vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
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.





 What is the size of the boot drive for Bare Metal Servers for VPC? 

The boot disk is 960 GB. You can configure each image differently for its partition sizes.

Bare Metal Servers for VPC supports only UEFI images.





 How does billing work? 

You are billed for Bare Metal Servers for VPC based on the server profile that you selected. Billing stops only when you delete the bare metal server. Powering off the server doesn't change billing. For more information about billing and pricing, contact your IBM Sales representative.

You are also billed for other VPC services and resources that are attached to any bare metal servers. For more information about pricing for Bare Metal Servers on VPC, see [Pricing](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/vpc/pricing).





 How is billing for bare metal severs different from virtual server instances? 

The main difference between virtual server instances and the bare metal servers is that powering off a bare metal server has no effect on the billing cycle. Meaning that hourly billed servers still accrue at the normal rate whether the server is powered off or on. The billing stops only when the bare metal server is deleted.





 How do I view my invoices? 

To view your account invoices, follow these steps.



1. Go to the [IBM Cloud console ![External link icon](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs-content/v1/content/f02b9c9adcbb7328d95a45e105cec371d50f15eb/icons/launch-glyph.svg)](https://cloud.ibm.com),
2. Then, click Manage > Billing and Usage.



Each account receives a single bill.
* [File Storage for Classic](https://www.ibm.com/products/file-storage)
* [Block Storage for Classic](https://www.ibm.com/products/block-storage)
* [File Storage for VPC](https://www.ibm.com/products/file-storage)
* [Block Storage for VPC](https://www.ibm.com/products/block-storage)
* [IBM Cloud Object Storage](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/object-storage)
* [Portworx Enterprise pricing](https://cloud.ibm.com/catalog/services/portworx-enterprise)







 IBM Cloud services 

Each service that you integrate with your cluster has its own pricing model. Review each product documentation and use the IBM Cloud console to [estimate costs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/billing-usage?topic=billing-usage-costcost).





 Operators and other third-party integrations 

[Operators](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/openshift?topic=openshift-operators) and other [third-party integrations](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/containers?topic=containers-supported_integrations) are a convenient way to add services to your cluster from community, third-party, your own, or other providers. Keep in mind that you are responsible for additional charges and how these services operate in your cluster, from deployment and maintenance to integration with your apps. If you have issues with an operator or third-party integration, work with the appropriate provider to troubleshoot the issue.





 VPC worker nodes 

Pricing for VPC infrastructure varies based on regional location and sustained usage.

This information applies to VPC worker nodes only.

Regional uplift charges
: When you create a cluster on VPC infrastructure, the worker nodes might incur an uplift charge that varies by the [multizone location](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/openshift?topic=openshift-regions-and-zoneszones-vpc) that you create the cluster in.
Suspend billing for VPC 

When you stop a virtual server instance by using the IBM Cloud console, CLI, or API, you don't accrue costs for certain compute resources. Billing stops automatically when you stop the instance. The suspend billing feature helps you reduce cost and prevents you from having to re-create an instance when you need its resources again.

In situations where you want to scale your infrastructure up and down in response to workload needs, you can stop an instance (and stop billing) as a faster alternative to creating and deleting instances.



 Billing details 

It's important to understand what costs stop accruing and what costs persist when your virtual server instance is powered off.

Review the following table for details on how suspended billing impacts various resource charges.



Table 7. Resource billing details

 Resource Billing stopped Billing persists 

 vCPU X 
 RAM X 
 Operating system licenses X 
 Floating IPs, Load balancers, or other attached networking offerings X 
 Storage X 



Usage times are calculated per second, for both the in use time and suspended time of your virtual server instance. Even if you never initiate the suspend billing feature by powering off your instance, the billing is calculated per second of the instance's lifecycle. No minimum usage requirement exists for an instance.



 Suspend billing and sustained usage discounts 

For sustained usage discounts, a suspended image picks up from where it was on the discount tier. In other words, a usage discount applies only to the time the image is in use, not to the time the image was suspended.





 Billing invoice 

When you suspend billing on a virtual server, you see a few changes in your billing invoice. The relevant charges now appear as usage-based details. For example, you might see the following additions that reflect hours available, hours that instances were used, and total number of hours charged:

Computing instance usage...
RAM usage...
Operating system usage...







