How to set up billing in Terra
Contents
Understanding costs in Terra
Getting started - $300 in Google Cloud 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!
Terra resources that don't cost anything to use
Understanding costs in Terra
There are no fees to use the Terra platform or to contact support. However, there are costs associated with operations such as:
- Accessing data in Requester Pays buckets
- Storing data in workspace buckets
- Running workflows
- Running Jupyter Notebooks
The costs are paid through Terra Billing Projects funded by a GCP Billing Account. How you set up your billing depends, in part, on your circumstance - whether you have colleagues working in Terra and what billing mechanisms your lab or institution already has set up to handle external costs. Read on for step-by-step instructions for different scenarios.
Start with $300 in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) credits
Free credits are a way to try the platform to see if it's right for you - before committing your own money. GCP offers $300 in credits to new users signing up for Billing Accounts. For step-by-step instructions on claiming $300 of GCP dollars to use on Terra, see this article. Once you claim the $300 credits, link your Google account to Terra (step2 below), create a billing Project (step 3 below), and start exploring in a new workspace.
Note: The Free Credits program has been suspended as of July 2, 2020. Please follow this service notification article to get the latest updates.
Collaborating with someone already using Terra?
You don't 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 billing, indirectly or directly. The two options are outlined below.
Work in a shared workspace
If a Terra user, such as a collaborator or PI, shares a workspace with you and grants you WRITER (can-compute) access, you will have indirect access to their billing. You'll be able to move data into and out of the workspace bucket, store data, and run analyses within that workspace. All charges for these operations will be paid by your colleague's Billing Project, which is assigned to the workspace when it's created.
For more information about controlling shared lab costs, including sharing workspaces, see this article.
Access a colleague's Billing Project
Billing Project owners can add and remove Billing Project users, so you may be able to access an already existing project. This may apply, for example, if you are joining a research group that is already working in Terra. To gain access, you'll ask the owner to add you to the existing Terra Billing Project using the steps below.
Once you are a designated Billing Project user, the project will appear in your Billing page, and you'll be able to use it to create workspaces. All costs incurred in the workspaces you create will be covered by your colleague's billing project.
How owners can add or remove Billing Project users
1. In the Terra UI, click on the User Profile drop-down from the main navigation menu at the top left and select Billing.
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.
3. To add a new user, click on Add User… Note that the user must first be registered for Terra.
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 user's 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).
How to set up billing in Terra from scratch
If you don't have access to shared workspaces or an existing Billing Project, you will need to have a GCP Billing Account. You can set up and manage a Billing Account in Google Cloud Platform or go through a third-party reseller who will do it for you.
You'll then link the GCP Billing Account to Terra. Once the accounts are linked, you'll be able to create a Terra Billing Project. The Project will appear automatically in a dropdown menu and allow you to create or clone workspaces to work in.
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 |
1. Set up a Google Billing Account
Below are options and step-by-step instructions for setting up a Google BIlling Account.
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). Remember to use the same Google account ID you use to log into Terra for the GCP Billing Account.
Use a third-party reseller
Third party resellers can facilitate and manage billing, helping to alleviate anxiety around spending in the cloud. They will work with you to set up a billing environment and a budget. They may have tools to help visualize storage, egress and compute charges, broken out by project and/or workspace. For researchers on grants, they can do purchase orders, and even help prepay with grant funding so you can spend when you need to.
This is a good option if you do not want to navigate GCP consolare or are new to cloud computing.
There are many options for third party resellers, who provide additional options for accessing and managing Google Accounts 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 experienced working with Terra accounts, 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 and follow the instructions. Remember to use the same Google account ID you use to log into Terra for the GCP 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
Unless you are using a third-party reseller (who will take care of linking the accounts), the next step is to link the Google Billing Account to your Terra account. You'll do this in the GCP console (separate from Terra).
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.
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, 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 click the "+" icon in the circle. Note that when you create a new Terra Billing Project, you are automatically designated as the Owner.
Click for step-by-step instructions to create a Billing Project
3.2. Click on "Create a New 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.
(expand for tip) The relationship between Terra Billing Projects and Google Projects
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.
Note that creating a Project on the GCP console will not create a project in Terra. In fact, you can only create Terra Billing Projects in the Terra interface.
Now you're ready to create or clone a workspace!
Congratulations on setting up your Billing Project! You should now 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.
Terra resources that don't cost anything to use
You do not need access to your own Terra Billing Project to use Terra. 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.
Some things you can do without your own funding source incude:
- 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.
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