Service.

Service Description

Standard Features

The following standard features are provided to all CLIENTs of US Cloud’s dedicated server hosting services:

Professionally Maintained Dedicated Servers

US Cloud utilizes MS Windows servers in the dedicated hosting environment. These servers are maintained under maintenance contracts with the vendor/manufacturer. US Cloud will maintain and upgrade server hardware and the operating system in its discretion.

Professionally Maintained Web Server Software

US Cloud utilizes Microsoft IIS servers in the dedicated hosting environment. The Web server software is maintained under maintenance agreements with Microsoft. US Cloud will maintain and upgrade Web server software in its discretion or as recommended by software vendors.

Professionally Maintained High Performance Secured Data Centers

Servers are located at the US Cloud Data Center(s).  The US Cloud Data Center(s) includes the following features:

  • Rack mounted servers
  • UPS and generator power backup
  • Building management system covering electrical, mechanical, fire detection and water leakage
  • Fully air conditioned, maintaining a constant ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (+/- 2 degrees) with relative humidity of 40-60% in all areas of facility
  • Limited access environment

System and CLIENT Support

The DC (Data Center) provides first level technical support for US Cloud’s Hosting Services
Support includes:

  • Monitoring all US Cloud Data Center equipment and resources
  • Network Monitoring
  • Systems and Applications Monitoring
  • Security Management & Monitoring

Account Management

Hosting CLIENTs will have access to CLIENT Operations for CLIENT support related needs such as assistance with billing, general account support questions and update requests. The CLIENT service support is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Central time. CLIENTs also have access to the CLIENT account portal to manage support requests and update billing information 24 hours a day.  CLIENT may also enjoy access to their CLIENT account portal by using our mobile application available in the Apple and Android app stores.

Server SecureCare

Server SecureCare provides clients network security protection in the form of redundant intrusion and detection prevention systems (IPS), pre-installed anti-virus, and managed firewall security.

Server TotalCare

Server TotalCare provides 24/7/365 server hardware and connectivity monitoring and alerting for the US Cloud engineering and support teams for each client environment. If high network or hardware utilization is detected, US Cloud will open support tickets to alert the CLIENT of the potential problem and work together on a resolution. US Cloud also handles patching the CLIENT servers with critical windows patches, security updates, and anti-virus definitions.

Standard Server Access and Reporting Capabilities

CLIENT will have full access to server log files and may use whatever means or tools they choose to analyze server performance, utilization or server traffic.  Fully managed reporting services are handled by the US Cloud Engineering team via the Total Care managed service.

Optional Managed Services and Features

The following features are available to all CLIENTs of US Cloud’s Hosted Managed Services at an additional cost:

Customized Disaster Recovery Planning, Implementation, Testing, and Maintenance

US Cloud offers a variety of Disaster Recovery (DR) scenarios to fulfill the clients Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).  Once the solution is accepted by the CLIENT US Cloud Engineers build the standby environments, implement data replication, test failover, and maintain the operation of the environments.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack prevention and CDN

US Cloud offers a cloud based service to help protect our CLIENTs from large-scale malicious attacks.  The service also includes a built in Content Delivery Network (CDN) for caching static and dynamic website content to reduce server load and optimize website latency.

Advanced Server and Application Alerts

Aside from health hardware and network connectivity alerts provided by US Cloud, US Cloud will also setup CLIENT servers to alert of application level issues such as SQL performance, application services, IIS, Load Balancer, Active Directory, etc.  CLIENTs who purchase this service also get access to the Performance dashboard detailed below.

Performance Dashboard Access

US Cloud has the ability to provide each CLIENT a dedicated dashboard to monitor server health and performance. This advanced dashboard system can be used to generate reports and view historical data.

Website Performance Monitoring and Alerts

US Cloud has the ability to provide each CLIENT external recorded websites tests which alert the CLIENT if specific pages or operations of the website incur a performance issue.  An example of this would be the homepage load time or search result rendering times.

VPN Connectivity

US Cloud will setup a secure, dedicated VPN tunnel between the CLIENT’s office(s) and US Cloud Data Centers. This will be used to provide a single sign on experience for Active Directory authenticated client users.  The VPN is also use when clients need to integrate with internal systems over a secured connection.

Quarterly Health Checks

As part of the monthly maintenance fee, US Cloud will provide quarterly health checks. A health and performance report will be provided to the CLIENT each quarter.

  • Daily Backups
    US Cloud will back up all related databases and server file systems on a daily basis which will be stored at US Cloud datacenter(s).
  • Upgrades & Migration
    US Cloud has the ability to perform application upgrades and migrations. This service will need to be scoped and billed separately from other services. Upgrades can require source code updates and recompilation which is handled by an implementation partner.

Application Support – Hourly Bank Packages

CLIENTs may purchase hourly banks of US Cloud engineering time to request application configuration and administration changes whenever they are needed.  Hours will be deducted from the bank as the US Cloud staff performs the requested application changes in the CLIENT’s hosted environment.

Application Support – Ad Hoc Projects

If a CLIENT elects not to purchase an hourly bank package, CLIENT-approved application configuration changes and administrative tasks will be billed on a time and materials basis.  See below for more information.

Application Administration Services – Subscription

In this subscription scenario the US Cloud engineering team will act as the application administrator performing requested and proactive application maintenance, changes, feature installations on a regular basis.

Ad-Hoc Support Requests

This section defines the type of requests that can be made by the CLIENT that will result in hours being deducted from the pre-paid hourly bank.

System Engineer 1

Examples of requests that require a level 1 Systems Engineer are; Application Installation, Create New Users, Permissions, Search Troubleshooting, Adding Content to Sites, Installing and Uploading Site Templates, Simple Content Migrations, etc…

System Engineer 2

Examples of requests that require a level 2 Systems Engineer are; Manage & Change Application Topology, Creation & Execution PowerShell Scripts, Service Pack & Hot-fix installations, Adding Additional Servers to a Farm, Installing & Configuring Application Modules etc…

Senior Specialist

Examples of requests that require a Senior Specialist are; Firewall Management, Switch Management, Group Policy Management, ISP Support, Application Migrations, Disaster Recovery Setup and Management, Hyper-V Support, Storage Support, etc…

Partner Level

US Cloud will engage one of its partners for high-level requests such as; Branding, Custom Development, Marketing Campaign planning, Ecommerce integration, Business Optimization Consulting, End user training, etc.

*The items in the list above are examples only, and are subject to change. US Cloud reserves the right to determine which level of support is required based on CLIENT’s request. If any request is deemed to exceed 2 (two) hours, the CLIENT will be contacted via telephone or ticketing system to approve additional hours used.  

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