Service Level Agreement

Here at AffordableDomains.ca we use only top-quality servers, switches, and routers. This translates into great reliability and uptime. As a result, within our own server farm and facilities that are under our own control and management, we guarantee that our network will be up and functioning 100% of the time. We also have 100% Data Center systems guarantee.

Eligibility:

To be eligible for this SLA, your account must be in good standing. All requests for credit or refunds should fulfill these requirements:

• Request must be submitted using the ticket system
• Request must be submitted within 7 days of the issue in question
• Your request must include a ticket number to reference that shows the issue being reported and acknowledged.

Network & Data Center Guarantee:

We guarantee that the network will be available 100% of the time in each month (this does not include functionality of software/services on a server), excluding scheduled maintenance. Network uptime includes functioning of all network infrastructure including routers, switches, and cabling, but does not include services, daemons, software running on your server, or hardware failure on a server. Network uptime means the network itself will be up and available. In situations where a client runs a cluster or redundant server, they can take advantage of the 100% uptime guarantee by eliminating a single point of failure in their hardware.

We are not responsible for outages or circumstances beyond our control that hinder access to your site or server. The following are excluded from the monthly calculation of Service Availability:

• Scheduled Maintenance: occasionally upgrades, updates, and hardware replacements are required. We will take every precaution to avoid downtime, but it may not always be unavoidable. Downtime during scheduled maintenance is not covered and not refundable.
• Hardware Maintenance: server hardware is not related to the network. We maintain thousands of servers and at some point, all hardware can and will fail. We will work quickly to restore the server and use our backups, if available, to restore service.
• Software Maintenance: while managing servers we must keep systems, OS, kernels, and other various software updated and current to avoid exploits and prolonged downtime or issues. At times this means rebooting systems and rarely unexpected problems arise that extend the maintenance window.
• Traffic conditions or outage on the Internet outside our network, issues from upstream providers, clients ISP, or local problems such as Browser or DNS caching.
• DDoS, Attacks, Exploits or hacked servers.
• Failure of individual services on a server while the network is up.
• Interruptions or failure of individual service caused by client, their employees, client's customers, friends, or family to their service.
• Inaccurate installation or configuration of software by the client or non-staff, 3rd party software, client abuse or over utilization of resources.

We guarantee that the critical systems, including power and HVAC, will be available 100% of the time in a given month, excluding scheduled maintenance and client’s server power supply.

Critical systems include functioning of all power and HVAC infrastructure including UPSs, PDUs and cabling, but does not include the power supplies on customers' servers. NOC downtime exists when a particular server is shut down due to power or heat problems and we record such a failure in the support ticket system.

If network downtime occurs the customer will be credited 10x (1000%) of the downtime as recorded by the support ticket and confirmed problem to the resolution, up to 100% of the customer's monthly fee. If the network is out for 1 hour, we will credit you 10 hours of downtime. In this instance we divide your monthly payment by days of the month, divided by 24hrs a day to find an hour rate. That amount will be credited to your account towards your next invoice.

Hardware Guarantee – (Dedicated Servers Only):

We guarantee the functioning of dedicated servers and their components. We will replace any failed component at no cost to the customer while the account is in good standing. Hardware replacement will begin once we identify the cause of the problem. Hardware replacement is guaranteed to be complete within 2 hours of problem identification. This guarantee of 2 hours does not include additional actions such as software installations, OS reinstalling, or other data or backup services. In the event that it takes us more than 2 hours to replace faulty hardware, we will refund the customer 10x (1000%) of the downtime up to their monthly fee for every 1hour of downtime (up to 100% of customer's monthly fee). This means if we couldn't replace the hardware for 4 hours for some odd reason, and then began the OS and software install which could take hours longer, we went 2hours past the hardware replacement time. We will credit you 2hours x 10, 20hours of service. We would not credit the time it takes to reinstall software as everyone's system has unique requirements and this is a hardware SLA not a software SLA. In this instance we divide your monthly payment by days of the month, divided by 24hrs a day to find an hour rate. That amount will be credited to your account towards your next invoice.

Hardware is defined as the Processor(s), RAM, hard disk(s), motherboard, NIC and other related hardware included under the server lease.

Occasionally servers and systems must be brought down for routine maintenance and upgrades to ensure that your site will perform optimally. However, we strive to keep such service interruptions to a minimum, and, when possible, give you advance notice of scheduled any maintenance. Scheduled service outages do not qualify for this guarantee!

Additionally, this guarantee is your remedy for any unscheduled downtime of more than limits outlined above. Downtime must be confirmed by a staff member in our support system. Maximum credit given will not exceed the amount of the charge for the customer service with us. The credit will be applied to your invoice on your next due date. Downtime is measured from the time the customer records such failure in the support ticket system and until a resolution is provided in that ticket.