 Resource details 



 Storage 

When you suspend billing on a virtual server instance, the associated storage persists, but you can't access data while the virtual server instance is powered off. When you resume billing on the instance, you can then access your data, and normal billing begins again.
VMware Shared pricing 

IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions Shared offers two pricing plans for creating VMware® virtual data centers. Virtual data centers incur charges for the following virtual data center resource usages:



* Storage allocations with tiered pricing based on storage performance
* Virtual CPU (vCPU) usage
* Virtual memory usage
* Egress on public networking
* Commercial operating system licenses used
* Third-party VMware services





Table 1. Pricing plans

 Plans Description 

 VMware Shared On-demand <br><br> * The vCPU and RAM virtual data center are allocated based on the demand. Resources are not preallocated. If you have a large regional demand, delays in availability can occur.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> * The limits that are established for the amount of vCPU and RAM are maximums.<br> * vCPU and RAM resource limits can be increased and decreased later as required.<br> * The price is calculated hourly and it is based on the resource usage in the virtual data center.<br> * The amount of storage that can be allocated and used in the virtual data center is unlimited. Charges are hourly based on GB of allocated storage.<br> * The amount of inbound and outbound public networking is unlimited. Public outbound bandwidth is charged per GB.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br><br><br> 
 VMware Shared Reserved <br><br> * The vCPU and RAM virtual data center reservations are pre-allocated and their availability is guaranteed.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> * vCPU and RAM resources can be increased and decreased later as required.<br> * The amount of storage that can be allocated and used in the virtual data center is unlimited. Charges are hourly based on GB of allocated storage.<br> * The amount of inbound and outbound public networking is unlimited. Public outbound bandwidth is charged per GB.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br><br><br> 





 Price breakdown 



 Usage 

Metering is for the full potential size of the resource for the time period that the resource is used.
Classic clusters: When you create a standard cluster, a portable public subnet with 8 public IP addresses is ordered and charged to your account monthly. For pricing information, see the [Subnets and IPs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/subnets) documentation or estimate your costs in the [classic subnets console)](https://cloud.ibm.com/classic/network/subnet/provision). If you already have available portable public subnets in your infrastructure account, you can use these subnets instead. Create the cluster with the --no-subnets[flag](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/containers?topic=containers-kubernetes-service-clics_cluster_create), and then [reuse your subnets](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/containers?topic=containers-subnetssubnets_custom).

VPC clusters: For more information about charges for floating IPs and other networking costs, see [Pricing for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).





 Multizone load balancer 

When you create a multizone cluster or add zones to a single zone cluster, you must have a load balancer to health check Ingress and load balancer IP addresses in each zone, and forward requests to your apps across zones in the region.

The type of load balancer that is automatically created varies depending on the type of cluster.



* Classic clusters: An Akamai MZLB is automatically created for each multizone cluster. You can view the hourly rate in the pricing summary when you create the cluster.
* VPC clusters: A Load Balancer for VPC is automatically created in your VPC for your cluster. For cost information, see [Pricing for Load Balancer for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).







 Storage 

When you provision storage, you can choose the storage type and storage class that is correct for your use case. Charges vary depending on the type of storage, the location, and the specs of the storage instance.
Snapshots have their own lifecycle, independent of the Block Storage for VPC volume. You can separately manage the source volume. However, when you take a snapshot, you must wait for the snapshot creation process to complete before you detach or delete the volume.
* How am I charged for usage?

Cost for snapshots is calculated based on GB capacity that is stored per month, unless the duration is less than one month. Because the snapshot is based on the capacity that was provisioned for the original volume, the snapshot capacity does not vary. Deleting snapshots reduces cost, so the fewer snapshots you retain the lower the cost becomes.

Pricing for snapshots is also set by region. For more information, see [Pricing](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/vpc/pricing).

When you use the [fast restore](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-snapshots-vpc-aboutsnapshots_vpc_fast_restore) feature, your existing regional plan is adjusted. Billing for fast restore is based on instance hours. For more information about the cost of fast restore, see [Pricing](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/vpc/pricing).



 Can I add tags to a Block Storage for VPC snapshot? 

Depending on the action that you're performing, you can add user tags and access management tags to your snapshots. User tags are used by the backup service to periodically create backup snapshots of the volume. Access management tags help organize access to your Block Storage for VPC snapshots. For more information, see [Tags for Block Storage for VPC snapshots](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-snapshots-vpc-about&interface=uisnapshots-about-tags).





 Can I use volume snapshot for disaster recovery? 

You can use your snapshots and backups to create volumes in case of an emergency. You can also create copies of your snapshot in other regions and use them to create volumes there.
Provision vCenter Appliance 

This tutorial may incur costs. Use the [Cost Estimator](https://cloud.ibm.com/estimator/review) to generate a cost estimate based on your projected usage.

This tutorial is part of [series](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/solution-tutorials?topic=solution-tutorials-vpc-bm-vmwarevpc-bm-vmware-objectives), and requires that you have completed the related tutorials in the presented order.

In this tutorial, you will deploy a vCenter for a VMware Deployment in IBM Cloud VPC and a floating VLAN interface for it.



