Change the plan of an instance

Change the plan of an hourly instance to give it more or fewer GPUs, CPUs, or memory, or to move it between GPU and CPU plans. The instance keeps its workspace, its files, its image, and its other settings, and starts on the new plan. For a committed instance, the same action changes what happens at the end of its term.

Before you begin

• An hourly instance that is Stopped. See Stop, start, and restart an instance.
• Permission to update instances in the project. Every project role except MEMBER has it; a MEMBER needs a policy that allows updates.
• On a prepaid account, credit for at least one hour of the new plan, or the full price of the term for a committed plan.

The new plan also needs free capacity. If the instance’s own plan is out of stock, move it to a plan that is in stock, and it starts again with its workspace.

Save your installed packages (optional)

A plan change keeps everything in /home/jovyan, but packages you installed yourself are gone once the instance stops. To bring them back afterwards, save an image while the instance is still Running:

1. Save the instance as an image, as described in Save an instance as an image.
2. On the instance’s Images tab, wait until the image’s status is Succeeded.
3. Stop the instance.

Choose the new plan

1. With the hourly instance Stopped, select Update Plan in its actions menu.

2. Choose the new plan the same way as on the create form: a plan on the GPU or CPU tab, then a size under Configuration. Only plans that support the instance’s image version are offered.

3. Choose how the new plan is billed. On-Demand, the default, is billed by the minute at its hourly rate. A committed term charges its full price when the instance reaches Running. See Billing options to compare them, and E2E’s pricing page for the rates.

4. Select Update. If you chose a committed term, choose in Committed Plan Confirmation what happens when the term ends. Auto renewal of this committed plan is the default.

   Choice	What happens
   Auto renewal of this committed plan	Starts a new term of the same plan and charges its price again.
   Auto start hourly billing for this machine	Keeps the instance running, billed On-Demand at the rate shown, from the end of the term.
   Auto deletion of this committed machine	Deletes the instance and its workspace when the term ends.

   Choose one, tick the acknowledgement, and select Proceed.

A plan change can move an instance between GPU and CPU plans, and to a larger or smaller size. For which plans a Spot Instance can move to, see Can a Spot Instance change its plan?

What happens after the change

The instance starts on the new plan. It is Waiting while its new container starts, then Running, and is billed on the new plan from then.

The instance keeps its workspace disk with its files and size, its image, and its other settings; only its CPU, GPU, and memory change. Install your own packages again, or restore them from a saved image; see Restore your packages.

When the new plan is fully booked, the change is refused with “Inventory temporarily unavailable. Please try again after some time.”; try again later or pick another plan. If the instance shows Pending after the change, see What do Pending and Expired mean?

Restore your packages (optional)

If you saved an image before the change, put it back once the instance is Running:

1. Open the instance’s Images tab.
2. Select Restore Image on the saved image. Restore is available for images whose status is Succeeded.

The instance restarts with the saved image and keeps its workspace at /home/jovyan. If the image has been removed from the registry, the restore is refused and its status changes to Not Found.

Change the renewal preference of a committed instance

A committed instance keeps its plan for the whole term. You can change what happens when the term ends, in any status:

1. Open the action from the instance’s actions menu: Update Committed Plan in Manage Instances, or Update Plan on its details page.

2. Under Update Preference, choose the new policy in Select Committed Policy.

   Choice	What happens
   Auto renewal of this committed plan	Starts a new term of the same plan and charges its price. On a prepaid account with too little credit for the renewal, the instance moves to hourly billing instead.
   Auto start hourly billing for this machine	Keeps the instance running, billed On-Demand at the rate shown, from the end of the term.
   Auto deletion of this committed machine	Deletes the instance and its workspace when the term ends.

3. Select Update. TIR saves the change at once and emails you about a minute later, with the team owner and admins in copy.

A committed instance stays committed until its term ends. To run it on a different plan after that, choose Auto start hourly billing for this machine. Then, once the term ends, stop the instance and change its plan. For the reminders TIR sends before the term ends, see Billing options.

To move an hourly instance to a committed term on the same plan, see Convert an instance to committed. If a plan change or a renewal update is refused, see Troubleshooting TIR Instances.

You can also change the plan through the TIR API’s Update Plan operation.