Selecting the Right Level of Support

Selecting the right level of support at FastServers.Net requires understanding our DEFCON Management Services. These five levels of management provide the core foundation for support services at FastServers.Net. First, you will find a list of the most common questions in relation to our DEFCON Management structure- these will serve as an introduction. 

Did You Know?

• DEFCON Management is the distinct level of support services you receive with your dedicated or collocated server. As a DEFCON 4 profile, you are expected to have a high level of system administration skills for server security, operations, and overall upkeep.
• The overall support provided to DEFCON 4 customers includes 24 x 7 Monitoring of One (1) Critical Service on your server, free patches and upgrades when you request them, (OSSHA) Security Audits, and General Support, including basic & concise information on how to perform critical tasks on your server. The SLA for D4 support guarantees you a 24-hour or less response time. During a recovery procedure for the critical service in question, if it is identified that more than 15 minutes will be required to repair the situation approval of advanced support will be necessary before our technical support team proceeds with the required maintenance.
• FastServers.Net offers advice, knowledge base articles, and how-toss related to problem resolution through our customer education support system. At our support teams discretion, an engineer may choose to login to your server to gain more information or execute commands to complete your request.
• DEFCON 4 customers do not receive advanced system administration hours or priority support: while you have the ability to tap our experts for questions and answers, this level of support assumes your ability to execute and maintain production webserver operating systems of either the Linux or Windows variety.
• FastServers.Net requires you to keep FastServers informed of your administrative/root password; as failure to do this automatically disables remote monitoring. If this is not updated, the server profile in question will be automatically downgraded to DEFCON 5.
• DEFCON 4 does not include backup service of any kind, including both local backups and remote backups. While facilities may be purchased and made available, all configurations related to backups are the responsibility of the customer, including setup and ongoing verification of data consistency.
• DEFCON 4 does not include OS reinstalls or Control Panel (re)installation: the charge for OS reinstall is $50.00 and OS + Control Panel = $100.00. Customer is responsible for the complete reconfiguration and restoration of the server environment, though additional billable hours may be purchased to provide for this.
• FastServers.Net defines technical support issues as they relate to the operating systems, tcp/ip services & related applications, and the overall core functions of your server. As a self managed client it is assumed you will be able to identify and provide solutions when necessary or be willing to pay for priority support on a per issue basis. It is your right as a client to ask for our advice, though in certain situations it may be required that you pay for advanced support in order to resolve complex and/or highly time-sensitive issues.
• In the event of a hardware failure, FastServers.Net will execute a replacement for hardware following our SLA guidelines: all resources required for a quick turnaround time will be focused on the emergency at hand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are all of your servers considered fully managed?
No! That's exactly why we have Five Levels of Management- it makes it possible for FastServers to service a wide spectrum of particular customer needs. In many cases, customers that have their own system administrators do not want or require very little of our support and expertise. These customers choose DEFCON 4 and DEFCON 5 as their server management level. If organizations contracting our services do not have system administrators on staff, DEFCON 3, DEFCON 2, and DEFCON 1 are the suggested support levels that should be considered.

What if I choose DEFCON 4 but I don't have a system administrator?
By selecting the wrong level of support it is likely you will not be satisfied with our services. At FastServers.Net your level of support (DEFCON Management) helps engineers immediately determine the prowess and/or availability of your in-house administrators. As a DEFCON 4 client, expect our team of engineers to provide you with high quality responses centered largely on guidance and direction on issues that you have. It is also expected that you have the ability to open thoroughly contrived support threads using the correct terminology and applicable language. If you are not a system administrator or a system administrator is not maintaining your server, then DEFCON 4 is the wrong choice. Over time, clients that opt for DEFCON 4 and don't have system administrators readily available experience higher support fees, increased amounts of downtime, and security issues that lead to servers being compromised. System administrators are required to maintain sane, safe, and stable servers! Tickets opened by DEFCON 4 clients have a SLA based response time of 24 hours or less, while higher levels of DEFCON service receive a SLA based response of two hours or less.

What happens if I select DEFCON 4 and need advanced/priority support?
Advanced/Priority support is available anytime you require it. When opening a ticket, there is an option to upgrade to priority support as our online support system gives you the ability to approve the maximum amount of administration time you will allow for the thread in question.

Is it possible to select DEFCON 4 to start and upgrade later?
DEFCON upgrades are always an option at FastServers; however, such enhancements must be approved by our Level 3 engineers. When performing an upgrade, your server will be evaluated and reviewed for overall security, errata updates, and general upkeep. In cases that the Level 3 engineer is able to bring the server up to required security standards the upgrade will be approved. In cases that the server is out-of-date to a point of extended legacy or is deemed non-salvageable, alternatives such as Operating System Reinstalls and/or similar migration periods will be required.

Does DEFCON Management include the backup of your server?
No, backups and restores are not a part of the overall management of your server. The space, software, and processes are treated as a separate entity entirely. To discuss a backup solution for your server please contact sales@fastservers.net.

Does DEFCON Management include OS Reinstalls?
No, OS Reinstalls are not part of any DEFCON profile’s allotment. In the event your server requires a re-install, the charge is $50.00 for the Operating System and $50.00 for Control Panel. OS Reinstalls will restore your machine to an entirely clean, out-of-the-box state. A team of engineers can be assigned if you need assistance with the restoration of data, critical service configuration, additional special procedures, or any type of support related to an OS Reinstall.

Can I upgrade and downgrade DEFCON Management anytime I want?
You have the right to upgrade (which requires approval from our engineers) and you have the right to downgrade at anytime. FastServers.Net does restrict more than one DEFCON profile change inside of a three-month period. Upgrading to a higher DEFCON level to avoid advanced administration charges and downgrading shortly thereafter is strictly prohibited and as such, we have allowed a set window of time for repeated DEFCON modifications, per server profile.

Can FastServers.Net require a specific DEFCON Management Level for an active server profile?
Absolutely. The goal of our team of engineers is to provide the highest level of security, webserver efficiency, and quality support to all customers. If you frequently open tickets, have repetitive security/abuse/outage issues, or it is assumed no system administrator is maintaining the server, you can and will be required to upgrade to DEFCON 3, DEFCON 2, or DEFCON 1, depending on the mitigating factors of the situation at hand.

DEFCON 3, DEFCON 2, and DEFCON 1 all have automatic software updates included, what happens if I need to be notified before they're applied?
FastServers.Net understands many of our customers employ special applications and unique configurations that require the consistency of the server environment. For this reason, if you want to be notified before updates occur we can flag your server's profile with the necessary details. It is expected that full communication with our support team occurs in a timely fashion for these types of sanity checks to be properly instated.

How are tickets and support response times affected by DEFCON Management Levels?
FastServers.Net as a whole adheres to a commitment to provide the quickest response times to all customers; however, servers that are classified as DEFCON 3, DEFCON 2, and DEFCON 1 receive a higher priority in our support queue. If you are not contracted for DEFCON 3, DEFCON 2, or DEFCON 1 services and need priority support, it is available for $100/hr - our support system will make this option available to you at the onset of every new thread that you submit.
How do the DEFCON Management Levels specifically translate into unmanaged, managed, and fully managed definitions?

DEFCON 5 - Unmanaged
DEFCON 4 - Self Managed
DEFCON 3 - Managed
DEFCON 2 - Managed
DEFCON 1 - Fully Managed