Alibaba Cloud DNS:Pay-as-you-go instances

Billing overview

Charges for pay-as-you-go instances are calculated based on four billable items: configured domains, DNS resolution requests, health checks, and SMS alerts. For more information, see III. Pay-as-you-go.

Create a pay-as-you-go access zone name

For the pay-as-you-go model, you do not need to manually provision a GTM instance. Instead, the instance is automatically created and attached when you configure a new access zone name.

1. Go to Alibaba Cloud DNS - Global Traffic Manager, then select the Access Zone Domain tab.

2. Click Add Access Zone Name, and select Custom Scenario.

3. Hover over the domain setup icon to reveal the configuration panel, then click Basic Configuration. Enter the required information described below and submit the form.

   Parameter	Description
   Billing Method	Select Pay-as-you-go
   Access Zone Name	The Full Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used for traffic management. It consists of a host record and a zone name. Host record: The prefix for the domain. The system generates a default string, but you can specify a custom record or a multi-level record, for example, biz or prod.biz. Zone name: The primary domain or subdomain hosted in your Authoritative DNS zones.
   Record Type	The DNS record type returned to the client, which determines the type of address pools supported. Supported types: A (IPv4), AAAA (IPv6), and CNAME (Domain Name).
   TTL	The Time-To-Live (TTL) value for the DNS records returned by GTM. It determines how long the resolution result is cached by the carrier's Local DNS servers.
   Enabled State	The initial state of the domain instance. Default: Disabled. In the disabled state, GTM policies are inactive, and no DNS resolution is performed. Recommendation: Configure your address pools, endpoint addresses, and load balancing policies before enabling the instance to ensure traffic is routed correctly. Important If an authoritative DNS record of the same type already exists for this domain (e.g.,www.example.com) in Alibaba Cloud DNS, enabling the GTM instance will take precedence. The existing DNS record will become invalid, and traffic will be routed according to the GTM smart resolution policies.
   Remarks	(Optional) A custom label or note to help identify the application service associated with this instance.

   

4. Click Submit. The system automatically generates a GTM instance.

   Note

   Multiple access zone names with the same FQDN but different Record Type (e.g., www.example.com type A and www.example.com type AAAA) share a single underlying GTM instance.

Monitor usage and costs

1. Go to Instance Plans, and select the Global Traffic Manager tab.

2. Click Pay-as-you-go. You can filter usage data by Domain Name Count, DNS Query Count, Health Probe Count, or SMS Alerts.

3. You can also view the daily usage volume for each billable item to track cost trends.

   

Delete a pay-as-you-go access zone name

Deleting a pay-as-you-go access zone name automatically destroys the attached GTM instance. Proceed with caution.

Impacts

• Configuration data associated with the domain is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

• Billing for the instance ceases immediately.

• DNS resolution for the domain will revert to the default authoritative DNS records (if any exist).

Recommendations

1. Ensure that your production services no longer rely on the traffic scheduling or failover capabilities of this GTM instance.

2. Back up any critical configuration settings before deletion..

3. Verify that DNS resolution continues to function as expected (or stops as expected) after the deletion.

Procedure

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS - Global Traffic Manager console and find the target access zone name.

2. Click the Delete button in the Actions column. In the confirmation dialog, review the risks and then delete the domain setup.