Does Media Temple Provide Reliable Uptime?

Media Temple, a well-known host for web development, guarantees 99.99% uptime on its DV products. However, this guarantee comes with specific terms and conditions that users should be aware of before choosing this provider. This article delves into what the service uptime guarantee means, how it works, and the exclusions that apply.

Understanding the Uptime Guarantee

Media Temple's DV products come with a comprehensive 99.99 service uptime guarantee. This means that customers are promised 99.99% uptime. If the service does not meet this standard, Media Temple provides a credit equivalent to 20% of the monthly hosting fee for each 20 minutes of downtime, up to a maximum credit of 100% of the monthly hosting fee.

What Is Included in the Uptime Definition?

Uptime is defined as servers having power connectivity to the Internet and being responsive to a ping. However, there are situations where downtime may not be counted against the guarantee:

Periodic Scheduled Maintenance or Repairs

Any maintenance or repairs performed during scheduled times, or that have been publicly announced, are excluded from the service uptime guarantee. This ensures that users are aware of these down periods and are not penalized.

Emergency Maintenance

In the case of emergencies where the maintenance is necessary to ensure network stability, this downtime will also be excluded from the guarantee. The primary focus is on ensuring the integrity and overall stability of the servers.

User-Initiated Downtime

Downtime caused by configuration settings, custom scripting, coding, or the installation of third-party applications is not covered in the uptime guarantee. This underscores the importance of maintaining a server environment that is not prone to such issues.

Outages That Do Not Affect Website Appearance

Outages that affect only access to website functions like FTP and email, while not impacting the website's appearance, are also excluded from the guarantee. These types of outages do not disrupt the primary service, which is the display and functionality of the website itself.

Beyond Control Factors

Causes beyond Media Temple's control or those that are not reasonably foreseeable are excluded. This includes events like distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and issues related to the reliability of certain programming environments. These situations are out of the company's direct control but can still affect uptime.

Physical Location Issues

Problems specifically related to the user's physical location, such as power failures, regional Internet outages, and other geographical issues, are not covered under the uptime guarantee. Users need to be aware of their geographical risks and take steps to mitigate them.

Reporting Downtime and Credit Requests

In the event that downtime exceeds the 20 minutes threshold, users can request a credit of up to 20% of their monthly hosting fee for each 20 minutes of downtime, up to a maximum credit of 100% of the monthly hosting fee. Users must report the downtime event and must request a credit within five days for it to be considered.

Media Temple's uptime guarantee and policy provide a clear framework for both the service provider and its customers. It ensures that downtime is kept to an absolute minimum, and when it does occur, users are compensated fairly. However, it's essential to understand the specific conditions and exclusions to make informed decisions about hosting a website with Media Temple.