Convert an instance to a committed plan

Move an hourly instance to a committed plan, where you pay for a fixed term upfront at a lower rate than On-Demand. You keep the same instance with its workspace and settings. The plan stays the same; only the way it is billed changes. For how the two kinds of billing compare, see Billing options for TIR Instances.

Before you begin

• An instance billed by the hour. Convert to Committed is offered for hourly instances, except Spot Instances, instances on a private cluster, and Expired instances. An hourly instance is marked Hourly in Manage Instances.
• On a prepaid account, enough credit for the full price of the commitment. The prices are on E2E’s pricing page.
• A role in the project that lets you update instances.

What changes once the instance is committed

A commitment holds for its whole term, so check these points before you convert:

• The full price of the term is charged upfront and covers the plan until the term ends.
• A committed instance stays on for its term, unless you delete it. You can restart it, but not stop or start it.
• The instance is billed as committed, on the same plan, for the whole term. What you can change is what happens when the term ends: to go back to hourly billing then, choose Convert to Hourly Plan as the renewal policy.
• Deleting the instance during the term is allowed, but the days you do not use are not refunded.

Choose a term and a renewal policy

A running instance keeps running through the conversion, on the same plan, and is billed as committed from then on.

Converting a Stopped instance starts it. The term begins, and its full price is charged, when the instance reaches Running.

1. In Manage Instances, open the instance’s actions menu and choose Convert to Committed. The same item is in the actions menu on the instance’s own page.

2. Under Committed Plan, choose a commitment period for the instance’s current plan. The periods on offer depend on the plan, and each one is a term in days.

3. Under Renewal Policy, choose what happens when the term ends:

   Renewal policy	What happens
   Auto Renewal	Starts a new term of the same plan and charges its price. Take this one if you expect to keep the instance. On a prepaid account with too little credit for the renewal, the instance moves to hourly billing instead.
   Convert to Hourly Plan	Keeps the instance running and bills it at the plan’s On-Demand rate from the end of the term.
   Auto Delete	Deletes the instance and its workspace when the term ends. Choose it only for work with a fixed end date, and copy anything you need out of /home/jovyan before then.

4. Read the acknowledgement: TIR charges the full commitment upfront and does not refund it if you delete the instance before the term ends. To accept the charge, select Continue.

About a minute later, TIR emails you, with the team owner and admins in copy.

To change the plan as well as the billing, stop the instance and use Update Plan instead. It moves an hourly instance to a committed term on the plan you pick there. See Change the plan of an instance.

See the term on the instance

The instance is now marked Committed in Manage Instances. Under Overview > Plan Details on its page, Committed Upto is the date the term ends, and Renewal Preference is the policy you chose.

TIR emails a reminder of the end-of-term action seven days, two days, and one day before the term ends. The reminders go to the person who created the instance and to the account owner. A term of seven days or less gets only the last two reminders. After the renewal, the move to hourly billing, or the deletion, TIR emails you again.

Change what happens at the end of the term

You can change the renewal policy during the term, in any status. Open the instance’s actions menu and choose Update Committed Plan in Manage Instances, or Update Plan on the instance’s page. On a committed instance, that page changes only the renewal preference. See Change the plan of an instance.

To see how committed billing fits with On-Demand, Spot, and workspace charges, read Billing options for TIR Instances. If the conversion is refused, see Troubleshooting TIR Instances.