Web Hosting Service Level Agreement


Purpose

This document outlines the levels of availability and support that the client can expect to receive as part of ChillNet’s Web Hosting service. It’s worth noting that ChillNet offers multiple hosting packages, each with varying levels of developer support. For example, on the standard hosting package, developer support (both telephone and email) is limited to bug fixes in design or functionality developed by ChillNet. If you require support unrelated to site maintenance or fixes, you’ll be charged our standard hourly rate. On the other hand, clients on the Support package (or higher) will receive one hour of developer support each month, which can’t be used for broader site enhancements or functionality updates.

This Agreement aims to ensure that the proper elements and commitments are in place to provide consistent support and maintenance for website hosting and the website to the Client(s) by the Service Provider(s).

The objectives of this Agreement are to:

  • Provide clear reference to service ownership, accountability, roles and/or responsibilities.
  • Present a clear, concise and measurable description of website hosting to the client.
  • Match perceptions of expected service provision with actual service support and delivery for both the website and website hosting.

Service Agreement

The following detailed service parameters are the responsibility of ClientsFirst in the ongoing support of this Agreement.

2.1. Service Scope

  • This Agreement covers the following Services;
  • Manned telephone support
  • Monitored email support
  • Software and security updates
  • Regular backups of website
  • Facilitating client penetration and other security testing and auditing and resolving the results of those tests
  • Bug fixes in design/functionality developed by ChillNet

2.2 What is required by the Client

The Client responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include:

  • Payment for all support costs at the agreed interval.
  • Reasonable availability of client representative(s) when resolving a service-related incident or request.
  • Provide ChillNet with the contact details of a minimum of 2 people who shall be informed of any actions resulting from this agreement.
  • Providing ChillNet with a minimum of 2 weeks’ notice of the scheduling of penetration and other testing carries a risk of impacting service.

2.3 What is required of ChillNet

  • ChillNet’s responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include:
  • Ensuring 99.5% Network and Power Availability of service(s) for hosting.
  • Meeting response times associated with service-related incidents.
  • Appropriate notification to Client for all scheduled maintenance.
  • Ensuring the hosting facilities and website are secured.
  • Security updates and bug fixes are applied within agreed timescales for hosting infrastructure and management tools.

2.4. Service Assumptions

Assumptions related to in-scope services and/or components include:

  • A minimum of two full backups per week of the hosting account will be carried out.
  • Changes to services will be communicated and documented to the client with a minimum notice period of 30 days, in normal circumstances this notice will be included in the report.
  • Amendments to site content included in hosting packages will be carried out to a maximum of one hour per month unless otherwise agreed.

This SLA does not cover service-related incidents caused by problems in the following:

  • Client’s local area network.
  • Client-provided Internet connectivity or end-user software.
  • Entities inside Client’s internal network including, but not limited to, firewall configuration and bandwidth shaping, local area workstations, or other servers, equipment, and software that have a potential bearing on the local networking environment (except web browser software).
  • Client’s domain names, which are managed by the client themselves or an individual or organization acting on their behalf.
  • Service requests which require major changes will be a change request and chargeable.

Service Provision

ChillNet Web Hosting services are provided through partnerships with world class datacenters. We manage our own infrastructure, firewall configurations and updates. High level of security is built-in as a standard.

3.1 Data Centre Infrastructure, Security and Connectivity

Key Features

✓ Threat Detection & Blocking

Our server environment dynamically detects and blocks malicious behaviour, making sure your site doesn’t suffer embarrassing and potentially costly hacks.

✓ Automatic Backups

Regular website and database backups with restore options and full access to at least the last 3 backups.

✓ Traffic Encryption with SSL

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and, in short, it’s the standard technology for keeping an internet connection secure and safeguarding any sensitive data that is being sent between two systems, preventing criminals from reading and modifying any information transferred, including potential personal details.

✓ WordPress Core Updates

Automatic WordPress CMS core updates to ensure your website remains up-to-date and fully secure (Available Through the use of WP-Toolkit).

✓ Regular WordPress Plugin Updates

Ongoing WordPress plugin updates to ensure your website remains up-to-date and secure (Available Through the use of WP-Toolkit)

✓ Nginx Cache

Reduce strain on your site’s resources with our caching solution, which is capable of moving hundreds of millions of hits per day through our system.

Service Management

Effective support of in-scope services is a result of maintaining consistent service levels. The following sections provide relevant details on service availability, monitoring of in-scope services and related components.

Service Availability

Coverage parameters specific to the service(s) covered in this Agreement are as follows:

  • Telephone support : 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday
  • Calls received out of office hours will be forwarded to a voicemail service and best efforts will be made to action the call, however no action can be guaranteed until the next working day
  • Email support: Monitored 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday
  • Emails received outside of office hours will be collected, however no action can be guaranteed until the next working day

Any planned maintenance work that we require to carry out that will involve either a loss of service, or a risk of loss of service, will be advertised at least 2 working days in advance, and will be carried out at a time to ensure as minimum an amount of disruption as possible.

4.2. Service Requests

In support of services outlined in this Agreement, ChillNet will respond to service-related incidents and/or requests submitted by the Client within the following time frames:

  • 0-8 hours (during business hours) for issues classified as High priority.
  • Within 48 hours for issues classified as Medium priority.
  • Within 5 working days for issues classified as Low priority.

The following definitions will be used to determine the priority of a service-related incident or request unless the Service Provider and Client agree on an alternative explanation:

High

Critical security upgrades/patches/bugfixes

  • Downtime investigation and resolution
  • A major function of the hosting service/website is not operational for multiple users

Medium

A minor function of the hosting service/website is not operational for one or more users (who can continue to use other hosting features)

  • A user has questions about the hosting service/website functionality or needs assistance in using the service.
  • A user needs administrative service.
  • Content addition/modification/deletion

Low

  • Non-critical upgrades e.g. Non critical CMS upgrade
  • Preparation for facilitating client penetration and other testing.
  • Enhancement requests
  • Implementing solutions to technology advances in browsers that may cause disruption to site functionality

The priority of any service-related incident or request not defined in the above table shall be subject to the agreement of the Service Provider and Client.