General Enhanced SSD (ESSD) is a storage type for ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL that delivers higher IOPS at a lower cost than ESSD PL1 — particularly when disk size is fixed or small and I/O demand is high. This topic describes the features, applicable scope, limits, and billing rules of general ESSDs.
Effective date
June 20, 2024
Features
General ESSDs use a next-generation storage architecture and support all standard ESSD features, plus the following:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| I/O burst | Temporarily exceeds provisioned IOPS during traffic spikes |
| I/O acceleration | Extends the buffer pool to improve read performance |
| Storage capacity reduction | Reduces allocated storage capacity on cloud disk instances |
Applicable scope
General ESSDs are supported for ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances that use cloud disks.
Serverless ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances support only the I/O burst feature of general ESSDs.
Limits
| Limit | Details |
|---|---|
| Storage capacity range | 10 GB–64,000 GB |
| Storage type change | One-directional: you can change from ESSD to general ESSD, but not from general ESSD back to ESSD. See Change the storage type of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance from ESSD to general ESSD. |
Changing from ESSD to general ESSD is irreversible. Verify your workload requirements before switching.
Billing
Billing formula
The total fee for a general ESSD consists of four components:
General ESSD fee = Storage capacity fee + Burstable I/O operations fee + I/O acceleration fee + Data archiving fee
Both subscription and pay-as-you-go billing methods are supported. For details on each component, see Use the I/O acceleration feature of general ESSDs and Billable items.
Storage capacity fee
The storage capacity fee follows the same billing rules as ESSD PL1.
Pricing varies by region:
| Pricing vs. PL1 ESSD | Regions |
|---|---|
| Lower (up to 60% cheaper pay-as-you-go; up to 43% cheaper subscription) | China (Hong Kong), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), UAE (Dubai) |
| Same | China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), China (Nantong), China (Qingdao), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu) |