Service level agreement

Liquid Web SLA

Hardware Replacement Service Level Agreement (SLA) – Dedicated Services Only

Liquid Web guarantees that in the event of a dedicated server hardware failure, the faulty hardware will be replaced, in most cases, within 30 minutes of identifying the problem. In the event that this guarantee is not met, Liquid Web will issue a credit for ten times the actual amount of additional downtime recorded by service monitoring logs. The amount of compensation may not exceed the customer’s monthly recurring charge. This guarantee does not include the time it requires to perform additional software-related maintenance, including rebuilding web accounts from backups, cloning hard drives, reloading the operating system, reloading and configuring applications, or rebuilding RAID arrays.

Network Uptime Service Level Agreement (SLA) – All Services

Liquid Web guarantees network uptime to be 100%. This guarantee assures that all major routing devices within our network are reachable from the global internet 100% of the time.

Network Service Level Agreement (SLA) Exclusions

Many possible situations are completely beyond the control of Liquid Web and therefore are not in the scope of this SLA. These situations include:

  • Scheduled network maintenance – occasionally network maintenance will be required. Liquid Web will do everything possible to minimize and avoid downtime during this maintenance. You will receive prior notification of upcoming maintenance at the e-mail address we have on file. Scheduled maintenance periods are not eligible for SLA credits.
  • Hardware maintenance – on rare occasions, the hardware in your Dedicated Server may need maintenance or replacement. Liquid Web will do everything possible to minimize any downtime in these situations per our hardware replacement SLA. Any downtime incurred as a result of this maintenance will not be counted towards our network SLA.
  • Software maintenance – an important part of managing a Dedicated Server is keeping the software up to date. If you choose to have Liquid Web manage your server, occasional software updates will be required to address security or performance issues. Usually, you will experience little or no downtime in these situations, but we cannot guarantee a specific amount of time in all situations.
  • Malicious attacks – if a third party not associated with Liquid Web initiates a “Denial of Service” or other form of disabling attack against your Dedicated Server or major portions of our network, Liquid Web will do everything in its power to stop the attack, but cannot guarantee a resolution time.
  • Legal actions – In the case that a legal action is taken against a customer of Liquid Web and Liquid Web is required to act in accordance with the order, Liquid Web shall not be responsible for any SLA damages.
  • cPanel issues – if you choose to run cPanel and Web Host Manager on your Dedicated Server, the default install will be configured for automatic updates of cPanel-related software. On occasion, one of these automatic updates could adversely affect all or part of the cPanel-related software on your server. Liquid Web will do whatever is necessary to fix any cPanel-related problems but cannot guarantee a resolution time.
Network Service Level Agreement (SLA) Remedy – All Services

In the event that Liquid Web does not meet this SLA, dedicated hosting clients will become eligible to request compensation for downtime reported by service monitoring logs. If Liquid Web is or is not directly responsible for causing the downtime, the customer will receive a credit for 10 times (1,000%) the actual amount of downtime. This means that if your server is unreachable for 1 hour (beyond the 0.0% allowed), you will receive 10 hours of credit.

All requests for compensation must be received within 5 business days of the incident in question. The amount of compensation may not exceed the customer’s monthly recurring charge. This SLA does not apply for any month that the customer has been in breach of Liquid Web Terms of Service or if the account is in default of payment.

Response Time – All Services

Our technical support team strives to meet customer initial response time for chats in less than one minute, and help desk tickets within one hour.  However, these initial response times are not part of an SLA and are not guaranteed.

Compensation

All requests for compensation must be received within five (5) business days of the incident in question. The amount of compensation may not exceed the customer’s monthly recurring charge. This SLA does not apply for any month that the customer has been in breach of Liquid Web Terms of Service or if the account is in default of payment. Duplication of SLA compensation is not allowed. Only one SLA credit may be given per incident. For example: if a network outage SLA event and hardware SLA event happen simultaneously, SLA compensation will only be given for one of the events. Liquid Web utilizes some third-party services to provide responses to customers. If a third-party’s system failure prevents Liquid Web from meeting its own SLA requirements, the SLA event will be ineligible for compensation.

Nexcess SLA

The SLA is applicable to all Services delivered to Customers. The SLA is binding only on the Customer and Nexcess and does not apply to any third parties, including Customer End Users. The issuance of Credits (defined below) is the sole and exclusive remedy of Customer and Nexcess’s sole and exclusive obligations, for any failure of Nexcess to satisfy the requirements set forth in the SLA.

