Service Specification Managed Server

This English version is provided for convenience only. The German version is legally binding; in the event of any discrepancy between the two versions, the German version shall prevail.

1. Brief description

centron Managed Server provides a turnkey managed server environment based on centron ccloud³. The aim of the service is to reduce the Customer’s operational workload on a lasting basis by centron taking over central system administration tasks. In addition to the provision of the underlying virtual machine, the scope of services comprises, in particular, the following ongoing operational services:

• Backup management: automated creation and monitoring of backup copies in accordance with the agreed concept,
• Monitoring: continuous monitoring of system health and availability for the early detection of faults,
• Patch management: regular installation of security updates and system patches to maintain operational security.

By commissioning this service, the Customer transfers responsibility for the basic technical operation of the operating system to centron. Administrative responsibility for the applications installed by the Customer (application layer) remains with the Customer.

2. Key features

The Managed Server is based on a virtual machine of the ccloud³ and is supplemented by integrated operational services.

centron performs the continuous monitoring of the systems, including server hardware, operating system and relevant infrastructure components in the data centre. Monitoring is carried out on the basis of a defined check catalogue covering typical system states and critical operating parameters.

If deviations or faults are detected in the course of monitoring, centron independently takes measures to remedy them, insofar as these lie within the defined scope of services.

In addition, the service includes an integrated backup system and regular patch management. These services are provided as combined services and serve to ensure stable and secure system operation.

3. Service plans

centron Managed Server provides various instance types (“Flavors”) that differ in terms of CPU performance, memory and architecture.

The service plans are offered with CPU overprovisioning. The respective variant is indicated in the name of the pool. The underlying hardware (e.g. processor type or architecture) is specified in the technical documentation at https://docs.centron.de/ and can be viewed by the Customer.

The portfolio comprises different classes of instances, in particular:

• Worker Pool instances
• Power Pool instances
• High Availability Pool instances

These instances are available in different generations and architectures; vCPU and RAM can be freely selected within the limits.

A current overview of the available instances can be retrieved at any time via the centron portal or via the API.

4. Metrics

Billing is based on the underlying virtual machine in accordance with the provisions of the ccloud³ Compute Engine.

In addition, a fixed monthly price per virtual machine is charged for Premium Full Managing. Variable costs are also incurred for the backup storage used.

Billing is therefore a combination of infrastructure costs and the Managed Server component.

5. SLA specifics

Differentiated service levels apply to the availability of the virtual machines:

Virtual machines operated within a Worker Pool or Power Pool achieve a monthly availability of 99.5 %.

Virtual machines within a High Availability Pool achieve a monthly availability of 99.8 %.

States caused by an act or omission of the Customer, its vicarious agents or the users authorised by it shall not be deemed unavailability. This includes, in particular, the deliberate or unintentional shutting down, pausing or stopping of virtual machines via the customer portal or the API.

The services provided within the scope of Premium Full Managing, in particular monitoring, fault remediation, backup and patch management, constitute supporting operational services and do not give rise to any further availability or response time guarantees.

6. Backup

The Managed Server includes an integrated backup function.

Data backup follows the grandfather-father-son principle (GFS) and is performed daily. The retention period of the backups is, at the Customer’s choice, seven or twenty-eight days.

The backup covers the data stored on the system within the scope of the backup mechanisms provided for technically.

The Customer remains responsible for checking the completeness and recoverability of the backups and for ensuring that all relevant data is included in the backup strategy.

7. Additional terms

The Managed Server constitutes a combination of infrastructure and operational support. The Customer remains responsible for the installation, configuration and operation of its applications and for the management of user access and data.

Monitoring is carried out on the basis of a check catalogue defined by centron and comprises standardised checks of system health. Complete monitoring of customer-specific applications is not part of the service.

Fault remediation by centron is limited to the problems identified in the course of monitoring and included in the scope of services. Faults in applications or customer-specific configurations lie within the Customer’s area of responsibility.

Patch management is carried out in fixed maintenance cycles, as a rule once a month. This may result in planned maintenance windows during which the availability of the systems may be restricted. centron reserves the right to schedule unplanned maintenance windows at short notice in urgent cases.

The Customer is obliged to ensure that its applications are compatible with the installed updates. centron accepts no liability for the effects of updates on the Customer’s systems.

The Managed Services relate exclusively to systems operated by centron. Changes or interventions by the Customer that lead to incidents may cause additional effort and are not part of the Managed Services.

centron’s Managed Services relate to the operating systems, software components and configurations approved by centron. Software that the Customer installs or operates beyond this is neither supported by centron nor checked for compatibility.

If the Customer wishes to install or use software that has not been expressly approved by centron, centron will, upon request, provide the Customer with administrative root access (full administrator rights).

Upon provision of root access, the following applies to the system concerned:

• centron continues backup, monitoring and patch management unchanged. The remuneration for the Managed Server continues to apply accordingly. Patch management continues to cover all components of the operating system; the exclusion of individual packages or versions is not possible.
• The agreed service levels (Section 5) no longer apply. centron remedies incidents that centron detects in the course of monitoring, insofar as this is possible without intervening in the Customer’s software and configurations. centron provides any services beyond this upon request on a time-and-materials basis.
• The Customer bears responsibility for all changes it makes, in particular for the installation, configuration, IT security, maintenance and licensing of the software it uses and for its compatibility with the updates installed by centron.
• The Customer may not deactivate or modify the components required for the Managed Services, in particular backup and monitoring agents, package sources and centron’s means of access. If a service is no longer possible for this reason, it is suspended to that extent; centron will inform the Customer accordingly.
• The provision of root access is final. It is not possible to return root access with the service levels being reinstated.

centron is not liable for incidents, data loss or security incidents attributable to changes or software of the Customer. In all other respects, the liability provisions of the General Terms and Conditions apply.