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gcp-quickstart

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Before You Start​

To ensure a smooth and error-free setup experience, set up GCP Billing Export before launching the Harness wizard. This will allow you to progress through the setup without delays or missing prerequisites.

Why is Billing Export required?

Harness Cloud Cost Management (CCM) analyzes your cloud spending by accessing detailed billing data from your GCP account. The billing export automatically sends your cost and usage data to BigQuery, where Harness can securely read it.

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⚠️ GCP Billing Export Table Limitations and CMEK Restrictions When setting up a connector for GCP Billing Export, keep the following limitations and guidelines in mind:

  • GCP does not support copying data across regions if the source table uses CMEK.
  • GCP also does not allow copying data from Materialized Views.
  • If your organization enforces CMEK policies, consider creating a new dataset without CMEK enabled specifically for the integration.
  • It is recommended to create the dataset in the US region, as it offers the most compatibility with GCP billing export operations.
  • Use datasets with default (Google-managed) encryption when configuring the connector.

Step 1: Set Up the Billing Export​

  1. Go to Billing → Billing export.
  2. Enable Export detailed billing data to BigQuery.
  3. Choose a billing-enabled project and dataset.
  4. Enable:
    • 📅 Daily cost detail
    • 📊 Export type: Detailed usage cost data
  5. Note the Dataset Name and Table Name for the wizard.

More Help → GCP Billing Export Guide

Step 2: Grant Permissions​

  1. Go to BigQuery → Your Project → Dataset.
  2. Click Share Dataset.
  3. Add the following service account as a Viewer: <account-id>@<project-id>.iam.gserviceaccount.com
time for data delivery

It may take up to 24 hours for GCP to begin delivering cost and usage data. You can still proceed through the wizard, but the connection test may fail if data isn’t yet available.

In the meantime, explore the optional requirements and feature integrations available in Harness CCM, these will be available to select in your Choose Requirements step of the connection wizard:

Cloud Connector Wizard​

Once you've gathered the required GCP details, follow these steps in the Harness setup wizard to connect your GCP account and enable cost visibility.

Interactive Guide​

Step-by-Step Guide​

Step 1: Add GCP Account Details​

  1. In the wizard, enter a name for your connector (e.g., gcp-demo-prod).
  2. Specify Project ID.
  3. (Optional) Add a description and tags to help identify this connector later.
  4. Click Continue.

Step 2: Select or Create a Billing Export​

Cloud Billing export to BigQuery enables you to export detailed Google Cloud billing data (such as usage and cost estimate data) automatically throughout the day to a BigQuery dataset that you specify.

  1. If your Billing Export already exists, select it from the list.
  2. If not, return to GCP and follow the steps in the Before You Start section to create one.
  3. Once the Billing Export appears in the list, select it and click Continue.

Step 3: Choose Requirements​

  1. Cost Visibility is selected by default and is required.
  2. (Optional) You can enable any of the following features (they can also be added later):
    • Resource Inventory Management
    • Optimization by AutoStopping. If selected, you can select granular permissions for AutoStopping by clicking Continue
    • Cloud Governance
  3. Click Continue.

Step 4: Authentication (Conditional)​

If you have selected Optimization by AutoStopping or Cloud Governance, in previous step, you can set up Authentication. If not selected, this step will not be prompted.

You can enable authentication for your GCP account via

Step 5: Grant Permissions​

Based on what you selected in Step 3 - Choose Requirements, you will be prompted to grant permissions to your service account alongwith the steps to be followed.

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Review Feature Permissions for CCM to understand the minimum roles or permissions needed for every CCM feature.

Step 6: Verify the Connection​

  1. Harness will attempt to validate the connection using your inputs.
  2. If this step fails, it's usually because GCP has not yet delivered the first billing export.
    • Wait up to 24 hours after setting up the billing export before trying again.
  3. Once validated, click Finish Setup.

🎉 You’ve now connected your GCP account and enabled cost visibility in Harness.

Next Steps​

Once your data is flowing, explore the tools available in Harness CCM to help you manage and reduce your cloud spend: