Service
Level Agreement (SLA)
This
Service Level Agreement ("SLA") describes certain performance
and security components regarding the operation of Exchange Hosting
Solution, the Microsoft Exchange 2003 Enterprise Hosting
service and supporting Windows Hosting provided by HostLabs.
All
of our servers are IBM eSeries Servers with ZEON 3.06 Ghz processors
or better. Housed at San Diego's and the industries most secure
data center owned and maintained by Level 3 Communications, Inc.
Our Network equipment is 100% Cisco and ISO Certified. Everyone
you talk to in our organization is Microsoft Certified or equivalent
knowledge of Microsoft solutions in the areas of web development
and hosting applications.
This
SLA is governed by the HostLabs'
Master Service Agreement
No-Spam Policy
Acceptable Use Policy,
and complemented by HostLabs Privacy Policy
the collection of which are designed to protect the privacy, security
and best interests of HostLabs customers. HostLabs agrees to abide
by the terms of this SLA, and requires its customers to do likewise.
HostLabs shall use commercial best effort to provide continuous
and consistent service with respect to this SLA. HostLabs reserves
the right to add, subtract or amend the terms of this agreement
at any time in the event of significant changes in market conditions,
or otherwise initiated by major vendors, which would affect HostLabs
ability to provide its hosting services. Such changes shall be given
to the administrator via e-mail with at least 60 days notice.
Service
Availability
Does
HostLabs have an uptime guarantee?
YES.
HostLabs will use commercial best efforts to provide customers with
99.9% network availability [1]. Service status reports will be distributed
via e-mail to the administrator. HostLabs reserves the right to
plan a scheduled outage with forty-eight (48) hours advance notice.
HostLabs will use commercial best efforts to schedule these outages
at non-peak hours and limit their occurrence to strictly necessary
upgrades and required maintenance.
Scheduled
outages are maintained by broadcasting via e-mail to the designated
administrator of each customer. Unplanned outages will result in
affected customers receiving prorated credit for each hour of outage.
Customer
Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of the administrators to notify all persons
within their organizations of scheduled outages.
Physical
Security and Environmental Control
This
section describes how HostLabs protects the Exchange Hosting
Solution a service against unauthorized physical access
and the threats of fire, power, temperature, humidity and other
physical forces.
- The
Exchange Hosting Solution hosting platform is colocated
in a secure data center.
- Physical
access to the data center is protected by biometrics security
systems and strictly limited to authorized HostLabs personnel.
Other persons are admitted only on an as needed basis (e.g., to
maintain hardware components), and only under supervision.
- Environmental
control provided by a redundant HVAC system.
- Data
center protected by state-of-the art fire prevention system.
- Continuous
conditioned power is supplied by battery backup systems and redundant
diesel generators.
Network
Access And Security
This
section describes how HostLabs protects the Exchange Hosting
Solution a service against unauthorized network access
and the related security measures HostLabs takes to protect its
customers. It also contains some customer technical requirements
and certain premium services HostLabs offers.
- Exchange
Hosting Solution uses only Cisco routers and switches.
Servers are installed in a load balanced and/or clustered configuration,
as appropriate.
- Exchange
Hosting Solution configures each server with a switched
one hundred (100) Mbps Fast Ethernet connection and RAID hard
drive configuration.
- Exchange
Hosting Solution connects to multiple Internet backbones
through OC3 lines, within San Diego, a major telecommunications
hub.
Exchange
Hosting Solution supports 128-bit encryption via SSL.
Customer
Responsibilities:
Customers
(or their agents) are responsible for properly maintaining the functional
operation of all workstation equipment including connectivity to
the Internet.
- Prior
to alleging any connectivity problems, the customer will verify
that they are able to reach major sites such as www.msn.com or
www.yahoo.com.
- Customers
must use Microsoft Internet Explorer Browser version 5.0 or higher.
- Customer's
Administrators must allow the running of all Exchange Hosting
Solution ActiveX controls in order to carry out user and service
administration provided by Exchange Hosting Solution Service Manager.
All Exchange Hosting Solution Active X controls are provided with
digital certificates by Thawt
- Customer's
Administrators must allow all software required for Exchange
Hosting Solution Service Manager to operate programs
on the workstation to be installed.
- Customer
is responsible for configuration of their Internet firewall to
allow all necessary ports to be used or VPN access.
Premium
Services:
For
additional fees, HostLabs will be pleased to help its customers
establish:
- A
VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection to allow network traffic
to be encrypted to further protect information traveling on the
network.
- A
point-to-point network to construct a physically dedicated connection
to access applications.
Data
Security
This
section describes the significant measures HostLabs takes to protect
customer information, contains important requirements for customers
to follow to further enhance data security, and describes an HostLabs
data backup premium service.
- All
customer data is located in secure directories that require access
authentication.
- All
customer data is backed up to tape using HostLabs DLT tape arrays.
- Backup
tapes are stored in a secure off-site location.
- Nightly
backups are retained for three (3) weeks.
- Weekly
backups are retained for ten (10) weeks.
- Monthly
backups are retained for fifty-two (52) weeks.
