Canadian Web Hosting

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

All capitalized terms not defined in this Service Level Agreement have the meaning set out in the Customer Agreement. Not all Service Levels will apply to your hosting service. Please consult your plan to determine which Service Levels are applicable to you.

1. Overview

The purpose of this Service Level Policy is to set forth the service levels at which Hosting.ca is to provide certain Services to Customer. Customer agrees that the remedies set out herein are the sole and exclusive remedy for Hosting.ca’s failure to meet an SLA. This Service Levels Policy applies only while Customer accounts are in good standing.

2. Definitions

2.1 “Service Level Agreement” or “SLA” means, with respect to a specific Service, a level of performance at which Hosting.ca is contractually obligated to deliver the Service to Customer and which, depending on the specific Service ordered, is established with reference to one or more of the following metrics:

  • Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems SLA
  • Network Services SLA
  • System Services SLA

 

2.2 “Service Level Objective” or “SLO” means, with respect to a specific Service, a level of performance at which Hosting.ca will use commercially reasonable efforts to deliver but does not have any associated terms or credit rights.

3. Measurement.

3.1 SLA’s for Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems are calculated based on an average of 730 hours in a month. For example, 99.95% availability indicates 21.56 minutes of unavailability per month.

3.2 SLA’s for Network Services and System Services are measured via bit rates that are sampled at the IP level every five minutes during the billing period. Verification occurs one minute after an initial alarm (please refer to Section 6.1 of the Standard Operating Procedures).

3.3 SLA’s for Network Services are applicable to the shared dual, redundant Network Infrastructure from the data center demarcation point up to the switch connected to the server and does not include the server connection.

4. Hosting.ca’s Reporting Standards

4.1 Hosting.ca shall issue a Notification to our bulletins within 15 minutes of Verification of any Priority 1 incident (please refer to Section 6.1 of the Standard Operating Procedures). The notification shall specify the date and time of the downtime and the duration of the downtime. SLA metrics shall be measured commencing as of the time of Verification.

4.2 Hosting.ca shall issue a Notification to our bulletins within 15 minutes of Verification of any Priority 2 incident (please refer to Section 6.1 of the Standard Operating Procedures). The notification shall specify the date and time of the downtime and the duration of the downtime. SLA metrics shall be measured commencing as of the time of Verification.

4.3 Hosting.ca shall issue an Incident Report within 24 hours of Verification for any Priority 1 incidents that result in downtime (please refer to Section 10).

5. Customer Managed Services

5.1 Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems SLA

  • Guarantee. Hosting.ca’s monthly SLA for Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems availability for Customer Managed Services is 99.95%. This SLA applies to the hydro connections, generators, UPS, and the HVAC Cooling systems within Hosting.ca facilities and does not apply to server hardware such as power cords. Any Service interruption that results from a power or environmental control failure within the Facility and lasts 21.56 minutes (twenty one minutes) in any calendar month is a ‘Facility Event’ constituting a failure to achieve this Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems SLA.
  • Credit Requests. Within 10 business days of the end of the month in which Hosting.ca issues a Notification to Customer concerning a Facility Event pursuant to Article 4, Customer shall be entitled to request a reduction of 10% of the monthly recurring fee payable for Services for each such Facility Event that occurred in a given month, up to a maximum 30% within a given month. Upon receipt of Customer’s request for such credit, Hosting.ca shall apply such credit against any amounts payable by Customer under the Customer Agreement in respect of Services delivered by Hosting.ca in respect of the following calendar month. Any credits to which Customer is entitled resulting from Hosting.ca’s failure to meet its SLA’s in the last calendar month during the term of the Customer Contract shall be paid out to Customer by Hosting.ca within 30 Business Days of the last day of the Term.

