This topic describes premium performance disks, including their features, performance, performance limits, scenarios, billing details, and related operations. This information can help you select the right premium performance disk.
Features
A premium performance disk is a new storage type supported by ApsaraDB RDS. It is compatible with all features of enterprise SSDs (ESSDs) and supports I/O performance burst, Buffer Pool Extension (BPE), and data archiving to OSS.
Buffer Pool Extension (BPE)
When you enable the Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) feature, the buffer pool size of the instance is expanded. This accelerates caching and improves the overall read and write performance of the RDS instance. This feature also significantly reduces the impact of I/O jitter from premium performance disks on database operations and improves stability. This is useful when you want to significantly improve the I/O performance of an instance without upgrading the instance type or changing your business logic. For more information, see Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) feature.
I/O performance burst
When you enable the I/O performance burst feature, the disk's input/output operations per second (IOPS) are not limited by the maximum IOPS value. This provides higher I/O capabilities during business peaks to meet burst demands. This feature is suitable for scenarios with high and fluctuating I/O loads. For more information, see I/O performance burst feature.
Data archiving
When you enable the data archiving to OSS feature, you can transfer infrequently accessed data to OSS. This reduces data storage costs by 80% compared to PL1 ESSDs. This feature is suitable for instances that contain tables that are not frequently accessed or modified. For more information, see Data archiving feature.
Supported instances
RDS MySQL provides the High-availability Edition and the Cluster Edition.
For instances that do not use the Serverless billing method, premium performance disks are supported.
The serverless billing method is not supported.
Performance of premium performance disks
The performance of a premium performance disk consists of baseline I/O performance and burst performance.
Storage capacity of a premium performance disk | Baseline performance | Performance limit (Baseline + Burst) |
100 GB <= Storage capacity < 256 GB | I/O bandwidth: IOPS: | I/O bandwidth: IOPS: |
256 GB <= Storage capacity < 1000 GB | I/O bandwidth: 4096 MB/s IOPS: | |
Storage capacity >= 1000 GB | I/O bandwidth: 4096 MB/s IOPS: 1,000,000 |
Performance of features
Buffer Pool Extension (BPE)
Enabling BPE can effectively improve read and write performance, shorten SQL execution time, and reduce the impact of I/O jitter on database operations to improve stability. For more information, see Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) feature.
I/O performance burst
When you enable the I/O performance burst feature for a premium performance disk, the actual maximum IOPS and throughput of the instance increase. The following table shows the differences compared to when the feature is disabled.
When you enable the I/O performance burst feature for the primary node, the feature is also enabled for the secondary node. The feature is not automatically enabled for read-only instances. You must enable it on the details page of each read-only instance.
Scenario | Maximum IOPS | Maximum throughput |
I/O performance burst disabled |
|
|
Burst enabled |
|
|
When throughput reaches its limit, IOPS is affected. Similarly, when IOPS reaches its limit, throughput is also affected.
The preceding formulas do not apply to instances that use general-purpose instance types because these instances share resources. As a result, the maximum IOPS and maximum I/O bandwidth cannot be guaranteed.
For the maximum IOPS and maximum I/O bandwidth of the instance types in the preceding formulas, see Instance types for standard primary ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances (original x86 architecture) and Instance types for Yitian primary ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances (original ARM architecture).
Data archiving
When you enable the data archiving to OSS feature for a premium performance disk and archive infrequently accessed data, you can reduce storage costs. The performance of accessing archived data is relatively low.
Scenarios
Buffer Pool Extension (BPE)
The BPE feature is suitable for scenarios that involve high read I/O loads and frequent usage of temporary tables.
I/O performance burst
Premium performance disks are suitable for scenarios with high and fluctuating I/O loads.
Business peaks, large transactions, full table scans, and queries that return large amounts of data can increase I/O loads. Sometimes, CPU, memory, and storage space are sufficient, but I/O usage approaches or reaches 100%. In this case, your only options are to upgrade the instance configuration or storage level, for example, from PL1 to PL2.
If you do not upgrade, the I/O load exceeds the instance's I/O limit. This causes performance degradation, query timeouts, and even connection exceptions.
If you upgrade the instance configuration, the I/O performance meets your requirements, but this leads to idle and wasted CPU, memory, and storage space.
If you upgrade the storage level, you can make full use of the I/O performance in the short term. However, after the I/O load drops, the higher storage level also wastes resources and increases costs.
The I/O performance burst feature of premium performance disks can solve these problems. When you enable the I/O performance burst feature, the system automatically triggers a burst to increase the I/O limit when the I/O load is high. After the I/O load drops, the I/O limit is automatically restored. This provides serverless I/O performance and prevents wasted resources and unnecessary costs.
Data archiving
The data archiving feature is suitable for instances that contain many tables that are not frequently accessed or modified.
Limits
The storage capacity of a premium performance disk ranges from 10 GB to 64,000 GB.
You cannot change the storage type from a premium performance disk to any other storage type. However, you can change the storage type from an ESSD to a premium performance disk. For more information, see Change an ESSD to a premium performance disk.
Billing
Billing methods
Premium performance disk fees = RDS storage space fees + I/O performance burst fees + Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) fees + Data archiving to OSS fees.
For the billing details of each feature, see the following topics:
The Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) feature is free of charge for ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances that use general-purpose instance types.
Before September 16, 2025 (Singapore time), no fees are charged for using the I/O performance burst feature. Starting from September 16, 2025, this feature will be officially billed. For more information, see the official billing announcement.
RDS storage space fees
The fees for PL2 and PL3 ESSDs are different from the fees for premium performance disks. The price difference shown in the order on the console at the time of the change prevails.
Within a specific period, the shorter the duration of high I/O on an instance, the more cost-effective a premium performance disk is compared to PL2 and PL3 ESSDs.
Premium performance disk fees = Storage space fees + I/O performance burst fees + Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) fees + Data archiving to OSS fees.
The storage space of an RDS instance supports the subscription and pay-as-you-go billing methods. The billing is the same as that for a PL1 ESSD. For more information, see Billable items.
In the following regions, premium performance disks are more cost-effective than PL1 ESSDs regardless of the billing method. The unit price of a premium performance disk is lower than the unit price of a PL1 ESSD.
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), and UAE (Dubai).
In the following regions, the unit price of a premium performance disk is the same as the unit price of a PL1 ESSD.
China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), China (Nantong), China (Qingdao), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), and China (Chengdu)