About Points and Wallets

1. What are points?

Cloud Bouquet allows you to use compute nodes of various specifications for an desired amount of time.
Compute nodes have a point price based on their specifications and the amount of time they are used, Administrators and users can use compute nodes by consuming the points granted in advance.

2. How to obtain points and expiration date

Points will be awarded by our company based on orders placed by our customers. For point orders and inquiries, please contact our sales representatives or our contact information.

TIPS!

• In principle, points have an expiration date of 180 days from the date of grant. (Some points have different expiration dates depending on the campaign, etc.)
• Please note that points will expire and cannot be used after the expiration date.
  
• For expiry of points, please refer to Expiration of points

3. Wallet and Point Transfer

The following chart explains how points are handled after they are awarded.

After our granting process, points are managed by wallets (units to which points are held).
There will be multiple wallets, one for the administrator and one for each user group.
(The administrator wallet is initially created, and the user group wallets are created at the same time user groups are created. For more information on setting up user groups, please refer to this page. How to register users (for administrators))

The points initially granted will be placed in the administrator wallet.
Administrators may transition any quantity of points between the administrator wallet and any user group wallet. The transfer of points is performed either from the administrator wallet to any user group wallet, or from any user group wallet to the administrator wallet, as needed. Also, point transfers cannot be performed by non-administrator users.

Points placed in a user group wallet as a result of a transition can be used by the administrator or users belonging to that user group for compute node usage. Points allocated to compute nodes are subtracted (consumed) from the user group wallet. The above sequence of steps allows users to use the Compute node with points.

TIPS!
More detailed operational conditions for the above flow and handling of points are as follows.

• The number of points required to start up a Compute node can be found in the process of selecting and setting up a Compute node (Using Compute nodes)
  
• You cannot transition more points than the number of points in the source wallet or start up more compute nodes than the number of points in the user group wallet
  
• You cannot start up a compute node with points from an admin wallet or a user group wallet to which you do not belong
  
• If a compute node contains points with different expiration dates, the points with the earliest expiration date will be used for transfers and consumption
  
• Points from each wallet will be combined to give you the total points you have
  .

4. Compute nodes and point usage

This section describes the process flow of a Compute node from startup to termination.
For specific operating procedures, please refer to How to use Compute nodes for specific operation procedures.

4.1 Reservation of compute nodes

This section describes the typical use of a Compute node from startup to termination.

When using a Compute Node in Cloud Bouquet, you can reserve a Compute Node by performing a reservation operation (e.g. selecting various specifications, filling in the expected start and end times and pressing the [Reserve] button). At this point, points are consumed according to the specification of the compute node and the time it is scheduled to be used (the time from the scheduled start time to the scheduled end time of the compute node). The reserved computing node starts the startup process at the specified start time. When the startup process is complete (usually about 5-15 minutes), the computing node can be operated (used).

TIPS!

• Compute nodes can be booked from the current month until the end of two months later..
• Depending on other bookings, it may not be possible to book a Compute Node for the required specification and duration.
  
• For details on how to check the reservation of a compute node, please refer to How to use compute node.
• If the points balance of the relevant user group is less than the required number of points when a calculation node is reserved, the calculation node cannot be reserved.
  

TIPS!

• Point consumption according to the estimated time of use is performed in hourly increments.
• For example, if the difference between the server start-up time and the scheduled end time is less than 3600 seconds, it is counted as one hour, and if it is 3601 seconds or more, it is counted as two hours. The counted time and consumption points can be found in the process of performing the booking operation.
  

4.2. Cancellation of compute node reservations.

This section describes how to cancel a reserved compute node.

If the reserved compute node is no longer required, the booking can be cancelled.
Canceling a booking cancels the booking of a compute node.
If the booking is cancelled, the points will be refunded based on the estimated start time, the compute node specified and the points used.
For details on how to refund points, please refer to Refunding Points

TIPS!

• You can cancel a calculation node booking up to ten minutes before the scheduled start time.
  
• The refund rate used to cancel a compute node reservation is the refund rate at the time the compute node was reserved.
  

4.3. Changing the appointment time of a compute node

This section describes how to change the scheduled start and end times of a reserved compute node.

Reserved compute nodes can change their scheduled start and end times.
Two changes can be made

• Accelerate the scheduled start time
• Extend the scheduled end time

If the start time is accelerated or the end time is extended, points are spent according to the newly added time.

TIPS!

