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vPlatform Service Description
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
2 Service Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 2
3 Managed Service Responsibility Matrix ................................................................................................... 2
4 Service Components ................................................................................................................................ 3
4.1
Datacentre Services ................................................................................................................................................... 3
4.2
Datacentre Network and Bandwidth ........................................................................................................................... 3
4.3
Managed Firewall Service .......................................................................................................................................... 3
4.4
Datacentre Network ................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.5
Managed vPlatform .................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.6
License Management ................................................................................................................................................. 8
4.7
ESX Installation .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.8
Managed Data Backup & Restores .......................................................................................................................... 11
4.9
SMTP Service .......................................................................................................................................................... 12
5 Additional Options ................................................................................................................................ 13
5.1
Memory .................................................................................................................................................................... 13
5.2
Storage .................................................................................................................................................................... 13
5.3
License Management ............................................................................................................................................... 13
5.4
SSL Certificates ....................................................................................................................................................... 13
5.5
Additional IP Addresses ........................................................................................................................................... 14
6 Service Management ............................................................................................................................. 14
6.1
Service Implementation ............................................................................................................................................ 14
6.2
Milestones ................................................................................................................................................................ 14
6.3
Service Support........................................................................................................................................................ 15
7 Terms .................................................................................................................................................... 16
8 Version History ...................................................................................................................................... 17
9 Appendix A – Standard HTTP errors....................................................................................................... 17
10 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................. 17
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vPlatform Service Description
This document is copyright Star Technology Services Limited and is for internal use and customer distribution. The purpose of this document is to provide a description of the installation, management, maintenance and monitoring services that comprise our Star Business Hosting Service, vPlatform
This document also describes the responsibilities of both parties during the implementation and throughout the Contract period. This document is not a Service Level Agreement. Definitive details on the level of service can be found in the prevailing Service Level Agreement.
Component
Datacentre Internet Bandwidth
Managed Firewall
Managed VPN
Managed Servers
Elements
20 Mbps Resilient Internet Connectivity
Managed DC Virtual Firewall (High Availability)
Dedicated DC Virtual Firewall
Managed VPN for remote access and administration
Branch office VPN
Remote VPN
Bristol - ESX Cluster (4 node maximum with 30 virtual machines)
London - ESX Cluster (2 node maximum with 10 virtual machines)
Default configuration is outlined below, plus additional hardware options outlined in the
Service Order
Managed Functions
License Management
Platform Management for fully managed servers
Operating System
Managed SAN Storage
Managed Data Backup
SSL Certificate Registration
Advanced Solution Monitoring
Service Support
Managed vCluster service
Star-provided licenses for VMware ESX
Star or Customer provided licences for
Windows/Redhat Linux/Microsoft SQL and MySQL
Installation, monitoring, management and maintenance of VMware ESX systems as per description provided below
Client will be responsible for installing a operating system and managing licenses.
SAN storage partition as per the description below
Managed Data Backup as per description provided below
Registration and installation of single Quick SSL certificate
Tivoli monitoring for:
Network, Hardware, ESX Hypervisor, Storage, Backup
24/7/365 operational support based by Enterprise Management Centre
This Matrix shows the ownership of the key administrative responsibilities.
Component Star
Install monitor and manage hardware Y
Install monitor and manage ESX hypervisor including HA failover Y
Provision network routes for VM files
Allocate VM resource via console access
Operating system & application management and monitoring
Y
N
N
Customer
N
N
N
Y
Y
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vPlatform Service Description
The Star Business Hosting service is composed of the following components:
The Star Business Hosting solution will be installed in a Star Approved Data Centre meeting the specifications detailed below.
4.1.1
Star’s facility has been built to an N+1 specification and is classified as a Tier II facility.
4.1.2
The power infrastructure has been built to an N+1 specification for mains power feeds, uninterruptible power supplies and backup generators. Each blade centre will have resilient connections to the power system via Redundant Power Supply (RPS) to separate Power Distribution Units (PDU).
4.1.3
Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) provides early smoke and detection. Micro-mist, water-based system is used for fire suppression. All components installed in the datacentre are fireretardant including racks, cables and cable management materials.
4.1.4
The environment will be maintained by close-control down-flow air conditioning units that offer stable temperatures and humidity.
4.1.5
The facility is manned and monitored by on-site security personnel with CCTV motion-sensitive and time-lapsed perimeter and interior monitoring. Tri-authentication access is in place for Star technical staff, using individual key-codes, Proximity Access Control (PAC) keys and biometric scanning.
