How to set up billing in Terra
Contents
Understanding costs in Terra
New to Terra? Try it out with $300 of Free Credits
Collaborating with someone already on Terra?
- Work in a shared workspace
- Access an existing Billing Project
- How to add or remove Billing Project users (owners)
How to set up a Terra Billing Project from scratch
Now you're ready to create or clone a workspace!
How to change the Google Billing Account on a Terra Billing Project
How to remove Terra from a Google BIlling Account
Terra resources that don't cost anything to use
Understanding costs in Terra
Operations that incur charges in Terra include:
- Accessing data in Requester Pays buckets
- Storing data in workspace buckets
- Running workflows
- Running Jupyter Notebooks
Note that the costs in Terra are calculated per workspace, not per user. If you do an analysis in a workspace and your colleague does an additional analysis in the same workspace, both costs are billed to the workspace Billing Project.
How you set up your billing depends, in part, on your circumstance - whether you have colleagues working in Terra, what billing mechanisms your lab or institution has set up. Read on for step-by-step instructions for different scenarios.
New to Terra? Sign up for Free credits
Note: The Free Credits program has been suspended as of July 2, 2020. Please follow this service notification article to get the latest updates.
The free credits program provides new users a Billing Project with $300 of free credits, so you can try out the platform before committing any of your own funds. To receive free credits, complete the initial Terra registration, log in, click "sign up for free credits", and accept the Terms and Conditions.
Expand for screenshot of accepting free credits
As soon as you do this, you will see the free credits Billing Project in your billing section, with your role as "owner". Select "Billing" from the main menu (three horizontal lines at the top left of any page on Terra). The free credits program begins once you accept the Terms and Conditions, and will expire either after 60 days or after you have used $300 worth of credits, whichever happens first.
The free credits billing project has the format `fccredits-metal-color-1234`. Selecting the free credits Billing Project when you create or clone a workspace will allow you to pay for any workspace costs using the $300 free credits. When the credits are used up or expire, you will need to convert to link to another Google Account if you want to keep the work you've done. If you want to keep working in Terra (an we hope you will!), you will need to set up additional billing using the options below.
Collaborating with someone already using Terra?
You do not need your own Terra Billing Project to use Terra. If you are working with someone who is already working in the platform, you may be able to access their existing Billing Project, indirectly or directly. The two options are outlined below.
Work in a shared workspace with Writer (can compute) permission
If a Terra user, such as a collaborator or PI, shares a workspace with you and grants you WRITER (can compute) access, you can run workflows and interactive analyses within that workspace. You have indirect access to their Billing Project, since all charges incurred will be paid by the workspace Billing Project.
For more information about sharing workspaces, see this article.
Access an existing Billing Project
Owners can add and remove access to Terra Billing Projects, once they exist, so you may be able to join one. This may apply to you, for example, if you are joining a research group that is already working in Terra. To gain access to a Billing Project, you'll ask the Owner to add you to the existing Terra Billing Project using the steps below.
How to add or remove Billing Project users (Owners)
The instructions below assume all users have independently registered on Terra.
4.1. In the Terra UI, click on the User Profile drop-down from the main navigation menu at the top left and select Billing.
4.2. Click on the Terra Billing Project to which you want to add users. You must be an Owner of the Billing Project to add users.
4.3. To add a new user, click on Add User… Note that the user must first be registered for Terra.
4.4. In the pop-up window, enter the user’s Terra email address. The system will add the person as a User by default. if you want that person to have greater control, click the checkbox labeled "Owner". Owners can add additional users to the Terra Billing Project. Users can create workspaces using this Billing Project, but can not add other users to the Billing Project.
Owners can edit any users role and delete users from a Billing Project at any time by clicking on the Billing Project from the list (access Billing from the User Profile drop-down from the main navigation menu at the top left).
The Billing Project will automatically appear as an option for all users when cloning or creating a workspace and you can continue to the final step (five).
How to set up billing in Terra from scratch
Once you have used your free credits, and if you don't have access to an existing Billing Project, you will need to set up a Billing Project in order to create or clone workspaces. There are three steps to setting up a Terra Billing Project. Once you have set up a Billing Project, it will appear automatically in the dropdown when you can create or clone workspaces. See the sections below for more detail on each step.
1. Set up a Google Billing Account |
2. Link Google Billing to Terra |
3.Create a Terra Billing Project |
Important note about setting up billing:
Your group may already have completed some of the steps above. For example, some labs already have Google Billing accounts linked to Terra and associated Billing Projects. If this is the case, you may be able to skip some of the steps.
1. Set up a Google Billing Account
The first step in setting up Terra billing is to set up a Google Billing Account (or get access to an existing Google Billing Account from the Account owner) . Below are the options and step-by-step instructions for setting up a Google BIlling Account, which you will do in the GCP console. Remember to use the same Google account ID you use to log into Terra for the GCP console.
Possible Google Billing Account options
Request a Google Billing sub-account (Broad users)
Broad internal users can request a Google Billing Sub-Account to bill Terra usage costs to a Broad Managed Cost Object.
Before you request a Google Billing Sub-Account, please speak to your Grant Admin and Primary Investigator (PI) to determine the availability of funding, and to discuss a monthly and total budget for Terra.
Once you are ready to request a Google Billing Sub-Account, please fill out the form at this link (Please note you will have to be signed in to your Broad email to access this form).
