Help Center/ GaussDB/ User Guide/ Buying a GaussDB Instance
Updated on 2025-08-18 GMT+08:00

Buying a GaussDB Instance

Scenarios

You can buy a GaussDB instance on the management console.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region and project.
  3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Databases > GaussDB.
  4. On the Instances page, click Buy DB Instance.
  5. On the displayed page, configure parameters about the instance, and click Next.

    Table 1 Basic information

    Parameter

    Description

    Billing Mode

    GaussDB provides yearly/monthly billing and pay-per-use billing.

    • Yearly/Monthly: You pay upfront for the amount of time you expect to use the DB instance for. You will need to make sure you have a top-up account with a sufficient balance or have a valid payment method configured first.

    • Pay-per-use: You can start using the DB instance first and then pay as you go. Pricing is listed on a per-hour basis, but bills are calculated based on the actual usage duration.

    Region

    A region where the tenant is located. You can change the region on the instance creation page, or go back to the Instances page and change it in the upper left corner.

    Products in different regions cannot communicate with each other over a private network. After the instance is created, you cannot change its region.

    DB Instance Name

    The instance name is case-sensitive, must start with a letter, and can contain 4 to 64 characters. Only letters, digits, hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are allowed.

    Edition Type

    GaussDB provides Basic edition and Enterprise edition.

    The basic edition lacks certain advanced features that are available in the enterprise edition. The basic edition delivers the same level of performance as the enterprise edition at a more affordable price. This edition is ideal for users who prioritize cost and do not need advanced features.

    DB Engine Version

    GaussDB supports the following versions: V2.0-3.226, V2.0-8.102, V2.0-8.103, and V2.0-8.210.

    NOTE:
    • Instances of V2.0-8.102 or later run on HCE.
    • A DR relationship cannot be established between instances running HCE and those running EulerOS.

    DB Instance Type

    • Distributed: You can add nodes for distributed instances as needed to handle large volumes of concurrent requests.
    • Centralized: Centralized instances are suitable for scenarios with small and stable volumes of data, where data reliability and service availability are extremely important.

    Deployment Model

    • Distributed
      • Independent: Database components are deployed on different nodes. This model is suitable for where high availability and stability are required and the instance scale is large.
    • Centralized
      • HA (1 primary + 2 standby): 3-node deployment where there is one shard. The shard contains one primary DN and two standby DNs.
      • Single: single-node deployment where there is only one CMS component and one DN. This model is only available for instances of V2.0-2.2 or later.
    CAUTION:
    • Single: The availability (or SLA) cannot be guaranteed because the instance is deployed on a single server.

    Transaction Consistency

    This parameter is available only to distributed instances.

    • Strong consistency: When an application updates data, every user can query all data that has been successfully committed, but performance is affected.
    • Eventual consistency: When an application updates data, the data users queried may be different, and some users may not obtain the most current value. The most current data may take a bit of time to become available for query by all users. However, DB instances with eventual consistency generally have higher performance. Eventual consistency cannot ensure strong read consistency of distributed transactions and consistency of transactions that depend on query results, such as INSERT INTO SELECT * FROM. Write operations that are split into multiple statements or involve in multiple nodes are not supported.

    Replicas

    This parameter is only available for distributed instances.

    Total number of DNs each shard, primary and standby DNs combined. There are three replicas in a shard, indicating that there are one primary and two standby DNs in a shard.

    Shards

    This parameter is available only for distributed instances. It indicates the number of shards in an instance. A shard contains multiple DNs. The number of DNs in a shard depends on the value of Replicas, for example, if Replicas is set to 3, there are three DNs (one primary and two standby DNs) in a shard. The value ranges from 1 to 64.

    Coordinator Nodes

    This parameter is available only for distributed instances. It indicates the number of CNs in an instance. The value ranges from 1 to 64.

    It is recommended that at least two CNs be configured for an instance. Configuring only one CN results in low service reliability, making it best suited for test environments rather than production use.

    A CN provides the following functions:

    • It receives access requests from applications and returns execution results to clients.
    • It breaks down tasks and distributes task fragments to different DNs for parallel processing.

    AZ

    An AZ is a physical region where resources have independent power supply and networks. AZs are physically isolated but interconnected through an internal network.

    A DB instance can be deployed in one AZ or three AZs. Three AZs are recommended.

