SearchStax clients sometimes inquire about putting a deployment into an inactive state temporarily. They usually want to avoid being charged for days when the deployment will not be used. Typically, it’s a single-node, month-to-month deployment billed to a credit card.
SearchStax month-to-month billing is prorated on a daily basis. You are charged for the number of days that the deployment was available during the month.
To avoid being charged during an inactive period:
- Create a one-time backup of the deployment. There is a very small fee.
- Delete the deployment before you leave on vacation.
- Create a new deployment when you get back.
- Restore the backup.
You will not be billed for the time you were away.
There is a downside to this approach. Deleting a deployment also deletes your alerts, IP filters, and Basic Auth accounts. The new deployment will have a different Solr HTTP Endpoint, so your search application will need to be reconfigured to use it.
Do not delete a deployment under contract!
Clients who have prepaid support contracts cannot use this delete-and-restore strategy. Deleting a deployment under contract wreaks havoc on billing and infrastructure. Phone calls and meetings would follow.