---
title: "Custom monitoring"
slug: "custom-monitoring"
updated: 2026-10-29T11:13:36Z
published: 2026-10-29T11:13:36Z
canonical: "docs.turbo360.com/custom-monitoring"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.turbo360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom monitoring

## Overview

Custom monitors let you track Azure spend against narrow, rule-based criteria, going beyond the broader Group budget and Anomaly detection options. Scope a monitor to a single resource type (such as virtual machine costs) or a specific tag, so targeted overruns don't get lost inside an aggregate budget.

### Business value

Custom monitors catch cost deviations within narrow segments that broader budgets can miss, giving teams earlier, targeted alerts instead of waiting for an aggregate threshold breach.

## Prerequisites

A **Cost management group** must exist before you can configure a custom monitor. You can create a monitor from an existing Cost management group, or create a new one first and then configure the monitor for it.

### Required permissions

Custom monitors use the **Custom monitors** permission, available under **Specify monitoring tab permissions** during role creation. The **Monitoring** switch under **Specify feature permissions** must be set to **Enable**.

- **Read:** allows users to view all custom monitors.
- **Manage:** allows users to add, edit, enable, disable, and delete custom monitors. **Manage** requires **Read** on the same permission.

Users with **Read** but not **Manage** can open the **Custom monitors** sub-tab and view monitors, but the controls that change a monitor are hidden or disabled:

- The **Add monitor** button and the **Configure monitor** button are hidden.
- The toggle in the Status column is disabled.
- **Delete** in the **⋯** Actions menu is disabled. **Manage** still opens the monitor, but the settings are read-only.
- In **Analysis**, the **Monitor** option in the view actions menu is disabled.

### Dependencies

Custom monitors depend on a **Cost management group**.

## How it works

- Each monitor runs on a defined **interval**: **Daily**, **Monthly**, or **Last 7 days**.
- A monitor applies one or more **rules**, each scoped to selected **subscriptions** and a **cost metric**: **Actual cost** or **Amortized cost**.

              Note:

              

**Actual cost**: raw usage and purchase charges for Azure and third-party Marketplace offerings, as they appear on the invoice. **Amortized cost**: reservation purchase charges divided evenly across the term, linked to the resources that consumed them.

- **Filters** narrow each rule to specific cost data. See [Cost filtering](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/cost-filtering) for details.
- Each rule defines a **budget** as **Static** (a fixed value) or **Dynamic** (a defined cost difference that triggers a violation).

For **Static budgets**, you can also configure **alert conditions**: percentage thresholds that trigger alerts as spend approaches the limit, before a full breach occurs.

- Alerts route through a selected **escalation policy** and [notification channel](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/managing-notification-channels).
- On every monitoring cycle, the latest values are compared against the budget, and percentage thresholds for Static budgets, and alerts trigger on breach.
- Triggered alerts become **Incidents**, which can be tracked, resolved, and reopened at any time from the **Incidents** sub-tab of the Monitoring tab.

## Steps

Use the following steps to create, update, remove, enable or disable custom monitors, and manage alert incidents. Navigate to the desired cost management group, open the **Monitoring** tab, and select the **Custom monitors** sub-tab to get started.

### Create a custom monitor

Creating a custom monitor defines the rules, budget type, and alert configuration that Cost Analyzer evaluates on every monitoring cycle.

1. On the **Custom monitors** sub-tab, click **+ Add monitor**.
2. Enter a **name** for the monitor.
3. Choose **Daily**, **Monthly**, or **Last 7 days** as the run interval. Click **Next**.
4. Click **Add rule** to define a monitoring rule.
5. Name the rule, select the **subscriptions** to monitor, and choose **Actual cost** or **Amortized cost**. Click **Next**.
6. Add **filters** to scope the cost data, then click **Next**.
7. Choose **Static** or **Dynamic** to define the budget limit.

For **Static budgets**, click **Alert conditions**, set the desired percentage limits, and click **Apply**.
8. Click **Add** to save the rule, then **Next** to configure alerts.
9. Select an **escalation policy** with the preferred **notification channel**, then click **Add** to finish.

### Update a custom monitor

Updating a monitor lets you change its name, run interval, rules, budget settings, or alert configuration without removing and recreating it.

1. On the **Custom monitors** sub-tab, click the **⋯** Actions menu next to the monitor and select **Manage**.
2. Make the necessary changes and select **Update**.

### Remove a custom monitor

Removing a monitor permanently deletes it and stops all future evaluations and alerts for that monitor.

1. On the **Custom monitors** sub-tab, click the **⋯** Actions menu next to the monitor and select **Delete**.
2. Confirm with **Delete**.

### Enable or disable a custom monitor

Enabling or disabling a monitor lets you pause evaluations temporarily without removing the monitor's configuration.

1. On the **Custom monitors** sub-tab, use the toggle in the Status column next to the monitor to enable or disable it.

## Manage alert incidents

Managing incidents lets you track, acknowledge, close, and reopen triggered alerts so your team can maintain a clear record of cost violations and their resolution.

