1. Introduction

With the product Managed Cloud, PlusServer offers its customers a public cloud that is scalable according to requirement. If the demand for calculating capacity increases, cloud computing allows adding further resources on short notice and removing them just as quickly if desired. This cost-efficient approach enables companies to flexibly comply with an increased demand in peak times. This means no more long-winded usage forecasts, expensive investment or the purchase of mostly unused hardware. The product provides hardware-independent virtual units with scalable parameters (RAM, CPU, storage).

Additional services like backups, monitoring, patch management and administration tasks provide a complete and comprehensive service for the rented systems. This service can be completed by additional resources like load balancing, firewall services or shared storage (NAS).

2. Product Description

The product Managed Cloud places virtual entities at the customers' disposal that are located on a common powerful, failsafe and scalable infrastructure. The complete administration, configuration and operation are managed by PlusServer. The service comprises a connection to the PlusServer network and all other services ordered in connection with the product Managed Cloud. In addition, the PlusServer Support can assist the customer in case of problems.

The product Managed Cloud includes the following services:

• Consulting (technical specification of the individual service)
• Allocation of a virtual infrastructure consisting of one or more virtual entities
• Initial configuration and installation
• Adjustment of technical parameters in accordance with the customer
• Service documentation
• Configuration, maintenance and monitoring of the infrastructure
• Full root and administrator rights for the installation of individual software
• Allocation of IP addresses
• 24 hours on 365 days free support hotline

3. Technical Description

3.1. Virtualization

The resources provided in the context of the product Managed Public Cloud are virtual machines. Thus, every entity is separated from the underlying hardware. The infrastructure solution VMware is used for this purpose, which stands out due to its security, stability and scalability. It has been used for years in 100,000s of virtual machines. Virtualization allows the scaling and moving of virtual machines, so that resources can be added any time within seconds if required. Therefore, adjustments can be made in a very flexible way if demand arises. Many additional features are available to realize even the most complex infrastructure setups. The infrastructure is laid out for high-availability, so that in consequence also all virtual machines constitute highly available units. That way, maximum accessibility is guaranteed for all services running on this infrastructure. If single hardware components fail, the virtual machines are automatically started on backup nodes, thus reducing downtime to an absolute minimum.

3.2. Hardware

PlusServer only offers hardware by brand name manufacturers and their distributors. The server hardware is specially designed for maximum performance. The hardware platform is based on state-of-the-art server systems from Fujitsu. All servers are equipped with at least eight cores and large main memory. By using first-class server components, very high availability is ensured. All systems undergo a hardware test of several days’ duration to check particular components for their long-lasting load capacity. The servers and all applied components are certified by the manufacturer VMware.

3.3. Performance Parameters

The virtual machines in the cloud can be configured flexibly and their performance adapted anytime. For this purpose, the CPU capacity of each virtual machine is expressed in the number of cores and varies from one to eight CPU cores. Also the main memory can be varied in size according to needs. Depending on the operating system a reboot is necessary for adjusting parameters.

3.4. Storage

All virtual machines obtain their storage from a central, highly-redundant storage infrastructure. The deployed solution is based on multi-head storage systems from Isilon which are optimized for this purpose. The Isilon appliance stands out due to its high scalability and redundancy within a global file system.

This architecture guarantees very high availability and optimal performance by using a pre-switched disk I/O cache that multiplies the real I/O performance of the backend through intelligent caching procedures. The overall redundancy is enhanced by a disaster backup which is located in a separated fire protection area.

The allocated storage volume of a virtual machine can be adapted in 10 GB intervals.

3.5. Network

Each virtual machine can be operated with public IP addresses or as internal machine without external IP addresses. IP addresses can be added in the context of a customer’s RIPE network. All virtual machines are connected internally and externally via Gbit to switches from the manufacturer Juniper Networks. The incurring data volume is billed per GB. Internal traffic is free. All virtual machines of one customer can access the internal network of the customer if desired. Separate internal networks can be realized by VLAN technology; they may be used simultaneously on all virtual machines.

4. Product Options

Virtual machines are billed according to the four parameters basic fee, CPU, main memory and storage to offer the highest flexibility with the product Managed Public Cloud. The following prices are applicable for every virtual machine.

