MSP Billing & Licensing

Monetize cloud services with clear usage, margins, and control

In short: whitesky provides built-in billing and licensing for MSPs: usage-based metering per tenant, fixed capacity-based or pay-per-use pricing, automated invoicing, reseller enablement, and SPLA compliance via Octopus integration for Microsoft licensing.

A cloud business only scales if billing and licensing scale with it. whitesky is designed for MSP operations: multi-tenant usage tracking, customer isolation, reseller enablement, and integration points for invoicing and licensing workflows.

whitesky is delivered as a managed service (installation, updates, monitoring and lifecycle management). A software edition for self-operation is planned, at the earliest in 2027.

Locations pricing page of the VCO, selling tab, with prices per unit for two locations
The VCO sets its own selling price per location and per unit, here in euro.Shown: portal.dynagrid.tech, the white-label portal of Dynagrid, a VCO running on whitesky.

Usage-based metering (built for MSPs)

whitesky provides a foundation for transparent, auditable usage reporting across tenants and locations, enabling:

  • Clear consumption reporting per customer and per service
  • Quotas and limits aligned to service plans
  • Chargeback/showback models for internal IT or resellers
  • Cost visibility across multiple cloud locations

Usage is metered every 15 minutes and invoiced monthly. Cloud Enablers choose between fixed, capacity-based pricing and pay-per-use.

whitesky.cloud charges Cloud Enablers only for storage (SU), vCPU (VCU) and memory (MU) units. Cloud Enablers can charge all units to their VCOs, including network traffic (NU). Per external network, the operator chooses whether traffic is charged, because an external network can be customer-owned, and NU makes no distinction between ingress and egress.

This supports both public cloud offerings and private managed cloud contracts.

Invoicing & billing automation

Depending on your operating model, whitesky can support:

  • Automated invoice generation based on usage
  • Export/reporting flows for your existing billing stack
  • Multi-tenant billing separation for resellers (VCO model)
  • Consistent billing across multiple locations
Who invoices whomUsage is metered every 15 minutes and rolled up into monthly invoices. whitesky.cloud invoices the Cloud Enabler for SU, VCU and MU. The Cloud Enabler can invoice its VCOs for all units, at its own prices, and Cloud Enablers invoice each other for roaming capacity. The VCO invoices its customer at its own prices, and the customer gets one detailed invoice. Every level uses its own prices and its own currency.Usage metered every 15 minutes, rolled up into monthly invoiceswhitesky.cloudsoftwareCloud Enablerhardware, locationVCObrand, own pricesCustomerone detailed invoiceinvoices for SU, VCU and MUinvoices all units, at its own pricesinvoices at its own pricesinvoice each otherfor roamingOther Cloud EnablersEvery level: its own prices, its own currency
Who invoices whomUsage is metered every 15 minutes and rolled up into monthly invoices. whitesky.cloud invoices the Cloud Enabler for SU, VCU and MU. The Cloud Enabler can invoice its VCOs for all units, at its own prices, and Cloud Enablers invoice each other for roaming capacity. The VCO invoices its customer at its own prices, and the customer gets one detailed invoice. Every level uses its own prices and its own currency.Metered every 15 minutes,invoiced monthlywhitesky.cloudsoftwareCloud Enablerhardware, locationVCObrand, own pricesCustomerone detailed invoiceinvoices for SU,VCU and MUinvoices allunits, at itsown pricesOther Cloud Enablersinvoiced for roaminginvoices atits own pricesEvery level: its ownprices, its own currency
Every level invoices the next, each with its own prices and currency: whitesky.cloud invoices the Cloud Enablers for SU, VCU and MU, and so on down to the customer; Cloud Enablers also invoice each other for roaming capacity.
One storage unit, three pricesReal prices for one storage unit, 1 TB of disk for a month, in Brussels: GIG.tech NV, a Cloud Enabler in Belgium, sells it to Gigify Uganda, a Cloud Enabler in Uganda, at 18.75 euro. Gigify sells it to its VCO Dynagrid at 20.00 dollar. Dynagrid sells it to its customer at 29.12 euro, and the customer gets one invoice. Each party sets its own price and currency.One storage unit (SU = 1 TB of disk for a month) in BrusselsGIG.tech NVCloud Enabler,BelgiumGigify UgandaCloud Enabler,UgandaDynagridVCO of GigifyCustomerone invoice€18.75$20.00€29.12Each arrow is one invoice, settled by the Federation.Each party sets its own price and currency
One storage unit, three pricesReal prices for one storage unit, 1 TB of disk for a month, in Brussels: GIG.tech NV, a Cloud Enabler in Belgium, sells it to Gigify Uganda, a Cloud Enabler in Uganda, at 18.75 euro. Gigify sells it to its VCO Dynagrid at 20.00 dollar. Dynagrid sells it to its customer at 29.12 euro, and the customer gets one invoice. Each party sets its own price and currency.One SU in BrusselsSU = 1 TB of disk for a monthGIG.tech NVCloud Enabler, Belgium€18.75per SUGigify UgandaCloud Enabler, Uganda$20.00per SUDynagridVCO of Gigify€29.12per SUCustomerone invoiceEach party sets its ownprice and currency
Real prices from the Federation webinar: one storage unit in Brussels, sold on twice before it reaches the customer.

