How does Acquia subscription pricing apply to cloud computing environments like Amazon EC2 and similar services?
In a cloud computing environment, virtual servers (sometimes called “instances”) can be brought online and taken down quickly, affording additional flexibility in scaling and administering server infrastructure. As far as Acquia Network is concerned, cloud computing instances are equivalent to servers, and are counted the same way as described elsewhere in this FAQ. Because Acquia Network subscriptions are priced in two bands, you just need to determine the band that corresponds to your number of instances running your site: one instance or multiple instances. Some cloud computing environments can be configured to automatically add servers when load exceeds the capacity of the baseline server infrastructure. This typically occurs during temporary and sometimes unpredictable spikes in traffic. In order to accommodate short-lived and unplanned spikes in traffic that create the need for more servers, we offer a 30 day grace period for clusters that exceed the number of servers or instance
