Starting July 31, 2024, the subscription prices of Red Hat-related Alibaba Cloud offerings will be updated based on the new Red Hat pricing model. The price updates will impact Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and RHEL for SAP with High Availability (HA) and Update Services (US) (RHEL for SAP). This topic provides answers to specific frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Red Hat price updates.
For information about the Red Hat price updates on Alibaba Cloud, see Announcement of Red Hat Product Subscription Price Change on Alibaba Cloud.
I purchased a Red Hat instance before the price change and replaced the operating system of the instance by using a different Red Hat image after the price change. How am I charged for the new Red Hat image?
Pay-as-you-go instance: The new Red Hat image is billed based on the new price.
Subscription instance: An order for the new Red Hat image is generated based on the new Red Hat pricing model. You can apply for a refund for the previous Red Hat image that was used and did not expire on the subscription Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance. For information about how to apply for a refund, see Refunds.
I purchased a Red Hat instance before the price change and changed the instance type of the instance and retained the Red Hat image. How am I charged for the Red Hat image?
The price of the Red Hat image varies based on the number of vCPUs supported by the new ECS instance type.
Pay-as-you-go instance: The retained Red Hat image is billed based on the new price.
Subscription instance:
The same number of vCPUs: The price of the Red Hat image remains unchanged.
An increased number of vCPUs: An order for the instance type upgrade is generated for the Red Hat image, and the price is calculated based on the following formula:
Fees of the instance type upgrade order = Fees of the Red Hat image of the new instance type - Fees of the Red Hat image of the previous instance type. The fees of a Red Hat image of an instance type are calculated based on the following formula: Image fees = New Red Hat unit price of the instance type × Remaining duration.
A reduced number of vCPUs: An order for the instance type downgrade is generated for the Red Hat image, and the system provides a refund. The fees are calculated based on the following formulas:
Fees of the instance type downgrade order = Fees of the Red Hat image of the new instance type - Refundable amount.
Fees of the Red Hat image of the new instance type = New Red Hat unit price × Remaining duration.
Refundable amount for the instance type downgrade = (Paid amount for the original order - Fees for consumed resources) × Price difference ratio of the Red Hat image between the new and previous instance types.
Price difference ratio of the Red Hat image between the new and previous instance types = (Daily unit price of the Red Hat image before the instance type downgrade - Daily unit price of the Red Hat image after the instance type downgrade)/Daily unit price of the Red Hat image before the instance type downgrade.
The daily unit price of the Red Hat image after the instance type downgrade is calculated based on the new Red Hat pricing model. The paid amount, the fees for the consumed resources, and the daily unit price of the Red Hat image before the instance type downgrade are calculated based on the original Red Hat pricing model.
For information about the computational logic of the refundable amount and refund examples, see the Request a refund for the downgrade of resource specifications section of the "Rules for unsubscribing from resources" topic.
Which images used on my ECS instances are affected by the new Red Hat pricing model?
Images similar to RHEL 7.5 64-bit are affected, which are the Red Hat-licensed images provided by Alibaba Cloud.
RHEL for SAP images are also affected.
Redhat_64 images, which you imported to your instances and are not licensed by Alibaba Cloud, are not affected. The images are not billed by Alibaba Cloud. The new Red Hat pricing model does not affect the imported custom images.