Customers do not have physical access to servers in the data centre.
Star will provide resilient internet connectivity and bandwidth for your Star Business Hosting package at a contracted bandwidth level.
4.2.1
Star provides a 99.99% uptime guarantee for internet connectivity to our datacentre. Please refer to the Star Business Hosting SLA for further detail.
The solution will be protected by Star’s Managed Firewall service. A separate service description, covering all the detail for this service is available on request. The description below relates to the configuration of Stars Managed Virtual Firewall service, which is the default firewall deployed within this hosting service.
The firewall will either be provisioned as a standalone device, or as part of an MPLS network if required.
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vPlatform Service Description
4.3.1
At time of implementation a default policy will be applied to the virtual firewall to provide a base level of functionality. This policy will be amended to integrate the MPLS zone, based on a customer specific rule base. To view these policies, please request a copy of our ‘Star Business Hosting Default
Firewall Policy’.
4.3.2
At time of implementation a default policy will be applied to the virtual firewall to provide a base level of functionality. This policy will be amended to integrate the MPLS zone, based on a customer specific rule base. To view t hese policies, please request a copy of our ‘Star Business Hosting Default
Firewall Policy’.
4.3.3
Changes to the default policy may be made following delivery of the solution to the customer via a change request ticket through Star’s service support team. Star does not allow co-management of firewalls that are protecting a Star Business Hosting Solution.
4.3.4
At time of order, the customer is to provide an Administrative IP address. This will typically be the IP address of the customers’ office primary technical contacts location.
4.3.5
The Customer Administrative IP Address will be used in the default policy at time of implementation to allow remote access to the servers based on firewall policy. Star suggests that a branch VPN be used to secure remote access; however, this is at the discretion of the customer. Branch Office VPN will be configured post-implementation via a standard change request.
4.3.6
Star will support a single IPSec VPN connectivity of the managed Virtualised Firewall as defined by the Firewall vendor and in accordance with any licensing agreements appropriate to the Firewall model. Where we do not manage other devices you should make all necessary arrangements enabling our Security staff to liaise with the appropriate third party contacts to facilitate the required functionality. You are also responsible for making all configuration changes to other third party
Firewalls.
We will assist with troubleshooting VPN related problems however you acknowledge that investigations can sometimes only be progressed with the assistance of associated parties.
Branch VPN will only be configured after implementation of the service with the creation of a support request with Star’s Security Support team.
4.3.7
If user authentication is required we will support the Firewall functionality as detailed by the Firewall vendor. Associated authentication servers, user accounts and groups are your responsibility.
Where other devices are not supported by us, or non-Firewall vendor Software is being used, you are responsible for liaising with the appropriate contacts to facilitate the required functionality.
Supported authentication sources in addition to local firewall database are LDAP and RADIUS.
4.3.8
We will monitor the Firewall 24x7 for availability and potentially malicious attempts to access systems.
Identified intrusion attempts are automatically logged and alerted to our Security team. Alerts are reviewed and remedial action taken as required.
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vPlatform Service Description
Where the nature of an intrusion attempt is classified as Critical we will contact you to discuss the actions required. Under these circumstances we reserve the right to modify the rule base outside of change control procedures to prevent further vulnerabilities.
4.3.9
The following limitations and exclusions apply to the managed Firewall service.
The Managed Virtualised Firewall Service is not available if you require a bandwidth contract greater than 10 or 20Mbit/s. For solutions requiring this higher level of network throughput we require that a dedicated security solution be implemented.
The maximum number of security zones supported by the Managed Virtualised Firewall Service is 5 per individual firewall. One zone defines the outside interface; four zones are available for internal use.
One of the four zones will be required for integration into the MPLS network.
The individual firewall of the Virtualised Firewall Service has the ability to burst to 10,000 concurrent sessions.
The maximum number of policies for an individual firewall of the Virtualised Firewall Service is set at
160.
A maximum of up to 50 user names can be stored on and authorised by an individual firewall. This is unlimited if a customer uses third party authentication protocols such as Radius.
If you require a site to site VPN, the device(s) on your site must be IPSEC compliant.
Due to throughput restrictions on the shared platform, the VPN Service is not designed to function as a conduit for high volumes of traffic as a site to site VPN. We reserve the right to suspend your connection should the traffic volumes endanger the stability of the platform.
Star’s data centre is a Cisco-powered network (CPN). Network resilience provided through diverse redundant fiber links, supplied by various telecommunications providers with seventeen UK points-ofpresence on our resilient Cisco-powered SDH backbone for local, fast customer connections.
For services located in a Star Approved Data Centre, the configuration and on-going management of the underlying network and Internet connectivity infrastructure is included with the service offering.
Each managed server is connected to our secure management network. The management network enables monitoring, backup facilities and remote access for our operations staff.
4.4.1
Each blade will be connected to two FE networks switches
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vPlatform Service Description
4.4.2
Blade servers will be connected to a Layer 2 network fabric
4.4.3
Each logical network will be provided as a VLAN.
4.4.4
Half of the ESX cluster will be located in difference blade centre enclosures for network resilience
4.4.5
Each server will be provided with a customer IP address and a management IP address. These addresses will be based on RFC 1918 address spaces and will be assigned by Star. The virtual firewall will provide network translation to public addresses.
Each zone will be provided with a /28 network of private IP addresses. Address space and assignments will be provided at the customer at time of implementation in the Customer Welcome
Pack.
4.4.6
Each virtual server will have a single, public IP address for remote management via RDP or SSH.
Each server will have a public IP address to support remote administration.
4.4.7
Additional blocks of 8 IP addresses may be requested prior to implementation. This is a chargeable option.
We are responsible for procurement and all maintenance of the hardware used in the deployment of the Star Business Hosting solution. Ownership of all hardware remains with us at all times. In the event of hardware failure we will take appropriate action to replace the faulty hardware with equipment that ensures continuity of service. This includes:

