FAQs: Reserved capacity and instances
Which virtual server instance types can be reserved?
Only SAN-backed balanced, memory, and compute family sizes can be reserved.
Can I combine different CPUxRAM sizes or change the sizes later?
You cannot combine different CPUxRAM sizes or change the sizes later. The set of virtual server instances that you provision to your reserved capacity must be the same size as your reservation.
Is my payment upfront or monthly?
Reserved capacity and instances are purchased for a 1 or 3-year term. After that point, you're committed to a monthly payment.
What happens at the end of my contract?
Depending on whether you choose hourly or monthly billing, the billing price for the CPU and RAM converts to the current list price, with any account discounts applied. Contact your sales representative, who in turn works with your global sales manager to determine end-of-contract options such as renewal or restructuring of your contract provisions. For more information about pricing, see [Build your virtual server](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/virtual-servers]( https://www.ibm.com/products/virtual-servers-classic){: external}.
What happens if I don't need my reserved virtual server instances anymore?
You can reclaim reserved virtual server instances, but you cannot cancel reserved capacity.
Does the reservation include everything that I configured into my virtual server instance?
Only CPU and RAM are included in your reservation. Primary disk and no-additional charge network or storage products are not included in your reservation. More network bandwidth, storage capacity, OS, and third-party software are charged on an hourly or monthly basis, which depends on the instance type.
Why do I need to choose hourly or monthly billing on the virtual server instance?
Your additional software, storage, and network selections need to be billed either hourly or monthly.