Virtual Machine Environments (VME) Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Participation in Collaborative Computing Solution's VME represents a shared responsibility between the Customer (the Department requesting the service) and the Provider (CCS). This SLA outlines the rights and responsibilities of each party.
Customer's Rights
- Availability of the guest Virtual Machine (VM) to be at least 99.99% outside of scheduled maintenance. Scheduled maintenance downtime can occur Mon-Fri from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. and weekends
- To be notified in advance (via email or phone) of planned downtime of the host (and guests)
- To be notified (via email or phone) of emergency or unplanned downtime of the host (and guests)
- To be able to run any version of the Windows server operating system actively supported by Microsoft within the guest
- To have the guest have sole private access to assigned VM resources (memory and storage)
- To have the provider support the host in a 24x7 capacity
- To have the provider support the guest in an 8x5 (business week) capacity. Provided support is limited to difficulties with host-to-guest virtual interfaces
- To request a VM checkpoint for major releases
Customer's Responsibilities
- To pay for services in a timely manner as services are rendered
- To update the provider with correct contact information in a timely manner (within a business week), via email and/or phone
- To maintain the guest with the appropriate patches, backups, anti-virus, firewall rulesets, and other necessary security settings that ensure compliance with university Information Technology policies
- To avoid monopolizing any shared resources within the virtual environment, i.e., network, CPU, RAM access, hard drive access, etc.
- To be correctly licensed for the operating system, applications and client access licenses for the guest. Note: The provider supplies the Windows OS license while the VM is still active in the environment
- To have the MS Hyper-V ‘VM Additions’ software installed on all guests' instances to assist with proper operations between the host and guest
- If the customer ends the VME service and wishes to take a copy of the guest, they need to provide a USB flash or hard drive with the appropriate storage available. Once this device is made physically available to CCS, we will copy the guest onto the device before deleting it from the host
Provider's Rights
- To receive payment in a timely manner for services rendered
- To have correct contact information for the department
- To have well-maintained and secured guest environments
- To have guests utilize their resources in a responsible, scalable and secure manner
- To be notified in advance (7 business days) if the customer discontinues the service for the next billing cycle
Provider’s Responsibilities
- To maintain the host system’s operating system, hardware, software, applications, power
and network in a reasonable and responsible manner
- To provide correct contact information so customers can contact us in a timely manner
- To provide all guests with reasonable access to shared and private resources. If guests are found to be unreasonably monopolizing any resources, attempt will be made to contact the customer (via email and phone). If the over-usage continues, the guest may be stopped or “restricted” without further notice
- To respond to suspected security incidents as reported by NI&S, VT-ABUSE or the IT Security Office. This may include pausing or disabling the guest or network access. If such action is required, the customer will be contacted (by email and phone)
- To respond in a timely manner to questions or concerns from customers. Seeks to resolve host related issues as soon as possible
Service Payment
- Payment is per guest, per fiscal year, to be paid before the first month the department requests the service to be started and always ends on the last day of the current fiscal year
- If payment is not received by the start of the next fiscal year, guest(s) will be disabled until resolved
Service Interruptions
While the provider makes every effort to provide unrestricted customer access to guests, there are several factors that are beyond our control. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Network connectivity
- Power
- HVAC
- Security/Machine room access.
Departments wishing to secure Service Level Agreements (SLA) for these components should contact NI&S separately from this SLA.
Notification of Change
If substantial changes are made to this SLA, the customer will be notified, and changes will be posted to the IT Service Catalog. If you do not wish to accept the new terms, you may submit a 4Help ticket to discontinue your VME Service. Otherwise, continued usage of the VME for a period of time 14 days after the notification of SLA changes will indicate automatic acceptance of the changes.