vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
* The instance's total_volume_bandwidth is lowered
* The total bandwidth requested by the instance's attached volumes exceeds the amount already requested by its attached volumes



For more information about this feature, see [Bandwidth allocation for instance profiles](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-bandwidth-allocation-profiles).







 31 August 2021 



 For all version dates 

Block storage volumes:



* Adjustable IOPS. To manage the performance the your data volumes attached to running virtual server instances, use the [update volume](https://cloud.ibm.com/apidocs/vpcupdate-volume) method to specify a different tiered profile value, or a different iops value within the [custom IOPS](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-block-storage-profiles&interface=apicustom) tier. For more information, see [Adjusting IOPS for block storage volumes](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-adjusting-volume-iops&interface=api).
* Expandable volumes. You can now expand a secondary volume attached to a running virtual server instance. Use the capacity property in the [update volume](https://cloud.ibm.com/apidocs/vpcupdate-volume) method to request a new volume capacity, up to 16 TB (depending on the volume's profile). While the volume's capacity is being updated, the volume will remain available for use, but will have a status value of updating. For more information, see [Expanding block storage volume capacity](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-expanding-block-storage-volumes).

If you expand an existing data volume, be aware that existing applications will be exposed to the new updating value. To avoid disruption, first check that your applications are written to gracefully handle unexpected status values.









 24 August 2021 



 For all version dates 

Application load balancers.
Availability and Durability of VPC storage 

In today's fast-paced economy, companies rely on data in their decision-making. They need secure and immediate access to their data on a moment's notice. Data integrity is of high priority because compromised or incomplete data is of no use. Not to mention the dangers that are presented if sensitive data goes missing. When you store your data in Block Storage for VPC volumes, snapshots, backups, or in File Storage for VPC shares, it's durable, highly available, and encrypted.



Table 1. Block Storage for VPC Storage durability and availability chart.

 Block Storage for VPC Storage type Use Case Durability Availability Encryption 

 3 IOPS per GB tier It is designed for general-purpose workloads such as workloads that host small databases for web applications or store virtual machine disk images for a hypervisor. 99.999999999% <br>(11 9's) 99.999% <br>(5 9's) Provider-managed AES-256 encryption, Customer-managed encryption 
 5 IOPS per GB tier It is designed for high I/O intensity workloads that are characterized by a large percentage of active data, such as transactional and other performance-sensitive databases. 99.999999999% <br>(11 9's) 99.999% <br>(5 9's) Provider-managed AES-256 encryption, Customer-managed encryption 
 10 IOPS per GB tier It is designed for demanding storage workloads such as data-intensive workloads created by NoSQL databases, data processing for video, machine learning, and analytics. 99.999999999% <br>(11 9's) 99.999% <br>(5 9's) Provider-managed AES-256 encryption, Customer-managed encryption 
 custom Customers can specify capacity between 10 - 16000 MB with IOPS ranging 100 - 48000. 99.999999999% <br>(11 9's) 99.999% <br>(5 9's) Provider-managed AES-256 encryption, Customer-managed encryption
Virtual server instances for VPC
: When you provision an instance, you can now allocate I/O bandwidth between storage and network bandwidth from the total instance bandwidth. The maximum bandwidth capacity is determined by the instance profile that you selected during instance provisioning. For more information, see [Bandwidth allocation for instance profiles](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-bandwidth-allocation-profiles).





 19 August 2021 

Larger size boot volumes for custom images
: You can import custom images with a boot disk size from 10 - 250 GB, which becomes the image's minimum provisioned size after you import. When you specify the image as part of [creating an instance](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-creating-block-storage), the boot volume capacity is set to this size. For more information, see [Planning custom images](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-planning-custom-images).





 18 August 2021 

File Storage for VPC
: Custom IOPS profiles are available with capacity up to 16,000 GB. For more information, see [File storage profiles](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-file-storage-profiles).
: You can also increase the file share size from its original capacity in GB increments up to 32,000 GB capacity, depending on your share profile. For more information, see [Expanding file share capacity](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-file-storage-expand-capacity).
: IBM Cloud® File Storage for VPC is available to customers with special approval to preview this service in the Washington, Dallas, and Frankfurt regions.





 17 August 2021 

Instance Identifier Update
: The instance identifier (ID) now includes the SMBIOS system-uuid as a portion of the ID. The ID, including the SMBIOS system-uuid portion, is static and persists for the lifecycle of the virtual server instance until that virtual server instance is deleted.
For more information about pricing, see [the pricing table at ibm.com](https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/createpricing).

For more information about creating buckets with different storage classes, see the [API reference](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage/api-reference?topic=cloud-object-storage-compatibility-api-bucket-operationscompatibility-api-storage-class).



