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Geri Pettis
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Managed DEFCON Service Levels

DEFCON Service Levels describe progressive alert postures primarily for used to determine the overall readiness and active support you are receiving on your server. Each level of DEFCON Service Level provides a different level of monitoring, security, and direct support provided with each dedicated server. Your server is categorized as one of the 5 levels and can be upgraded at anytime.
Below are the various DEFCON Service Levels that we provide with a description of each level. The lowest level of DEFCON is 5 which indicates that your server is "unmanaged", "unmonitored", and all aspects of it are maintained by your organization. The highest level of DEFCON is 1 which indicates that FastServers.Net handles all aspects of your server including all management, security, patches, and 24/7 monitoring and is considered "fully managed".
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Included,
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Per Incident Support,
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Not Applicable
DEFCON 5: Little or no involvement from the FastServers.Net support team.
(Unmanaged)
DEFCON 4: Normal, increased management and strengthened security measures.
(Self Managed)
DEFCON 3: Medium level of management, auto server updates and server monitoring.
(Managed)
DEFCON 2: High level of security, management, auto server updates, and server monitoring.
(Managed)
DEFCON 1: Highest level of security, full scope management, auto server updates, full monitoring.
(Fully Managed)
No involvement from the FastServers.Net support team.
- Standard Network Based Security
- 24/7/365 Access to Ticket System (Reboots & Paid Support Requests)
- Hard/Soft Manual Reboots
- Online Bandwidth Monitoring Tool (RTG)
- Per Incident Paid Technical Support ($35.00 per incident)
- No monitoring/recovery included
- Self Maintained root/administrator access to server
- Standard Hardware Replacement Guarantee
DEFCON 5 is the lowest level of managed service we offer and is designed for a system administrator who does not need our assistance. It is expected that those that choose this level will maintain patches/upgrades and overall security to the highest level on their own. If you choose this level you will not need to maintain the root password with us. All support is considered pay per incident. Cost per incident is $35 (maximum of 30 minutes support time). Additional time is at advanced support rates of $100 per hour, billed in 1/2 hour increments. As a DEFCON 5 customer it is your responsibility to maintain the server software configuration from top to bottom.
The type of customer who selects DEFCON 5 needs very little or no help maintaining a server. It is expected that the server will remain secure and that a full time system administrator will be available to maintain the stability, security, and well being. Selecting DEFCON 5 automatically opts you out of discounted or free support, monitoring, and software upgrades on the server which are included with all other DEFCON Service Levels. In the event that you do need assistance and a Dedicated Server Expert logs into your server for any reason, it will be considered a billable support "incident".
FastServers.Net respects your overall System Administration skills! This level of DEFCON is designed for do-it-yourself administrators who need limited support or have a staff taking care of the servers. This also comes with great responsibility as an administrator running a secure and stable environment requires in depth OS and software knowledge. It is recommended that if you do not feel confident as a System Administrator or feel from time to time you will need to take advantage of a higher level of support you should upgrade to a higher DEFCON level.
| Your Skill Level | Monitoring | Advanced Support | Software Updates | Security |
| Expert Level Novice Level | Full Monitoring No Monitoring | 5 Hours 0 Hours | Fully Updated Not Updated | High Level No Security |
Normal, increased management and strengthened security measures. (Self-Managed)
- Standard Network Based Security
- 24/7/365 Technical Support & (Telephone-Based Ticket Submissions)
- SLA-based standard support responses in 12 hours or less.
- Two support "incidents" included per month (up to 30 minutes each)
- Hard/Soft Manual Reboots
- Monthly Server OS-Based Errata Updates (per request, one support incident)
- Online Bandwidth Monitoring Tool (RTG)
- Basic Server Wide Monitoring (HTTP port)
- On-Demand Server Security & Health Assessment (per request, one support incident)
- Shared root/administrator access to server
- SLA-based hardware replacement of 2 hours or less.
DEFCON 4 provides a basic valuable service in a "pay as you go" type
structure. This level of management includes basic monitoring and two included
standard support incidents per month. This is the perfect “entry-level” package
if you and/or your administrative team handles the day-to-day operation of your
server but could require assistance on rare occasions. DEFCON 4 customers can
open up two tickets per month and as long as the request (the thread in its
entirety) can be fulfilled in 30 minutes or less, there is no additional charge.
If a request requires more than 30 minutes, regular advanced support charges
apply ($100 per hour, billed in 1/2 hour increments). Any requests beyond the
included two per month supplied with DEFCON 4 will be charged at $25 per
incident (30 minute limit). Standard support provides you with a guaranteed
12-hour or less response from a support engineer.
DEFCON 4 is considered “Self Managed”. The type of
customer who selects DEFCON 4 has previously handled and has the
necessary skills to maintain and manage a server.FastServers.Net
partners with you to provide the basic managed services that your
server environment requires to stay up-to-date and online. You should be
prepared to take a very active role in your server’s ongoing
maintenance including administering or requesting frequent security
checks, applying critical patches, and auditing system efficiency and
stability. FastServers’ approach to monitoring on a DEFCON 4
server is quite basic: your server as a whole is being checked for
general availability as our agents do not drill down to individual
services (beyond HTTP) or unique daemons. It is very possible that
a single service can fail and our monitoring
system still see your server as alive and active. If uptime is
important a higher DEFCON Level that includes a more complete
monitoring
and recovery solution is highly recommended..
6 Reasons to Upgrade to a "higher" DEFCON Management Level (DEFCON 3, 2, or 1)
- You are not a system administrator and require "expert" support from a team of highly trained engineers.
