ApsaraDB RDS:Change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to serverless

Scenarios

If your workloads significantly fluctuate or you require a larger storage capacity and you want to implement auto scaling of computing resources based on your business requirements, we recommend that you use serverless RDS instances. This improves resource utilization and O&M efficiency and helps you reduce costs and improve efficiency.

For more information about the scenarios of serverless RDS instances, see Overview of serverless ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances.

Prerequisites

Your RDS instance meets the following requirements:

• The RDS instance runs MySQL.

• The RDS instance runs RDS Basic Edition or RDS High-availability Edition.

• The RDS instance uses the standard product type.

• The RDS instance uses PL1 ESSD or premium performance disk.

• The RDS instance runs one of the following minor engine versions or later and the minor version is not phased-out. For more information, see phased-out versions:

  • MySQL 5.7 rds_20230228

  • MySQL 8.0 rds_20230324

• The RDS instance uses the pay-as-you-go billing method.

  Note

  If your RDS instance uses the subscription billing method, you can change the billing method of the RDS instance to pay-as-you-go and then to serverless.

• The RDS instance is in the Running state.

• The RDS instance is a primary RDS instance and does not have read-only RDS instances.

• The storage engine of the RDS instance is not X-Engine.

• The database proxy feature is disabled for the RDS instance.

• The SSL encryption feature is disabled for the RDS instance.

• The custom master key (CMK) is not used for cloud disk encryption.

Limits

• You can change the billing method between pay-as-you-go and serverless. The change can be performed only once within 24 hours.

• If serverless RDS instances are not supported in the zone in which your RDS instance resides or the resources in the required zone are insufficient, you cannot change the billing method of your RDS instance to serverless.

Impacts

• If you change the billing method of your RDS instance from pay-as-you-go to serverless, make sure that your application is configured to automatically reconnect to your RDS instance. To automatically reconnect to an RDS instance, you must complete the required configurations in your application. For more information about the impacts of an instance switchover, see Impacts of an instance switchover.

• If you change the billing method of an RDS instance for which the performance schema (PFS) feature is enabled from pay-as-you-go to serverless, the memory usage increases and the efficiency of RDS Capacity Unit (RCU) scaling is affected.

Usage notes

• Serverless RDS instances support auto scaling based on workloads and allow you to adjust the values of the parameters related to innodb_buffer_pool. After you change the billing method of your RDS instance from pay-as-you-go to serverless, the custom modifications to the innodb_buffer_pool_size and innodb_buffer_pool_instances parameters can be ignored.

• We recommend that the maximum number of RCUs be greater than or equal to the number of CPU cores of your RDS instance. For example, if the RDS instance for which you want to change the billing method to serverless has 4 CPU cores, make sure that the maximum number of RCUs of the serverless RDS instance is greater than or equal to 4.

Billing rules

You are not charged for the change operation. For more information about the billing rules of a serverless RDS instance, see Pricing of serverless ApsaraDB RDS instances.

Procedure

1. Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which your RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance and click the ID of the RDS instance.

2. In the Basic Information page of the Configuration Information section, click Change to Serverless.

   

3. On the ApsaraDB RDS buy page, configure the RDS Capacity Units (RCUs), the Scaling Policy and Automatic Stop and Restart parameters in the Advanced Settings section, and the Switching Time parameter as needed.

   Note

   For more information about the parameter settings, see Create a serverless ApsaraDB RDS instance.

4. Read the Note and Terms of Service, and then click Confirm Order.

   Note

   During the change, the status of your RDS instance changes to Upgrading/Downgrading. After the change is complete, the status of the RDS instance changes to Running.

FAQ

• I change the billing method of my RDS instance from pay-as-you-go to serverless. After I log on to the Expenses And Costs > Order Management page, a new purchase order is displayed. Why?

  When you change the billing method of your RDS instance to serverless, a serverless RDS instance is created, and the data of the original RDS instance is migrated to the new serverless RDS instance. As a result, a new purchase order is displayed.

• Why am I unable to change the billing method of the RDS instance for which CMK is used for cloud disk encryption from pay-as-you-go to serverless?

  Serverless RDS instances use the general-purpose instance types. The general-purpose instance types allow you to use only service keys (Default Service CMK) for cloud disk encryption.

• After I change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to serverless, is the Sequence Engine feature supported?

  Yes, after you change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to serverless, the Sequence Engine feature is supported. For more information, see Sequence Engine.

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