<commit_before>{{{
  "title": "[UPDATED] About Simple Backup Service and the Retirement of Standard & Premium Storage",
  "date": "[UPDATED 11-16-2015], Originally Posted 10-7-2015",
  "author": "<NAME> & <NAME>",
  "attachments": []
}}}

### Description

CenturyLink will be introducing a new service, Simple Backup Service, and retiring the Standard and Premium storage products. This Frequently Asked Questions document is meant to provide greater context and clarity about this transition.

### Why is this change happening?

Many customers want more features in their backups - either in retention period, location of secondary copies, or the freedom to have no backup at all. The Simple Backup Service offers this flexibility.

CenturyLink Cloud will still offer a block storage service for virtual machines and bare metal - but users will not be required to have a backup option for existing instances or new servers that they create.

### What does this mean for me?

Your backups on Standard and Premium will continue to function until the Simple Backup Service becomes available. At that point, customers will need apply a Simple Backup Policy to their servers in order to have data backed up. Your backup will then operate consistent with Standard or Premium backup service definitions, provided that you apply a similar policy to your servers (the one exception: new backups will be for entire drives and their paths, not snapshots).

### Will my servers be automatically removed from standard & premium storage? Is there something I need to do to enable Simple Backup Service?

Yes, customer action will be required. The default option for customers will be as follows:

* CenturyLink engineers will remove Standard & Premium storage from the Platform (primary block storage will continue to function).
* CenturyLink will then populate a few common backup policies to your account.
* You will need to associate a Simple Backup Service policy to each server if desired.
* Customers can also modify a pre-populated policy or create their own.

If you would prefer a different path than the one above, please contact us at [<EMAIL>](mailto:<EMAIL>) or reach out to your account manager.

### When is this happening?

This retirement of Standard and Premium - and launch of the Simple Backup Service - will occur according to the following timeline:

* October 7, 2015 - notification of the retirement of Standard and Premium Storage
* November 16, 2015 - update to this knowledge article with notification of the following timeline
* December 15, 2015 - the Premium storage service will be modified to replicate snapshots to the local DC only
* January 5, 2016 - Simple Backup Service generally available; customer initiated migration period
* Feb 16, 2016 - Standard and Premium storage services retired

### Will my pricing change?

Yes – your price for block storage will drop, since backups are no longer included by default. However, additional backup costs may be incurred via the Simple Backup Service.

### Will I save money with the Simple Backup Service, compared to what I'm paying today?

It depends on several factors, including:

* Backup policies applied to your servers
* The pace of data change on your servers
* The retention period of the backups<commit_msg>minor tweaks to timeline<commit_after>{{{
  "title": "[UPDATED] About Simple Backup Service and the Retirement of Standard & Premium Storage",
  "date": "[UPDATED 11-16-2015], Originally Posted 10-7-2015",
  "author": "<NAME> & <NAME>",
  "attachments": []
}}}

### Description

CenturyLink will be introducing a new service, Simple Backup Service, and retiring the Standard and Premium storage products. This Frequently Asked Questions document is meant to provide greater context and clarity about this transition.

### Why is this change happening?

Many customers want more features in their backups - either in retention period, location of secondary copies, or the freedom to have no backup at all. The Simple Backup Service offers this flexibility.

CenturyLink Cloud will still offer a block storage service for virtual machines and bare metal - but users will not be required to have a backup option for existing instances or new servers that they create.

### What does this mean for me?

Your backups on Standard and Premium will continue to function until the Simple Backup Service becomes available. At that point, customers will need apply a Simple Backup Policy to their servers in order to have data backed up. Your backup will then operate consistent with Standard or Premium backup service definitions, provided that you apply a similar policy to your servers (the one exception: new backups will be for entire drives and their paths, not snapshots).

### Will my servers be automatically removed from standard & premium storage? Is there something I need to do to enable Simple Backup Service?

Yes, customer action will be required. The default option for customers will be as follows:

* CenturyLink engineers will remove Standard & Premium storage from the Platform (primary block storage will continue to function).
* CenturyLink will then populate a few common backup policies to your account.
* You will need to associate a Simple Backup Service policy to each server if desired.
* Customers can also modify a pre-populated policy or create their own.

If you would prefer a different path than the one above, please contact us at [<EMAIL>](mailto:<EMAIL>) or reach out to your account manager.

### When is this happening?

This retirement of Standard and Premium - and launch of the Simple Backup Service - will occur according to the following timeline:

* October 7, 2015 - notification of the retirement of Standard and Premium Storage
* November 16, 2015 - update to this knowledge article with notification of the following timeline
* December 15, 2015 - the Premium storage service will be modified to replicate snapshots to the local DC only
* January 5, 2016 - Simple Backup Service generally available; customer initiated migration period begins
* Feb 16, 2016 - Standard and Premium storage services retired; customer migration period ends

### Will my pricing change?

Yes – your price for block storage will drop, since backups are no longer included by default. However, additional backup costs may be incurred via the Simple Backup Service.

### Will I save money with the Simple Backup Service, compared to what I'm paying today?

It depends on several factors, including:

* Backup policies applied to your servers
* The pace of data change on your servers
* The retention period of the backups
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