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‎sphinx/scc_doc/hosting_service_agreement.md‎

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# Service Level Agreement for Specify 7 Hosting
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between
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the University of Kansas Center for Research (KUCR), Inc, affiliated with the University of Kansas, on behalf of the Specify Collections Consortium, having an address at 2385 Irving Hill Rd, Lawrence, KS 66045-7568, USA
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and
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\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
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1. # **Agreement Overview**
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This Agreement represents a Service Level Agreement (“SLA” or “Agreement”) between KUCR,
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on behalf of the Specify Collections Consortium, henceforth known as “SCC”, and
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\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, henceforth known as “Client” for SCC technical (system
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and application) support services, and for Specify Cloud Hosting (“Specify Cloud” or
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“Service”) on Amazon Web Service (AWS) servers located in \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
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for the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ collection databases and their associated digital
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assets using Specify collections software.
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2. **Purpose**
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The purpose of this SLA is to:
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describe how SCC enables the Client to remotely access and use the Specify software and
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all its customer data in “Software as a service” mode.
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explicitly identify the Specify Cloud Service hosting technical support services,
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software maintenance and updates, price, online availability, backup protocols,
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access restrictions, data ownership, and stakeholder responsibilities.
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3. **Duration**
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This SLA is valid from the initial hosting date until December 31st of the same year.
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It will then be tacitly renewed from year to year unless terminated by either party.
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Any amendments, modifications, or other terms outside of those stated herein must be
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agreed upon by both parties. The SLA may be terminated by the Client at any time. SCC
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will give 30 days written notice of the termination of the SLA, after the start of a
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new service period if the Client payment is more than 90 days late for the current
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service year.
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4. # **Price**
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The fixed price for SCC technical support services and for Specify Cloud Hosting on
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AWS servers is \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ USD per year. At the end of each year,
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the price may be increased in line with development and AWS costs provided that SCC
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notifies the customer at least 3 months before the contractual expiry date.
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5. # **Contractors and subcontractors**
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SCC’s cloud hosting subcontractor is Amazon Web Services (AWS).
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SCC does not use contractors and may not add subcontractors without the customer's
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prior written consent.
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6. # **Service Agreement**
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## 6.1. Service Scope
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The following services are covered by this SLA:
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* Technical support in accordance with the conditions described in SCC’s Support
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Services Guide (Item C of the Specify Collections Consortium Membership Agreement)
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for technical issues related to Specify Cloud database hosting that arise.
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* Online availability of Specify Cloud virtual server, collection SQL database, and
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Specify software application.
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* Continuous server, database and application status monitoring.
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* SCC management of Specify 7 software (or any later version) and security updates,
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updates by AWS to Hosting Services, and other integral software as required.
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* Backup and recovery of hosted data as described in Section 6.9
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##
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## 6.2. Support Availability
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The SCC Help Desk acts as the point of contact for all hosting and technical support
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issues. Technical Support Issue requests may be sent via email to the Help Desk:
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support@specifysoftware.org. The Specify Help Desk staff will respond in accordance
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with the conditions described in SCC’s Support Services Guide.
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Live technical support is available 8:00 AM \-- 5:00 PM
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(U.S. Central Time, UTC \-6) Monday \- Friday, excluding U.S. federal and State of
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Kansas holidays.
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In case of emergency outside of normal technical support hours, an issue that
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interferes with the Client’s ability to fulfill their duties, SCC staff will assert
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their best effort to resolve the issue once notified. SCC staff may be reached for
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emergencies via both phone and email at the following contact information:
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director@specifysoftware.org
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membership@specifysoftware.org
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support@specifysoftware.org
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\+1 785-864-1363
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## 6.3. Data Location
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Specimen data and collection catalog associated files of digital assets (images,
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documents, etc.) will be housed and maintained on AWS servers. Backups of the database
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and asset data will also be created and stored on AWS servers. Unless explicitly
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granted permission by the Client for diagnostic or troubleshooting services, SCC staff
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will not access, copy, download, etc., primary or backup data for any purpose. The
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location of the customer's data and backups may not be changed without the customer's
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prior written consent.
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## 6.4 Server Accessibility
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Designated SCC and Client staff shall be given access to the Client’s database instance
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on the Specify Cloud for normal technical support and adjustments. SCC staff will not
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have credentials for Specify database access, unless they are explicitly granted by the
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Client. SCC will provide the Client with account credentials to access database
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instances and servers via SSH.
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## 6.5 Software Availability
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Specify software and specimen data and collection catalog associated files of digital
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assets (images, documents, etc.) will be available to the Client on a 24x7 basis except
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for pre-scheduled and announced Specify platform software update and maintenance.
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The SCC targets 99.5% annual average software and customer data availability (uptime)
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during client peak hours (i.e. between 6 am and 8 pm local Client time Monday through
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Friday), with the exception of planned downtime and maintenance events, and force
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majeure events.
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In case this target is not reached, the Client is entitled to a discount on the
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following year’s invoice, calculated as 1% per 0.1 percentage point below the uptime
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threshold.