SPLA and licensing workflows (Octopus integration)

Many MSPs use Octopus to automate SPLA and licensing workflows. whitesky enhances that approach with a secure, low-friction data pipeline that keeps licensing transparent and operationally consistent.

Delivery model: included with Meneja (managed service)

When you consume whitesky via the Meneja platform (managed service), you do not need to operate your own Octopus installation. whitesky runs an Octopus environment as part of the service and uses it to process licensing workflows and integrate results into billing.

If required (for example for auditability or operational transparency), customers can be granted access to their own tenant within Octopus.

Self-hosted Meneja (Cloud Enablers)

Self-hosted Meneja installations are possible in specific cases, for example for air-gapped installations; Meneja is not available for download today. Cloud Enablers with their own Meneja installation need their own Octopus installation if they want to use this SPLA workflow feature set.

Nightly license discovery (without customer network access)

whitesky performs a nightly scan of Windows virtual machines to detect installed Microsoft products. The scan is orchestrated from the host side and uses the QEMU guest agent inside the virtual machine to gather the required software inventory data.

The resulting scan output is then exported and transported to Octopus as files. This means Octopus does not need direct access to customer networks — an important security benefit.

With this approach you can:

  • scan Windows machines located in private customer networks
  • avoid opening inbound paths from Octopus to tenant environments
  • keep licensing workflows centralized while maintaining strict network boundaries
License discovery without network accessA nightly scan runs from the whitesky host side and reads the software inventory of Windows VMs in private customer networks through the QEMU guest agent. The results travel as files to Octopus, run by whitesky, which analyzes them for SPLA; the license charges land on the invoice next to resource usage. The customer gets an email when new licensable software is installed. Octopus has no inbound access into customer networks.whitesky hostWindows VMin a private customer networkQEMU guest agentNightly scanfrom the host sideas filesOctopusSPLA analysisrun by whiteskyno inbound accessInvoicelicenses nextto usageEmail when new licensablesoftware is installed
License discovery without network accessA nightly scan runs from the whitesky host side and reads the software inventory of Windows VMs in private customer networks through the QEMU guest agent. The results travel as files to Octopus, run by whitesky, which analyzes them for SPLA; the license charges land on the invoice next to resource usage. The customer gets an email when new licensable software is installed. Octopus has no inbound access into customer networks.whitesky hostWindows VMprivate customer networkQEMU guest agentNightly scan, from the host sideas filesOctopusSPLA analysisrun by whiteskyEmail when newlicensable softwareis installedInvoicelicenses next to resource usageNo inbound path from Octopusinto customer networks
The scan runs from the host side through the QEMU guest agent; only files travel to Octopus, never a connection into the customer network.

Automated SPLA analysis and billing integration

Once received, Octopus analyzes the scan data to determine which Microsoft licenses apply and what needs to be reported/charged.

whitesky then integrates the resulting licensing charges into the billing flow so Microsoft licensing appears automatically alongside resource usage (compute, storage, network traffic where charged, etc.) for the end customer.

Proactive customer notifications to avoid invoice surprises

When the nightly scan detects newly installed licensable software, whitesky can automatically notify the customer’s operational contact by email. This makes customers aware that additional licensed software has been installed and will be charged for.

The goal is to prevent surprises at invoicing time — especially for Microsoft products that can materially impact monthly costs.

Reseller enablement (VCO-ready)

For MSP ecosystems and channel models, whitesky supports a reseller-oriented operating model:

  • Resellers can have their own portal experience (white-label)
  • Customer isolation and delegated administration
  • Consistent service catalog and policies
  • Reporting boundaries per reseller and per customer

This allows you to scale distribution without scaling your internal platform engineering.

Governance and auditability

Billing and licensing depend on trust in the numbers. whitesky supports governance through:

  • Role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Tenant boundaries and clear ownership
  • Operational visibility across customers and locations
  • Usage reporting designed to be explainable and auditable

Typical use cases

MSPs use whitesky billing & licensing capabilities to:

  • Launch branded public cloud offerings with usage-based pricing
  • Offer private managed cloud with predictable contracts + usage reporting
  • Run reseller programs (VCO model) with clean separation
  • Integrate SPLA processes via Octopus and reduce operational overhead
  • Provide showback/chargeback for enterprise IT customers

Next steps