Important Change of Billing Notice for all Azure ClearDB Service Plans
Updated posted November 5, 2018 – Important Change of Billing Notice for all Azure ClearDB Service Plans
Over the next three months, ClearDB will be transitioning our Azure-based customers currently billed by Microsoft to a direct billing model with ClearDB. This article provides additional details for customers affected by this change, including the benefits of this change and an overview of the simple transition process. Customers currently billed by Microsoft for ClearDB assets will need to complete this transition before June 13, 2018, to ensure continuity of service.
BENEFITS OF THIS TRANSITION: MORE FUNCTIONALITY, BETTER CONTROL
This Azure billing transition is intended to clear the path for future service enhancements that aren’t possible with third party billing arrangements, and will instantly unlock direct access to the ClearDB portal for all Azure customers.
Customers with ClearDB portal access gain valuable new benefits, such as insights into database usage and performance, and easy access to daily backups and our 24/7/365 support ticket system. Direct portal customers also gain control over where they receive important service alerts, including critical updates on database access and availability, and notices of new features and functionality.
NO PRICE CHANGES: PREDICTABLE MONTHLY CHARGES
This Azure billing transition does not include a plan price increase for any customer who is currently using an active ClearDB Multi-Tenant and Dedicated, Single-Tenant clusters on the Azure cloud.
Recently, an update on the Azure MySQL as Service pricing was made effective immediately that is referenced in a 451 Research alert that we recommend customers review prior to making a decision about their MySQL as a Service needs.
OUR SIMPLE TRANSITION PROCESS
To facilitate a quick and easy transition to direct billing, ClearDB has created a nifty Azure Account Transition Wizard. When you start the wizard, simply authenticate by providing your Azure subscription number and the credentials for any one ClearDB database in your control. Then just follow the steps outlined by the wizard to complete your transition, which will typically take between 3 and 5 minutes from start to finish.
The Azure Account Transition Wizard lets you 1) enable your ClearDB account for direct login, 2) add your preferred payment method for billing, 3) invite additional users to your ClearDB account, and 4) transition all of your ClearDB assets to ClearDB direct billing.
If you have any further questions about this required transition, or need help on how to locate your credentials, please contact support@cleardb.com for assistance.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When should I complete this transition?
If you have the required database credentials ready to go and would like to complete this transition now, simply visit the Azure Account Transition Wizard to get started. Please note that transitions must be complete no later than June 13, 2018 to maintain continuity of service.
I recently got a notice about a change of service relating to Mercury DB and Titan DB database plans. Is this the same thing?
No, the billing transition requirement is a separate issue than the deprecation of the Mercury DB and Titan DB SKUs. To assist our customers with an easy transition, the Azure Account Transition Wizard is designed to recognize any deprecated subscriptions in your account and present you with an opportunity to upgrade one or more of these subscriptions as part of the overall transition process. If you already have a direct ClearDB account and billing, you can instead just log into the ClearDB portal and use the “Upgrade” link next to any deprecated Mercury DB or Titan DB subscriptions to initiate an upgrade. If your database was previously frozen but has not yet been deleted, upgrading it will restore access to the database.
I can’t find any ClearDB resources in the Azure portal, but I’m getting messages about a required change of billing. What should I do to sort this out?
In certain atypical scenarios it’s possible that a ClearDB resource billed by Microsoft will not show up in the Azure portal. If you are having problems locating your ClearDB resources in Azure, we have put together a quick video tutorial on the different ways you can track down your credentials in Azure.
Some of my ClearDB services are already direct-billed, but I also have ClearDB services that are billed by Azure. Do I need to run the wizard?
Yes, you will want to use the wizard to transition your billing for those ClearDB services not currently direct-billed by ClearDB.
I don’t use Azure, but I use ClearDB. Do I need to complete this billing transition?
No this change is for Azure customers only. If you use ClearDB with any combination of Heroku, IBM Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Pivotal Web Services or Google Cloud Platform, but not Microsoft Azure, then you can safely ignore this notice.