Provision of required hardware based on contracted configuration

Installation and configuration into one of a Star Approved Datacentre

Proactive monitoring of hardware for faults/failures

Replacement of faulty parts inline to prevailing Star Business Hosting Service Level
Agreement (SLA)

Application of any firmware updates that affect the security of the server
4.5.1
The vPlatform infrastructure comprises of at least two server nodes with fibre attached disk partition, presenting the following resources per node:

8 x Physical Processor Cores

48GB RAM upgradeable to 96GB

500GB Storage (minimum)
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vPlatform Service Description
4.5.2
The monitoring system will alert for host hardware faults that have occurred on the Managed
Hardware Service. Standard alerts are as follows:

System memory failure (RAM)

Physical hard disk failure

RAID controller failure (if applicable)

Logical drive failure

System temperature anomalies

Network interface card failure

System Fan failure

Power supply failure
4.5.3
The monitoring system will alert for vCentre and virtual machine faults that have occurred on the
Managed Hardware Service. Standard alerts are as follows:
ESX host failure – An ESX server host failure has occurred.
4.5.4
Star will provide the following management services for the hardware:

Event Management

Incident Management

Change Management for Standard Changes

Configuration Management
Please refer to the Service Support section below for further detail.
4.5.5
VMware HA functionality makes possible rapid and automated restart and failover without the complexity of solutions used with physical infrastructure. Virtual machines are hardware-independent and can share physical resources, thus failover can be implemented without requiring dedicated, identical standby hardware and the added complexity of maintaining identical configurations.
For server failures, VMware High Availability (HA) ensures rapid, automated restart of virtual machines. VMware HA automatically and intelligently restarts affected virtual machines on other production servers. As a part of virtual infrastructure, VMware HA can be easily configured for a server without dependencies on operating system, applications, or physical hardware.
4.5.6
For all platforms, we are restricted to the limitations of each server as set by the relevant manufacturer and VMware (see below for maximums) www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_config_max.pdf
2 node vPlatform = Maximum of 15 virtual machines per vPlatform cluster
4 node vPlatform = Maximum of 45 virtual machines per vPlatform cluster*
* Only available in Star’s Abbey Wood Data Centre
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vPlatform Service Description
It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure at least 30% of the below parameters are kept free and all times to ensure the correct functionality of VMware’s ESX software (all this information can be obtained from the vConsole):

Memory

CPU

Data Store
Should the customer use more than the allocated 70% then the service will be deemed outside of
SLA until corrected.
4.5.7
Additional SAN storage can be purchased and will be added in 500GB blocks (2TB maximum storage allocation in London)
4.5.8
Star operate a “Fair Use” policy, Star understand that at certain times, customers data I/O landscape will become more demanding. The “Fair Use” policy is to prevent prolonged, sustained high demand that may be caused by other issues within the customer’s infrastructure outside of Star’s control. Star reserves the right to limit the available I/O for extreme and constant offenders.
4.5.9
London – 2TB*
Bristol – 20TB* (any order above 4TB* may result in a longer deployment period)
(* maximum individual ESX data store size is 2TB. Please see above link for configurationally maximums)
Raw Device Mapping (RDM) is not supported on vPlatform.
Customers may not physically access the server under any circumstances. If a CD drive must be used to transfer data, Star will insert/rotate media to assist with your installation.
Star will provide the licenses for included software as follows:
4.6.1
By default, Star will provide the appropriate VMWare system licenses for the Star Business Hosting package. These licenses are the property of Star and provided to the customer as part of the service only. Star will ensure that the licenses remain in good standing with the respective vendor for the duration of the agreement.
4.6.2
If required Star will provide the appropriate operating system licenses for the Star Business Hosting package. These licenses are the property of Star and provided to the customer as part of the service only. Star will ensure that the licenses remain in good standing with the respective vendor for the duration of the agreement.
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vPlatform Service Description
Customers may provide their own licensing for Operating systems used on the platform.
It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that they have sufficient and appropriate software licences for the number of virtual machines and applications deployed.
4.6.3
As an optional extra, Star will provide the appropriate application licenses for the Star Business
Hosting package. These licenses are the property of Star and provided to the customer as part of the service only. Star will ensure that the licenses remain in good standing with the respective vendor for the duration of the agreement.
4.7.1
Star supports the following VMWare licence:
VMWare ESX Enterprise Edition
4.7.2
For customer supplied ESX Virtual machine files (VMDK’s), Star will upload them onto the environment and configure network paths and data mapping. The customer remains responsible for allocation of resources to the VM. It is the customer’s responsibility to arrange the media and delivery of the VM files to Star London or Bristol DCs. A prior arrangement for delivery is required.
The customer will need to supply their files in a VM VMDK format or an ISO, please also make sure it is on either a USB memory stick, or an USB external hard disk formatted in either FAT32 or NTFS, we are unable to accept bare drives and data in the format of files and folders.
4.7.3
Star will manage the Hypervisor and its supported components as detailed in sections below.
4.7.4
Star is responsible for the management, specifically the elements listed below.

Event Management

Incident Management

Change Management for Standard Changes

Configuration Management

Patch Management
Please refer to the Service Support section below for further detail.
4.7.5
VConsole Super user access is provided as part of Star Business Hosting package vPlatform for the purpose of allocation resource to VM Files. User accounts will be created under Star’s StarSecure
AD infrastructure.
Access to VConsole is restricted to a remote desktop session (RDP) to the below high availability server. Once authenticated using the provided starsecure.local domain credentials the VConsole will open automatically with the provided credentials. (Maximum of 5 concurrent connections per customer).
RDP access via vplatform.star.co.uk (London) or vplatform02.star.co.uk (Bristol)
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vPlatform Service Description
Access to the VConsole will be based on groups. There will be two groups available:
1) Read only
2) The Customer Administrator roles on the vCentre are list below
Customer Administrator role will be granted the below permission:
Global