5.2 Network SLA

  • Guarantee. For Customer Managed Services, Hosting.ca guarantees that within each calendar month, there shall not be a sustained packet loss of greater than 25% for more than 43.8 minutes. Any Service interruption that results from a packet loss greater than 25% for more than 43.8 minutes in any calendar month is a ‘Network Event’ constituting a failure to achieve this Network SLA.
  • Credit Requests. Within 10 business days of the end of the month in which Hosting.ca issues a Notification to Customer concerning a Network Event pursuant to Article 4, Customer shall be entitled to request a reduction of 10% of the monthly recurring fee payable for the Bandwidth Services indicated in the Order Form for each such Network Event that occurred in a given month, up to a maximum 30% within a given month. Upon receipt of Customer’s request for such credit, Hosting.ca shall apply such credit against any amounts payable by Customer under the Customer Agreement in respect of Bandwidth Services delivered by Hosting.ca in respect of the following calendar month. Any credits to which Customer is entitled resulting from Hosting.ca’s failure to meet its SLA’s in the last calendar month during the term of the Customer Contract shall be paid out to Customer by Hosting.ca within 30 Business Days of the last day of the Term.
  • The Customer acknowledges that no network security system related to the Internet or any other network is fail-safe or “hack-proof”, and Hosting.ca shall not be responsible nor have any liability whatsoever if, any unauthorized individual successfully penetrates such network security systems and/or gains access illegally to Customer’s System.

5.3 Response Time SLA

For Customer Managed Services, Hosting.ca targets a 15 minute response to (i) Customer initiated Service Requests pursuant to Section 5 of the Standard Operating Procedures, (ii) Customer Requests for Facility access pursuant to Section 14 of the Standard Operating Procedures, and (iii) Customer reported Services problems pursuant to Section 1.1 of the Standard Operating Procedures.

6. Hosting.ca Managed Services

6.1 Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems SLA

  • Guarantee. Hosting.ca’s monthly SLA for Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems availability for Hosting.ca Managed Services is 99.95%. This SLA applies to the hydro connections, generators, UPS, and the HVAC Cooling systems within Hosting.ca facilities and does not apply to server hardware such as power cords. Any Service interruption that results from a power or environmental control failure within the Facility and lasts 43.8 minutes (fourty three minutes) in any calendar month is a ‘Facility Event’ constituting a failure to achieve this Facility Power and Environmental Control Systems SLA.
  • Credit Requests. Within 10 business days of the end of the month in which Hosting.ca issues a Notification to Customer concerning a Facility Event pursuant to Article 4, Customer shall be entitled to request a reduction of 10% of the monthly recurring fee payable for Services for each such Facility Event that occurred in a given month, up to a maximum 30% within a given month. Upon receipt of Customer’s request for such credit, Hosting.ca shall apply such credit against any amounts payable by Customer under the Customer Agreement in respect of Services delivered by Hosting.ca in respect of the following calendar month. Any credits to which Customer is entitled resulting from Hosting.ca’s failure to meet its SLA’s in the last calendar month during the term of the Customer Contract shall be paid out to Customer by Hosting.ca within 30 Business Days of the last day of the Term.

6.2 Network SLA

  • Guarantee. For Hosting.ca Managed Services, Hosting.ca guarantees that within each calendar month, there shall not be a sustained packet loss of greater than 15% for more than 20 minutes. Any Service interruption that results from a packet loss greater that 15% for more than 20 minutes in any calendar month is a ‘Network Event’ constituting a failure to achieve this Network SLA.
  • Credit Requests. Within 10 business days of the end of the month in which Hosting.ca issues a Notification to Customer concerning a Network Event pursuant to Article 4, Customer shall be entitled to request a reduction of 10% of the monthly recurring fee payable for the Bandwidth Services indicated in the Order Form for each such Network Event that occurred in a given month, up to a maximum 30% within a given month. Upon receipt of Customer’s request for such credit, Hosting.ca shall apply such credit against any amounts payable by Customer under the Customer Agreement in respect of Bandwidth Services delivered by Hosting.ca in respect of the following calendar month. Any credits to which Customer is entitled resulting from Hosting.ca’s failure to meet its SLA’s in the last calendar month during the term of the Customer Contract shall be paid out to Customer by Hosting.ca within 30 Business Days of the last day of the Term.

