Frequently Asked Questions

Cloudpi is a comprehensive cloud cost governance platform built to help businesses manage and optimize expenses across major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. Its core strength lies in powerful, workflow-based automations that respond to cloud events, streamlining operations and driving significant cost savings.

Cloudpi transforms AWS cost management by providing deep visibility into your spending patterns, identifying underutilized resources, and automating key governance tasks. Through its intelligent, workflow-based automations, Cloudpi ensures your AWS infrastructure is both cost-efficient and operationally excellent, turning insights into automated action.

Cloudpi provides a rich suite of automation features designed for total AWS cost control, including:

• Resource Scheduling: Automatically start and stop EC2 or RDS instances based on custom schedules (e.g., "off-hours") to prevent idle costs.
• Cost Allocation & Tagging: Enforce tagging policies on resource creation to ensure precise cost tracking and departmental chargebacks.
• Budget Alerts & Enforcement: Receive proactive notifications as you approach budget thresholds, and trigger automated actions like instance shutdowns to prevent overspending.
• Usage Optimization: Get automated recommendations for rightsizing instances, deleting unattached EBS volumes, or transitioning data to lower-cost S3 tiers.

Cloudpi's workflow automations are powerful, event-driven processes you can build with a no-code interface. You define a trigger (like resource creation, a specific time, or a budget alert) and a sequence of actions. For instance, you could design a workflow where a newly created EC2 instance is automatically scanned for a "Project" tag; if the tag is missing, the instance is stopped, and the creator is notified via Slack, preventing untracked spending.

Integrating your AWS account is a secure and straightforward process:

1. Sign Up/Login: Access your Cloudpi dashboard.
2. Add AWS Account: Navigate to the Integrations section and choose to add an AWS account.
3. Provide Credentials: We recommend using a secure, cross-account IAM role, which grants Cloudpi read-only access to your cost and usage data without exposing sensitive credentials. Our setup wizard guides you through creating this role in your AWS account.
4. Configure Settings: Begin by setting up initial cost centers, budgets, and enabling your first set of automation workflows.

To get started, you will need:

• An active AWS account with administrative access to set up the required IAM role.
• The IAM role configured with the specific permissions detailed in our documentation to ensure Cloudpi can securely access necessary data.
• A basic understanding of your AWS services, which will help you tailor our automation templates to your specific needs for maximum impact.

The core features for cost visibility, recommendations, and automation are present in all versions. Our Self-hosted plan runs the Cloudpi.ai Enterprise edition, which includes advanced features like Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), custom policy engines for specific compliance needs, and integrations with on-premise ticketing systems.

- Answer by Purushothama V

Yes, the Cloudpi.ai Enterprise (self-hosted) edition fully supports air-gapped or network-restricted deployments. We provide the necessary container images, Helm charts, and comprehensive documentation to facilitate a successful installation and operation in a completely offline environment.

- Answer by Purushothama V

Cloudpi.ai is designed to be efficient. For a production-grade setup, we recommend a minimum of one node with 2 vCPUs, 4GB RAM, and 50GB storage for the database. The application nodes that perform data processing are stateless and can be scaled horizontally to meet any workload.

- Answer by Purushothama V

Update processes vary by your deployment model:

• Cloud (SaaS): Fully automated. You always have the latest features with no action required.
• Private Cloud (Managed): Updates are scheduled in coordination with your team to ensure they are applied within your maintenance windows.
• Self-Hosted Enterprise: You have full control. We provide new container images and release notes for you to deploy according to your own schedule and change management process.

- Answer by Purushothama V

Security is our top priority. Cloudpi is architected with multiple layers of protection:

• Secure by Design: We use an IAM role-based integration, adhering to the principle of least privilege. You never need to share long-lived access keys.
• Data Encryption: All data, both in transit (using TLS 1.2+) and at rest, is encrypted with industry-standard AES-256 encryption.
• Access Controls: Our platform features granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), ensuring users within your organization can only access and manage what they are authorized to.
• Audit Logs: Every action taken within Cloudpi is recorded in comprehensive audit logs, providing full visibility for monitoring and compliance.

Yes, Cloudpi is built in accordance with major industry standards and best practices for cloud security and data privacy. Our operations are designed to help you meet your regulatory requirements within the cloud governance frameworks applicable to your business.

If you encounter an issue, we recommend the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Check Workflow Configuration: Verify that all rules, conditions, and triggers in your workflow are correctly configured.
2. Review Execution Logs: Examine the detailed activity logs for the specific workflow to identify any errors or warnings that occurred during execution.
3. Consult Documentation: Our Help Center contains detailed user guides and best practices for setting up common automations.
4. Contact Support: If the issue persists, our expert support team is ready to assist you in diagnosing and resolving the problem.

We offer multiple channels for support:

• Help Center: A comprehensive, 24/7 knowledge base.
• Email Support: Reach our technical team directly at support@cloudpi.ai.
• Live Chat: Get real-time assistance via the chat widget on our platform.
• Community Forums: Engage with other Cloudpi users to share tips and solutions.

Absolutely. Customization is at the heart of Cloudpi. While we offer many pre-built templates, you have complete freedom to build custom workflows from scratch. You can define unique triggers, chain multiple actions with complex conditional logic, and integrate with external tools via webhooks to automate almost any cloud management process you can imagine.

Yes. Cloudpi includes a robust analytics dashboard that provides deep insights into the ROI of your automation efforts. You can track key metrics like cost savings achieved by specific workflows, the number of automated actions performed, and the overall impact on your cloud environment's efficiency and cost posture. This helps you demonstrate the value of your governance strategy to stakeholders.

Cloudpi offers flexible pricing plans designed to scale with your needs:

• Basic Plan: Perfect for startups and small businesses taking their first steps in cloud cost management.
• Standard Plan: Our most popular plan, ideal for growing companies that require more advanced automation and analytics features.
• Enterprise Plan: A comprehensive solution for large organizations with complex multi-cloud environments, offering premium support and custom integrations.

For detailed feature comparisons and pricing, please visit the official pricing section on our website.