- You are not able to carry out system administrator based functions based on technical based documentation.
- You require responses to your inquiries in 2 hours or less.
- You desire to achieve higher uptime through a more intensive and automatic server software update process.
- You desire to achieve higher uptime through advanced port and SNMP monitoring.
- You desire pro-active hardware failure monitoring.
| Your Skill Level | Monitoring | Advanced Support | Software Updates | Security |
| Expert Level Novice Level | Full Monitoring No Monitoring | 5 Hours 0 Hours | Fully Updated Not Updated | High Level No Security |
Medium level of management, auto server updates and server monitoring. (Semi-Managed)
- Server Port Monitoring - 4 Services
- 24/7/365 Technical Support & (Telephone-Based Ticket Submissions)
- SLA-based standard support responses in 2 hours or less.
- Priority Support
- Monthly Server OS-Based Errata Updates (automatic)
- Online Bandwidth Monitoring Tool (RTG)
- SNMP Resource Based Monitoring
- Systems Administrative Service: 1 Hour / month
- On-Demand Server Security & Health Assessment (per request)
- Shared root/administrator access to server
- SLA-based hardware replacement of 2 hours or less.
DEFCON 3 is our entry level management solution. Dedicated Servers are placed within a port monitoring solution and able to define the specific Quick Response Recovery procedures they want to take place in the event of a service failure. In addition to monitoring your overall uptime the server also gets added to our advanced resource monitor that provides a careful watch over memory, CPU, and server load usage. As part of the DEFCON 3 service you don't need to worry about ever updating your server as it will be part of our auto updating service carried out by the System Administrators of FastServers.Net. Participating in DEFCON 3 will also give you the ability to request a monthly On-Demand Server Security & Health Assessment report. In addition to the intensive amount of support and services you get provided with DEFCON 3 you will also have the ability to utilize up to 1 Hour of Advanced Technical Support. This service alone is billed out at $100.00 per hour and we are including 1 Hour as part of the package.
| Your Skill Level | Monitoring | Advanced Support | Software Updates | Security |
| Expert Level Novice Level | Full Monitoring No Monitoring | 5 Hours 0 Hours | Fully Updated Not Updated | High Level No Security |
High level of security, management, auto server updates, and server monitoring. (Managed)
- Server Port Monitoring - 6 Services
- 24/7/365 Technical Support & (Telephone-Based Ticket Submissions)
- SLA-based standard support responses in 2 hours or less.
- Priority Support
- Monthly Server OS-Based Errata Updates (automatic)
- Online Bandwidth Monitoring Tool (RTG)
- SNMP Resource Based Monitoring
- Systems Administrative Service: 3 Hours / month
- On-Demand Server Security & Health Assessment (per request)
- Shared root/administrator access to server
- SLA-based hardware replacement of 2 hours or less.
- Host/Software Based IDS.
- Server Anti-virus Protection
DEFCON 2 provides you the maximum amount of management while still leaving you in the drivers seat. Dedicated Servers are placed within a port monitoring solution and you are able to define the specific Quick Response Recovery procedure you want to take place in the event of a service failure. In addition to monitoring your overall uptime the server also gets added to our advanced resource monitor that provides a careful watch over memory, CPU, and server load usage. As part of the DEFCON 2 service you don't need to worry about ever updating your server as it will be part of our auto updating service carried out by the System Administrators of FastServers.Net. Additional security is provided in the form of HOST Based IDS and reviewed each month at the same time server updates are taking place. Participating in DEFCON 2 will also give you the ability to request a monthly On-Demand Server Security & Health Assessment. In addition to the intensive amount of support and services you get provided with DEFCON 2 you will also have the ability to utilize up to 3 Hours of Advanced Technical Support. This service alone is billed out at $100.00 per hour and we are including 3 Hours as part of the package.
| Your Skill Level | Monitoring | Advanced Support | Software Updates | Security |
| Expert Level Novice Level | Full Monitoring No Monitoring | 5 Hours 0 Hours | Fully Updated Not Updated | High Level No Security |
Highest level of security, full scope management, auto server updates, full monitoring. (Fully Managed)
- Server Port Monitoring - 8 Services
- 24/7/365 Technical Support & (Telephone-Based Ticket Submissions)
- SLA-based standard support responses in 2 hours or less.
- Priority Support
- Monthly Server OS-Based Errata Updates (automatic)
- Online Bandwidth Monitoring Tool (RTG)
- SNMP Resource Based Monitoring
- Systems Administrative Service: 5 Hours / month
- On-Demand Server Security & Health Assessment (per request)
- SLA-based hardware replacement of 2 hours or less.
- Host/Software Based IDS.
- Server Anti-virus Protection
- NO root/administrator access to server.
- Hardware Based Firewall Protection (per request at time of signup)
DEFCON 1 provides you the maximum amount of management and allows us to provide your with full service system administration. With all the services included in DEFCON 2 + a hardware based firewall your server will run at top performance and redefine the term secure. We have also increased the overall amount of System Administration hours to 5. The one consideration to have when choosing DEFCON 1 is you will not have root/administrator access to your server. If you have a control panel, reseller level access will be provided. DEFCON 1 was formally called "Fully Managed Service".
| Your Skill Level | Monitoring | Advanced Support | Software Updates | Security |
| Expert Level Novice Level | Full Monitoring No Monitoring | 5 Hours 0 Hours | Fully Updated Not Updated | High Level No Security |