The monthly minimum turnover per cloud is 500 EUR (net).

5. Managed Services

A choice of additional services and management options is available for Managed Public Cloud. They are introduced in the following:

5.1. Managed Admin

The PlusServer system administrators are well versed in managing large and complex infrastructure projects. Customers may profit from this knowledge and select an individual support level for their servers. Thus, installations and optimizations can be made anytime.

Details of this service are described in the product description Managed Admin.

5.2. Managed Backup

Managed Backup offers a complete and comprehensive service to backup data, programs or system statuses. Depending on the configuration, the customer can still access data of the past days or weeks. All managed servers are offered including a weekly backup.

Details of this service are available in the product description Managed Backup.

5.3. Managed Monitoring

The monitoring system is operated centrally on the PlusServer infrastructure and maintained by own staff. All checks are executed around the clock. The proactive failure management is performed by the PlusServer Support in the context of Managed Admin. All managed servers already include the package Managed Monitoring Basic, which, among other things, comprises an availability and RAID status check.

See the product description Managed Monitoring for further details.

5.4. Managed Update

With Managed Update, PlusServer offers a live update management. To ensure system security and compatibility of the provided managed servers, all patches and updates for the OS and related software are tested in a test environment before any updates are made on the live system. After successful testing the updates are released and installed manually on the customer’s servers.

Details of this service can be seen in the product description Managed Update.

5.5. Managed Mailfilter

The PlusServer Managed Mailfilter offers combined spam and virus protection to companies. Resources on the customer‘s server are disburdened, because e-mails are already filtered before they arrive. As not only singular e-mail addresses but full domains are checked every time, PlusServer offers efficient protection from spam and virus e-mails.

The product description Managed Mailfilter includes further details about this service.

5.6. Managed Storage NAS

The NAS (Network Attached Storage) has been developed to counteract management problems of dedicated hard disks in server systems or local attached storage systems, as it is hardly possible with these systems to use storage capacity efficiently and flexibly. The PlusServer NAS is offered by PlusServer with full redundancy and including support and management. The customer uses a central system which is billed according to capacity (per GB) and bandwidth (Mbit/s). Access is realized via NFS and can be achieved simultaneously from all booked Cloud systems.

Details of this service are contained in the product description Managed Storage NAS.

5.7. Managed Firewall

To secure the virtual machines supplied by PlusServer, hardware firewalls can be setup on request which offer far more protection than firewalls based on standard software. Firewalls are configured completely according to individual requirements; support and management are provided by PlusServer.

The deployed systems can also be used for the termination of IPsec-based VPNs, so that secured access is possible anytime, for example from the company network.

At this, the firewall can protect both external prolific traffic and internal customer networks. It is possible to separate the particular cloud systems into external, internal, DMZ etc.

Details of this service are available in the product description Managed Firewall.

5.8. Managed Loadbalancing

PlusServer load balancer systems distribute the load caused by requests between different customer servers. Depending on the requirements, PlusServer offers numerous options to distribute traffic dynamically to several servers. The PlusServer load balancers are generally laid out with redundancy. Support and management are included in this service. Load balancing only applies for public IP addresses of cloud systems.

The product description Managed Loadbalancing describes further details of this service.

6. Service Level

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is available for PlusServer Managed Public Cloud. It contains service availabilities, maximum recovery times, and maximum response times. The service Level Agreement is provided as a separate document.

7. Service Management and Support

7.1. System Monitoring

PlusServer maintains a Support and Service Center which is staffed by experienced system administrators around the clock (24 hours per day, 365 days per year). If the Support and Service Center identifies a service failure, arrangements to resolve the failure will be conducted immediately.

7.2. Hotline

PlusServer is available for its customers 365 days a year around the clock through its hotline. All necessary information about the hotline is provided to the customer after the service has been provisioned. PlusServer confirms incoming failure reports by customers in general within 60 minutes and informs the customer at short notice about the troubleshooting status.

7.3. Maintenance

PlusServer announces scheduled maintenance, which may impact a customer's service, at least three business days in advance. Scheduled maintenance is normally performed between midnight and 6 a.m. CET.

PDF: » Product Description
PDF: » Service Level Agreement