Support Terms and Conditions

Effective Date: January 2025

Version: 1.0

1. Definitions
2. Severity Levels
3. Response Time SLAs by Tier
4. Support Scope
1. 4.1 Covered Services
2. 4.2 Services Not Covered
5. Support Channels
6. Escalation Process
7. Maintenance Windows
8. Exclusions and Limitations
9. Term and Termination
10. General Provisions
Appendix A: Severity Classification Examples
Appendix B: Information Required for Support Requests

These Support Terms and Conditions (“Support Terms”) govern the provision of technical support services (“Support Services”) by Automata Nexus (“Provider,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) to customers (“Customer,” “you,” or “your”) who have purchased a valid support subscription for Aegis-DB.

1. Definitions

1.1 “Support Request” means a formal communication from Customer to Provider through an authorized support channel, describing an issue, question, or request for assistance related to the covered Aegis-DB software.

1.2 “Severity Level” means the classification assigned to a Support Request based on the impact and urgency of the reported issue, as defined in Section 2.

1.3 “Response Time” means the elapsed time between Provider’s receipt of a Support Request through an authorized channel and Provider’s initial substantive response acknowledging the issue and providing preliminary guidance or requesting additional information.

1.4 “Resolution Time” means the target elapsed time for Provider to deliver a fix, workaround, or solution that restores the affected functionality to operational status. Resolution Times are targets, not guarantees, and may vary based on issue complexity.

1.5 “Business Hours” means Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM in the Customer’s designated time zone, excluding public holidays observed by Provider. Enterprise tier customers receive 24/7 support for Severity 1 issues.

1.6 “Workaround” means a temporary solution or set of procedures that allows Customer to continue operations while a permanent fix is being developed.

1.7 “Fix” means a permanent correction to the software that resolves the reported issue.

1.8 “Authorized Contact” means an individual designated by Customer who is authorized to submit Support Requests and receive support communications on Customer’s behalf.

1.9 “Supported Version” means a version of Aegis-DB that is currently within its support lifecycle as published in Provider’s version support policy.

2. Severity Levels

All Support Requests are classified according to the following severity levels. Provider reserves the right to reclassify severity levels based on technical assessment.

2.1 Critical (Severity 1)

Definition: A production system is completely down, or a critical business function is unavailable with no workaround. This includes:

Complete system outage preventing all database operations
Data corruption or imminent risk of data loss
Security breach or active exploitation of a vulnerability
Cluster failure affecting all nodes
Complete inability to start the Aegis-DB server

Customer Obligations: Customer must have technical personnel available 24/7 to work with Provider until the issue is resolved or downgraded.

2.2 High (Severity 2)

Definition: A major feature or function is severely impaired, but a workaround exists or the system remains partially operational. This includes:

Significant performance degradation (>50% reduction in throughput)
Replication failures affecting data consistency
Authentication or authorization system failures
Single node failure in a multi-node cluster
Critical API endpoints returning errors intermittently

Customer Obligations: Customer must have technical personnel available during Business Hours to assist with troubleshooting.

2.3 Medium (Severity 3)

Definition: A feature or function is not operating as documented, but the impact on operations is limited. This includes:

Non-critical features not functioning correctly
Performance issues not affecting production SLAs
Dashboard or monitoring display errors
Query optimizer producing suboptimal plans
Minor data import/export issues

2.4 Low (Severity 4)

Definition: General questions, documentation requests, feature requests, or minor issues with negligible operational impact. This includes:

How-to questions and best practice guidance
Documentation clarification requests
Feature enhancement requests
Cosmetic issues in user interfaces
Minor bugs with simple workarounds

3. Response Time SLAs by Tier

Response Times are measured from the time a Support Request is received through an authorized channel during applicable support hours.

Support Tier	Severity 1	Severity 2	Severity 3	Severity 4
Professional	24 hours	48 hours	72 hours	5 business days
Business	4 hours	8 hours	24 hours	48 hours
Enterprise	1 hour	4 hours	8 hours	24 hours

3.1 Professional Tier

Response Times apply during Business Hours only
Support requests submitted outside Business Hours will be addressed on the next business day
Monthly limit of 10 Support Requests (additional requests billed separately)

3.2 Business Tier

Severity 1 and 2 Response Times apply 24/7
Severity 3 and 4 Response Times apply during Business Hours
Unlimited Support Requests
Named support engineer assigned to account

3.3 Enterprise Tier

All Response Times apply 24/7/365
Unlimited Support Requests
Dedicated support team with direct escalation paths
Quarterly business reviews included
Custom SLA terms available upon request

3.4 Target Resolution Times

The following are target resolution times. Actual resolution times depend on issue complexity and may require Customer cooperation.

