The log analysis feature is a value-added capability of Anti-DDoS Proxy, sold separately from your Anti-DDoS Proxy instance. Anti-DDoS Proxy does not store website access logs by default. To collect, query, and analyze access logs, purchase and enable the log analysis feature.
Billing overview
The log analysis feature uses subscription billing. You are charged based on the Log Storage Capacity and Duration you select at purchase. For current prices, see the buy page of log analysisbuy page of log analysis. For more information about how to enable the log analysis feature, see Enable the log analysis feature.
After purchase, a log analysis instance is provisioned. Within the instance's validity period, you can collect website access logs, run queries and analysis, and configure alerts.
The log analysis instance and the Anti-DDoS Proxy instance are independent—manage and renew them separately. If you stop using the Anti-DDoS Pro and Anti-DDoS Premium service, disable auto-renewal for the log analysis instance to avoid unexpected charges. Go to Billing > Renewal Management in the console.
Billable items
Log storage capacity is the only billable dimension, charged in TB. The price varies by the capacity tier you select.
After enabling the feature, you can adjust capacity at any time:
Increase capacity: Increase the log storage capacity
Decrease capacity: Decrease the log storage capacity
When storage is exhausted, new logs are dropped and cannot be recovered. Logs stored beyond your configured retention duration are automatically deleted. If storage runs out, either upgrade your instance or delete existing logs. For instructions, see Delete logs.
Estimate your storage capacity
Each access log entry is approximately 2 KB. Use the following example to estimate your daily and total storage needs based on average queries per second (QPS):
In most cases, each request log occupies approximately 2 KB of storage. If the average QPS of your website is 500, the required storage for the logs that are generated within a day is 86,400,000 KB, which is approximately 82 GB. This value is calculated using the following formula: 500 × 60 × 60 × 24 × 2 = 86,400,000. If you want to store logs that are generated within 180 days, the required log storage capacity is 15,552,000,000 KB, which is approximately 14.5 TB. This value is calculated using the following formula: 86,400,000 × 180 = 15,552,000,000.
Select a capacity tier that covers your expected retention period with a reasonable buffer for traffic spikes.
What happens when the instance expires
When your log analysis instance expires:
Anti-DDoS Proxy no longer stores new logs.
Stored logs are retained for a 15-day grace period.
If you renew within 15 days, log collection resumes and stored logs remain intact.
If you do not renew within 15 days, all stored log data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
When the instance expires, the Logstore and dashboard are deleted from the log analysis project in Simple Log Service (SLS). The SLS project itself is not deleted. After you repurchase the feature, the Logstore and dashboard are recreated in the same project. For more information, see Project, Logstore, and Dashboard.
To check your instance expiration date:
Log on to the Anti-DDoS Proxy console.
In the top navigation bar, select the region of your instance:
Anti-DDoS Proxy (Chinese Mainland): Choose Chinese Mainland.
Anti-DDoS Proxy (Outside Chinese Mainland): Choose Outside Chinese Mainland.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Investigation > Log Analysis.
On the Log Analysis page, check the Expire At field.
Renew a log analysis instance
To prevent data loss, renew your log analysis instance before it expires. You can renew manually or enable auto-renewal.
Manually renew the instance
Log on to the Anti-DDoS Proxy console.
In the top navigation bar, select the region of your instance:
Anti-DDoS Proxy (Chinese Mainland): Choose Chinese Mainland.
Anti-DDoS Proxy (Outside Chinese Mainland): Choose Outside Chinese Mainland.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Investigation > Log Analysis.
In the upper-right corner of the Log Analysis page, click Renew.
On the Renew page, set the Duration parameter and read and select Product service agreement, Service level agreement.
Click Buy Now and complete payment.
Enable auto-renewal
Log on to the Anti-DDoS Proxy console.
In the top navigation bar, choose Expenses > Renewal Management.
On the Manual tab, find the Log Analysis instance and click Enable Auto Renewal in the Actions column.
In the Enable Auto Renewal dialog box, set Unified Auto Renewal Cycle and click Auto Renew.
For example, if Unified Auto Renewal Cycle is set to 3 Months, Alibaba Cloud automatically extends the subscription by three months and deducts the fee from your account balance.
After enabling auto-renewal, view or modify your settings on the Auto tab. To switch back to manual renewal, click Enable Manual Renewal.