 Objectives 

In this tutorial you will provision a vCenter appliance to the ESXi hosts and create the first compute cluster. vCenter will use Bare Metal Servers for VPC [VLAN NIC](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-bare-metal-servers-networkbare-metal-servers-nics-intro) with an IP address allocated from a IBM Cloud VPC subnet as shown in the following diagram.

Zoom

![Provisioning vCenter into a bare metal server](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs-content/v1/content/f84e2238288b7f0355715a4c355609ce7ac48fb0/solution-tutorials/images/solution63-ryo-vmware-on-vpc/Self-Managed-Simple-20210813v1-VPC-vcenter.svg)

Figure 1. Provisioning vCenter into a bare metal server





 Before you begin 

This tutorial requires:



* Common [prereqs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/solution-tutorials?topic=solution-tutorials-vpc-bm-vmwarevpc-bm-vmware-prereqs) for VMware Deployment tutorials in IBM Cloud VPC



This tutorial is part of series, and requires that you have completed the related tutorials.
You can also [create stand-alone volumes](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-creating-block-storagecreate-standalone-vol) and later attach them to your instances.
* How many instances can share a provisioned Block Storage for VPC volume?

 How many instances can share a provisioned Block Storage for VPC volume? 

A Block Storage for VPC volume can be attached to only one instance at a time. Instances cannot share a volume.
* How many Block Storage for VPC secondary data volumes can be attached to an instance?

 How many Block Storage for VPC secondary data volumes can be attached to an instance? 

You can create 12 Block Storage for VPC data volumes per instance, plus the boot volume.
* How am I charged for usage?

 How am I charged for usage? 

Cost for Block Storage for VPC is calculated based on GB capacity that is stored per month, unless the duration is less than one month. The volume exists on the account until you delete the volume or you reach the end of a billing cycle, whichever comes first.

Pricing is also affected when you [expand volume capacity](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-expanding-block-storage-volumes) or [adjust IOPS](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-adjusting-volume-iops) by specifying a different IOPS profile. For example, expanding volume capacity increases costs, and changing an IOPS profile from a 5-IOPS/GB tier to a 3-IOPS/GB tier decreases the monthly and hourly rate. Billing for an updated volume is automatically updated to add the prorated difference of the new price to the current billing cycle. The new full amount is then billed in the next billing cycle.

Pricing for Block Storage for VPC volumes is also set by region. For more information, see [Pricing](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/vpc/pricing).
* Are there limits on the number of volumes I can create?

 Are there limits on the number of volumes I can create?
[Menu icon](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs-content/v1/content/bce0f0917a9eea684d1b4b704ac6343a1f65f446/icons/icon_hamburger.svg) selecting Classic Infrastructure, and then selecting the Network > Bandwidth > Summary page.

Review the following factors that impact public bandwidth charges:



* Location: As with worker nodes, charges vary depending on the zone that your resources are deployed in.
* Pay-As-You-Go for VM: Because VMs are billed at an hourly rate, your VM worker node machines have a Pay-As-You-Go allocation of outbound networking based on GB usage.
* Included bandwidth and tiered packages for BM: Bare metal worker nodes might come with a certain allocation of outbound networking per month that varies by geography: 20 TB for North America and Europe, or 5 TB for Asia Pacific and South America. After you exceed your included bandwidth, you are charged according to a tiered usage scheme for your geography. If you exceed a tier allotment, you might also be charged a standard data transfer fee. For more information, see [Bandwidth packages](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/bandwidth).



VPC clusters: For more information about how internet data transfer works in your Virtual Private Cloud, see [Pricing for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).





 Subnet IP addresses 

Subnets for Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud clusters vary by infrastructure provider.

Classic clusters: When you create a standard cluster, a portable public subnet with 8 public IP addresses is ordered and charged to your account monthly. For pricing information, see the [Subnets and IPs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/subnets) documentation or estimate your costs in the [classic subnets console)](https://cloud.ibm.com/classic/network/subnet/provision). If you already have available portable public subnets in your infrastructure account, you can use these subnets instead.
When you create a resource such as a location or cluster, you can review a cost estimate in the Summary pane of the console. For other types of estimates, see [Estimating your costs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/billing-usage?topic=billing-usage-costcost).

Keep in mind that some charges are not reflected in the estimate, such as the costs for your underlying infrastructure.
* Can I view and control my current usage?

See [View your usage](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/billing-usage?topic=billing-usage-viewingusageviewingusage) and [Set spending notifications](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/billing-usage?topic=billing-usage-spending) for general IBM Cloud account guidance.



Slurm on IBM Cloud



* What Slurm version is used in cluster nodes deployed with this offering?

Cluster nodes that are deployed with this offering include Slurm 19.05.5-1 Advanced Edition.
* What locations are available for deploying VPC resources?

Available regions and zones for deploying VPC resources, and a mapping of those to city locations and data centers can be found in [Locations for resource deployment](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview?topic=overview-locations).
* What permissions do I need in order to create a cluster using the offering?

