If you enable the lifecycle management feature for your General-purpose Apsara File Storage NAS file system, data that meets the specified lifecycle policies is dumped to an Infrequent Access (IA) storage medium. You are charged for the used space of the IA storage medium and read and write traffic. The lifecycle management feature helps you reduce costs for using NAS file systems. This topic describes the billing of General-purpose NAS file systems for which the lifecycle management feature is enabled.
Limits
Infrequently accessed files are dumped from a file system to an IA storage medium only in batches to ensure the performance of the file system. Dumped files no longer occupy the storage space of the file system. When the files are being dumped, each file has a replica in the storage space of the file system and the IA storage medium. This temporarily increases storage usage and generates additional fees. After the files are dumped, the replica and files in the file system are deleted and no longer generate additional fees.
Billable items
Billable item | Description |
---|---|
Storage usage | The usage of a General-purpose NAS file system and the usage of an IA storage medium.
Fees are calculated based on the maximum used storage per hour.
|
Read and write traffic | Traffic fees are generated when the data in an IA storage medium is accessed. Fees
are calculated based on the total amount of read and write traffic per hour. The amount
of read and write traffic is reset to 0 each time an hourly bill is generated. The
amount of read and write traffic starts from 0 again for the next hour.
|
Billing cycle
The fees that are generated within an hour are deducted from your account balance in the next hour. For example, you are billed at 09:30:00 for the fees that are generated from 08:00:00 to 09:00:00 of the same day.
Comparison of billing methods
Type | Billable item | Purchase | Offset the storage usage fees of General-purpose NAS file systems of different storage types | Offset the storage usage fees of multiple NAS file systems | Offset only the storage usage fees of NAS file systems | Renewal | Upgrade | Purchase multiple resource plans |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pay-as-you-go | All billable items of NAS file systems | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Resource plan |
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Storage plan |
|
× | × | × | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | × |
Storage capacity units (SCUs) | Storage usage of General-purpose NAS file systems | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | × | × | × | ✓ |
Billing methods
- Pay-as-you-go
After you create a NAS file system, you are billed based on the pay-as-you-go billing method by default.
The storage usage fee in a billing cycle is calculated by using the following formula: Storage usage fee = Storage usage fee of a General-purpose NAS file system + Storage usage fee of an IA storage medium + Traffic fee of the IA storage medium = Maximum storage usage of a General-purpose NAS file system per hour × Unit price per hour + Maximum storage usage of an IA storage medium per hour × Unit price per hour + Amount of read traffic × Unit price per hour + Amount of write traffic × Unit price per hourNote- If the lifecycle management feature is enabled, the storage usage of the General-purpose NAS file system is a storage space. This storage space is occupied by the data that is not dumped to an IA storage medium.
- You can log on to the NAS console to view the storage usage in the Basic Information section. The storage usage is updated once per hour. In some cases, the storage usage that is displayed in the console at the current local time is the storage usage in the previous hour because of latency.
- General-purpose NAS file systems are divided into two types: Capacity NAS file system and Performance NAS file system. The two types have different unit prices for storage usage. For NAS file systems, the unit of storage usage fee is USD/GiB/month.When you calculate the storage usage fee, you must convert the unit of measurement to USD/GiB/hour. For more information, see Apsara File Storage NAS pricing.
- Resource plans (recommended)
A resource plan is a type of subscription billing method. You can purchase multiple resource plans and use the resource plans to offset the storage usage fees of multiple file systems. Resource plans are applied to offset the fees based on the following sequence: Performance NAS file systems, Capacity NAS file systems, and IA storage media.
- Purchase method
For more information about how to purchase a resource plan, see Manage resource plans.
- Offset rules
The following table describes the rules that are applied when you use resource plans to offset the storage usage fees of different storage types of NAS file systems in the Chinese mainland. To view the relevant information about the offset rules that are applied in other regions, you can use the calculator.
