WSO2 Support Services Policy

Version 5.0, effective 23 January 2017

This document sets forth the policies governing the provision of WSO2 Support Services in accordance with a Subscription Agreement.

  1. Creating and Managing Support Tickets

    Subscriber may raise a support ticket by visiting the WSO2 online support portal at https://support.wso2.com. New Subscribers are provided instructions on accessing the WSO2 support portal and other available support methods. There are no limits on support account authorized users. New users can be added by request from an authorized administrator to [email protected].

    To ensure we can properly address the issue, please ensure that you:

    • Follow specific guidelines posted on the support portal on how to raise support tickets.
    • Correctly classify the issue either as an Incident, Query, or otherwise.
    • Provide an initial Severity Level for Incidents.
    • Identify the specific environment and products affected.
    • Provide sufficient information with your report so WSO2 can replicate or otherwise understand the Incident and respond appropriately.
    • Respond promptly to outreach from WSO2's support team to provide any additional necessary information.
    • Work with the stakeholders in your organization to ensure their participation as necessary to reach a satisfactory outcome.
  2. Support Ticket Types

    A WSO2 Subscription includes access to a support account, which handles distinct types of support tickets:

    An “Incident” is an issue which needs immediate attention as it affects an actively deployed system, such as a live production system, a system being prepared for production, or a pre-production system used for shared development, testing, or staging. All instances comprising such environments must be added to the Subscription. It is the Subscriber’s responsibility to keep WSO2 abreast of the commencement date of production operation or any changes in the instance counts in each environment. Managed Cloud subscribers may raise “Hosting Incidents” concerning the operation of a system under WSO2 Managed Cloud services.

    A “Query” is a request for development support or general questions about the usage of any WSO2 product. Queries may concern a production or pre-production system or may arise from instances used for development or evaluation purposes. A general question concerning Managed Cloud Hosting is captured as a “Hosting Query”, and a request for a deployment or configuration change is captured as a “Hosting Task”.

  3. Service Levels

    For each Incident WSO2 endeavors to respond and resolve the issue on as quickly as possible, prior to the maximum Target Response Time, Target Workaround Time (if applicable), and Target Resolution Time associated with an Incident’s Severity Level. In the event that a Workaround is not reached for an Incident within the Target Workaround Time, or a resolution is not reached within the Target Resolution Time, taking into account any lags in Subscriber’s provision of necessary information, the Incident will be escalated to the WSO2 executive team and an Incident “war team” comprised of WSO2 support engineer(s), WSO2 executive(s), and Subscriber representative(s) will be convened and a response plan will be established, including technical assessment, mitigation strategy evaluation, resource allocations, and status update frequency. The support team will work continuously under the direction of the war team until a final resolution of the Incident is reached.

    Hours of coverage 24x7x365
    Incidents Severity Level 1 Severity Level 2 Severity Level 3
    Target Response Time 1 hour 4 hours 6 hours
    Target Workaround Time 24 hours 48 hours 72 hours
    Target Resolution Time 48 hours 72 hours 1 Business Week
    Support Ticket Limits no limit no limit no limit
    Queries
    Target Response Time 1 Business Day
    Target Resolution Time best efforts
    Support Ticket Limits up to the Development Support Limit
    Hosting Incidents Severity Level 1 Severity Level 2 Severity Level 3
    Target Response Time 15 minutes 90 minutes 8 hours
    Target Workaround Time 4 hours 24 hours 72 hours
    Target Resolution Time 48 hours 72 hours 1 Business Week
    Status Update Frequency every 4 hours every 8 hours every Business Day
    Escalation 8 hours
    Support Ticket Limits no limit no limit no limit
    Hosting Tasks & Queries
    Target Response Time 1 Business Day
    Target Resolution Time best efforts
    Support Ticket Limits unlimited
  4. Severity Levels

    A Subscriber makes the initial determination of the severity level of Incidents, pursuant to the level of impact.

    If a ticket is misclassified with respect to severity level or the type of ticket, the support team, in consultation with and with the consent of the Subscriber, will reclassify the ticket accordingly.