6.3 System Services SLA

  • Guarantee. For Hosting.ca Managed Services, Hosting.ca guarantees that (i) with respect to individual servers, Hosting.ca managed applications will be available to respond to IP requests 99.95% of the time during each calendar month, and (ii) with respect to load balanced and/or clustered servers, Hosting.ca managed applications will be available to respond to IP requests 99.95% of the time during each calendar month. Any Service interruption that results from a Hosting.ca managed applications failure to respond to IP requests as stated herein in any calendar month is a ‘System Event’ constituting a failure to achieve this System Services SLA.
  • Credit Requests. Within 10 business days of the end of the month in which Hosting.ca issues a Notification to Customer concerning a System Event pursuant to Article 4, Customer shall be entitled to request a reduction of 10% of the monthly recurring fee payable for Services for each such System Event that occurred in a given month, up to a maximum 30% within a given month. Upon receipt of Customer’s request for such credit, Hosting.ca shall apply such credit against any amounts payable by Customer under the Customer Agreement in respect of Services delivered by Hosting.ca in respect of the following calendar month. Any credits to which Customer is entitled resulting from Hosting.ca’s failure to meet its SLA’s in the last calendar month during the term of the Customer Contract shall be paid out to Customer by Hosting.ca within 30 Business Days of the last day of the Term.

6.4 Response Time SLA

For Hosting.ca Managed Services, Hosting.ca targets a 15 minute response to (i) Customer initiated Service Requests pursuant to Section 5 of the Standard Operating Procedures, (ii) Customer Requests for Facility access pursuant to Section 14 of the Standard Operating Procedures, and (iii) Customer reported Services problems pursuant to Section 1.1 of the Standard Operating Procedures.

6.5 Hardware Repair/Maintenance SLA

For Hosting.ca Managed Services, this SLO is applicable to Hosting.ca provided hardware only. Hosting.ca guarantees the functioning of all hardware components and will replace any failed component at no cost to the customer. Qualifying hardware is Processor(s), RAM, hard drive(s), motherboard, NIC(s), power supply and other related hardware included with the server. Hardware replacement is guaranteed to be complete within 72 hours of problem identification. The hardware replacement timer begins once the customer opens a trouble ticket and Hosting.ca has determined the cause of the problem to be faulty hardware. Commencement of hardware repair/maintenance services for Customer provided hardware is subject to OEM service levels.

7. Multiple SLA Violations

Customer’s remedies for Hosting.ca’s failure to achieve SLA’s as stated in Articles 5 and 6 are not cumulative. Should Hosting.ca violate multiple SLA’s due to a single failure, Customer will only be due one remedy, such choice of remedy to be at Customer’s discretion.

8. SLA Exclusions

The following periods of time represent exclusions from the SLA’s:

  • Periods of scheduled and emergency maintenance as defined in Section 9 below and any other times that may be specifically agreed to with Customer.
  • Periods of downtime due to Customer-provided content or programming errors. Example: a CGI script or program written by Customer, or contracted party, that causes the server to be rebooted to restore the Service.
  • Periods of downtime due to Customer-initiated commands, file transfers, or systems administration. Examples: Customer initiated FTP that hangs the server and results in a reboot of the system; Customer intentionally taking down the system for their purposes.
  • Periods of downtime due to Customer directed and requested work.
  • Individual server or network component outages that do not impact the overall availability of the Service due to redundancy in the design.
  • Evaluation or approval of new software or hardware for use within Hosting.ca data centre. This includes systems developed outside of Hosting.ca such as third-party systems or systems developed by Customer.
  • Hosting.ca disconnecting Customer’s System from the network in jeopardy or as a result of any person’s use of or access to Customer’s system.
  • Factors outside of Hosting.ca’s reasonable control, including without limitation, any Events of Force Majeure or any act, instruction, or omission of Customer or of any third parties, or from any equipment or software that is not within the Facility or Hosting.ca’s sole control.