Specification Conversion coefficient Description Capacity NAS file system 1 You can use 1 GiB of base capacity in your General-purpose NAS resource plan to offset the fee for 1 GiB of storage usage from a Capacity NAS file system. Performance NAS file system 5.47 You can use 5.47 GiB of base capacity in your General-purpose NAS resource plan to offset the fee for 1 GiB of storage usage from a Performance NAS file system. IA storage media 0.37 You can use 0.37 GiB of base capacity in your General-purpose resource plan to offset the fee for 1 GiB of storage usage from an IA storage medium. - Renewal and upgrade
You can renew and upgrade a resource plan. For more information, see Manage resource plans.
- Purchase method
- Storage capacity units (SCUs)
An SCU is a type of subscription billing method. You can purchase multiple SCUs and use them to offset the storage usage fees of multiple Alibaba Cloud storage services. SCUs are more flexible and cost-effective than storage plans that are dedicated to specific storage services.
- Purchase method
For more information about how to purchase SCUs, see Create an SCU.
- Offset rules
You can use SCUs to offset the storage usage fees of NAS, Object Storage Service (OSS), and Elastic Compute Service (ECS) resources. The following table describes the rules that are applied when you use SCUs to offset the storage usage fees of different storage classes of NAS file system in the Chinese mainland. For more information about the rules that are applied in other Alibaba Cloud storage services and regions, visit the Pricing page.
File system type Offset factor Description Capacity NAS file system 0.25 You can use 0.25 GiB of capacity in your SCU to offset the fee for 1 GiB of storage usage from a Capacity NAS file system. Performance NAS file system 0.889 You can use 0.889 GiB of capacity in your SCU to offset the fee for 1 GiB of storage usage from a Performance NAS file system. - Examples
Mr. Chen purchased a General-purpose NAS resource plan of 500 GiB and an SCU of 40 GiB in the China (Beijing) region in January 2021. In February 2021 in the China (Beijing) region, the storage usage of the Capacity NAS file system is 600 GiB and the storage usage of the Performance NAS file system is 200 GiB. The following table shows the values that are obtained after NAS calculates the monthly usage fee of the file systems based on the resource plan and the SCU.
File system type Offset by resource plans Offset by SCUs Capacity NAS file system You can use 500 GiB of capacity in your resource plan to offset the fee for 500 GiB of storage usage from the Capacity NAS file system. You can use 25 GiB of capacity in your SCU to offset the fee for 100 GiB of storage usage from the Capacity NAS file system. Performance NAS file system None You can use 15 GiB of capacity in your SCU to offset 16.87 GiB of storage usage from the Performance NAS file system.
- Purchase method
- Storage plans
A storage plan is a type of subscription billing method. You can use a storage plan to offset only the storage usage fees of a file system to which the storage plan is attached.
Notice Alibaba Cloud supports resource plans for Apsara File Storage NAS. You can no longer purchase storage plans. However, you can renew or upgrade existing storage plans. Compared with a storage plan, a resource plan does not need to be bound to a file system. You can purchase multiple resource plans to offset the storage usage fees of multiple file systems.- Usage notes
- A storage plan is used to first offset the storage usage fee of General-purpose NAS
file systems. If the storage plan still has a positive balance, the storage plan is
used to offset the storage usage fee of an IA storage medium based on a specific coefficient.
- If the following condition is met, the storage plan is sufficient to offset the storage usage fee of the IA storage medium: (Capacity of the storage plan - Storage usage of the General-purpose NAS file system) × Coefficient - Storage usage of the IA storage medium ≥ 0 GiB.
- If the following condition is met, the storage plan is insufficient to offset the
storage usage fee of the IA storage medium: (Capacity of the storage plan - Storage
usage of the General-purpose NAS file system) × Coefficient - Storage usage of the
IA storage medium < 0 GiB. The fees for the excess storage usage are calculated based
on the pay-as-you-go billing method.
The coefficient in the preceding formulas varies based on the type of the file system. For Performance NAS file systems, the coefficient is 12.333. For Capacity NAS file systems, the coefficient is 2.333.
- You can attach only one storage plan to a General-purpose NAS file system. When you delete the General-purpose NAS file system, the storage plan is automatically detached. You can attach the detached storage plan to another file system of the same type in the same region to offset storage usage fees.
- A storage plan is used to first offset the storage usage fee of General-purpose NAS
file systems. If the storage plan still has a positive balance, the storage plan is
used to offset the storage usage fee of an IA storage medium based on a specific coefficient.