    Incident Severity Guidelines
    Severity Level 1
    (Catastrophic)
    1. The Subscriber has had a substantial loss of service, putting a substantial portion of Subscriber’s revenue at a risk of loss.
    2. All or a substantial portion of the Subscriber’s mission critical data is at a significant risk of loss or corruption.
    3. The Subscriber’s business operations have been severely disrupted.
    4. The Subscriber is at risk of damage to its reputation.
    5. For Managed Cloud: The Subscriber cannot access the system.
    6. For Managed Cloud: A government or legal stop order is placed on Subscriber requiring the service to cease with immediate effect.
    Severity Level 2
    (Urgent)
    1. Operations can continue in a restricted fashion, although Subscriber’s long-term productivity might be adversely affected.
    2. Internal software error causing the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software to fail, but restart or recovery is possible.
    3. Severely degraded performance.
    Severity Level 3
    (Serious)
    1. Impaired operations of some components, but allows the user to continue using the software.
    2. Deployment milestones are at risk.
    3. Nominal performance degradation.
    4. Software errors.
  5. Scope

    To be in scope for support, an Incident must affect the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software associated with the Subscription. WSO2 requires all instances in the production and pre-production environments – not just a representative subset – to be added to the Subscription. A production environment is a system that performs, or assists in performing, legally binding transactions and where a failure of a system in production will have an immediate economic impact on the end users and on the organization.

    The scope of a Query encompasses WSO2 products applicable to the project. Queries arising from completely different projects are not in scope – distinct projects (business units, development or operational teams, milestones, cycles) should have distinct Subscriptions.

    Queries are subject to a maximum hourly Development Support Limits as specified in the Subscription Agreement. A Query may be discovered to represent a bug in WSO2 products or documentation; if WSO2 determines this is the case, any hours expended to arrive at such a conclusion will not be counted against usage limits and the bug will be turned over to the product team for resolution. However, if Subscriber requires and requests an expedited fix the hours to deliver such a fix are counted towards hour limits.

    To be in scope for Managed Cloud support services, a Hosting Incident must involve the deployment, upgrading, maintenance, network configuration, starting, stopping, monitoring, availability, or performance of the hosted products within the parameters of the deployment architecture provided to the Managed Cloud team, and does not include resolution of bugs, feature requests, or product performance limitations. Any Hosting Incidents determined to be product-related rather than operational will be reclassified as Incidents or Queries as appropriate.

    A resolution to an Incident may in some cases consist of advice to seek a solution elsewhere – namely when the issue is caused by a hardware failure, third-party software, WSO2 products that have been heavily modified outside the many well-documented and supported extension mechanisms, attempts to use the software in an environment or for purposes for which it was not designed or well outside the published specs, issues that are effectively requests for consultancy services, or if no progress can be made without an onsite visit (unless your subscription includes this feature.)

    We also may suspend the SLA for an incident – or for the entire support account if the issue isn’t addressed promptly – if your Subscription lapses, if we find you are using any WSO2 software in production without a subscription (even if the incident doesn’t directly affect the unsupported software), if you have exceeded any limits, if you have failed to conform to WSO2 Update license terms or any additional license terms defined in your subscription, if you are using the support system improperly or abusively, or if you are using the software for illegal purposes.

    For us to provide good service, we often need your help with the incident: prompt response to requests for information through our support system, following our advice or instruction on a resolution, properly installing Updates that are part of the resolution. On a Severity Level 1 Incident we expect you to make resources available on a 24x7 basis to assist WSO2’s round-the-clock efforts in resolving the Incident. Our Service Level commitments are predicated on your sufficient involvement.

  6. Updates

    Updates are available to Subscribers and other registered users through the WSO2 Update services at https://wso2.com/update. Updates are cumulative – new updates issued by WSO2 include or depend upon previous updates made to the affected component. Subscribers are encouraged to use WSO2 Update Manager to stay up to date with all relevant Updates from WSO2. Updates are available to the general public and freely licensed for development activities.

    If WSO2 determines that an Update is required in order to remedy an Error in one or more Supported WSO2 Open Source Software components, which determination WSO2 will make acting reasonably and in good faith, WSO2 will identify or develop a Fix, build and certify the Fix into an Update and make that Update available through the WSO2 Update service. WSO2 will provide Fixes it develops to the provider or development community for the software component, who can subsequently make a determination if the Fix will be committed into the software component’s source code tree.

  7. Upgrades and Lifespan

    One of the advantages of open source software is the availability of frequent upgrades. Subscribers are encouraged to upgrade regularly. Upgrading to a newer minor or major version does not invalidate your Subscription. Please keep WSO2 informed of any significant upgrades to instances under Subscription – it helps us respond more quickly and effectively to support tickets.

