Service Level Agreement (SLA)

This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") forms part of the General Terms and Conditions of StarCore (https://starcore.dev/terms) and applies to all Care Plans (hosting, domain, SSL, backups, monitoring and support). It does not apply to Web Development. Capitalised terms have the meaning given in the General Terms and Conditions.

1. Definitions

• Availability: the percentage of time in a calendar month during which the Client Website is reachable via the public internet and returns a valid response (HTTP status code 2xx or 3xx) on the home page, calculated as: (total minutes in the month − Downtime − Excluded Time) ÷ (total minutes in the month − Excluded Time) × 100 %.
• Downtime: the time during which the Client Website is not available, measured from the first failed check that leads to an Incident up to and including the first successful check afterwards.
• Excluded Time: time that does not count under Chapter 4.
• Incident: any interruption or serious disruption of the Client Website reported by the monitoring or by the Client.
• Maintenance Window: a pre-announced time slot for planned maintenance.
• Response Time: the time between the submission of a ticket and the moment a person (not an automatic message) responds substantively.
• Working Days / Business Hours: Monday to Friday, 09:00–17:00 (Dutch time), excluding Dutch public holidays.

2. Availability guarantee

1. StarCore guarantees an Availability of at least 99.5 % per calendar month for every Client Website with an active Care Plan. This corresponds to a maximum of approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes of Downtime per month.
2. Availability is measured by StarCore's own monitoring: an HTTP check of the home page every 5 minutes from an independent measuring point, with a time-out of 10 seconds. Three consecutive failed checks automatically open an Incident. The measurements and the incident history of the past 30 days are visible to the Client in the Panel.
3. In the event of a difference between StarCore's measurement and the Client's, StarCore's measurement is decisive unless the Client demonstrates that it was incorrect.

3. Maintenance

1. Planned maintenance that may cause Downtime is announced by StarCore at least 48 hours in advance through the Panel and by e-mail, and is performed as far as possible between 22:00 and 06:00 Dutch time. Planned maintenance amounts to a maximum of 4 hours per calendar month in total.
2. Emergency maintenance (for example installing a critical security update) may be performed by StarCore without the 48-hour notice; StarCore informs the Client as soon as possible, in advance where possible.
3. Security updates for the operating system, web server, PHP and the software built by StarCore are installed within 7 days of the update becoming available in the case of a critical vulnerability, and other updates in the regular maintenance cycle.

4. Exclusions

The following time does not count as Downtime:

1. planned maintenance within the limits of Chapter 3 and emergency maintenance needed to avert an acute security risk;
2. unavailability caused by the Client or third parties engaged by the Client, including changes to the Content, incorrect DNS settings at an external DNS provider, expired domain names due to non-payment, or overload caused by the Client's own application;
3. failures of third-party services beyond StarCore's control: domain registries, certificate authorities, payment services, external APIs, third-party e-mail services and internet connections outside the hosting supplier's network;
4. large-scale attacks (such as DDoS) that cannot be prevented with the reasonably available protection, for the duration of the attack;
5. force majeure within the meaning of the General Terms and Conditions;
6. suspension of the Services under the General Terms and Conditions (late payment, breach of the Acceptable Use Policy, order from an authority);
7. time during which the Client Website is offline at the Client's request (for example during a migration).

5. Support and response times

1. Support is provided through tickets in the Panel and via info@starostkaweb.com. Tickets can be submitted 24 hours a day; Response Time is calculated within Business Hours, except for priority P1.
2. Each ticket is assigned a priority:

3. The Response Time depends on the Client's plan and is stated in the quotation and on https://starcore.dev/pricing ("response within X hours"). For P1 Incidents the following always applies in addition:
   • detection by the monitoring within 15 minutes of the outage starting, 24 hours a day;
   • start of recovery within 4 hours of detection, also outside Business Hours;
   • a status update to the Client at least every 4 hours until the outage is resolved.
4. For P2 to P4 the plan's Response Time applies, counted in Business Hours. Resolution times depend on the cause and are a best-efforts obligation; StarCore gives an expected resolution time with its first response.
5. The Client reports an Incident as completely as possible (what, since when, which URL, which error message). Incomplete reports may extend the Response Time while StarCore waits for additional information.

6. Backups and recovery

1. StarCore makes a full backup of the files and the database of the Client Website daily and keeps it for 30 days in encrypted form at a location outside the production server, within the EEA.
2. The recovery point objective (RPO) is at most 24 hours; the recovery time objective (RTO) after a request or an outage is at most 8 Business Hours for a full site and 4 Business Hours for restoring individual files.
3. The Client can request a backup restore through a ticket. One restore per calendar month is included; further restores not attributable to StarCore are charged at the applicable hourly rate.
4. StarCore tests recovery from backups at least once per quarter.
5. On request, StarCore provides the Client with a complete export (files and database), also during the term of the Agreement. On termination, Chapter 9 of the General Terms and Conditions applies.

7. Security incidents

1. StarCore informs the Client of a security incident affecting the Client Website or its data without undue delay and no later than 48 hours after becoming aware of it, with what is known about the nature, the affected data, the consequences and the measures taken. Follow-up information is provided as soon as it becomes available.
2. In the case of a hacked Client Website, StarCore restores the last clean backup and closes the vulnerability found insofar as it lies in the software managed by StarCore. Repair of damage caused by vulnerabilities in Content or third-party customisations added by the Client is quoted as additional work.

8. Service credits

1. If StarCore fails to meet the Availability guarantee in a calendar month, the Client is entitled to a service credit in the form of a discount on the next invoice for the Care Plan:

2. If StarCore misses the recovery start time (4 hours) for a P1 Incident, the Client is additionally entitled to a service credit of 10 % of the monthly price per Incident.
3. The Client requests the service credit through a ticket within 30 days after the end of the month concerned. StarCore confirms or rejects the request with reasons within 14 days and applies a granted credit to the next invoice. For an annually paid plan the credit is calculated on one twelfth of the annual price and offset against the next invoice or, if there is no next invoice, refunded.
4. Service credits never exceed 100 % of the plan's monthly price per month in total.
5. For Business Clients, service credits are the sole and complete compensation for failure to meet the levels described in this SLA, without prejudice to the right of termination under the General Terms and Conditions in the event of repeated or serious failure. For Consumers, service credits are in addition to their statutory rights and do not limit those rights.

9. Reporting and contact

1. The Panel shows, per Client Website, the availability of the past 30 days and the list of Incidents. On request StarCore provides a monthly availability report.
2. Questions about this SLA: info@starostkaweb.com.

10. Changes

Changes to this SLA follow Article 20 of the General Terms and Conditions (announcement at least 30 days in advance; right of termination in the event of material deterioration).