Log a user-defined event on an object

Cancel a running task
Folder

Create a folder

Delete a folder

Rename a folder

Move a folder
Datastore

Browse a datastore
Virtual Machine - Inventory

Create a Virtual Machine or Template

Remove a virtual Machine

Move a Virtual Machine
Virtual Machine – Interaction

Power-on or resume a Virtual Machine

Power-off a Virtual Machine

Suspend a Virtual Machine

Reset (power cycle) a Virtual Machine

Answer a Virtual Machine run-time question

Interact with the Virtual Machine console

Connect/disconnect media and network devices

Configure a different media for Virtual CD-ROMs

Configure a different media for virtual floppies

Install VMware Tools (or mount/unmount the tools installer image)

Defragment all disks on the Virtual Machine
Virtual Machine – Configuration

Rename a virtual machine

Browse for and attach an existing virtual disk

Create and attach a new virtual disk

Detach and optionally remove a virtual disk

Virtual machine raw device configuration

Add, remove or edit a virtual USB device backed by a host USB device

Change the number of virtual CPUs (Warning changing the number of virtual processors after the guest OS is installed may make your virtual machine unstable)

Set the amount of virtual machine memory

Add or remove virtual devices

Modify device settings

Change general virtual machine settings

Change virtual machine resources allocations
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vPlatform Service Description

Upgrade virtual hardware

Reset guest information variables

Make advanced configuration changes

Lease disks for disk manager

Disk Extend
Virtual Machine - State

Create a Snapshot*

Make Snapshot current

Remove a Snapshot

Rename a Snapshot
Virtual Machine – Provisioning

Customise a virtu al machine’s guest operation system


Clone a virtual machine
Create template from virtual machine

Deploy a virtual machine from a template

Clone a template

Mark a virtual machine as a template

Mark a template as a virtual machine

Read customisation specifications

Create, edit or delete customisation specifications

Allow random access to disk files through a separate NFC connection

Allow read-only random access to disk files through a separate NFC connection

Allow download of virtual machine (used by provisioning operations)

Allow upload of virtual machine (used by provisioning operations)
Resource

Assign virtual machine to resource pool

Create a resource pool

Rename a resource pool

Modify a resource pool

Move a resource pool

Remove a resource pool
Relocate a powered off virtual machine
*Snapshot cannot be kept for longer than 48 hours
Note – Relocation of a powered on virtual machine is not a function permitted to customers.
Every Star Business Hosting package includes the Managed Data Backup service. For vPlatform,
Star will perform a daily backup utilising the vStorage API to perform a Server-Free backup for VMs.
It will be the customers’ responsibility to notify Star of any new or deleted virtual machines that require backing up. This is required so engineers can add or remove the virtual machines from Star’s backup infrastructure. Customers will need to raise a support call with Star.
It will also be the customer’s responsibility to notify Star if the virtual machine display name or IP address is changed as this will require the backup system to be reconfigured.
If a change is made and Star is not informed Star will be unable to back-up the virtual machine.
Other important points to note are:
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vPlatform Service Description

For all virtual machines Star will perform a full image backup.
 Star’s backup service is for data recovery not disaster recovery.

Open files will not be backed up.

All virtual hard disks must be initialised for backup to work correctly.

All VMs that require a backup must have a SCSI controller present.

Any disk set to “Independent Mode” will be ignored by VE (snap shots cannot be taken of independent disks).

All mounted media must be dismounted after use and before the backup

Snap shot can prevent a VE from backing up VM’s
 All cloned VM’s will need to have their IP addresses changed or removed. This is essential to make sure the live server is backed up and not the clone.