The above listing of exclusions is for illustrative purposes only and is not, therefore, an exhaustive or complete list. Hosting.ca will investigate any report it may receive from Customer with respect to any Facility Event, Network Event, or System Event and will use reasonable commercial efforts to remedy any Facility Event, Network Event, or System Event for which it is responsible under this Service Levels Policy or under the Customer Contract. If Hosting.ca acting reasonably determines that the Facility Event, Network Event, or System Event has been caused by factors outside the scope of its obligations under this Service Levels Policy, Hosting.ca shall be relieved of its obligations with respect to issuing credits hereunder and shall notify Customer of its determination.

9. Standard Maintenance Windows

The Standard Maintenance Windows are Fridays through Sundays 9pm – 6:00 am PST. In addition, Hosting.ca reserves the right to schedule Emergency Maintenance when deemed necessary in its sole discretion.

10. Dedicated Server Management Priority Guidelines

Priority Level

1. “CRITICAL” (Within 15 minutes)

  • Immediate attention required.
  • Complete failure of critical services or applications causing the web service to be completely unavailable.
  • Any failure that causes a severe or significant impact.
  • Security-related breach or exposure.
  • Network or power outages or disasters.
  • Server failures.
  • Service failures including failures that prevent normal browsing of Customer’s web site.
  • Emergency Maintenance.

2. “MAJOR” (Within 30 minutes)

  • Attention required as soon as possible.
  • Partial failure of critical services or applications.
  • A failure that may not have an immediate effect but could lead to the unavailability of web service.
  • Prolonged network degradation including latency, packet loss, or off-network failures.
  • Service down but server still up.
  • Access problems with application, data, or other systems due to password or profile problems.
  • Reboots to address performance degradation.
  • The restoration or replacement of critical data from a backup system.

3. “MINOR”(Within 24 hours)

  • Complete or partial failure of noncritical services or applications with minimal Customer impact.
  • Identified issues that do not impact Customer services.
  • Remote Access troubleshooting.
  • Billing questions.
  • Other unsupported Customer requests.

Priority Levels will be assigned by Hosting.ca. Descriptions are for illustration purposes only and do not represent a complete or exhaustive listing.

11. Data and Backups

Hosting.ca performs backups of all its email, web hosting and databases on a regular basis in the event of an emergency. However data integrity cannot be guaranteed on servers and is the responsibility of the customer to maintain backups of their data. In rare occasions, servers can become corrupted or compromised and data can be lost or damaged, so it is important for customers to keep their own backups to ensure data is secure and recoverable. Backup solutions should be carefully considered to meet the customers‘ individual needs and provide the best protection for their data. It is also important for customers to test their backups regularly to ensure that data can be successfully retrieved in the event of an emergency.

12. Server Failures

In the event of a server failure, data for all hosting plans will be restored to the most recent backup available. This restoration service will be provided at no additional cost to the customer. In the service level agreement, please note that the security and integrity of data stored on our systems cannot be fully guaranteed. Customers are required to maintain their own backups of all data at all times to prevent potential loss.

13. Server Migrations

Server migrations will be scheduled during off-hours, specifically on weekends and outside of regular business hours. Please be aware that any emails received or web pages updated during the migration period will be reverted to the state they were in at the time the backup was created. In the service level agreement, please note that the security and integrity of data stored on our systems cannot be fully guaranteed. Customers are required to maintain their own backups of all data at all times to prevent potential loss.

 

 

Acceptable Use Policy

The Acceptable Use Policy sets forth the principles, rules, and regulations that govern the use by the Customer of Hosting.ca’s networks, systems, services, and products. This Acceptable Use Policy has been established to promote the integrity, security, reliability, and privacy of Hosting.ca’s networks, systems, and Customer data contained within.