Customer
Responsibilities:
The following customer requirements enhance data security:
- Customers
must use discretion granting administrator privileges.
- Users
must not share their login identifier or password.
- We
recommend that users change their passwords at least every forty-five
(45) days.
- Users
must select passwords that are eight (8) characters or longer.
We strongly recommend that passwords include mixed alpha and numeric
text.
Premium
Services:
For
an additional fee, HostLabs will distribute (on a monthly basis)
a full copy of the client's application data files for the applicable
month. (CD or other agreed upon format.)
Application
Maintenance
This
section applies to applications hosted by HostLabs
Upgrades
will be available according to the following schedule (based on
the number of days following HostLabs receipt of such upgrades from
the ISV):
- Fixes--no
later than 5 days; Minor Upgrades--within 60 days of our receipt;
Major Upgrades--within 90 days.
- Multiple
versions of an application will be available using reasonable
best efforts, as long as it is technically and commercially feasible
for HostLabs to do so.
- Applications
will meet HostLabs certification requirements for the hosting
environment.
- HostLabs
cannot guarantee service of applications residing on customer's
dedicated servers.
Customer
Care Quality
This
section describes how HostLabs maintains the highest quality customer
care to ensure customer satisfaction.
HostLabs
provides a variety of ways for customers to request help or otherwise
make inquiries.
An
online Support module may be used to report and track issues.
24 x 7 toll-free telephone support (1-877-291-0952)
E-mail to support@HostLabs.com
Severity
categories and response times are as follows:
Severity #1 - assigned to outages that keep a business from being
able to access one or all of their applications.
Severity #2 - assigned to a situation that slows an organization's
response time or limits the functions of one of the applications.
Severity #3 - assigned to a general question or requests for enhancement.
| Description |
Severity
1 |
Severity
2 |
Severity
3 |
| Status
Updates |
2
hours |
24
hours |
5
business days |
| Third
Party Vendor Coordination |
Yes |
Limited |
As
Needed |
| HostLabs
Management Escalation to Level 2 |
Yes |
As
Needed |
As
Needed |
| Resolution
report identifying the cause of the problem |
Yes |
Yes |
As
Needed |
If
HostLabs fails to comply with the response procedures described
above, it will give affected customers a full day's credit [3].
Customer
Responsibilities
It
will be the Customer's responsibility to maintain profile information
for their administrators and keep it updated in order to receive
notifications, which may be made via e-mail, phone, pager, fax or
mail.
Business
Continuity Provision
In
the event that HostLabs is unable to continue service to Customer,
HostLabs guarantees to provide no less than 90 days of interim service.
During this period, HostLabs will deliver upon request and at no
cost up-to-date data backups, as well as all necessary information,
including application settings and utilities, in order to facilitate
a transition of Customer's service to another provider or in-house
implementation.
Hardware
We
stand behind our computers with an "unlimited free replacement
warranty" for ALL leased or rented systems, including individual
parts ordered as upgrades from HostLabs
HostLabs
will replace, at no charge (including labor), the following components
or system parts: System Enclosures or cases, CPU or Processors,
Random Access Memory (RAM), System Motherboards, Controllers, Ethernet
Adapters, Ethernet or Network Cards, CD ROMs, Floppy Drives, IDE
or SCSI Hard Disk Drives, SCSI Adapters, Video Cards, Sound Cards,
Surge Protectors and Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS), Network
and Power Cables, System Power Supplies, System Fans.
Repair
will start upon our identification of the hardware failure and will
be completed within 2 hours from problem identification. If faulty
hardware replacement takes more than 2 hours, customer will be refunded
5% of monthly fee per additional hour of down time (up to customer's
full monthly fee).
Network
HostLabs
uses Cisco switches, routers, and other networking equipment. Redundant
components are used to ensure uptime and minimize failure. Our network
is connected through multiple T-3 lines within an OC-12 Sonet Ring
to several backbone providers, for fast, reliable connectivity.
Network
Uptime
HostLabs
guarantees network availability of 99.9% in a given month (43.2
minutes downtime per month), excluding scheduled maintenance. Network
is considered unavailable if there is a 100% packet loss from HostLabs
to its backbone providers. We will refund customers 5% of the monthly
fee for each additional hour of downtime (up to 100% of customer's
monthly fee). Network infrastructure is all equipment, from the
cable connected to the server's NIC to the backbone provider, and
includes routers, switches and cabling. Downtime is measured past
10 minutes after notification of network failure, via the ticketing
system. If the ticketing system itself is unreachable, the ticket
must be started by calling the NOC. HostLabs personnel will determine
end of downtime by a traceroute to the customer's machine from outside
HostLabs
Claiming
Refunds
Customer
is responsible for notifying the billing department for any credits
due for the month within seven days from the time of the incidence.
Customer should supply all relevant information, including ticket
numbers, for refund to take place. Denial of customer claims may
be appealed through the normal escalation procedure.
Customer
Spamming Policy
HostLabs
has zero tolerance for spam originating from our customers, or from
our customers' customers, or for spam advertising web sites of our
customers or our customers' customers.
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