Instructions for setting the appropriate permissions for IBM Cloud services that are used by the offering to create a cluster can be found in [Granting user permissions for VPC resources](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-managing-user-permissions-for-vpc-resources), [Managing user access for Schematics](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/schematics?topic=schematics-access), and [Assigning access to Secrets Manager](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/secrets-manager?topic=secrets-manager-assign-access).
* How do I SSH among nodes?

All of the nodes in the HPC cluster have the same public key that you register at your cluster creation.
Classic clusters: When you create a standard cluster, a portable public subnet with 8 public IP addresses is ordered and charged to your account monthly. For pricing information, see the [Subnets and IPs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/subnets) documentation or estimate your costs in the [classic subnets console)](https://cloud.ibm.com/classic/network/subnet/provision). If you already have available portable public subnets in your infrastructure account, you can use these subnets instead. Create the cluster with the --no-subnets[flag](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/openshift?topic=openshift-kubernetes-service-clics_cluster_create), and then [reuse your subnets](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/openshift?topic=openshift-subnetssubnets_custom).

VPC clusters: For more information about charges for floating IPs and other networking costs, see [Pricing for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).





 Multizone load balancer 

When you create a multizone cluster or add zones to a single zone cluster, you must have a load balancer to health check Ingress and load balancer IP addresses in each zone, and forward requests to your apps across zones in the region.

The type of load balancer that is automatically created varies depending on the type of cluster.



* Classic clusters: An Akamai MZLB is automatically created for each multizone cluster. You can view the hourly rate in the pricing summary when you create the cluster.
* VPC clusters: A Load Balancer for VPC is automatically created in your VPC for your cluster. For cost information, see [Pricing for Load Balancer for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).







 Default storage for images 

To store images in the internal registry, Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud creates a storage instance that varies by infrastructure provider.



* Classic clusters: A classic IBM Cloud File Storage for Classic volume is automatically created for you.
In the [Kubernetes cluster creation console](https://cloud.ibm.com/kubernetes/catalog/create), this uplift is reflected in the pricing calculator as you configure your cluster details. The following table describes the pricing uplift by region.
: For a table that describes the pricing uplift by region, see [Regional pricing for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).

Sustained usage discounts
: For virtual server instances that are billed at an hourly rate, discounted prices depend on how long the instance runs during the billing month. For more information, expand the Sustained usage discounts on IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC section on the [Pricing for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs) page.







 Estimating costs 

See [Estimating your costs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/billing-usage?topic=billing-usage-costcost).

Keep in mind that some charges are not reflected in the estimate, such as tiered pricing for increased hourly usage. For more information, see [Understanding costs for your clusters](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/containers?topic=containers-costscosts-for-clusters).





 Managing costs 

The following steps present a general process to manage costs for your IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters.



1. Decide on a cloud platform strategy to manage your resources.



* See [Best practices for billing and usage](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/billing-usage?topic=billing-usage-best-practices).
* Organize your billing with [resource groups](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/account?topic=account-rgs).
* [Add tags to your clusters](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/containers?topic=containers-add_workerscluster_tags) according to your organizational strategy.



2. Plan the type of cluster that you need.
[Menu icon](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs-content/v1/content/4d497aff9e27b92fbbc2ee4e343a9ec4549cb1d7/icons/icon_hamburger.svg) selecting Classic Infrastructure, and then selecting the Network > Bandwidth > Summary page.

Review the following factors that impact public bandwidth charges:



* Location: As with worker nodes, charges vary depending on the zone that your resources are deployed in.
* Pay-As-You-Go for VM: Because VMs are billed at an hourly rate, your VM worker node machines have a Pay-As-You-Go allocation of outbound networking based on GB usage.
* Included bandwidth and tiered packages for BM: Bare metal worker nodes might come with a certain allocation of outbound networking per month that varies by geography: 20 TB for North America and Europe, or 5 TB for Asia Pacific and South America. After you exceed your included bandwidth, you are charged according to a tiered usage scheme for your geography. If you exceed a tier allotment, you might also be charged a standard data transfer fee. For more information, see [Bandwidth packages](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/bandwidth).



VPC clusters: For more information about how internet data transfer works in your Virtual Private Cloud, see [Pricing for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/vpc-ext/provision/vs).





 Subnet IP addresses 

Subnets for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters vary by infrastructure provider.

Classic clusters: When you create a standard cluster, a portable public subnet with 8 public IP addresses is ordered and charged to your account monthly. For pricing information, see the [Subnets and IPs](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/subnets) documentation or estimate your costs in the [classic subnets console)](https://cloud.ibm.com/classic/network/subnet/provision). If you already have available portable public subnets in your infrastructure account, you can use these subnets instead.