environment credits. The students/user will receive an alert four times based on these configurations.

CloudLabs sends a consolidated email to the Instructor/Attendee when threshold values are crossed. All available users who have crossed the chosen threshold value will be included.

For example, we can set the numbers for the Instructor/Professor to 25%, 50%, 90%, and 100%. However, this will continue to send emails on a regular basis. Consider the following scenario, which includes the above-mentioned thresholds:

Let's say:-

Student A consumed 10% of the total.

Student B consumed 26% of the total.

Student C consumed 49% of the total.

Instructor/Professor will receive an email for Student B and C in the aforementioned consumption.

Note: Azure expenditure is calculated once in a day.

Instructor Alert Notification example​

As the setup alert threshold set up by the instructor is achieved, an alert will be received from noreply@cloudlabsai.net. The percentage of usage is indicated in (1), the used credits are highlighted in (2), and the percentage of usage remaining credits is indicated in (3).

Note: The alert simply informs the instructor or attendee that a credit has been utilised.

Attendee Alert Notification example​

An example of the alert email that the attendee will receive is below.

Managing Credits​

To manage the user's credits, instructors must follow the following steps: -

Step 1: To manage the credits, instructors must click on Users corresponding to the On Demand Labs

Step 2: After that instructor must click on Extend Credits under Actions.

1: Credit Used: This indicates how many credits the participant has utilised out of the total credit allotted.

2: Credits Left: This shows how many credits are remaining for the attendee to use out of the total credit allotted.

3: Credits: If you want to extend the credits for a certain attendee, use this field to enter the amount in USD. For example, if you to extend the credits for $30 then you can enter value 30.

4: Extend: To extend the credits for a particular user, click the Extend button after entering the USD value of the credits.

Use Case 1: “When the attendee is within the Credit Budget”​

If you want to extend the credits then simply enter the credits in USD and then click on Extend.

Use Case 2: “When the attendee has consumed over the Budget”​

If for one of the user credit limits is over and then based on the request if you want extend the credits for that particular user then here is the scenario:

For Example:

Total Credits Allowed: $ 50/-

Showing Credits Used: $ 66.14/-( It means this user is already crossed the limit, based on azure cost calculation $ 16.14 are extra used)

If you want to extend the credits of $ 30/- then you need to enter the amount $30+ $16.14

After that we can refresh the CloudLabs Portal and crosscheck the left credits.

How to reset the user’s password?​

What happens when Credits get exhausted?​

When credits get exhausted, if the configuration is to delete the environment upon expiry, the environment will be deleted. On the threshold mails that are sent as per configuration, the user will be reminded that the Environment will be deleted when the credit expires.