 Smart Tier pricing details 

Based on monthly averages, data in a Smart Tier bucket is classified into one of three tiers based on the following variables:



Table 2. Smart Tier bucket classification

 Variable Description 

 storage Total volume of data stored in GB 
 retrievals Total volume of data retrieved in GB 
 requests Sum of the number of Class A (write) requests plus 1/10 of the number of Class B (read) requests 





* Data is classified hot if the total requests > 1000 x (storage - retrievals).
* Data is classified cold if the total requests < (storage - retrievals).
* Data is classified cool if neither of the above equations are true.



For example, let's imagine a bucket in the us-south region with an access pattern that changes from month to month. The bucket stores 1 TB of data, but some objects are very large and others are very small.



1. In the first month, there is a lot of activity but mostly with smaller objects. In total, there are 4 million requests and 100 GB is retrieved. This month the bucket is classified as hot.
2. In the second month activity slows down, but the focus is on larger objects. This month there are only 4 thousand requests but 200 GB is retrieved. Now the bucket is classified as cool.
3. In the third month activity slows to a near stop. There are only 400 requests and 10 GB is retrieved. This month the bucket is classified as cold.



Let's see how the costs might compare to the other storage classes.



Table 3. Cost comparison

 Month storage requests retrieval Classification Standard Vault Cold Vault Smart Tier
Pricing 

A IBM Cloud® Databases for EnterpriseDB Standard plan deploys as one highly available cluster with three data members. Your data is replicated on all three members. The Standard plan is priced based on the total amount of disk storage, RAM, dedicated cores, and backup storage that is allocated to deployments, prorated hourly. Databases for EnterpriseDB deployments have a minimum of 20 GB of disk and 1 GB of RAM per data member.



 Using the Pricing Calculator 

Templates are provided for ease of use and provide balanced resource allocations appropriate for general purpose workloads. The Custom tab can be used to configure Disk, RAM, and vCPU, as desired.

For pricing estimation, use the Add to Estimate button on the [Databases for EnterpriseDB catalog page](https://cloud.ibm.com/catalog/databases-for-enterprisedb). Input your total consumption across three data members into the calculator. This is roughly tripled the size of your data because your data is replicated to all three members. For example, 20 GB of disk and 1 GB of RAM across two data members would be priced at 60 GB of disk and 3 GB of RAM respectively.





 Backups Pricing 

You receive your total disk space purchased, per database, in free backup storage. For example, in a given month, if you have a Databases for DataStax deployment that has 20 GB of disk per member, and has three data members, you receive 60 GB of backup storage free for that month. If your backup storage utilization is greater than 60 GB for the month (in this scenario), you are charged an overage of $0.03/month per gigabyte.

By default, Cloud Databases provides a daily backup that is stored for 30 days. These backups, and any on-demand backups you make, all count toward the above allocation.

In the above example, if your database contains 2 GB of data and you have not taken any on-demand backups, then your total backup size is 2 GB x 30 = 60 GB. Your backup costs are nil.

If your database contains 15 GB of data and you have not taken any on-demand backups, then your total backup size is 15 GB x 30 = 450 GB.
For example, in a given month, if you have a Databases for MongoDB deployment that has 20 GB of disk per member, and has three data members, you receive 60 GB of backup storage free for that month. If your backup storage utilization is greater than 60 GB for the month (in this scenario), you are charged an overage of $0.03/ month per gigabyte.

By default, Cloud Databases provides a daily backup that is stored for 30 days. These backups, and any on-demand backups you make, all count toward the allocation.

In the example, if your database contains 2 GB of data and you have not taken any on-demand backups, then your total backup size is 2 GB x 30 = 60 GB. Your backup costs are nil.

If your database contains 15 GB of data and you have not taken any on-demand backups, then your total backup size is 15 GB x 30 = 450 GB. In this scenario, your backup costs are (450 GB - 60 GB) * 0.03 = $11.7 per month.

Most deployments will not ever go over the allotted credit.





 Dedicated Cores Pricing 

You have the option of selecting the CPU allocation for your for Databases for MongoDB Standard Edition deployment, while dedicated cores are required for Databases for MongoDB Enterprise Edition deployments. With dedicated cores, your resource group is given a single-tenant host with a guaranteed minimum reserve of cpu shares. Your deployments are then allocated the number of CPUs you specify. The cost of dedicated cores is $45 per core per month for the Standard plan, and $60 per core per month for the Enterprise plan. Each member gets the selected number of cores. For example, if you provision a deployment with three dedicated cores per member on the Standard plan, that is a total of 9 cores, and billed at $405 per month.

The default Shared CPU setting provisions for your Databases for MongoDB Standard Edition deployment hosts with shared compute resources and incurs no additional charge.