Should a customer request a restore, a full image of the virtual machine will be restored to the customer’s data store. It is the customer responsibility to maintain appropriate space to allow for a complete restore (including the 30% over head that needs to be kept for correct functionality). Star will be unable to perform a restore if adequate space is not available.
Star’s vPlatform backup solution is not application aware. It is advisable to setup your own local backup strategy for Databases and Mail Applications (Exchange). Closed backup files will be backup up during the next Star backup window once the closed backup file has been created.
Star can also provide a more advanced backup service using our EveryStep Remote Backup and
Recovery Solution, offering the following features:

Client-Side Data De-duplication , significantly reducing backup volume

File System Backup & Restore , providing full support for backing up and restoring data from and to the file systems of the supported operating systems.

Delta Restore , allowing extremely fast recovery of large files such as databases, increasing recovery speed and drastically reducing downtime.

A range of data retention options, allowing data to be retained from 1 day to indefinitely.

Advanced Scheduling , allowing multiple backup schedules for File System, SQL Server and
Exchange backup.

Application Plug-ins ,enabling “hot backup” of Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange.

System State and User Rights , allowing a bare metal recovery of a Windows system to be performed.

Shared Folders & Hot Folders , providing direct access from the backup tree to popular shortcut folders such as My Documents as well as Outlook and Outlook Express email files.

File Exclusion Filters , excluding certain file types such as temp or media files from the backup selection.

