When you enter into a contract with a web hosting service, an agreement is made. This agreement holds the hosting service responsible for a particular level of service, and it holds the customer responsible for payment. This agreement is called a service level agreement, or SLA. The customer requesting services from the web hosting service is often called an “author”.

An SLA will often outline what the author can expect from the web host in terms of services offered. This will include availability and performance metrics like speed and downloads. There should be a section regarding network availability. This will guarantee a certain amount of availability (hopefully 100%) to the author, and should include a clause of refund to the author if this availability is less than what is promised. Another section will talk about infrastructure and the guarantee of working critical systems. Sometimes things like HVAC and power can fail, leaving the author without a working infrastructure to write from. This should also include a refund clause. The third section of the SLA will guarantee the functionality of any leased hardware to the author. A replacement and refund clause should again be included here. One thing to be aware of is that if you’re going to make a claim against an SLA, you should have some type of data to back up your assertion. Typically, if you’ve employed some sort of sla management solution, then you should be able to back up what you’re saying as you’ll have good uptime/downtime data to substantiate what you’re telling your web host.

An SLA does not cover any user problems associated with the use of the web hosting service. As with any warranty, problems created by the user are not covered under the agreement.

It is important to hold your web hosting service to the standards as outlined in the SLA. If your website or server is not available to the people who need to see it, money flies out the door. As the saying goes, time is money. Business websites need to be available to their customers and clients. If a website is running slowly, many people will not have the patience to wait for it to load; they will move on to the next-best site. If a server is not working, employees or students are not able to get work done. Why should you pay for a service that is not meeting its stated standards? If someone tells you they will get something done, they should be able to deliver. This same level of expectation should be held to service level agreements and web hosting services.