Set up an account through your institution
Talk to your institutional procurement office and see if they have a preferred account set-up method with Google (such as a third party reseller or an existing account).
Use a third-party reseller
There are many options for third party resellers, who provide additional billing options at no extra cost. Two examples are: Onix Networking or Sada Systems.
Note that if you are located in North America, you can leverage Onix as the Google Cloud Platform re-seller. Onix is already distributing the free credits to your Terra account, so the setup to a new billing account is easy. Contact Onix at broad@onixnet.com or (216) 584-6649.
Create a personal Google Billing Account using a credit card or bank account
Go to the Google Developers Console Billing page and click on Add billing account. You will need to provide billing information, but can start with Google's free trial that includes $300 in compute and storage credits.
2. Link the Google Billing Account to Terra
The next step is to link the Google Billing Account to Terra. You'll do this in the GCP console (separate from Terra). In order to be compatible with multiple cloud environments, institutional payment systems, and security requirements, the Terra interface does not directly display the Google Developers Console Billing interface.
NOTE: You must be an administrator on the Google Billing Account to link the account with Terra. This will automatically be true if you created the Google billing account. If you are not already an administrator on the Google Billing Account, you should contact an administrator and ask them to add you (or ask them to add Terra as a Billing Account User). This may be the PI or business administrator in your office. Or it may be someone within a third party billing entity, such as with Terra's free credit accounts, which are administered by Onix.
Click for step-by-step instructions to link Google Billing to Terra
2.2. Select the check box beside the Google billing account you will use for Terra
2.3. On the right panel, below "Permissions," select the "Add Members" button
2.4. Add "terra-billing@terra.bio" and select the role Billing Account User. Click Add.
3. Create a Terra Billing Project
Once Terra is linked to a Google Billing Account under your Terra user ID, you should be able to create a Terra Billing Project through the Billing Management Screen in the Terra UI. From the main menu (three horizontal lines in thee top left of ay page on Terra), choose "Billing" and clicking the "+" icon in the circle. Note that when you create a new Terra Billing Project, you are automatically designated as the Owner.
3.1. Click on the User Profile drop-down from the main navigation menu and select Billing
3.2. Click on Create New Billing Project.
If prompted, click to Enable Billing Permissions, select the Google identity of the Google Billing Account, and click Allow. This enables Terra to access Google Billing Accounts associated with your Terra account.
3.3. Enter a unique name for your Terra Billing Project. The name of the Terra Billing Project must:
- Only contain lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens
- Start with a lowercase letter
- Not end with a hyphen
- Be between 6 and 30 characters
- Be unique across all Google Billing Projects
3.4 Select a Google Billing Account to associate with the Billing Project.
Note: You may see multiple Google Billing Accounts that you can select for this Terra Billing Project. If you need to locate a Google Billing Account ID, navigate to the Google Developers Console and click on Billing. Look for the number below Billing Account ID.
Now you're ready to create or clone a workspace!
Congratulations on setting up your Billing Project! Once you have access to a Billing Project, you should be able to create or clone a workspace using the Terra interface. The Billing Project should appear in the dropdown menu for Billing. For step-by-step instructions on cloning a workspace, see this article.
(expand for tip) The relationship between Terra Billing Projects and Google Projects
When you create a Terra Billing project, Google automatically generates a Google Project in GCP with the same name, which you will see on the GCP Console. Sometimes, Terra Billing projects fail to get created if a project of the same name already exists in GCP.
When you look at the Google project that Terra has created, you will see that your permissions are restricted. For security reasons, this means you won't be able to create VMs or Google buckets in GCP directly using this Google project - only in Terra.
How to change the Google Billing Account funding a Billing Project (Project Owners)
There are times when you may need to change the Google billing account associated with a billing project in Terra (note that the Terra billing project can be used on many workspaces). An example would be if there was a change to the funding source for the project. If you have OWNER permissions for the project, you can follow the following steps to change the billing account.
Click for step-by-step instructiong
- Go to the Billing page
- Select a billing project for which you are an owner from the list on the left hand side of the screen. You will see details.
- Click the "change account" button. YYou will see a list of all the google billing accounts you have access to. Select the one you want to use with the project and click OK.
Your project is now funded by the chosen account!
How to remove Terra from a Google Billing Account
If you discontinue working in Terra and want to ensure that Terra is. unable to bill for any additional charges, you can remove Terra as a User on the Google Billing Account.
Warning: If you remove Terra as a Billing Account User after you have created a Terra Billing Project, all data and job history data from any workspaces created under that Billing Project will be deleted. Be very cautious when doing this!
To remove the Terra Billing Account User from your account, click on the trash can icon next to terra-billing@terra.bio on your billing account page.
Terra resources that don't cost anything to use
You do not need access to your own Terra Billing Project to use Terra. For example:
- Tutorial workspaces with open-access data will be available to view after your register. Note, however, that in order to run a workflow or interactive analysis, you will need to make your own copy of the tutorial under a Billing Project.
- Shared workspaces with WRITER (can compute) permission: If a Terra user, such as a collaborator or PI, shares a workspace with you and grants you WRITER (can compute) access, you can run workflows and interactive analyses within that workspace. All charges incurred will be paid by the workspace owner’s Terra Billing Project.
Without a funding source (Billing Project), you will not be able to clone or create a workspace, store or access data, or run any analysis.
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