Open Files Support , using Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) under the Microsoft
Windows Operating System.
4.8.1
A full image backup will be kept for 14 days.
Star will provide an SMTP service for customer applications to relay outbound SMTP mail. An SMTP service will not be installed on any packages and is not available for the Managed option for Star
Business Hosting packages.
4.9.1
Customers should configure their applications to use smtp.star.co.uk as the SMTP relay for sending email
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vPlatform Service Description
4.9.2
The following limitations apply to SMTP Service:
This service supports outbound email (from the server to the internet) only and will not support inbound SMTP delivery to the server.
SMTP Service supports up to 10000 emails per day per Star Business Hosting package.
As per Star’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) and Unsolicited
Bulk Email (UBE) are not supported with any Star solution.
The following options are available for Star Business Hosting packages:
Customers may add additional system memory (RAM) to a maximum of 96GB per node
Additional storage may be added with a minimum order of 500GB. Additional storage purchased after the initial setup can be added to the original data store. VMFS data stores have a maximum size of
2TB. Additional data stores can be added. Please see the VMware maximum configuration for more details. The vPlatform storage infrastructure in located on shared enterprise class storage arrays capable of very high data transactions with mixed work load support.
Star operation a “Fair Use” policy, Star understand that at certain time customers data I/O landscape will become more demanding. The “Fair Use” policy is to prevent prolonged, sustained high demand that may be caused by other issues within the customer ’s infrastructure outside of Star’s control. Star reserves the right to limit the available I/O for extreme and constant offenders. Star does not recommend or support thinly provision virtual disks.
Customers subscribing to Star Business Hosting Hardware-Only option may license MS SQL Server
2005 or 2008 from Star on a per-processor basis. Microsoft terminal Services may also be added to
Hardware only Packages at time of purchase.
License Management: MS SQL Server (per-physical processor)
Licence Management: Microsoft Terminal Services 5 users CAL (Maximum of 5 CALs can be purchased on an un-authenticated operating system licence)
Additional certificates may be purchased with Star Business Hosting at time of signup, providing sufficient IP addresses are purchased. This will require an additional service to be added to the package. Please engage with your account team to enable this service.
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vPlatform Service Description
Additional blocks of 8 IP addresses may be requested prior to implementation. This is a chargeable option.
Service management for Star Business Hosting is comprised of:
The implementation of Star Business Packages follows a defined milestone based process that will keep the customer proactively informed of the progress of the implementation of their hosting package.
6.1.1
For the duration of the implementation process, Star will provide a Service Provisioning Executive
(SPE) that will act as the single point of contact. All communications related to the implementation of the Star Business Hosting package must be directed at the SPE.
Four (4) milestones comprise the implementation of Star Business Hosting packages.
6.2.1
This is an administrative milestone to assign technology assets, configure support systems, business systems and ready the business for a new Star Business Hosting package.
A prebuilt platform will be tailored in accordance with the the Description of Service and the Service
Order.
This mile milestone will review the various components of the package and the solution as a whole to ensure absolute quality prior to delivering the solution to the customer.
In the event that the quality assurance review fails, Star will notify the customer of this failure and provide reason for the failure and updated timescales required to complete the fixes to pass quality assurance.
With the implementation process complete, during this milestone the solution is transitioned to both the customer and to the Service Support team. The LBE will not longer be the single point of contact and the customer is expected to following the communication paths provided in the Welcome Pack
(see below).
6.2.2
Star will communicate to the customer at the completion of each milestone and provide expected completion date of the next milestone.