Severity Level	Target Resolution
Severity 1	4-24 hours
Severity 2	1-3 business days
Severity 3	5-10 business days
Severity 4	Best effort

4. Support Scope

4.1 Covered Services

The following services are included in all support tiers:

Installation and Deployment

Assistance with initial installation and configuration
Guidance on deployment architecture and best practices
Help with upgrade and migration procedures
Troubleshooting installation failures

Configuration and Optimization

Configuration parameter guidance
Performance tuning recommendations
Cluster configuration assistance
Replication setup and configuration

Bug Reports and Defect Resolution

Investigation of reported software defects
Provision of hotfixes for critical bugs (Enterprise tier)
Workaround guidance while fixes are developed
Inclusion of fixes in future releases

Performance Issues

Analysis of performance degradation reports
Query optimization recommendations
Resource utilization guidance
Bottleneck identification assistance

Security Vulnerabilities

Triage and assessment of reported vulnerabilities
Security patch distribution
Guidance on security hardening
Incident response coordination (Enterprise tier)

Operational Support

Backup and recovery guidance
Monitoring and alerting configuration
Log analysis assistance
Disaster recovery planning guidance

4.2 Services Not Covered

The following services are outside the scope of standard support and require a separate consulting engagement:

Custom Development

Custom feature development
Custom plugin or extension development
Integration code development
Custom tool or utility development
Schema design services

Third-Party Integrations

Development of integrations with third-party systems
Troubleshooting third-party software issues
Compatibility testing with unsupported platforms
Custom driver or connector development

Training Services

On-site or virtual training sessions
Custom training material development
Certification programs
Workshops and boot camps

Note: Training services are available as a separate offering. Contact your account representative for details.

Infrastructure and Hardware

Operating system administration
Network configuration and troubleshooting
Hardware diagnostics and repair
Cloud provider infrastructure issues
Virtualization platform issues
Container orchestration platform issues (except as related to Aegis-DB configuration)

Unsupported Configurations

End-of-life software versions
Unsupported operating systems or platforms
Modified or forked source code
Configurations not documented as supported

Data Services

Data migration execution
Data recovery from corrupted media
Data cleansing or transformation
Database administration tasks

5. Support Channels

5.1 Channel Availability by Tier

Channel	Professional	Business	Enterprise
Email Support	Yes	Yes	Yes
Support Portal	Yes	Yes	Yes
Slack/Teams	No	Yes	Yes
Phone Support	No	No	Yes
24/7 On-Call	No	No	Yes (Sev 1)
Dedicated Slack Channel	No	No	Yes
Screen Sharing	Limited	Yes	Yes

5.2 Email Support

Address: Devops@automatanexus.com
Expected Format: Include account ID, severity level, detailed issue description, reproduction steps, and relevant logs
Acknowledgment: Automated acknowledgment within 15 minutes during Business Hours

5.3 Support Portal

URL: https://support.automatanexus.com
Features: Ticket submission, status tracking, knowledge base access, release notes
Account Setup: Authorized Contacts will receive portal credentials upon subscription activation

5.4 Slack/Teams Integration (Business and Enterprise)

Dedicated channel for real-time communication
Direct access to support engineers
Not intended for Severity 1 issues (use phone for Enterprise)

5.5 Phone Support (Enterprise Only)

Number: Provided upon subscription activation
Availability: 24/7 for Severity 1 issues; Business Hours for other severities
Callback: If no immediate answer, callback within 15 minutes

5.6 On-Call Support (Enterprise Only)

24/7/365 availability for Severity 1 issues
Direct pager access for critical production emergencies
15-minute response target for initial contact

6. Escalation Process

6.1 Standard Escalation Path

Support Requests follow this escalation path:

Tier 1 - Support Engineer: Initial triage, known issue identification, basic troubleshooting
Tier 2 - Senior Support Engineer: Complex troubleshooting, log analysis, workaround development
Tier 3 - Engineering Team: Code-level investigation, bug fixes, patch development
Tier 4 - Engineering Leadership: Critical issue coordination, resource allocation

6.2 Automatic Escalation

Support Requests are automatically escalated when:

Response Time SLA is at risk (escalated to support management)
Resolution Time target exceeded by 50% (escalated to Tier 2)
Severity 1 issue unresolved after 4 hours (escalated to Engineering)
Customer requests escalation

