Help Center> Data Warehouse Service (DWS)> Billing> Billing Modes> Pay-per-use
Updated on 2024-05-07 GMT+08:00
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Pay-per-use

Pay-per-use is a billing mode in which you pay after using the service. This mode is recommended if you do not need any prepayment or long-term commitment. This section describes the billing rules of pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) resources.

Application Scenarios

The pay-per-use billing mode applies to scenarios where computing resource requirements fluctuate. You can enable and delete computing resources at any time. For example, customers that require early operation tests, proof of concept, and short-term use.

Billed Items

The following billing items support pay-per-use billing:

Table 1 Pay-per-use billing items

Item

Description

Data warehouse node

You are charged based on the selected node specifications. For details, see GaussDB(DWS) Pricing Details.

Snapshot storage space

GaussDB(DWS) provides some free-of-charge storage space for you to store the snapshot data. However, if you use more space than the free-of-charge storage space, the exceeded part is charged according to OBS billing rules. For details, see the OBS pricing details.

The free storage space is the total storage space of your cluster, that is, the storage space of a single node (backup) x number of nodes.

Standard data warehouse storage

You can customize the storage type and capacity used by the cluster. The storage resources are charged separately.

Cold storage

You are advised to store cold data in OBS, which is billed on a pay-per-use basis.

(Optional) Public network bandwidth

When a pay-per-use cluster is configured with an EIP billed by bandwidth, the bandwidth is billed by the Elastic Cloud Server (ECS) service in pay-per-use mode.

(Optional) Elastic load balance (ELB)

When a pay-per-use cluster is used with an existing load balancer, the load balancer is billed by the Elastic Load Balance (ELB) service in pay-per-use mode.

(Optional) Database encryption key

When a pay-per-use cluster works with the database encryption function, keys are billed by the Data Encryption Workshop (DEW) service in pay-per-use mode.

During creation of a GaussDB(DWS) cluster, if you enable database encryption and select an EIP billed by bandwidth and an existing ELB. At the bottom of the Create GaussDB(DWS) Cluster page, you will see the reference price, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1 Example price

The price includes:

  • Node fee: The fee is calculated based on the selected node specifications and node quantity.
  • Storage fee: standard data warehouse storage fee.
  • Public network bandwidth fee: The fee is calculated based on the selected bandwidth size and is billed by the ECS service.
  • ELB: The fee is calculated based on the size of the selected ELB and is billed by the ELB service.
  • DEW: The fee is calculated based on the selected keys and is billed by the DEW service.

Billing Period

Pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) usage is calculated by the second and billed every hour. The billing starts from the time when the GaussDB(DWS) cluster is successfully created and ends at the time when the cluster is deleted.

It takes a certain period of time from cluster creation to cluster startup. The billing starts from the time when the cluster is successfully created, not the time when the cluster starts to be created. You can view the two time points on the Cluster Details tab page. The time when the creation is successful is the Start Time on the page.

For example, if you create a pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) cluster at 08:45:30 and delete it at 08:55:00, the billing period will be from 08:00:00 to 9:00:00 and the fee will be generated from 08:45:30 to 08:55:00. The billing duration is 600 seconds.

Billing Example

If you create a pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) cluster (node flavor: dwsx2.xlarge; hot data storage on each node: 50 GB) at 9:59:30 on April 18, 2023, and then delete it at 10:45:46 on April 18, 2023, then:

  • The first billing period is from 9:00:00 to 10:00:00. Fees are generated from 9:59:30 to 10:00:00. The billing duration is 30 seconds within the period.
  • The second billing period is from 10:00:00 to 11:00:00. Fees are generated from 10:00:00 to 10:45:46. The billing duration is 2746 seconds within the period.

You will be billed for both usage periods. GaussDB(DWS) resources are billed individually as follows: The price of a resource listed in the product pricing details is per hour, so divide it by 3600 to obtain the price for each second.

Table 2 Billing formulas

Resource Type

Formula

Resource Unit Price

Data warehouse node

Unit price of a node x Billing duration

For details, see "Pricing Details" in the GaussDB(DWS) Pricing Details.

Snapshot storage space

Storage unit price x Storage capacity x Billing duration

GaussDB(DWS) provides some free-of-charge storage space for you to store the snapshot data. However, when you use more storage space than the free-of-charge storage space, the excessive space usage will be billed based on OBS billing standards on a pay-per-use basis.

