For our standard hosted solution, Avail uses industry-leading services and software to provide the best hosted services possible for our customers. Service Level Agreement (SLA) backed (99.9%), multi-region cloud-hosted services provide the underlying core of our architecture. As your operations and customer interactions increase, our architecture scales upward without requiring a redesign.
All redundancy is provided by Avail and our providers. There are multiple layers of redundancy that Avail designed throughout the system including the following redundancies: networking, internet access, storage, and highly available computing infrastructure. Customer data is replicated three times within a regional data center and can be replicated to another geographically separate data center. The only customer requirement is having a reliable, stable Internet connection.
To provide the greatest reliability for users, Avail has gone to great lengths to ensure that we have the most reliable and available network topology and connectivity. In addition to virtualizing the server environment, Avail provides redundancy of the operating environment and backups for the connectivity into the hosted solution. In the case of a hardware issue, such as a drive or power supply failure, the software recognizes the issue and transfers operations to a mirror image, which minimizes downtime and provides a seamless transition.
The hosted option uses the same server configuration, software, communication methods, and product licensing. However, when your property chooses the hosted option, many IT functions become Avail’s responsibility. The responsibilities that Avail assumes include the following among others:
- Ensuring system availability (up-time)
- Repairing or placing failed hardware
- Providing hardware redundancy
- Ensure there is “fail over” capability to minimize downtime
- Providing redundancy of user access and power
- Performing required software and hardware maintenance at the least disruptive times possible and providing advance notice
- Replacing obsolete hardware
- Ensuring response time (as related to system resource capacity)
- Monitor system usage to ensure there is always capacity for peak activity
- Ensure the security of data and the system in general
- Provide for data back-up in the case of a catastrophic loss
- Provide security from unauthorized access
- Apply updates to all third-party software as they are published
As a hosted services customer, some IT tasks remain the responsibility of your property. These responsibilities vary based on the current warranty status of the equipment. Please reference the Support and Maintenance Agreement for specific responsibilities and equipment coverages. The general responsibilities include:
- Ensuring the availability of sufficient internet bandwidth
- Maintaining the Operating System on your workstations
- Apply security patches as they are published
- Update the operating system after approval by Avail
- Maintain the workstation hardware
- Equipment under warranty
- Report all hardware issues to Avail
- Allow access to the equipment by an Avail authorized service person
- Install replacement equipment if provided by Avail
- If Avail Support and Maintenance Agreement excludes the workstations
- Maintain and replace hardware as needed
- To find the minimum recommended specifications, Avail strongly recommends requesting a recommendation from Avail Support
- Equipment under warranty