When using Hosting.ca’s networks, systems, products, and services the Customer is prohibited from engaging in certain activities that include, but are not limited to, those described below. Such prohibited activities may, at the sole discretion of Hosting.ca, be grounds for termination of the services with a Customer, for the application of additional service charges or for the involvement of law enforcement agencies.

Hosting.ca reserves the right to remove any content or restrict the use of the Services for activities or content that in Hosting.ca’s reasonable judgment, violate the terms or conditions under which Hosting.ca provides the Services or violate this Policy. Indirect or attempted violations of the policy, and actual or attempted violations by a third party on behalf of a Hosting.ca Customer or a Customer’s end user, shall be considered violations of the policy by such Customer.

Hosting.ca reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of its policy at any time without notice.

If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact Hosting.ca at support@hosting.ca.

Our Service Guarantee

Every shared web hosting package comes with a 30-day money back guarantee. If you find that we could not help or service you with your needs, you will be given a full refund. After this time period has passed by, no refund is given. There is no refund for customized services such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Domain Names, SSL Certificates, Exchange Hosting, BlackBerry hosting, or any other 3rd party service/license.

Our Cancellation Policy

Cancellation requests must be received by Hosting.ca a minimum of five (5) days prior to the end of your Billing Cycle. In order to cancel your web hosting service, you must create a ticket for verification in your client panel. The cancellation request MUST include the credit card holder’s last 4 digits of the credit card, and expiry date on file. This is for authenticity purposes. Cancellation requests by phone, email or to other departments will not be processed. Hosting.ca is unable to cancel your account effective for a future date. Plans that are subscribed yearly are not eligible for refunds.

To avoid interruptions in service, accounts are billed on a recurring, subscription basis. Web Hosting Accounts will automatically renew unless explicitly canceled prior to the renewal date (this includes domain renewals that Hosting.ca resells through OpenSRS and ENOM). Hosting.ca will confirm the cancellation request when it is processed. If you do not receive a confirmation, please contact Hosting.ca’s billing department at billing@hosting.ca as soon as possible.

Hosting.ca does not monitor, and will not automatically cancel, plans for problems related to domain name transfers, non-usage, Registrar problems, your ISP, or any other secondary issues not directly related to Hosting.ca services. Cancellation of services does not relieve the customer from paying any outstanding balance owed on the account. Hosting.ca reserves the right to cancel any account, at any time, without notice, for any reason Hosting.ca considers appropriate.

Prohibited Uses of Hosting.ca’s Services and Products

This section of the Acceptable Use Policy identifies the uses and actions that Hosting.ca considers in its reasonable judgment to be unacceptable and/or abusive, and thus, is strictly prohibited. The Customer may only use Hosting.ca’s networks, systems, services and products in a manner that, in Hosting.ca’s sole judgment, is consistent with the purposes of such networks, systems, services and products. The following examples of prohibited uses and actions are non-exclusive and are provided for general guidance only.