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vPlatform Service Description
6.2.3
At the completion of the implementation process, Star will provide the customer with a Welcome Pack that will outline the configuration of the service and next steps for the customer to fully utilise their Star
Business Hosting package.
6.2.4
All Star Business Hosting vPlatform packages are to be delivered within ten (10) business days from the point of order receipt by Star’s sales operations team. In the event that issues outside the control of Star will affect the delivery timescales, Star will notify the customer and provide a target installation date. Any order where the required storage is 5TB or greater may be subject to a longer delivery time.
Confirmation of delivery can be ascertained at the second milestone.
Star will provide 24/7/365 support for your package offering providing management of the components and services detailed in the above description of service. Sections below describe the teams and processes in place to support customer’s Star Business Hosting package.
6.3.1
Provide the first point of contact for Star Business Hosting package customers. The SMC team is responsible for monitoring, managing events/alerts, managing incident and change requests and ensuring operational satisfaction of the customer.
6.3.2
Customer issues and incidents must be reported via MyStar as the first course of action. Customers are required to provide a description of the issue, affected solution and affected components (if known).
Star will primarily respond to issues reported by the customer via MyStar portal; however, support staff may contact customers via phone call to confirm data and/or Customers must close all incidents reported
6.3.3
When a Critical Event is detected, an audible, visible notification is sent to the Server Management
Centre (SMC) and an Incident ticket is created in MyStar and associated to the customer name and associated asset (Server, application, service, etc).
Star will investigate this incident in line with standard Incident Management process for a Critical
Event.
6.3.4
When a Warning Event is detected, an event notification is created in Star’s management system and associated to the customer name and associated asset (Server, application, service, etc).
Star will investigate this incident in line with standard Incident Management process for a Warning
Event.
6.3.5
Star will manage Standard Changes and Non-Standard Changes to the managed elements of the package in accordance with the Star Business Hosting Service Level Agreement.
All customer-initiated and Star-initiated change requests are to be input through the MyStar customer portal.
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vPlatform Service Description
Star will communicate any modifications to the Change Request, status updates, and requests for verification through the relevant ticket.
Customers will be responsible for closing the change request once complete.
Please note that changes to the Managed Security element are limited to Business Hours only.
Emergency changes can be facilitated due to failure condition and/or at the discretion of Star.
ESX maintenance – applying ESX patches, etc. All ESX patches will be fully tested prior to patching.
Customers will be given 7 working days’ notice. Star engineers will place one node into maintenance mode; all VMs will be VMotioned on to the second node. It is the customer responsibility to maintain adequate resources to allow an individual node to clear of all virtual machines. The first node will then be patched and tested. The same procedure will be repeated on the second node. vCentre and VConsole access server – Patching of these servers has no effect on the ESX hosts.
Access via the VConsole will be disrupted. These servers will be subject to a maintenance window that will commence on the 2 nd and 4 th Thursday night of each month from 22:00 to 02:00.
ESX host, vCentre and VConsole patches that are deemed critical will be installed within 24 hours once fully tested. These will be deployed as “Emergency Maintenance”.
6.3.6
Star will maintain an accurate record of your package configuration including:
Physical solution diagram including hostname, port assignment and physical server specifications
Logical solution diagram including security zones, IP assignment and service level of each server
Customers may request a copy of their package configuration at any time via a request through
MyStar.
Star shall be entitled upon giving not less than three months’ written notice to the Customer to move equipment used in connection with the provision of Services (whether collocation or managed services) within the Star Approved Data Centre or to another Star Approved Data Centre. You will cooperate in good faith with us to facilitate such relocation. We shall be responsible for any costs and expenses incurred as a result of any such relocation and will use reasonable efforts to minimise and avoid any interruption to the Service.