    WSO2 commits to support each major and minor release of the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software for a minimum of three years. Rather than simply shutting down support after that, we continue to offer renewals for a legacy period after the initial release. But because the customer base for old software shrinks, the cost of maintaining expertise and performing support functions grows. To represent this higher cost and encourage Subscribers to take advantage of free upgrades, we assess a Legacy Surcharge. Legacy Surcharge rates represent a percentage of Subscription fees, as detailed below:

    4th year 5th year 6th year 7th year (and onwards if available)
    Legacy Surcharge 25% 50% 75% 100%
  8. Changes to or Discontinuance of Support Services

    Subject to the terms of the Subscription Agreement entered into between the Subscriber and WSO2, WSO2 reserves the right to modify this Support Services Policy at any time and for any reason, including to meet the business and legal requirements in individual countries around the world.

  9. Questions

    Questions or correspondence about this policy can be directed to [email protected], or to WSO2, Attn: Support Manager, 787 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041, USA.

  10. Definitions

    “Business Day” means any day, excluding weekends and public holidays, in the United States of America, unless otherwise specified in a Subscription Agreement.

    “Business Week” means five consecutive Business Days.

    “Combined Product” means each value-added software application program and/or computer hardware product specified in a Subscription Agreement that (i) incorporates the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software and (ii) is developed by Subscriber for commercial distribution to more than one End-User.

    “Development Support Limit” means the maximum allowed utilization within a Subscription term of the support system for raising Queries, measured in hours expended by WSO2 in reaching a resolution.

    “Documentation” means any current user guides, operating instructions, release notes, update announcements, installation guides, on-line help files regarding the use of the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software, manuals or other materials that are generally made available with the software by either the Apache Software Foundation or WSO2, depending on the specific software product.

    “End User” means Subscriber or a third party licensed to use a Combined Product internally and not for distribution.

    “Error” means either (a) a failure of the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software to conform to the specifications set forth in the Documentation, resulting in the inability to use, or restriction in the use of, the software, a runtime failure of the systems under Managed Cloud hosting provided by WSO2, and/or (b) a problem requiring new procedures, clarifications, or additional information. It does not include development of new features.

    “First Level Support” includes (a) call acceptance from Subscriber or End Users with diagnosis of problems to determine if they relate to hardware, operating software or application software whether provided by WSO2, Subscriber, or any third parties; and (b) Second Level Support for any Incidents determined to be related to the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software.

    “Fix” means either a software modification or addition that, when made or added to the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software, corrects the Error or Incident, or a procedure or routine that, when observed in the regular operation of the software, eliminates the practical adverse effect of the Error on Subscriber or End Users.

    “Managed Cloud” is a service in which WSO2 can maintain the hosted Supported WSO2 Open Source Software in accordance with the Service Levels as set out in Section 1.2.

    “Second Level Support” means investigating and resolving Incidents affecting Supported WSO2 Open Source Software or a Combined Product, including development of Workarounds or Updates as necessary.

    “Subscriber” means those individuals and entities that have entered into a Subscription Agreement with WSO2 for all necessary licenses and the provision of Support Services.

    “Subscription Agreement” means a WSO2 Subscription Agreement or OEM Support Agreement, addendum or amendment, work order, statement of work or other agreement between WSO2 and Subscriber for the provision of Support Services (as they may be varied, supplemented, amended or replaced from time to time in accordance with the terms contained therein.)

    “Support Services” means access to WSO2 support systems and personnel to be used within the scope and limits as set out in this Support Policy and the Subscription Agreement entered into between Subscriber and WSO2.

    “Support Policy” means the policies and procedures as set forth herein.

    “Supported WSO2 Open Source Software” means the specific instances of open source software identified in a Subscription Agreement, or upgraded versions thereof.

    “Target Resolution Time” means time within which WSO2's support team will provide a final resolution or Fix to the Incident and indicate its closure on the WSO2 Support Portal to Subscriber, to the reasonable satisfaction of Subscriber.

    “Target Response Time” is defined as time elapsed between the reporting of an Incident by the Subscriber or WSO2 becoming aware of the Incident (whichever is earlier) and a WSO2 Technical Support Engineer acknowledging the receipt of such report to Subscriber through the WSO2 Support Portal and beginning the resolution process.

    “Target Workaround Time” means the time within which WSO2’s support team will provide a Fix or a Workaround for an Incident to the reasonable satisfaction of Subscriber.

    “Workaround” is a temporary solution for an Incident until a more permanent resolution by way of a Fix is arrived at by WSO2. Workaround will lead to the final resolution of an Incident by way of a Fix in accordance with the Target Resolution Time.

    “Update” means software components, media, printed materials, and online or electronic documentation that augments the capability or addresses a requirement or deficiency in the Supported WSO2 Open Source Software. Updates include patches obtained through the WSO2 Update service or delivered directly to Subscriber.