  1. to violate any law of any applicable jurisdiction, including, without limitation, laws governing advertising, alcohol, antitrust, child protection, drugs, encryption, exportation, food, financial services, firearms, gambling, importation, information systems, intellectual property, obscenity, privacy, securities, telecommunications and tobacco;
  2. to commit a tortious or otherwise wrongful act, including, without limitation, the posting or communication of libellous, defamatory, scandalous, threatening, harassing, or private information without the permission of the person(s) involved, or posting content that is likely to cause emotional distress, whether through content, frequency, or size;
  3. to engage in or to facilitate gambling activities;
  4. to post, send, or receive any content that is obscene, pornographic, lewd, lascivious, or excessively violent;
  5. to offer, solicit, sell, buy, rent, or license any goods, products, services, or information in, from, or to any location in which such activity is unlawful;
  6. to advocate, promote, or otherwise encourage violence against any government, organization, group, individual or property, or to provide instruction, information, or assistance in causing or carrying out such violence;
  7. to post, send, receive, display, distribute, or execute any content, including, without limitation, text, graphics, images, music, recordings, computer programs, links, frames, and “meta tags,” that violates any copyright, right of publicity, patent, trademark, service mark, trade name, mask work, trade secret or other intellectual property right of others;
  8. to delete or alter author attributions, copyright notices, or trademark notices, unless expressly permitted in writing by the owner;
  9. to violate the terms of applicable software licensing agreements. Hosting.ca shared web hosting accounts are not configured for the purposes of distributing software and or multimedia products.
  10. to obtain or attempt to obtain unauthorized access, such as attempting to circumvent or circumventing any authentication or other security feature of any system, network, or account. This includes accessing data not intended for the user, logging into a server or account the user is not authorized to access, or probing the security of any system, network, or account;
  11. to interfere or attempt to interfere with service to any user, host, or network by use of any program, script, command, or otherwise. This includes “denial of service” attacks, “flooding” of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service or to burden excessively a service’s resources, and attempts to “crash” a host;
  12. to introduce worms, harmful code and/or Trojan horses;
  13. to attempt to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup or bulletin board or to attempt to evade spam filters;
  14. to cancel or supersede posts other than your own, with the exception of official newsgroup or bulletin board moderators performing their duties;
  15. to send or post unsolicited messages or e-mail, whether commercial or not, a) to any recipients who have requested that messages not be sent to them, or b) to a large number of recipients, including users, newsgroups, or bulletin boards, at one time;
  16. to send or post a message whose subject or content is unrelated to the subject matter of the newsgroup or bulletin board to which it is posted;
  17. to send or post a message or e-mail with deceptive, absent, or forged header or sender identification information;
  18. to propagate chain letters and pyramid schemes, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings;
  19. to use Internet Relay Chat “bots”;
  20. to not install chat room scripts because they require significant amount of system resources.
  21. to not send unsolicited mass email from a Hosting.ca email server. This is strictly prohibited and Hosting.ca will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation. Customers are also in violation of this provision if they engage in spamming using the service of another Internet Service Provider or third party agency. Violators will be assessed a minimum fine of $200 and will face immediate suspension.
  22. to not share scripts not hosted by Hosting.ca. Any CGI scripts deemed to be adversely affecting server performance (constantly loading) or network integrity will be shut down without prior notice.
  23. to consume a high amount of server resources (such as, but not limited to, CPU time, memory usage, and network resources).
  24. to hold Hosting.ca, its affiliates, officers, employees and/or shareholders up to public scorn or ridicule; and/or
  25. to resell Hosting.ca’s services, in whole or in part, to any entity or individual, without Hosting.ca’s prior written consent, or to misrepresent your relationship with Hosting.ca.

Actions Taken by Hosting.ca

The failure by a customer to meet or follow any of the above Terms of Use is grounds for account deactivation. Hosting.ca will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of the Terms of Use. Canada Hosting reserves the right to remove any account without prior notice.

When Hosting.ca becomes aware of an alleged violation of its Terms of Use, Hosting.ca will initiate an investigation. During the investigation, Hosting.ca may restrict a customer’s access in order to prevent further potentially unauthorized activity. Depending on the severity of the violation, Hosting.ca may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend, terminate a customer’s web hosting account, pursue other civil remedies and/or charge fines at $250/hour for investigating the issue at hand. If such violation is a criminal offense, Hosting.ca will notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of such violation.

Hosting.ca does not issue credits for outages incurred through service disablement resulting from Acceptable Use Policy violations.

Hosting.ca customers agree to indemnify and hold harmless Hosting.ca from any claims resulting from the use of our services that damages them or any other party. The Hosting.ca service is provided on an as-is, as available basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Hosting.ca expressly disclaims any representation or warranty that the Hosting.ca service will be error-free, secure or uninterrupted. No oral advice or written information given by Hosting.ca, its employees, licensors or the like, will create a warranty; nor may you rely on any such information or advice. Hosting.ca and its partners and suppliers will not be liable for any cost or damage arising either directly or indirectly from any transaction or use of the service.