- Renewal and upgrade
You can renew and upgrade a storage plan. For more information, see Manage storage plans.
- Usage notes
Billing examples
Billing method | Billing |
---|---|
Pay-as-you-go |
|
Resource plan for General-purpose NAS file systems (100 GiB, one month) | The 100 GiB of storage capacity in the resource plan is used to first offset 10 GiB
of storage usage from the Performance NAS file system. The remaining storage capacity
of the resource plan is calculated by using the following equation: 100 GiB - 10 GiB
× 5.47 = 45.3 GiB.
The 45.3 GB of storage capacity is then used to offset 90 GiB of storage usage from the IA storage medium. The remaining storage capacity of the resource plan is calculated by using the following equation: 45.3 GiB - 90 GiB × 0.37 =12 GiB. Only the pay-as-you-go billing method can be used to calculate the read and write
traffic fees of IA storage media.
Total fee = USD 4.57 + USD 0.00929 + USD 0.01858 = USD 4.59787 USD 4.57 is the fee of a resource plan (100 GiB, one month) for a General-purpose NAS file system in the China (Beijing) region. |
Billing method | Billing |
---|---|
Pay-as-you-go |
|
Two resource plans for General-purpose NAS file systems (100 GiB, one month) | The 100 GiB of storage capacity in the resource plans is used to first offset 10 GiB
of storage usage from the Performance NAS file system. The remaining storage capacity
of the resource plan is calculated by using the following equation: 200 GiB - 10 GiB
× 5.47 = 145.3 GiB. The 145.3 GiB of storage capacity is then used to offset 90 GiB
of storage usage from the IA storage medium. The remaining storage capacity of the
resource plan is calculated by using the following formula: 145.3 GiB - 90 GiB × 1
= 55.3 GiB.
The 55.3 GiB of storage capacity is then used to offset 149.5 GiB of storage usage from the IA storage medium (55.3 GiB/0.37 ≈ 149.5 GiB). The excess storage usage of the IA storage medium is 50.5 GiB (200 GiB - 149.5 GiB = 50.5 GiB) is calculated based on the pay-as-you-go billing method by using the following formula: 50.5 GiB × USD 0.02322 = USD 1.17261. Only the pay-as-you-go billing method can be used to calculate the read and write
traffic fees of IA storage media.
Total fee = USD 4.57 × 2 + USD 1.17261 + USD 0.00929 + USD 0.01858 = USD 10.34048 USD 4.57 is the fee of a resource plan (100 GiB, one month) for a General-purpose NAS file system in the China (Beijing) region. |
Billing method | Billing |
---|---|
Pay-as-you-go |
|
Storage plan (500 GiB, one month) | The 500 GiB of storage capacity in the resource plan is used to first offset 200 GiB
of storage usage from the Capacity NAS file system. The remaining capacity of the
resource plan is calculated by using the following formula: 500 GiB - 200 GiB = 300
GiB.
Then, the 300 GiB of storage capacity is used to offset 699.9 GiB of storage usage from the IA storage medium (300 GiB × 2.333 = 699.9 GiB). The excess storage usage of the IA storage medium is 100.1 GiB (800 GiB - 699.9 GiB = 100.1 GiB). The fee for this storage usage is calculated based on the pay-as-you-go billing method by using the following formula: 100.1 GiB × USD 0.02322 = USD 2.324322. Only the pay-as-you-go billing method can be used to calculate the read and write
traffic fees of IA storage media.
Storage usage fee = USD 22.85 + USD 2.324322 + USD 0.00929 + USD 0.01858 = USD 25.202192 USD 22.85 is the fee of a storage plan (500 GiB, one month) for a Capacity NAS file system in the China (Beijing) region. |
FAQ
- What are the differences between a General-purpose NAS resource plan and a General-purpose NAS storage plan? Which plan is recommended?
- How does a resource plan offset multiple storage classes of General-purpose NAS file systems?
- How am I charged if my files are dumped to an IA storage medium?
- Am I charged for a data retrieval task?
- How am I charged when I back up files that are stored in an IA storage medium?
- FAQ about the billing of IA storage media