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In Parallels H-Sphere you can charge end users for disk space on the ground of Disk Space or
Summary Disk Usage. This document will help you:
- Understand Disk Quota
- Configure Plans to Charge Users for Disk Space Reservation
- Change Disk Space Quota
- Prevent End Users from Increasing Disk Space Quotas
Understanding Disk Quota
Users on Disk Space Reservation plans are restricted by quotas set separately for
FTP, mailboxes and DBs. With disk quotas, users will pay recurrent fee for each MB of disk space they have
reserved (not necessarily consumed!) by setting various kinds of disk quota,
such as FTP, mailbox and db quota,
unless they decide to stay with free quotas that they initially get on account registration.
They can't upload more files than
their disk quotas, and will get an error message if they try to do so.
Initially, disk quota equals Free MBs, and when end users need more
disk space, they can increase their disk quota or, in other words,
purchase more disk space.
In disk quota, recurrent fee is calculated by the formula:
( Disk quota - Free Units ) x recurrent price
and is measured in $/MB. The recurrent fee is charged at the
beginning of the account's entire billing period.
If customers haven't used up all disk space allocated by the end of their billing period,
they aren't refunded recurrent fee for the unused MBs they reserved.
Usage fee is not applicable for the disk quota resource, because
disk quota can't be exceeded.
This table uses examples, starting with easy further to more difficult,
to explain how end customers are charged for disk space quota.
| # |
Plan & Account Settings: |
Disk Quota: |
System Behavior: |
| 1. |
Billing period = 1 month;
Free Disk Space Quota = 10MB;
Recurrent = $2;
Disk Space Quota = Free = 10MB
( Initially, Disk Space Quota equals Free units )
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User stays within Free units of 10MB.
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User pays nothing.
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| 2. |
User attempts to upload files to have the total of 12MB.
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User gets an error saying that disk space quota can't be exceeded.
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| 3. |
On the 15th day the user tries to upload files to have the total of
12MB and gets an error, so he raises disk quota to 15MB and then
uploads the files.
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When the user changes disk quota, the old disk usage cycle closes.
Then the user is charged recurrent fee for the remaining 15 days
for ( 15MB - 10MB free = ) 5MB over free units:
( 5MB x $2 recurrent) x 15 days left to the end of the billing period/ 30 days = $5.
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| 4. |
Same as in 1-3, but user has previously raised disk space quota
to 15MB.
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User stays with 12MB throughout the whole month.
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At the beginning of the month, user pays for the difference
between disk space quota and free units:
( 15MB quota - 10MB free ) x $2 recurrent = $10.
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| 5. |
User stays with 15MB disk quota the first 15 days, then raises
disk quota to 20MB.
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At the beginning of the month, user pays for the difference
between disk space quota and free units:
( 15MB quota - 10MB free ) x $2 recurrent = $10.
On the 15th day, the disk quota cycle closes, user is refunded
half of the recurrent fee ($5) and then is charged recurrent
fee for the remaining 15 days:
( 15 days x ( 20MB quota - 10MB free ) / 30 days ) x $2 recurrent = $10,
of which $5 will be taken from the refunded amount.
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Configuring Plans to Charge Users for Disk Space Reservation
- Launch plan edit wizard
- On the first step make sure to uncheck Summary Disk Usage resource box.
- Skip Registrar Domain Pricing form.
- On the second step set:
| Resource |
Free |
Monthly |
Extra |
| Disk space Quota |
- MBs you restrict your users to consume by their home FTP directory without being charged
- can't be exceeded
- can be increased |
recurrent payment you charge your users for each MB of increased FTP quota |
N/A
(users can't upload more than their FTP disk quota allows) |
| Mailbox quota |
- MBs you restrict your users to consume by each of their mailboxes without being charged
- can't be exceeded
- can be increased individually for each mailbox |
recurrent payment you charge your users for each MB of increased quota on each mailbox |
N/A
(users can't upload more MBs than their mailbox quota allows) |
| MySQL database quota |
- MBs you allocate your users with (per each MySQL db) that they can consume
without being charged
- can be exceeded! on the contrary to FTP, mailbox and MS SQL quotas
- can be increased |
recurrent payment you charge your users for each MB of increased quota on each MySQL DB |
payment for each MB consumed by individual user DB over its quota |
| PGSQL database quota |
- MBs you allocate your users with (per each PGSQL db) that they can consume without
being charged
-can be exceeded! on the contrary to FTP, mailbox and MS SQL quotas
- can be increased |
recurrent payment you charge your users for each MB of increased quota on each MySQL DB |
payment for each MB consumed by individual user DB over its quota |
| MS SQL Quota |
- MBs you restrict your users to consume by each of their MS SQL DBs without being charged
- can't be exceeded
- can be increased individually for each mailbox |
recurrent payment you charge your users for each MB of increased quota on each MSSQL DB |
N/A
(users can't upload more MBs than their MSSQL quota allows) |
Changing Disk Space Quota
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Increasing Free MBs
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Decreasing Free MBs
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Disk Quotas won't change in user CP. Please use the Mass Mail
feature available at the bottom of the search result page
to let your users know they can increase their disk quotas
to new Free without being charged.
Example: A user had 5MB free and it made up his FTP disk quota.
Later, you increased free units to 10MB. User's quota will stay at 5MB and he
won't be able to upload more than 5MB,
until he manually increases it.
If you increase Free in the middle of the billing period, the user isn't
refunded the recurrent fee for the remaining days of the disk quota
cycle.
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Disk Space Quota won't change in user CP. But starting from the
next billing period users will be charged
recurrent fee for each MB of the difference between new Free and their
Disk Space Quota. Please use the Mass Mail
feature available at the bottom of the search result page
to let your customers know you decreased Free for disk space
quota and if they don't want to be charged for the difference, they
should change their quota to new Free.
Example: Plan allowed 5MB free and $1 recurrent payment per MB.
A user paid $2 for his 7MB FTP disk quota.
Later, you decreased free units to 4MB. User's quota will stay at 7MB, but
starting from the next billing period he will be charged $3 for his quota.
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Preventing End Users from Increasing Disk Space Quotas
- In your admin control panel select Plans in the Info menu.
- Click the Resource link next to the plan.
- Click the Edit icon next to the Disk Space Quota / Mailbox Quota / MySQL, MSSQL and PGSQL DB quota resource.
- In the Max field, set the maximum allowed disk space quota in megabytes that users under this plan can increase their quotas to.
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