• A compute node appointment time can be changed up to one hour before the scheduled start time.
  
• This change can change the reservation time of the compute node, but not the specification of the compute node.
• Changing the reservation time of a compute node depends on the status of other reservations.
  

4.4. Booting up and shutting down a compute node

This section describes the normal use of the Compute Node, from startup to shutdown.

You can reserve a compute node by performing the calculation node reservation operations (e.g. selecting various specifications, filling in the expected start and end times, pressing the [Reserved] button, etc.).
Points are then consumed according to the specification of the compute node and the time it is scheduled to use (the time between the scheduled start and end times of the compute node).
The reserved calculation node starts the start-up process at the scheduled start time set in the reservation operation. Once the boot process is complete (typically 5-15 minutes), the compute node is ready to be used.

While the compute nodes are available, various operations and data transmission/reception can be performed. The scheduled end time can also be extended as described in the following section 4.5. Extending the Use Time of the Calculation Node. The compute node is available for use until its scheduled end time.

When the scheduled end time arrives, after a waiting period of several minutes (usually 1-3 minutes), the end processing will start. During the waiting period, the compute node is in a startup state, so various operations and data transmission/reception can be performed, but the scheduled end time cannot be extended. When the termination process starts, the data stored on the Compute Node and the configured environment are destroyed and access to the Compute Node is also disabled, rendering it unusable.

At this point the use of the calculation node is terminated. (The termination process continues in the background, but the status of the process cannot be checked).

This concludes the description of how to boot and shut down a compute node.

4.5. Extend compute node uptime

The next section describes the case of extending the usage time of a compute node after it has been started.

The usage time can be extended by updating the estimated end time for the available compute nodes. Therefore, the procedure up to the point of reservation (point consumption) and startup of the compute node is the same as in 4.4. Booting up and shuttin down a compute node

After a calculation node reservation operation, the startup process is executed at the scheduled start time, and once the startup process is complete and the calculation node is ready for use, the scheduled end time of the calculation node in question can be updated to the new time until the scheduled end time set during the calculation node reservation operation. The time extension starts from the configured scheduled end time and specifies a later time. In this case, points are consumed according to the newly added estimated usage time (difference between the start point, the set estimated end time and the updated estimated end time). This extends the usage time of the calculation node.

Once the compute node usage time extension has been executed, the compute node is available until the scheduled end time of the update. After the scheduled end time of the update, the termination process is performed in the same way as in 4.4. Booting up and shuttin down a compute node

TIPS!

• When extending a calculation node, if the user group’s point balance is less than the required number of points, the node cannot be extended.
  
• This feature only allows the scheduled end time of a compute node to be extended, and the specification of the compute node cannot be changed at the time of the extension.
• Once the scheduled end time has been set, it is not possible to change the scheduled end time to an earlier time. (However, if you want to end the usage immediately, you can do so using4.6. Early termination of the compute node. In this case, the points will be returned due to the early termination.)
• An extension can be made more than once, as long as the valid scheduled end time is reached.
• If there is another subsequent booking, the extension can be run until its start time.
  

TIPS!

• In the case of extensions, point consumption according to the estimated time of use is still performed in hourly increments.
• For example, if the difference between the previous scheduled end time and the updated scheduled end time is less than 3600 seconds, it is counted as one hour, and if it is 3601 seconds or more, it is counted as two hours. The time counted and the points used can be found during the process of performing the extension operation.
• The time counted and the points used are determined and processed each time a booking or an extension is made. If there are less than 3600 seconds left at the time of booking, this time cannot be included in the points used for the extension.
  

4.6. Early termination of the compute node

This section describes cases where a compute node is started and then terminated earlier than planned.

“Early termination can be performed by executing the termination process immediately for available compute nodes.” Therefore, the process of reserving a compute node (point consumption), booting up and using the compute node is the same as described in 4.4. Booting up and shutting down a compute node.

After a compute node reservation operation, the startup process is executed at the scheduled start time, and once the startup process is complete and the compute node is ready for use, an operation can be executed to immediately terminate the use of the compute node until the scheduled end time set during the compu node reservation operation. When the operation to terminate the use of a Compute Node is performed, the termination process starts. (The data stored on the Compute Node and the configured environment are destroyed, access to the Compute Node is disabled and it can no longer be used).

At this point, use of the compute node is terminated.

TIPS!

• If a compute node termination is performed, a portion of the points used in the booking operation will be refunded.
  
  

That’s all about points and wallets.