Dedicated cores are an optional feature for Databases for MongoDB Standard Edition and required for Databases for MongoDB Enterprise Edition deployments.





 Scaling per Member 

Databases for MongoDB deployments have minimum and maximum allocation for disk and RAM as shown.
You are a large enterprise or ISV, and most of the data being stored in Object Storage is constantly being read over the public endpoints.
2. You are reading large files from outside of IBM Cloud - for example in post-production film editing, satellite imaging, or music production.



Most workloads, such as for backups/long-term storage, data analysis using IBM Cloud resources, or for small files (such as PNGs for websites) are better served by a Standard plan. One Rate plans are generally best for workloads where more 20% of the total storage is consistently read over the public endpoints each month.





 Getting started with One Rate plans 

One Rate instances are available in Regional and Single Data Center locations, but are not available in Cross Region locations. There are four pricing tiers based on location:



* North America: us-south, us-east, ca-tor, mon01, sjc04
* Europe: eu-de, eu-gb, ams03, mil01, par01
* Asia: au-syd, jp-osa, jp-tok, che01, sng01
* South America: br-sao



All buckets in a One Rate plan instance must use a new active storage class specific to One Rate instances.

One Rate plan instances are aggregated and billed at the IBM Cloud account level based on average end-of-month usage. For detailed information and current pricing, [please review the detailed cost tables](https://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/createpricing).

Unlike Standard plan instances, One Rate instances provide allowances for [Class A and B request charges](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-object-storage?topic=cloud-object-storage-billingbilling-request-classes) as well as egress charges. The thresholds for the allowances are dependant on total storage capacity.

It is not possible to convert an instance created under a One Rate plan to a Standard plan, or vice-versa.



 How allowances are calculated 

One Rate plans use an all-inclusive flat monthly rate which includes capacity, operational requests, and outbound bandwidth.
* This profile is not certified for IBM Cloud for Financial Service®. While you can configure flow logs for the VPC, instance, interface, or subnets, data is not captured for the -a100 profile.
* You can't [resize a virtual server instance](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-resizing-an-instance&interface=ui) that was created with this profile.
* You can't attach new NICs or volumes to an existing, running virtual server instance. You must first stop the virtual server instance, make the changes, and then restart the virtual server instance.









 Storage Optimized 

Storage Optimized profiles are hosted exclusively on Intel® Xeon® Platinum Cascade Lake servers. This profile family offers our highest vCPU to [instance storage](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-instance-storage) ratio with 300 GB of storage for every 1 vCPU and is optimized for running data lake and other workloads requiring more intensive data capabilities. All storage optimized profiles are provisioned with temporary SSD-backed instance storage at no additional charge. For more information, see [Lifecycle of instance storage](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-instance-storageinstance-storage-lifecycle).

Storage Optimized profiles are available in the US East (Washington) and Japan (Osaka) regions.

The following Storage Optimized profiles are available for x86-64 processors:

Intel x86-64



Table 8. Storage Optimized profiles options for x86-64 instances
Storage Optimized profiles options for Intel x86-64 virtual server instances.

 Instance profile vCPU Cores GiB RAM Bandwidth Cap (Gbps) Instance Storage (GB) Interface Type 

 ox2-2x16 2 1 16 4 1x600 virtio_blk 
 ox2-4x32 4 2 32 8 1x1200 virtio_blk 
 ox2-8x64 8 4 64 16 2x1200 virtio_blk
Pricing 

A Databases for PostgreSQL Standard plan deploys as one highly available PostgreSQL cluster with two data members, with your data replicated on both members. The Standard plan is priced based on the total amount of disk storage, RAM, dedicated cores, and backup storage that is allocated to deployments, prorated hourly. Databases for PostgreSQL deployments have a minimum of 5 GB of disk and 1 GB of RAM per data member.



 Using the Pricing Calculator 

Templates are provided for ease of use and provide balanced resource allocations appropriate for general-purpose workloads. The Custom tab can be used to configure Disk, RAM, and vCPU, as wanted.

For pricing estimation, use the Add to Estimate button on the [Databases for PostgreSQL catalog page](https://cloud.ibm.com/catalog/databases-for-postgresql). Input your total consumption across two data members into the calculator. This is roughly double the size of your data because your data is replicated to both members. For example, 5 GB of disk and 1 GB of RAM across two data members would be priced at 10 GB of disk and 2 GB of RAM respectively.





 Backups Pricing 

You receive your total disk space purchased, per database, in free backup storage. For example, in a given month, if you have a Databases for PostgreSQL deployment that has 20 GB of disk per member, and has three data members, you receive 60 GB of backup storage free for that month. If your backup storage utilization is greater than 60 GB for the month (in this scenario), you are charged an overage of $0.03/month per gigabyte.

