This topic describes the rules for applying resource plans.
Effective time
- A resource plan takes effect immediately after you complete the payment for the resource plan.
- After a resource plan takes effect, it may take 3 to 4 hours to offset the resource fees.
For example, Alice purchased an outbound data transfer plan of 1 TB for the Chinese mainland at 10:30:30 (UTC+8) on August 12, 2021. The data transfer plan was valid for one month. In this case, outbound data transfer fees were offset around 14:00:00 (UTC+8) on August 12, 2021. Outbound data transfer fees were not offset until the system generated the data transfer bill of the billing cycle from 10:00:00 to 11:00:00.
Order
- Resource plans are applied in chronological order of expiration time. The resource plan with the earliest expiration time is applied first.
- If all the resource plans of the specified type are exhausted, resource overage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
For example, Alice purchased two outbound data transfer plans for the Chinese mainland. One of the resource plans expires on July 1, 2021, and the other expires on August 1, 2021. In this case, the resource plan that expires on July 1, 2021 is applied first.
Additional rules
- Each type of resource plan can be used only to offset a specified type of fee.
Outbound data transfer plans can be used to offset only outbound data transfer fees. They cannot be used to offset fees of other billable items such as HTTPS requests.
- Outbound data transfer plans can be used to offset outbound data transfer fees only if the metering method of Alibaba Cloud CDN is pay-by-data-transfer. Each data transfer plan takes effect only in the acceleration region that is specified when you make the purchase.
For example, an outbound data transfer plan for the Chinese mainland can be used to offset outbound data transfer fees only in the Chinese mainland. You cannot use it to offset outbound data transfer fees in Hong Kong (China), Macao (China), Taiwan (China), or other countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland.
- If a resource plan expires or its quota is exhausted, subsequent resource usage is automatically billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. You can view the resource plan usage at the earliest opportunity and renew the resource plan based on your business requirements. Otherwise, pay-as-you-go bills may be incurred.