    Time Zone

    Select a time zone according to the region hosting your DB instance when you buy the instance.

    Table 2 Specifications and storage

    Parameter

    Description

    Instance Specifications

    CPU and memory specifications of the instance. Different instance specifications support different numbers of database connections.

    For details, see "DB Instance Description" > "Instance Specifications" in GaussDB Service Overview.

    Storage Type

    The storage type determines the read/write speed of an instance. The higher the maximum throughput is, the higher the instance read/write speed can be.

    Storage Space (GB)

    The storage space contains the file system overhead required for inodes, reserved blocks, and database operations.

    When you create an instance, the storage for a single shard starts from 40 GB. You can increase the storage in increments of 4 GB. If too little storage is configured, when traffic volume is high, the storage can be used up quickly, and the instance will change to read-only. Select an amount of storage based on how much traffic you expect there to be.

    Disk Encryption

    • Disable: Encryption is disabled.
    • Enable: Encryption is enabled, which improves data security but affects system performance.

      Key Name: If disk encryption is enabled, you need to select or create a key.

    Table 3 Network

    Parameter

    Description

    VPC

    A virtual network where your GaussDB instances are located. A VPC isolates networks for different workloads. You need to create or select the required VPC.

    After the GaussDB instance is created, the VPC cannot be changed.

    Subnet

    A subnet provides dedicated network resources that are logically isolated from other networks for network security. Subnets take effect only within a specific AZ. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is enabled by default for subnets in which you plan to create GaussDB instances and cannot be disabled. GaussDB supports automatic IP address allocation during instance creation.

    Security Group

    Controls access to and from an instance. When you buy an instance, the selected security group must meet the following requirements:

    • If you need to change the security group when buying a distributed instance, ensure that the TCP ports in the inbound rule include the following: 40000-60480, 20050, 5000-5001, 2379-2380, 6000, 6001, 6500, and <database_port>-(<database_port> + 100). (For example, if the database port is 8000, the security group must contain ports 8000 to 8100.) Additionally, ensure that the outbound security group rules allow all outbound traffic.
    • If you need to change the security group when buying a centralized instance, ensure that the TCP ports in the inbound rule include the following: 20050, 5000-5001, 2379-2380, 6000, 6500, and <database_port>-(<database_port> + 100). (For example, if the database port is 8000, the TCP ports for the security group must include 8000-8100.)

    The security group enhances security by controlling access to GaussDB from other services. Ensure that the security group you selected allows your client to access the instance.

    Single Private IP Address

    Specifies whether to enable the single private IP address policy. If this policy is enabled, only one private IP address is assigned to an instance and is bound to the primary node. The private IP address does not change after a primary/standby switchover. If this policy is disabled, each node is bound to a private IP address, and the private IP address changes after a primary/standby switchover.

    The constraints on the single private IP address policy are as follows:

    • This policy is only available for centralized instances of version V2.0-3.207 or later.
    • This policy is configurable only during instance creation and cannot be modified afterwards.
    Table 4 Database configuration

    Parameter

    Description

    Administrator

    Database administrator. The default username is root.

    Administrator Password

    Enter a strong password and periodically change it to improve security, preventing security risks such as brute force cracking.

    The password must contain:

    • 8 to 32 characters.
    • At least three types of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, and special characters. Supported special characters: ~!@#%^*-_=+?,

    Keep the password secure. Password retrieval is not supported.

    Confirm Password

    Enter the administrator password again.

    Table 5 Parameter templates

    Parameter

    Description

    Parameter Template

    A template of parameters for creating an instance. The template contains engine configuration values that are applied to one or more instances. After creating an instance, you can modify the parameter template.

    Enterprise Project

    If the instance has been associated with an enterprise project, select the target project from the Enterprise Project drop-down list.

    You can also go to the Enterprise Project Management console to create a project. .

    The performance of your GaussDB instance depends on its settings. Hardware items include the instance specifications, storage type, and storage space.

  6. Confirm the displayed details.

    • If you need to modify your settings, click Previous.
    • If you do not need to modify your settings, click Submit.

  7. After the creation task is submitted, check the instance status on the Instances page. When a GaussDB instance is being created, its status is Creating. Once created, the instance becomes Available. You can view and manage it on the Instances page.

    An automated full backup is immediately triggered once your instance is created.