Summary Disk Space - is this correct?

[Brian]

Ok, I have been researching a little on how this works... I am about to move my service to Matrix, and use this Summary Disk Space, but apparently there is a lot of confusion about how this works. I have read many threads here and at PSoft about this... but let me see if I have it straight...

Lets assume a plan of 100 Mb summary disk space.

I Make the plan, and set 100 Mb as the summary disk space, and provide pricing for the summary disk space.

The other 'quotas' (disk, email, database) are really just starting points. So I set those max quotas for them, but I do not set pricing for these quotas. Users can go beyond those 'quotas' and not be charged if pricing is not set at those quotas... however they must be mindful of how much total disk space they are using, and stay below their summary in order to avoid additional charges.

So... suppose I set the quotas as follows:
disk space quota :50 Mb
mailbox quota : 5 Mb
database quota : 25 Mb.

If the client signs up fo that plan, and creates 1 email and 1 database, they are using up to a maximum of 80 Mb at that point (if they max out those quotas - unlikely... but lets just assume for this purpose).

Based on that they are not charged any extra yet.

Now suppose they create an additional 3 mailboxes. Their usage goes up by 15 Mb (potential, again assume they actually fill the 15 Mb)... bringing their total usage to 95 Mb... still below the 100 Mb in the summary disk usage... so still no charge.

Now they add info to their database... lets say they add another 5 Mb of data to their database. So that database is now 30 Mb. Although the database is 5 Mb over the quota, no prices were set on going over the quota, so there is no charge there... and now they are using the full 100 Mb of summary disk space. Still have not gone over that, so still no additional charge.

Next they add 10 Mb additional web files. Now they have gone over the 50 Mb quota... there are no charges applied at the disk space quota setting, so they are not charged at that point... however, they are 10 Mb over the summary disk usage... so at the next billing, the calculations for average usage over summary disk space quota are used, and the additional charges are applied.


Kind of long winded... but is that the correct assumption?

[Carly]

That sounds like a pretty good summary to me (very comprehensive).

On a side note: You also have the option to set hard quotas if you wanted. You can can set Max values on pretty much anything you've enabled in the plan by clicking on the "Resources" icon next to the plan after you create it. I think this prevents them from going over, and thus avoiding overage charges.

[mfennell]

so with this attached setup, my clients would be able to use 250 Mbs of space for there monthly cost, not 250 megs for web space + 100 megs for mysql and another 100 Megs for mssql for total of 450 megs?

[Brian]

I cannot get into the Control Panel (demo or others) from my current network connection... are there any settings to the right of the "Free" value that you set?

[mfennell]

nope, not on my setup

[Brian]

Keeping in mind that I am certainly not the expert here...

Admins, and others... I am also trying to understand this... so please correct this if I am wrong...

Since disk quota and mailbox quota are allocated on usage, I would assume then that you can set the quota to the same value you set for Summary Disk Usage. Point being that if files/mail are not there taking up space, you are not dinged for it.

Database as I recall is allocated on creation. So if you set the quota to 100 Mb as your plan indicates, when the DB is created, it is an instant use of 100 Mb. The database is permitted to grow beyond 100 Mb though, and will be charged according to whatever settings you use... So I am guessing now... but you should be ok there too.

To put this into a case example then... suppose Joe User signs up for that plan. He has a site that uses a database, and his web files total 50 Mb. He only needs 3 mailboxes. On average those mailboxes have 1 Mb each of mail on the server.

So from day 1, he has:
50 Mb web files
100 Mb database
3 Mb mail
= 153 Mb summary disk usage.

Still way below that 250 you set, so there are no additional charges.

Time passes, and his database grows to 150 Mb. Now his usage is:
50 Mb web files
150 Mb database
3 Mb mail
= 203 Mb summary disk usage.

Still below the 250 you set for the summary disk usage, so there are no additional charges yet.


Now he develops his site a little, and needs a 2nd database. Upon creating the database, he adds another 100 Mb disk usage to his summary. Now his usage is:
50 Mb web files
150 Mb database #1
100 Mb database #2
3 Mb mail
= 303 Mb summary disk usage.

On the next billing, Joe User is billed for 53 Mb above his summary disk allowance, or however that calculation works... average disk usage divided by 30.5 or something... whatever that is... Joe will get some additional charges next billing.