The free-of-charge space is the same as the size of the total storage space of your cluster. (Free-of-charge space = Storage space of a single node x Number of nodes)

For details, see "Pricing Details" in OBS Pricing Details.

Standard data warehouse storage

Hot data storage capacity unit price x Hot data storage capacity x Number of nodes

Number of data copies x Billing duration

For details, see "Hot Data Storage Resources" in the GaussDB(DWS) Pricing Details.

Cold storage

Cold data storage capacity unit price x Cold data storage capacity x Number of nodes

Number of data copies x Billing duration

You are advised to store cold data in OBS, which is billed on a pay-per-use basis.

(Optional) Public network bandwidth

Tiered billing based on the fixed bandwidth:

  • 0 Mbit/s to 5 Mbit/s (included): billed at a fixed unit price per Mbit/s
  • Greater than 5 Mbit/s: billed at a different price per Mbit/s

For details, see "Bandwidth Price" in the ECS Pricing Details or EIP Pricing Details.

(Optional) Elastic load balance (ELB)

Fees are charged based on the actual usage duration.

  • LCU fee: You are charged based on the number of loadbalancer capacity units (LCUs) used by a dedicated load balancer per hour.
  • Instance fee: You are charged for the duration that each dedicated load balancer is running. If the load balancer is used for less than 1 hour, you will be charged for the actual duration, accurate to seconds.

For details, see "Bandwidth Price" in the ELB Pricing Details.

(Optional) Database encryption key

Key Management Service (KMS)

  • Number of keys: Key instances that have been successfully created or imported are billed on a pay-per-use basis. Prices are calculated by hour, and no minimum fee is required.
  • Number of API requests: The first 20,000 API requests are free of charge. Additional API calls are charged. The unit is 10,000 calls.

For details, see "Pricing Details" in the DEW Pricing Details.

The following figure shows the how the fee is calculated.

The price in the figure is for reference only. The actual calculation is based on the price listed in the GaussDB(DWS) Pricing Details.

Figure 2 Example of calculating GaussDB(DWS) fees in pay-per-use billing mode

Billing After Specification Change

If you change the specifications after creating a pay-per-use cluster, a new order is generated and you are charged based on the price of the new configuration. The old order automatically becomes invalid.

If you change the node specifications within one hour, multiple billing records will be generated. The start time and end time of each billing record correspond to when different configurations took effect within the hour.

For example, if you create a pay-per-use cluster whose node flavor is dwsx2.8xlarge at 9:00:00 and upgrade the node flavor to dwsx2.16xlarge at 9:30:00, two pieces of billing information will be generated between 9:00:00 and 10:00:00.

  • The first record corresponds to 9:00:00 to 9:30:00. The billing is based on the instance flavor dwsx2.8xlarge.
  • The second record corresponds to 9:30:00-10:00:00. The billing is based on the instance flavor dwsx2.16xlarge.

Impact of Arrears

The following figure shows the status of pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) resources in each phase. After a GaussDB(DWS) resource is purchased, it enters the valid period and works normally during this period. If your account goes into arrears, the DB instance enters a grace period and then a retention period.

Figure 3 Lifecycle of GaussDB(DWS) resources charged in pay-per-use mode

Arrears Alert

The system will deduct fees for pay-per-use resources upon the end of each billing period. If your account goes into arrears, we will notify you by email, SMS, or in-app message.

Arrears Impact

Your account is in arrears if your balance is less than the fee generated. In arrears, the pay-per-use resource continues rendering service but the resource 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 pay the arrears within the grace period, the resource enters the retention period and its status turns to Frozen. You cannot perform any operations on pay-per-use resources in the retention period.

After the retention period ends, the storage resources and EIPs will be released and cannot be restored.

Billing for a Stopped Cluster

In pay-per-use billing mode, you cannot stop the GaussDB(DWS) cluster to save costs. The system settles the fees by hour for the pay-per-use mode. You can use the service as long as your account balance is sufficient. To reduce costs:

  • Delete the purchased clusters if you will not be needing them, and create new ones when needed.
  • Switch to the yearly/monthly mode that allows you to use the service within the specific period of time without additional fees.
Parent topic: Billing Modes