Vendhost is proud to offer an exceptional level of performance, reliability, and service. That is why we are making commitments to our customers in the form of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which provides certain rights and remedies regarding the performance of the Vendhost network. The Vendhost Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees our network/equipment reliability and performance.
Uptime Guarantee:
Vendhost strives to maintain a 99.5% network and server uptime service level. This uptime percentage is a monthly figure, and is calculated solely by Vendhost monitoring systems or Vendhost authorized/contracted outside monitoring services. If Vendhost fails to meet it's 99.5% uptime guarantee, and it is not due to one of the exceptions below, credits will be made available to each client, upon request, on a case by case basis. Vendhost does not credit a full month's service for minor downtime. This would not be financially healthy for Vendhost and in turn would only negatively effect the service level Vendhost provides to you. "Partial refunds for partial downtime" is our standard policy. In extreme circumstances, Vendhost may distribute full month credits, but this is dealt with on a case by case basis. Details on how credit amounts are calculated can be found below.
Exceptions:
Customers shall not receive any credits under this SLA in connection with any failure or deficiency of the Vendhost network caused by or associated with:
- Circumstances beyond reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of any governmental body, war, insurrection, sabotage, embargo, "Acts of God" (ie...fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, etc...), strike or other labour disturbance, interruption of or delay in transportation, unavailability of or interruption or delay in telecommunications or third party services, failure of third party software or inability to obtain raw materials, supplies, or power used in or equipment needed for provision of the Service Level Agreement
- Telco Failure (i.e.Telstra cutting a fiber line somewhere)
- Backbone peering point issues
- Scheduled maintenance for hardware/software upgrades
- Hardware failure (faulty hardware is rare, but cannot be predicted nor avoided)
- Software bugs/flaws (Expoilts and bugs may develop that cause security issues or downtime)
- DNS issues not within the direct control of Vendhost
- Network floods, hacks, attacks from outside parties or individuals
- Failure or error of any Vendhost monitoring or measurement system
- Client's acts or omissions, including without limitation, any negligence, wilful misconduct, or use of Vendhost service(s) in breach of Vendhost Policy and Service Guidelines, by Client or others authorized by Client.
Connectivity:
Vendhost's goal is to make the Vendhost network available to Clients free of outages for 99.5% of the time. An "outage" is defined as an instance in which the Client is unable to transmit and receive IP packets due to a Vendhost service failure for more than 15 consecutive minutes, excluding service failures relating to Vendhost scheduled maintenance and upgrades. The Vendhost network does not include client premises equipment or any Telco access facilities connecting the Client's premises to such infrastructure. Vendhost's goal is to keep Average Round-Trip Latency on the Vendhost network to 85 milliseconds or less. Vendhost defines "Average Round-Trip Latency", with respect to a given month, as the average time required for round-trip packet transfers between the Vendhost network and major US backbone peering points during such month, as measured by Vendhost. Vendhost's goal is to keep Average Packet Loss on the Vendhost network to 1% or less. Vendhost defines "Average Packet Loss", with respect to a given month, as the average percentage of IP packets transmitted on the Vendhost network during such month that are not successfully delivered, as measured by Vendhost.
Measurement:
Vendhost will periodically (on average every 10 minutes) monitor the Vendhost network and server availability using software and hardware components capable of measuring application traffic and responses. The Client acknowledges that such measurements may not measure the exact path traversed by the Client's internet connection, and that such measurements constitute measurements across the Vendhost network but not other networks to which the Client may connect. Vendhost reserves the right to periodically change the measurement points and methodologies it uses without notice to the Client. Full network and server reporting will be posted to a location designated by Vendhost and made available to the Client.
Hardware Failure:
Vendhost stands behind all equipment on our network. Faulty hardware is rare, but cannot be predicted nor avoided. Vendhost utilizes only name brand hardware of the highest quality and performance. Vendhost will replace all faulty hardware affecting performance levels of equipment within 48 hours, which includes hardware issues that cause server crashes or speed issues. Hardware failure resulting in complete network/server outage/downtime will be corrected within two hours of problem identification. Router failure is an exception to this SLA guarantee, and may require on-site Cisco engineers or backbone provider emergency personnel to correct the problem. Router failure is governed by current Vendhost contracts with Cisco and backbone providers in regard to the emergency repair service in case of such an issue. Vendhost will replace all faulty hardware on dedicated servers (rented or leased servers), at no charge to the Client, with an unlimited free replacement policy. This includes parts ordered as upgrades.
Credits:
Each request in connection with network/server outages/downtime must be received by Vendhost within five days of the occurance. Each request in connection with Average Round-Trip Latency or Average Packet Loss in a calendar month must be received by Vendhost within five days after the end of such month. The total amount credited to a Client for Vendhost not meeting SLA service levels will not exceed the service fees paid by the Client to Vendhost for such services for the period in question. Each validly requested credit will be applied to a Client invoice within 30 days after Vendhost's receipt of such request. Credits are exclusive of any applicable taxes charged to the Client or collected by Vendhost. Upon the Client's request (in accordance with the procedure set forth below), Vendhost will issue a credit to the Client for network/server outages/downtime occurring during any calendar month that are reported by the Client to Vendhost and confirmed by Vendhost measurement reporting. Such credit will be equal to one day's worth (1/30th) of the monthly fees paid by the Client, (for all service fees paid if network outage, or specific affected service fees paid if individual server downtime) multiplied by each hour (or portion thereof rounded to nearest next hour) of the cumulative duration of such outage/downtime. If Average Round-Trip Latency on the Vendhost network for a calendar month exceeds 85 milliseconds, then upon the Client's request, Vendhost will issue a credit to the Client equal to one day's worth (1/30th) of the monthly service fees paid by the Client for such month. If Average Packet Loss exceeds 1% during a calendar month, then upon the Client's request, Vendhost will issue a credit to the Client equal to one day's worth (1/30th) of the monthly service fees paid by the Client for such month.
Account cancellations:
Your account can be cancelled ONLY by submitting an email requesting the cancellation. Other methods of cancellation are not valid.
General:
Vendhost reserves the right to change or modify this SLA to benefit the Client, and will post changes to location currently housing this SLA at time of modification, which will be made available to the Client. Except as set forth in this SLA, Vendhost makes no claims regarding the availability or performance of the Vendhost network or servers. Specific terms/points of this SLA may be adjusted on a case by case basis by the specific Service Agreement signed/agreed by client. In case of difference terms/points in SLA and Service Agreement, the Service Agreement terms/points prevail over this general SLA policy. The Service Agreement signed/agreed by client, is above and beyond this SLA, and Service Agreement terms are in effect, including, but not limited to, limitations of liability.