Server upgrade: moving to a larger plan

The “Upgrade” button on the server card moves your server to a larger plan in the same family. You'll find the button on the “My Servers” page of the app.blackbox.md panel (app.blackbox.md/my-servers, sidebar → “Infrastructure” → “My Servers”). The amount is taken from your account balance, and your IP address and the data on the server are kept.

Available to: the server's owner (the blackbox.md account it was ordered from), for servers on the VPS plans from the catalog (vm-…). For other servers, write to us.

The blackbox.md website is available in Romanian and Russian; this article quotes the Romanian labels with their English meaning.

When you see the “Upgrade” button

• The button appears on the cards of servers that were ordered from your account and created automatically after payment.
• It does not appear on company servers managed by the BLACKBOX team (with or without the “Managed” badge), or on dedicated servers.
• On the “VPS hosting” plans (vps-hosting-1, vps-hosting-2, vps-hosting-3) and on older plans that are no longer sold, the button may appear, but the window shows “This server's plan can't be upgraded this way — contact support.”
• While an upgrade started from the current tab is running, the button is inactive.

If you don't see the button or an upgrade isn't possible for your server, write to us: How to contact BLACKBOX support. How to get to the panel: Opening the app.blackbox.md panel from your account.

Which plans you can choose

The “Upgrade to” list shows only larger plans in the same family: at least as many vCPUs and as much memory, and the same disk or a larger one. For example, from Standard M you can move to Standard L or Standard XL.

The resources and price of each plan: VPS plans: how to choose.

Important An upgrade works in one direction only. From the panel, you cannot move to a smaller plan or to another family, and the disk cannot be made smaller again. If you need a smaller plan or another family, order a new server on the plan you want, move your data, and then delete the old server.

How much it costs

• You pay only from your account balance. The amount is taken before the server is changed. You cannot pay by card in this window: top up your balance first (Topping up your balance).
• The amount is the difference between the new monthly price and the current one, prorated to the days left in the current 30-day cycle. Cycles are counted from the server's activation, and a day that has started counts as a full day.
• Before you confirm, the window shows the amount next to “Charged now (prorated)”, rounded to whole lei. Your balance history shows the exact amount, with the description “Upgrade server” (Server upgrade).
• After the upgrade, the monthly price of the new plan applies: your next monthly invoices are issued at the new price.

Example: a Standard M server (578 MDL/month), activated 9 days and a few hours ago, moves to Standard L (742 MDL/month). The monthly difference is 164 MDL. 10 days count as used, so 20 of 30 remain. The amount taken now: 164 × 20 / 30 = 109.33 MDL (the window shows “109 MDL”). From then on, the monthly price is 742 MDL.

How to upgrade

Tip Before the upgrade, back up your important data and check that your applications start on their own after a reboot. See Backup strategy for your server.

1. In the panel, open “My Servers” and find the server's card.
2. If you have stopped the server, start it first with “Start”.
3. Click “Upgrade”. The “Upgrade server” window opens, with the server's name next to “Server:”.
4. Check the current configuration next to “Current”, for example “2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB SSD”.
5. Under “Upgrade to”, choose the new configuration. Each option shows the resources and the price, for example “2 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 80 GB SSD — 742 MDL/mo”. The smallest available plan is selected by default.
6. Check the amounts in the table below the list (see below).
7. Tick “I understand the server will restart (a few minutes of downtime; the IP address and all data are preserved).” Until you tick it, the button stays inactive.
8. Click “Upgrade server”. The button shows “Upgrading…”, and then the window closes.
9. The upgrade status appears on the card, starting with “Queued”. Follow it until you see “Upgrade complete”.

“Cancel” or “×” closes the window without changing anything.

If your balance is not enough

When your balance is lower than the amount next to “Charged now (prorated)”, the window shows “Your wallet balance isn't enough to cover this upgrade.” with the “Top up your balance →” link.

1. Click “Top up your balance →”. The “Sold” (Balance) page on blackbox.md opens in a new tab.
2. Click “Alimentează soldul” (Top up balance) and pay by card at least the missing amount (a top-up starts at 50 MDL).
3. Go back to the panel, close the window with “Cancel”, and click “Upgrade” again so that the window shows your new balance.

Upgrade progress

The status appears on the server card and refreshes every 5 seconds.

Usually the whole upgrade takes about a minute, including the restart. Still, plan for a few minutes of downtime, as the window also warns.

Note The status is visible only in the tab where you started the upgrade. If you reload the page or open it in another tab, the status disappears, but the upgrade continues. You'll see the result in the confirmation email and in the “Spec” field.

After the upgrade

• On the card, “Spec” shows the new resources. The “Plan” field keeps the code of the plan you ordered the server with, for example vm-iops1-m. You can see the new plan's code on blackbox.md, under “Comenzi” (Orders) → “Vezi detaliile” (View details) → “Tip” (Type).
• At the email address given in the order, you receive the email “Serverul dvs. a fost actualizat — BBX-…” (Your server has been updated — BBX-…), with the order number. It contains the IP address, the new resources, the amount taken and the new monthly price. The subject is always in Romanian, and the body of the email is in your account's language (see Language of the website, the panel and emails).
• The disk is enlarged automatically. You can check it on the server:

df -h /

If the email says that the disk may need to be extended manually, and the command still shows the old size, write to us.

If the upgrade fails

• With “Upgrade failed” or “Upgrade reverted”, the amount taken goes back to your balance automatically. Your balance history shows the transaction “Anulare upgrade server” (Server upgrade cancellation), with a “+”. In this case, you don't receive an email.
• Reload the page and check “Spec”. You can try again later; if it fails again, write to us.
• With “Upgrade stalled — contact support”, write to us with the order number. The team checks the server and the amount taken.

Messages in the window

Frequently asked questions

Does the IP address change, or is any data lost? No. Your IP address and data stay. The server restarts once, briefly.

Can I go back to the old plan after an upgrade? No, the disk cannot be made smaller. The solution: order a new server on the smaller plan and move your data to it.

Why does the amount in my balance history have decimals when the window showed a whole number? The window rounds the amount to whole lei, and the email shows only whole lei, without decimals, so the two may differ by 1 MDL. The exact amount, with decimals, is the one in your balance history.

I closed the tab during the upgrade. Did it stop? No, the upgrade continues. Wait for the email, or reload “My Servers” in a few minutes and check “Spec”. If nothing has changed within 15 minutes and the amount has not come back to your balance, write to us.

Can I upgrade through the AI assistant? Yes, with the same rules: only larger plans in the same family, paid from your balance. See Orders, payments, cancellations and upgrades via AI.