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## 6.6 Monitoring
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To verify the Specify application and database are available to the Client, the SCC
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will automatically monitor database server operating status and availability at
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10-minute intervals, through the updown.io service. During the period of 8 AM to
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10 PM U.S. Central Time, if a Specify Cloud server does not return to online status
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within 30 minutes, the SCC will attempt to determine and remedy the cause of the server
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outage. If the SCC cannot remedy the server failure and return it to operation after
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30 minutes, the server’s unavailability status will be communicated to the Client via
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email. When the outage is resolved, the server is back online, and the Specify platform
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is accessible for use, the Client will be notified of the return to operation via email.
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Designated Client personnel will also be notified of server availability disruption
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within 10 minutes of the disruption, through the updown.io service. The Client will
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provide the SCC with a list of designated personnel and their emails to be notified.
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## 6.7 Maintenance
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The SCC may occasionally perform minor maintenance on Specify Cloud servers and AWS
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virtual machines to optimize performance. Maintenance may require Specify Cloud hosted
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databases to be unavailable for a short period, typically 15-30 minutes. SCC will
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strive to schedule server and application maintenance during Client non-peak hours
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(i.e. between 8 pm and 6 am local Client time). SCC will notify the Client prior to any
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brief expected maintenance with at least 24-hour notice, or with as much time as
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possible in cases of a degraded system performance or emergency.
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In providing technical support, SCC staff will not access (open, read, copy, etc.) the
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data records and information contained within the Specify Cloud hosted databases or
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associated collection data files without explicit prior approval from the Client.
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Senior SCC software engineers will have access to the accounts of the server platforms
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for normal technical support and adjustments, but will not have credentials for Specify
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database access, unless they are explicitly granted by the Client.
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## 6.8. Server Storage Capacity
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Allotted storage capacity for assets and backups will be granted up to 25 GB. If
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server storage capacity is exceeded, data will not be lost but access to the files may
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be temporarily prevented. Allotted storage capacity can be increased as needed by
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revised service terms between the Client and the SCC.
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## 6.9. Backups
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Backups of Specify Cloud hosted databases and digital asset data and documents will be
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created, managed, and stored on AWS servers.
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**Database Backups.** Daily, SCC staff will perform and compress SQL database dumps at
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a time outside of local working hours to minimize impact on the user experience and
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platform performance.
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**Asset Backups.** On the first Friday of each month, a complete backup (snapshot) will
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be created from the assets and stored in AWS S3 Standard for direct access. This
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snapshot will also be compressed and stored in AWS Glacier for long-term storage.
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Daily, incremental digital asset file backups using
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[rsync](https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync) will be executed between the live data
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and the snapshot for one month. On the first Friday of each month, the process will
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repeat and the previous, rsync-ed backup will be replaced with the new snapshot.
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**Backup Retention.** SCC will retain Specify Cloud hosted database backup copies in
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the following manner: daily backups for one week, Friday backups for one month, the
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first Friday of each month for one year, yearly backups indefinitely. Daily or monthly
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backups can be maintained for longer or shorter periods as required by the Client,
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contingent on storage constraints.
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Digital asset backups will be contributed to daily with rsync, and retained for one
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month, at which time, a new asset archive will be created for rsync backups, and
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copied, compressed, and stored in Glacier for long-term storage. Monthly digital asset
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backups will be stored for one year or up to the storage capacity in the agreement.
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The last monthly backup for each year will be stored indefinitely.
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**Backup Access.** We will provide the Client with account credentials for SSH access
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to the servers and SQL credentials to access their database(s).
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The Client is encouraged to download regular database and asset backups, then move
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them offsite, according to a regular schedule. Upon request, SCC staff will work with
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the Client to assure access and automate the process.
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**Recovery.** If the SCC is notified of the need for a collection database or file
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recovery from backups, we will restore the last valid copy of the database and files
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and restore normal operations within 24 hours. The restoration process itself usually
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is accomplished in under 1 hour during U.S. Central Time Zone business hours
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(GMT \-5 or \-6). In the event of disaster recovery, the amount of lost data would be
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those entered into the database since the previous backup, typically within the
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previous 24 hours.
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# **7\.** **Ownership**
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All data created by the Client hosted in the Specify Cloud service are the Client’s
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property and SCC makes no claim of ownership to the Client’s data. The SCC will not
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access, inspect, use or distribute Client data for testing, technical support,
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problem-solving or for any other purpose without the express, written permission of the
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Client. A limited administrative account in MariaDB will be required to create
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and restore backup files using scripts, all within the cloud servers.
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# **8\.** **Responsibilities**
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## 8.1. Client Responsibilities
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Client responsibilities in support of the SLA include:
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* Payment for support costs at the agreed interval and period of service.
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* Providing reasonable availability of a Client representative when resolving a
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* service-related incident or request.
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## 8.2. SCC Responsibilities
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SCC responsibilities in support of the SLA include:
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* Meeting response times associated with service-related incidents.
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* Providing the Client with an annual report of the service’s uptime
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* Notification to designated Client representatives of all planned and emergency
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maintenance.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have accepted and executed this
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Agreement through their duly authorized representatives as of the date entered below.
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| | | KUCR, on behalf of the Specify Collections Consortium |
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| :---- | :---- | :---- |
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| | | |
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| | | |
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| Signature | | Signature |
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| | | |
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| Name | | Name |
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| | | |
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| Title | | Title: Chief Financial Officer |
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| | | |
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| Date | | Date |
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