Database Backup (DBS) provides subscription storage plans. After you purchase storage plans by using an Alibaba Cloud account, you can use the storage plans to offset fees that are generated for the built-in DBS storage and sandbox storage used by the backup schedules within the Alibaba Cloud account. You are no longer charged for the used storage space for which fees are offset by storage plans. You are charged only for the excess storage space on a daily basis. This topic describes the offset methods and offset factors that are applicable when you use storage plans. This topic also describes how to purchase a storage plan.
Usage notes
- Subscription storage plans cannot be used to offset the storage space for cross-region backups.
- You can purchase multiple storage plans and use them together. For example, you can use one storage plan of 2 TB or two storage plans of 1 TB each to offset 2 TB of storage space.
- You can renew your storage plans, but you cannot upgrade or unsubscribe from the storage plans.
- You can view the prices of storage plans on the DBS buy page.
- Storage plans become invalid when they expire.
Types of storage plans
Type | Offset scenario |
---|---|
Sandbox storage plan | A sandbox storage plan is used to offset the storage fees for the sandbox instance that is created for the CDM sandbox feature within the Alibaba Cloud account that purchases the sandbox storage plan. For more information, see DBS sandbox fees. |
Backup instance storage plan | A backup instance storage plan is used to offset the fees of built-in DBS storage for backup schedules within the Alibaba Cloud account that purchases the storage plan. For more information, see Built-in storage and OSS. |
Offset methods
- DBS calculates the total backup storage space used by your backup schedules on a daily
basis. Offset factors are used to calculate the storage space that can be offset by the purchased storage
plans. The excess storage is charged by using the pay-as-you-go billing method. For
more information about the offset factors and pay-as-you-go billing method, see Offset factors of storage plans and Storage fees.
Note For example, if you purchase a storage plan of 1 TB and use storage space of 1.2 TB, 1 TB of storage space is offset by the storage plan, and the rest of 0.2 TB of storage space is billed by using the pay-as-you-go billing method.
- The quota of a storage plan is used to offset the storage space that you use on a
daily basis.
For example, you purchase a storage plan of 100 GB whose validity period is one month. In this case, 100 GB of storage space is available for offsetting the built-in DBS storage space that you use every day within one month.
Purchase a storage plan
View a storage plan and its offset details
Offset factors of storage plans
This section describes the offset factors of storage plans for backup instanceswhen the storage plans are used to offset the storage fees for backup schedules in different regions.
Offset factors of storage plans for backup instances
For example, you purchase a storage plan to offset the storage fees for a backup schedule in the China (Hong Kong) region. If 50 GB of data is stored, 56.5 GB is offset from the storage plan: 50 GB × 1.13 = 56.5 GB.
Region | Offset factor |
---|---|
China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Chengdu), and China (Shenzhen) | 1 |
US (Virginia) | 1.05 |
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and India (Mumbai) | 1.08 |
China (Hong Kong), Singapore (Singapore), US (Silicon Valley), Indonesia (Jakarta), Germany (Frankfurt), and UK (London) | 1.13 |
Japan (Tokyo) and Australia (Sydney) | 1.18 |
UAE (Dubai) | 1.22 |
Comparison between backup instance storage plans and pay-as-you-go
To store large amounts of data, we recommend that you use subscription storage plans because they are more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method. Storage plans of larger storage capacities provide larger discounts. The following table describes the comparison between the prices for backup instance storage plans and pay-as-you-go. In this example, the China (Hangzhou) region is used. For more information, see Storage fees.
Data volume | Storage plan (USD/month) | Pay-as-you-go (USD/month) |
---|---|---|
100 GB | 1.56 | 1.73 |
500 GB | 7.80 | 8.65 |
1 TB | 15.97 | 17.30 |
2 TB | 31.95 | 34.60 |
5 TB | 79.87 | 86.5 |
10 TB | 159.74 | 173.00 |