SLA Credit Claim

To claim a credit the Customer shall follow the Approved Procedure within seven (7) days of the end of the Claimed Outage. The claim will be reviewed by Nexcess; any credit for Verified Outages (“SLA Credits”) shall be issues as provided below.

Claimed Outage means the period (measured in minutes) during which Customer claims a Loss of Services during a monthly period within the Term as reported using the Approved Procedure.

Excluded Minutes means the period of any outage measured in minutes due to the exclusions set forth in the SLA Credit Exclusion during a monthly period within the Term.

Qualifying Outage Minutes mean the aggregate of all minutes of a Verified Outage during a monthly period within the Term, minus any Excluded Minutes in the monthly period within that Term.

Services means the services ordered by Customer and accepted by Nexcess.

Loss of Services means the Customer is unable to connect to the Nexcess datacenter providing Services to the Customer.

Verified Outage means a Claimed Outage for a particular Service that has been verified by Nexcess using its monitoring logs of accessibility to the Nexcess datacenter or Services.

Service Commitments.

Nexcess will provide a minimum 100% uninterrupted transit to the Internet (as measured on a monthly basis) as well as 100% uninterrupted electricity. Nexcess will do its best to make hardware replacements on all dedicated and co-located systems, but cannot make any guarantees in regards to co-located equipment. All attempts will be made to get the system diagnosed and operational within 24 hours. There are no additional fees for hardware replacement in dedicated systems, but co-located customers may incur additional fees for hardware replacement services.

SLA Credits.

Should transit to the Internet or electricity become unavailable for a cumulative period up to 15 minutes beyond the 100% minimum in any month of service, the Customer can receive a credit equivalent to 5% of the Customer’s recurring monthly fees for that month for every additional 15 minutes the network or power is unavailable. All credit calculations will be based on unavailability in 15 minute increments. Outages may not be combined to fulfill the 15 minute minimum.

The maximum SLA Credit that Company is liable to pay the Customer in any calendar month under this SLA shall be equal to the recurring monthly fees paid by Customer to Company for the specific services affected by the interruption in transit to the Internet or in electricity.

Approved Procedure.

Customer is eligible to receive SLA Credit, subject to the following process (the “Approved Procedure”):

  1. Customer will report a Claimed Outage by opening a ticket in the Customer Portal with the billing department.
  2. In order to receive a SLA Credit, Customer must submit a report of Claimed Outage within seven (7) days of the end of the Claimed Outage after the technical issues have been resolved.
  3. Nexcess will review Claimed Outages against Verified Outages.
  4. Nexcess’s determination of SLA Credits is final.
  5. Customer agrees to pay all invoices in full while a Claimed Outage is being reviewed or SLA Credit is being determined.
  6. Nexcess will communicate the SLA Credits to Customer and the ticket will be updated, provided that, the SLA Credit may not be used to reduce the payment due in the month in which the SLA Credit is paid below zero. Nexcess will apply the SLA Credits to the Customer’s future invoices for the relevant Services.
Ineligible Customers.

Customer who at the time of the report of the Claimed Outage are not current on their payment of the fees for the Services do not qualify for SLA Credits for such Claimed Outages. In addition, Customer who have not paid their fees when due for the Services three or more times in the previous twelve calendar months do not qualify for SLA Credits.

Use of SLA Credits.

SLA Credits may be used solely for future payments due for the particular Service or failure of other obligations for which the Service Credits are issued. The SLA Credits may not be sold or transferred to other parties. SLA Credits may not be used until any Customer violations are resolved to Nexcess’s reasonable satisfaction. Any Customer making false or duplicative claims for Claimed Outages will incur a one-time charge of fifty dollars ($50.00) per incident for such claims. False or duplicative claims are also a violation and may, in Nexcess’s sole discretion, result in a suspension of Services. SLA Credits shall expire on the termination or expiration of the TOS.

SLA Credit Exclusion.

SLA Credits do not apply for periods during which the Services are not available for the following reasons:

  1. Outages due to scheduled or emergency network, equipment and/or facility maintenance, which will be broadcast to all customers when possible in advance via the Nexcess service status website located at https://status.nexcess.net
  2. Customer use of the Services in violation
  3. Events described in the Force Majeure provision;
  4. Suspension of Customer’s access to the Services;
  5. Violation of the AUP;
  6. Problems caused by the Customer’s use of the Services after Nexcess advised Customer to modify such use, if Customer did not modify its use as advised;
  7. Problems arising from equipment and/or events out of the control of Nexcess. This includes downtime due to account transfers or Customer error.

Last Updated: 08.26.2013