Updated on 2024-01-03 GMT+08:00

Pay-per-Use Billing

Pay-per-use billing means you pay nothing up front and are not tied into any contract or commitment. This section describes the billing rules for pay-per-use DRS tasks.

Application Scenarios

Pay-per-use billing is good for unpredictable or short-term workloads that cannot tolerate any interruptions.

Billed Items

Table 1 Items billed on a pay-per-use basis

Billed Item

Description

Configuration fee

Configuration fees are generated when you use compute and storage resources and process data. In pay-per-use mode, you are billed based on the actual usage duration.

Data transmission fee

Data transmission fees are generated when you process or transfer data through a public network (excluding VPN, VPC, Direct Connect, and CC networks). You are billed based on the actual public network traffic you use in GB.

The prices in the figure are just examples. The actual prices are those displayed on DRS Price Calculator.

Billed Usage Period

Pay-per-use task usage is calculated by the second and billed every hour. The billing starts when the task is launched and ends when the task is completed.

It takes a certain time to create a DRS task. The billing starts from the Started time. You can view the Task Created time and Started time on the Basic Information page of a DRS task.

For example, if you created a pay-per-use DRS synchronization task at 8:40:00, started the task at 8:45:30, and stopped it at 8:55:30, you are billed for the 600 seconds from 8:45:30 to 8:55:30.

Billing Examples

Suppose you started a pay-per-use DRS synchronization task on April 18, 2023, 9:59:30 and stopped it on April 18, 2023, 10:45:46. Two usage periods will be billed:

  • Usage of 30 seconds from 9:59:30 to 10:00:00
  • Usage of 2,746 seconds from 10:00:00 to 10:45:46

You need to pay for each billed usage period. The prices displayed in the pricing details is per hour, so you need to divide it by 3,600 to obtain the price for each second and then multiple the per-second price by the total number of seconds.

Price Change After Specification Change

If you change the specifications of a pay-per-use task, the original order will become invalid and a new order will be placed. You will be billed based on the new specifications.

If you change the task specifications within a given hour, multiple records will be generated. Different records record the billing for different specifications.

For example, if you started a pay-per-use task with the Medium specifications at 9:00:00 and changed the specifications to Large at 9:30:00, the following items will be billed:

  • Medium task usage from 9:00:00 to 9:30:00
  • Large task usage from 9:30:00 to 10:00:00

DRS allows you to select and change specifications for some specified synchronization and DR tasks. For details, see Specification Description.

Impact of Arrears

Figure 1 shows the statuses a pay-per-use task can have throughout its lifecycle. After a DRS task is purchased, it enters the valid period and runs normally during this period. If your account goes into arrears, the DRS task enters a grace period and then a retention period.

Figure 1 Lifecycle of a pay-per-use task

Arrears Reminder

The system will bill you for pay-per-use tasks after each billing cycle ends. If your account goes into arrears, we will notify you by email, SMS, or in-app message.

Impacts of Arrears

If your account is insufficient to pay your amount due, your account goes into arrears, and the pay-per-use task enters the grace period. You are still responsible for expenditures generated during the grace period. You can view the charges on the Billing Center > Overview page and pay any past due balance as needed.

If you do not bring your account balance current before the grace period expires, the task turns to Frozen and enters a retention period. You cannot perform any operations on a pay-per-use task in the Frozen status.

If you do not bring your account balance current before the retention period ends, the task will be released and data cannot be restored.