By default, Cloud Databases provides a daily backup that is stored for 30 days. These backups, and any on-demand backups you make, all count toward the above allocation.

In the above example, if your database contains 2 GB of data and you have not taken any on-demand backups, then your total backup size is 2 GB x 30 = 60 GB. Your backup costs are nil.
If you do not want to use the default File Storage that is pre-selected for you when you provision a Kubernetes cluster in IBM Cloud, you can provision storage of your choice. See this topic on [Persistent storage considerations](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/blockchain?topic=blockchain-ibp-v2-deploy-iksibp-console-storage) to learn more.
* If you decide to include IBM Cloud multi-zone support in your Kubernetes cluster on IBM Cloud, you must provision your own storage. See [Using Multizone (MZR) clusters with IBM Blockchain Platform](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/blockchain?topic=blockchain-ibp-v2-deploy-iksibp-console-mzr) for more details.
* You can preview the IBM Blockchain Platform at no charge for 30 days when you link your IBM Blockchain Platform service instance to an IBM Cloud Kubernetes free cluster. Performance will be limited by throughput, storage and functionality. IBM Cloud will delete your cluster after 30 days and you cannot migrate any nodes or data from a free cluster to a paid cluster. If you choose a paid Kubernetes cluster instead of the limited free cluster, you will incur charges for the Kubernetes service to your IBM Cloud account.
* Kubernetes clusters that are configured with private VLANs are not supported.







 License and pricing 

IBM Blockchain Platform for IBM Cloud introduces a new hourly pricing model based on virtual processor core (VPC) usage. The simplified model is based on the amount of CPU (or VPC) that your IBM Blockchain Platform nodes consume on an hourly basis, at a flat rate of $0.29 USD/VPC-hour, where 1 VPC = 1 CPU. See this topic on [Pricing](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/blockchain?topic=blockchain-ibp-saas-pricing) for more details.





 Getting started
The location consists of a region and zone.
6. Select either IOPS tiers or Custom. As described in [Storage design considerations](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/sap?topic=sap-storage-design-considerations), the IOPS per GB depends on the workload anticipated.
7. Click Create volume.

By default all block storage for VPC volumes use IBM-managed encryption. However, [new capabilities are available for customer-managed encryption](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-block-storage-vpc-encryption).
8. Click Menu icon ![Menu icon](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs-content/v1/content/icons/icon_hamburger.svg) > VPC Infrastructure > Virtual server instances.
9. Select the virtual server to which you want the new block storage to be attached.
10. Click Attach volume.
11. Select the new block storage volume and click Attach.
12. Log in to the virtual server over SSH, and perform the necessary activities for the block storage, such as add file system partitions, file systems, and mount points.

See here more information about [using attached block storage](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-start-using-your-block-storage-data-volume).







 Creating the network interface 

For each network interface (vNIC) added, define the following:



* Network interface name (defaults to eth0 and so on, but this name is not what appears on the OS when it is running ip link)
* Subnet to assign to this network interface into



During virtual server provisioning, each virtual server requires a Primary network interface. If you are using a Floating IP, by default it is attached to the primary network interface.

By default during provisioning of a virtual server, the primary network interface is already added with the default Security Group. After a virtual server is created, the network interface is assigned its own Private IP from the selected Subnet range.



 Throughput of network interfaces
No. You can add as many or as few vNICs as you need. Every interface can take advantage of the 100 Gbps bandwidth, but the total aggregate is 100 Gbps for each server. Meaning that the bandwidth is shared by all the vNICs. For more information about networking on bare metal, see [Networking overview for bare metal servers](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-bare-metal-servers-network).
* How many NVMe drives does a bare metal server support?

The number NVMe drives that are supported depends on the profile that you select. The 4-socket profile with drives supports 16 3.2 TB NVMe drives and the planned 2-socket profile with drives supports eight 3.2 TB NVMe drives. These NVMe drives are in addition to the 960 Gb boot drive.

No other drive configurations are supported and drive size, type, and quantity can't be changed.

For more information about profiles, see [Profiles for Bare Metal Servers for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-bare-metal-servers-profile).
* Does Bare Metal Servers for VPC support RAID?

The boot disk supports RAID 1 by using a hardware RAID controller. If you use a profile with NVMe drives, it is recommended that you use a software RAID option.

Secondary drives use a JBOD configuration and aren't supported by a hardware RAID controller.
* Can I enable dual uplinks (uplink redundancy)?

No. The uplinks (PCI network interfaces) are redundant by design. The VLAN network that you create are on that default, redundant uplink. You don’t need to manage uplink redundancy because redundancy is automatic.

For more information, see [Networking overview for Bare Metal Servers on VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-bare-metal-servers-network).
* What storage replication is supported for Bare Metal Servers for VPC?

Replication isn't supported.