Save for any loss or damage to Collocated Equipment which arises from any negligent act or omission of Star, the Collocated Equipment shall be at Customer’s risk at all times and Customer shall be responsible for insuring the Collocated Equipment against all risks.
We shall not be responsible for any fault affecting any telecommunications service connecting the edge device(s) of your information technology network (whether comprising your equipment or otherwise) to the edge device(s) of the information technology network from which we provide
Services.
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Date
21/108/2007
10/09/2007
03/01/2008
30/03/2009
11/05/2009
Version Number
1.0.0
1.0.0
1.0.1
2.0
2.3 vPlatform Service Description
Change
First version of Star Business Hosting released
Microsoft Terminal Services added for Hardware Only
First draft SBH product Version 1.0 – Features, added, changed:
Additional IP addresses
Additional SSL Certificates
Additional DLL
Authenticated Windows Licences
Redhat 5.1
PHP Fast CGI Module for Windows
Star Business Hosting V2 Launched
Vplatform amendments
412
413
414
415
416
417
500
The following 400 and 500 class HTTP errors will generate alerts for the Transaction Monitor service.
400
401
402
Bad Request
Unauthorization
Payment Required
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
Forbidden
Not Found
Bad Method
None Acceptable
Proxy Authentication Required
Request Timeout
Conflict
Gone
Length Required
Precondition Failed
Request Entity Too Large
Request-URI Too Long
Unsupported Media Type
Requested Range Not Satisfiable
Expectation Failed
Internal Server Error
“Blade Server” means Star’s standard blade server offering based on IBM or HP technology.
“Customer Welcome Pack” details the technical configuration, usernames/passwords contact details, MyStar information and processes relevant to the support of their solution. This document is provided at the completion of the implementation process as the order is moved to support.
“Dedicated Backup” is the use of dedicated tape media to store the data from a single customer.
“Full Backup” is a backup of the entire contents of the server hard disks
“IIS” or “Internet Information Server” refers to Microsoft’s web server known as Internet
Information Server.
“Incremental Backup” is the backup of the new data or changes to the data since the last backup.
“Managed Backup Service” in this document refers to our managed backup service offering described in this document
“Managed Hardware Service” in this document refers to our managed hardware service offering described in this document.
“Managed Operating System Service” means our managed operating system service offering as described in this document.
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vPlatform Service Description
“Managed Security Service” in this document refers to our managed firewall service offering.
Description of this service is available upon request.
“Open files” are data files on the server that are actively being accessed by a user or a software program and may be in the state of being updated.
“Progressive Incremental Backup” is the backup of the new data or changes to the data since the last backup. This differs from Incremental Backup in that it does not need to be combined with weekly full backups in order to ensure data integrity.
“RPM” is the Red Hat Package Manager used for installing, uninstalling, verifying, querying, and updating software packages.
“Services Contract” is the contractual agreement between the customer and Star for Star Business
Hosting.
“Server Management Centre” is the primary support team supporting Star Business Hosting packages.
“Shared Backup” is the use of shared tape media to store the data from multiple customers.
“Standard Server” means Star’s default 2U rack-mountable server.
“Star Approved Data Centre” is a Star Technology Services datacentre facility that is approved and assured to support the Managed Hosting offering.
“Star Managed Server” refers to servers where we retain the sole root level administrative access to the server’s operating system.
“STI” in this document refers to our STI service offering described in this document.
“STI Job” is defined as a list of up to 3 Sub-transactions, or URLs, to be checked by the service.
“VIP” refers to a Virtual IP address for use with both Managed Cluster service and with Managed
Load-Balancing service.
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