When you no longer need a monthly subscribed database instance, you can proactively return it. When you no longer need a pay-as-you-go database instance, you can terminate it. After the instance is returned or terminated, billing will stop accordingly. Common operation scenarios are as follows.
The data in the instance has been migrated to a new instance or new architecture, and the old resources need to be released.
During business off-peak periods or after traffic decreases, destroy non-core instances to reduce costs.
Instances created for temporary data processing, development testing, or stress testing tasks should be released immediately after the tasks are completed.
Notes
After the "Return" operation (for yearly/monthly subscription) or "Terminate" operation (for pay-as-you-go) is performed, please be aware of the following impacts:
Category
Impact Description
Billing Impact
After an instance is returned, once its status changes to Isolated or To be deleted, it will no longer incur fees.
Refund policy
For instances that met the 5-day no-questions-asked refund policy, the payment will be returned to your Tencent Cloud account.
For normal instances, the payment will be returned to your Tencent Cloud account by the proportion of the cash and gift cards paid for the purchase.
Data Lifecycle
After an instance is returned or terminated, it will enter the following phases sequentially. During the retention period, you can choose to restore data. Data not restored before the deadline will be permanently deleted.
1. During the recycle bin retention period (the first 7 days): the instance will be moved to the recycle bin and cannot be accessed directly. You can restore the instance in the recycle bin, and it will resume normal operation after restoration. For specific operations, see Terminate/Restore Instances.
2. After the recycle bin retention period (Days 8 to 15): After the recycle bin retention period ends, the instance will be automatically cleared from the recycle bin, but the system will retain the instance backup in the backend for an additional 8 days. During this period, the instance cannot be restored by yourself. Please contact after-sales support or submit a ticket to have Tencent Cloud engineers assist in data restoration.
3. Data permanently deleted (after Day 15): After the backup retention period (8 days) ends, all associated data will be permanently deleted and become irretrievable.
2. Above the Instance List page on the right, select the target region.
3. In the instance list, select the yearly/monthly subscription instance to be destroyed. In the Operation column, choose More > Return and Refund.
Note:
When the Return and Refund button is unavailable, it means the account has exhausted the self-service return quota for yearly/monthly subscription instances. This indicates that yearly/monthly subscription instances cannot be manually terminated and will be automatically terminated upon expiration.
4. In the Return and Refund pop-up window, click View Details to confirm information about the instance to be returned and understand precautions for instance termination. Click Termination Rules to understand the calculation method for refund amounts. Select I HAVE READ AND AGREED, and click View Refund Information.
5. On the Please confirm the following unsubscription information page, confirm the unsubscription list, including: instance information, network information, region and availability zone (AZ), refund method, and so on, and verify the refund amount. Then, click Confirm Unsubscribe.
6. In the pop-up dialog box, please reconfirm the refund method and refund amount, then click Confirm Unsubscribe.
7. On the Transaction succeeded page, you can perform the following operations.
Click View My Orders to go to the Billing Center's Order Management page. On the Prepaid Order tab, you can track refund progress at any time. As shown in the following figure, click Details in the Operation column to view order specifics. Click Transactions in the right sidebar to view the refund receipt.
Click Go to Console. In the left sidebar, select Recycle Bin to view refunded instances isolated there with status Isolated. Click Start Up to recover the instance, or click Eliminate Now to terminate instance resources directly. For details, see Terminate/Recover Instances.
2. Above the Instance List page on the right, select the target region.
3. In the Instance List, select the target pay-as-you-go instance and click More > Terminate in its Operation column.
4. In the Terminate Instance pop-up window, confirm the information of the target instance, understand the impact of instance termination, and click Terminate.
5. On the left sidebar, select Recycle Bin, and you can see that the terminated pay-as-you-go instance is isolated there. The instance is in Isolated status and will no longer incur fees.
6. (Optional) Click Start Up to recover the instance, or click Eliminate Now to terminate instance resources directly. For details, see Terminate/Recover Instances.
