Stopping Billing

The following describes how to stop the pay-per-use, yearly/monthly and discount package billing.

Pay-per-Use Resources

If you no longer use a GaussDB(DWS) cluster that is in pay-per-use mode, delete it and its resources to stop the billing. To do so, log in to the GaussDB(DWS) management console and go to the Clusters page.

Table 1 GaussDB(DWS) billing items outlines the charges applicable after a GaussDB(DWS) cluster is deleted. To halt charges temporarily, you may stop the cluster; charges will resume upon restart. Note that after stopping a cluster, only the basic resources (vCPUs and memory) are free of charge. However, resources such as associated public IP addresses and bandwidth continue to incur costs, as detailed in Table 2. Billing details about clusters in frozen and unfrozen states are described in Table 3.

Please be aware that Yearly/Monthly subscription clusters incur charges even when stopped. For instructions on stopping billing, refer to Yearly/Monthly Billed Resources.

**Table 1** GaussDB(DWS) billing items
Billing Item	Description
Data warehouse node	The billing will be stopped after the cluster is deleted. For details about how to delete a cluster, see Deleting a Cluster.
Snapshot storage space	When a cluster is deleted, its automated snapshots are deleted, but its manual snapshots are retained. After you delete the manual snapshots, the billing is stopped. To delete the manual snapshots, log in to the GaussDB(DWS) management console and go to the Clusters page. If the manual snapshots are still retained after the cluster is deleted and the total snapshot size exceeds the free space, the excess part will be billed based on the OBS billing rate.
Disk storage	When a cluster is deleted, the storage resources related to the cluster are automatically deleted.
Cold storage	When a cluster is deleted, the storage resources related to the cluster are automatically deleted.
(Optional) EIP and bandwidth	If a cluster has an EIP, select Release the EIP bound to the cluster. when deleting the cluster. The billing will stop when the EIP is released. If you do not release the EIP, it will be billed based on the EIP pricing rule of VPC.
(Optional) Elastic load balance (ELB)	If a cluster is bound to an ELB, the ELB will not be deleted when the cluster is deleted. You need to manually delete the ELB on the ELB console to release resources. If you do not release the ELB, the ELB will still be billed based on the ELB billing rules.
(Optional) Database encryption key (DEW)	If you have enabled the Encrypt DataStore function for a cluster and purchased a key on DEW, the key is not deleted after you delete the cluster. Manually unsubscribe from and delete the key to stop billing. To do this, log in to the DEW management console and choose Data Encryption Workshop > Key Pair Service.

**Table 2** Billing items of a stopped cluster
Billing Mode	Data Warehouse Type	Billing Item	Stop Billing
Pay-per-use	Pass-through disk (coupled storage and compute)	Node	Yes
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Node	No
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Disk	Yes
	Bare Metal Server (BMS)	Node	No
	Serverless cluster	Node	No
	Serverless cluster	Disks	No
Yearly/Monthly	Pass-through disk (coupled storage and compute)	Node	Yes
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Node	Yes
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Disk	Yes
	Bare Metal Server (BMS)	Node	Yes

**Table 3** Billing items of a cluster in frozen (stopped) and unfrozen states
Billing Mode	Data Warehouse Type	Billing Item	Charge When Frozen	Charge When unfrozen
Pay-per-use	Pass-through disk (coupled storage and compute)	Node	No	Yes
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Node	No	No
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Disk	No	Yes
	Bare Metal Server (BMS)	Node	No	No
	Serverless Clusters	Node	No	No
	Serverless Clusters	Disk	No	No
Yearly/Monthly	Pass-through disk (coupled storage and compute)	Node	No	Yes
	Cloud disk VM (decoupled storage and compute)	Node	No	Yes
	Bare Metal Server (BMS)	Disk	No	Yes

Yearly/Monthly Billed Resources

For a GaussDB(DWS) cluster billed in yearly/monthly mode, you only need to pay once before the cluster expires. The cluster automatically stops servicing after it expires.

If a user wants to terminate a package in advance, the payment will be refunded in full amount, but the used coupons cannot be returned. Each account can request five-day unconditional full refund for 10 times within a calendar year (starting from January 1st). If the number of times exceeds the threshold, the amount will be deducted. To unsubscribe from a yearly/monthly package, perform the following steps: If you do not unsubscribe from the package, the system does not refund the fees.

Yearly/Monthly clusters cannot be unsubscribed from during the grace period or retention period. You can click to release these clusters on the Renewals page of the Billing Center.
A yearly/monthly cluster is frozen during the retention period. Snapshots are frozen together with the cluster and will be automatically deleted after the retention period expires.
A yearly/monthly cluster that has been unsubscribed from cannot be restored. The user data and automated snapshots in the cluster are automatically deleted and cannot be accessed anymore. The manual snapshots of a yearly/monthly cluster will not be deleted when you unsubscribe from the cluster.
To change the billing mode of a yearly/monthly cluster to pay-per-use before a renewal period takes effect, you can only unsubscribe from the cluster, but cannot cancel the renewal.

Steps to unsubscribe from resources billed in the yearly/monthly mode

Log in to the GaussDB(DWS) management console.
Choose Clusters. All clusters will be displayed by default.
In the Operation column of a cluster, choose More > Unsubscribe.
In the displayed dialog box, click Yes.
On the CBC unsubscription page, select a reason for unsubscription, and click Confirm. In the displayed dialog box, click Unsubscribe. After the order is submitted, the page will be automatically refreshed.

Discount Package Resources

You can refer to the following steps to unsubscribe from a resource package to avoid further charging.

Log in to the GaussDB(DWS) management console and click Resource Packages in the navigation pane on the left.
Select the discount package and click Unsubscribe above the list. The unsubscription page is displayed.
Then, complete the unsubscription as prompted.

When a discount package expires or you unsubscribe from the package, the system will automatically charge you on a pay-per-use basis (by hour). The service will not be interrupted as long as your account balance is sufficient.

Searching for Resources from Bills and Stopping Billing

To ensure that all related resources are deleted, you can search the billing records by resource ID, and then delete the resources you identify in this way. To do so, perform the following operations:

On the top menu bar, choose Billing & Costs > Bills.

The Bills page is displayed.
On the Bills page of the Billing Center, select the Bill Details tab. Click the icon shown in the following figure to copy the resource name.

Figure 1 Copying the resource name
Log in to the management console and choose Analytics > Data Warehouse Service. The cluster list is displayed.
Select the region where the resources are located. On the Clusters page, locate the data warehouse cluster based on the cluster name, click More > Unsubscribe in the Operation column to delete the cluster. After deletion, check if the cluster is no longer displayed in the list to ensure the deletion is successful.

The system usually deducts fees of the last settlement period within one hour after resources are used. As a result, after a pay-per-use resource is deleted, the bill information may still exist. For example, when you delete a pay-per-use resource at 08:30, the fees generated between 08:00 and 09:00 are usually deducted at about 10:00.