This is the official word: *You are only charged the 15 minute idle time for the number if idle instances up to your max idle instances.* So, if you have 200 instances spin up for 10 minutes and then all traffic stops and your max idle instances is set to 5. You would be charged for (200 * 10/60 * $0.04) + (5 * 15/60 * $0.04). The first part is the "active" instances you are charged for and the second is the "idle" instances you are charged for. Even if all 200 instances stick around for 10 hours, you will still only be charged for what I listed.
I hope that helps clarify. We are working on updating our docs to make this more clear. Sorry for the confusion. Jeff, awesome work on that post. Thanks and let me know if you have additional questions! Greg On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Robert Kluin <robert.kl...@gmail.com>wrote: > I would also like to hear an official clear explanation of this. I've > seen various conflicting answers on this, and all of the published > docs I've seen indicate Jeff's initial assessment is correct. > > > Robert > > > > On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 13:30, Jeff Schnitzer <j...@infohazard.org> wrote: > > Is this really true, that if you burst to 100 instances you won't get > > the 15-minute charges? Even if you have it set to "automatic"? I'd > > like to hear an official voice on this matter. > > > > I updated the FAQ with a link to your explanation. Although I have to > > admit that i'm still somewhat confused about when the 15-minute charge > > will apply. > > > > Jeff > > > > On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 6:14 AM, Tim <meer...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> Quote: In addition, there is a 15-minute charge ($0.02) every time an > >> instance starts.... > >> > >> Sorry to keep banging on about this, but see the latest explanations of > how > >> the pricing works... what you report here is what we all heard, but it's > not > >> true. > >> A maximum number of "max-idle-instances" have a 15-minute charge every > time > >> they start up (in return for which they'll stay in memory for at least > 15 > >> minutes) but any instances beyond that count do NOT have a 15-minute > charge > >> for starting up, they are charged only for the time they are actively > >> serving requests (subject, I expect, to some granularity in the billing > >> system, but this should be considerably less than 15 minutes). > >> If you have max-idle set to 1, and a 1 minute massive burst meant that > 100 > >> instances were started, but then the traffic died back to nothing, then > only > >> 1 of those instances would have the 15 minute charge (and would be > >> effectively guaranteed to stay in memory that long) - the scheduler may > even > >> decide, if the machines are not needed for other apps and there's spare > >> capacity, to keep some or many of the 100 instances in memory (there may > be > >> another burst), but even if it does so, you're not paying for the other > 99 > >> being idle - it's what I termed the "free-idle" state. > >> Cheers > >> -- > >> Tim > >> > >> -- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups > >> "Google App Engine" group. > >> To view this discussion on the web visit > >> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/google-appengine/-/wFY7XNN8yzsJ. > >> To post to this group, send email to google-appengine@googlegroups.com. > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > >> google-appengine+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > >> For more options, visit this group at > >> http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > >> > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Google App Engine" group. > > To post to this group, send email to google-appengine@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > google-appengine+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Google App Engine" group. > To post to this group, send email to google-appengine@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > google-appengine+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine" group. To post to this group, send email to google-appengine@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-appengine+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en.
