Pay-per-use

Application Scenarios

• The cluster is used for program R&D or function test in the early stage.
• The use of resources is temporary and unexpected.

Billing Period

In pay-per-use billing mode, MRS clusters are billed by second. The fee is settled on the hour (UTC+8). After the settlement is complete, a new billing cycle starts. The billing starts from the time when the purchased MRS cluster is successfully started and ends at the time when the cluster is deleted.

It takes some time for an MRS cluster to start. The billing starts when the cluster is successfully created (that is, the cluster status changes from Starting to Running) instead of when the cluster is created. You can view the time when the cluster is successfully created in the Created At column of the active cluster list.

For example, if you purchase a pay-per-use MRS cluster at 8:45:30 and delete it at 8:55:30, the billing cycle is from 8:00:00 to 9:00:00. Fees are generated from 30 to 8:55:30. The charging duration in this charging period is 600 seconds.

Impact on Billing After Specification Change

If the specifications of pay-per-use MRS cluster resources do not meet your service requirements, you can modify the specifications on the MRS console. MRS provides the following configuration modification methods:

• Scale Out: Manually add Core or Task nodes. For details, see Manually Scaling Out a Cluster.
• Auto Scaling: The number of nodes in a cluster can be automatically adjusted based on the service data volume to increase or decrease resources. For details, see Configuring Auto Scaling Rules.
  

  • During cluster creation, if only the AS value range is configured for the Task node but the number of instances is not configured, no actual fee is generated. The price will include the auto scaling fee after you configure both the auto scaling range and instance count. When the auto scaling conditions are met, the actual fee will be affected after node scaling.
  • If you add nodes through the auto scaling function, the added nodes will be billed by the actual usage duration per hour regardless of whether the cluster's billing mode is yearly/monthly or pay-per-use mode.

Scale-in affects MRS cluster performance. Therefore, you are not advised to perform this operation. The scale-in node is charged based on the actual usage duration and will not be charged later.

Impact of Expiration

Figure 1 describes the status of MRS cluster resources charged in pay-per-use mode in each phase. After you purchase a resource, the resource runs properly within the billing period. This phase is valid. If your account is in arrears due to automatic fee deduction for pay-per-use MRS cluster resources, the account status changes to arrears, and the resources enter the grace period and retention period.

Figure 1 Life Cycle of MRS Cluster 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 cycle. If your account goes into arrears, the system will notify you by email, SMS, or in-app message.

Arrears Impact

If your account is in arrears due to automatic fee deduction for pay-per-use MRS cluster resources, the account status changes to Arrears. In arrears, the pay-per-use resource continues rendering service but the resource enters the grace period. You need to pay for pay-per-use resources during the grace period. To view the fees, log in to the management console and choose Fees and Costs > Bills. On the Billing Center page, choose Dashboard > Arrears, HUAWEI CLOUD will automatically deduct the outstanding amount when you top up your account.

If you do not pay the outstanding amount after the retention period expires, the cluster service will be terminated and the data in the system will be permanently deleted.

Shutdown Charging Policy

Generally, for a pay-per-use MRS cluster, after all ECSs in the cluster are stopped, the charging policy is as follows:

• The MRS cluster management service fee is still charged. To stop charging, delete the cluster.
• For details about ECS billing rules upon ECS shutdown, see ECS Billing Description.
• For details about the billing rules for stopped EVS disks, see EVS disk billing description.