All incidents from custom monitors appear in the **Incidents** sub-tab of the Monitoring tab. Filter by the **Custom monitors** category tab to view only custom monitor incidents. Each incident can move between:

- **Open:** violations exist on the incident.
- **Acknowledge:** the violation is under investigation.
- **Close:** the violation is resolved and the incident is no longer relevant.
- **Reopen:** the incident is still problematic.

Change the state **individually** from the **Context menu ( ⋮ )**, or in **bulk** by selecting multiple incidents and choosing the option from the **Actions** dropdown. These controls appear only on the **Custom monitors** category tab, and only for users with **Manage** on **Custom monitors**.

**Track user actions:** Select **view user actions** from the **Context menu ( ⋮ )** of an incident to see every action taken, who took it, when, and the resulting state change.

**View notification history:** Select **view notification details** from the **Context menu ( ⋮ )** of an incident to see channel-level delivery details, including the reason for any failed transmission.

Filter incidents by **Incident status** or **Date**. See [Managing monitoring incidents](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/managing-monitoring-incidents) for full incident management details.

## Status calendar

The Monitoring tab Overview sub-tab includes a status calendar showing the historical summary of Cost Analyzer's cost alert status. The last **30 days** of data is always available for reference.

## Configuration

| Option | Type | Default | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monitor name | Text | - | Yes | Identifies the monitor within the Cost group. |
| Run interval | Daily / Monthly / Last 7 days | - | Yes | Defines how often the monitor evaluates cost data. |
| Cost metric | Actual cost / Amortized cost | - | Yes | Determines which cost basis the rule evaluates. |
| Budget type | Static / Dynamic | - | Yes | Static uses a fixed value; Dynamic uses a defined cost difference. |
| Alert conditions | Percentage thresholds | - | No | Available only for Static budgets. |
| Escalation policy | Selection | - | Yes | Routes triggered alerts to the chosen notification channel. |

## Troubleshooting

1. **A monitor is not generating any incidents despite spend being above the budget** Cause: The monitor may be disabled, or the cost data for the selected subscriptions has not yet been refreshed for the current evaluation cycle. Fix: Confirm the monitor is enabled using the toggle on the Custom monitors sub-tab. Check that the subscriptions in the rule have current cost data visible in the Analysis view. If data appears delayed, reset the cached data by selecting **Reset cached data** under **Tools** in the group's **Context menu ( ⋮ )** in the tree view, and wait for the next monitoring cycle.
2. **Alerts are triggering but no notifications are being received** Cause: The escalation policy may be misconfigured, or the notification channel may have a delivery failure, for example, an invalid webhook URL, expired credentials, or a misconfigured email recipient. Fix: Open the incident's **Context menu ( ⋮ )** and select **view notification details** to see the channel-level delivery result and the reason for any failed transmission. Correct the channel configuration in [Managing notification channels](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/managing-notification-channels) and trigger a test if available.
3. **The Add monitor option is not visible** Cause: The signed-in user does not have **Manage** on **Custom monitors** in their role. The user may also be unable to change a monitor's toggle or delete it for the same reason. Fix: Ask an Account owner or Owner to select **Manage** for **Custom monitors** under **Specify monitoring tab permissions** in the user's role. **Monitoring** must be set to **Enable** under **Specify feature permissions**.
4. **Alert conditions are not available when setting up a rule** Cause: Alert conditions are only available for **Static** budget types. They are not shown when **Dynamic** is selected. Fix: Switch the budget type to **Static** to access the Alert conditions option and configure percentage thresholds.
5. **Incidents are not appearing after a monitoring cycle completes** Cause: The monitor's rules may not be matching any cost data, for example, the filter scope is too narrow, or the subscriptions selected in the rule have no cost activity for the chosen interval. Fix: Review the rule's filter configuration and verify that the selected subscriptions have cost data visible in the Analysis view for the chosen run interval. Adjust the filters or interval as needed and allow the next cycle to evaluate.

## FAQs

1. **What's the difference between Actual cost and Amortized cost?** Actual cost shows raw usage and purchase charges as they appear on the invoice. Amortized cost spreads reservation purchase charges evenly across the term and links them to the resources that used them.
2. **When should I use a Static budget instead of a Dynamic budget?** Use a **Static budget** when you want to monitor against a fixed value and trigger alerts at defined percentage thresholds. Use a **Dynamic budget** when you want to detect violations based on a defined cost difference rather than a fixed limit.
3. **Who can access custom monitors?** Users whose role has the **Custom monitors** permission under **Specify monitoring tab permissions**, with **Monitoring** set to **Enable**. **Read** access allows viewing monitors; **Manage** access allows adding, editing, enabling, disabling, and deleting them.

## Related articles

- [Group budget monitoring](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/group-budget-monitoring)
- [Automatic anomaly detection](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/automatic-anomaly-detection)
- [Managing monitoring incidents](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/managing-monitoring-incidents)
- [Managing escalation policies](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/managing-escalation-policies-in-cost-analyzer)
- [Managing notification channels](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/managing-notification-channels)
- [Cost filtering](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/cost-filtering)