6.3 Customer-Initiated Escalation

Customers may request escalation at any time by:

Professional/Business: Contacting support-escalation@automatanexus.com
Enterprise: Contacting assigned Technical Account Manager or using dedicated escalation line

6.4 Executive Escalation (Enterprise Only)

For unresolved critical issues, Enterprise customers may escalate to:

VP of Customer Success (after 24 hours unresolved)
Chief Technology Officer (after 48 hours unresolved)

7. Maintenance Windows

7.1 Scheduled Maintenance

Provider may perform scheduled maintenance on support infrastructure during the following windows:

Primary Window: Sundays, 2:00 AM - 6:00 AM UTC
Secondary Window: First Saturday of each month, 2:00 AM - 8:00 AM UTC

Scheduled maintenance will be announced at least 72 hours in advance via:

Support portal notification
Email to Authorized Contacts
Status page update (status.automatanexus.com)

7.2 Emergency Maintenance

Emergency maintenance may be performed without advance notice when required to:

Address critical security vulnerabilities
Prevent imminent service disruption
Restore service after an outage

Customers will be notified as soon as practicable via status page and email.

7.3 Impact on SLAs

Time during scheduled maintenance windows is excluded from Response Time and Resolution Time calculations. Emergency maintenance time is included in SLA calculations.

8. Exclusions and Limitations

8.1 Support Exclusions

Provider is not obligated to provide support for issues arising from:

Use of Aegis-DB in a manner not in accordance with documentation
Modifications to Aegis-DB source code not authorized by Provider
Third-party software, hardware, or services not supported by Provider
Customer’s failure to implement recommended fixes, patches, or upgrades
Customer’s failure to maintain supported versions
Force majeure events
Customer’s failure to provide required access, information, or cooperation
Issues previously resolved where Customer declined to implement the solution

8.2 Version Support Policy

Current Version (N): Full support
Previous Version (N-1): Full support for 12 months after N release
Older Versions (N-2 and earlier): Limited support; upgrade required for full support

Customers running unsupported versions may receive limited assistance, and Response Time SLAs do not apply.

8.3 Limitation of Liability

Support Services are provided “as is” to the extent permitted by applicable law. Provider’s liability for support-related issues is limited to the support fees paid by Customer in the 12 months preceding the claim.

Provider does not guarantee:

That all issues will be resolved
Specific resolution timeframes (targets only)
Compatibility with future software or hardware
Uninterrupted availability of support channels

8.4 Customer Responsibilities

Customer agrees to:

Designate qualified Authorized Contacts
Provide timely and accurate information about issues
Implement recommended fixes and workarounds
Maintain current contact information
Ensure Authorized Contacts are available for Severity 1 and 2 issues
Maintain backups per Provider’s recommendations
Apply security patches in a timely manner

9. Term and Termination

9.1 Term

Support subscriptions are sold in annual terms unless otherwise specified in the applicable order form. Subscriptions automatically renew for successive one-year terms unless either party provides written notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before the end of the current term.

9.2 Termination for Convenience

Either party may terminate the support subscription at the end of the current term by providing written notice as specified in Section 9.1.

9.3 Termination for Cause

Either party may terminate immediately upon written notice if:

The other party materially breaches these Support Terms and fails to cure such breach within 30 days of written notice
The other party becomes insolvent, files for bankruptcy, or ceases operations

9.4 Effect of Termination

Upon termination or expiration:

Customer’s access to support channels will be deactivated
Open Support Requests will be closed without resolution (unless otherwise agreed)
Customer retains access to public documentation and community resources
No refunds are provided for unused portions of prepaid support terms, except as required by law

9.5 Survival

Sections relating to Definitions, Exclusions and Limitations, and any accrued obligations survive termination.

10. General Provisions

10.1 Modifications

Provider reserves the right to modify these Support Terms with 30 days’ notice to Customers. Continued use of Support Services after modifications take effect constitutes acceptance of the modified terms.

10.2 Assignment

Customer may not assign its support subscription without Provider’s prior written consent. Provider may assign its obligations to an affiliate or successor entity.

10.3 Entire Agreement

These Support Terms, together with the applicable order form and license agreement, constitute the entire agreement between the parties regarding Support Services.

10.4 Governing Law

These Support Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to conflict of law principles.

10.5 Contact Information

For questions about these Support Terms:

Email: legal@automatanexus.com
Address: Automata Nexus, Inc., [Address on File]

Appendix A: Severity Classification Examples

Scenario	Severity	Rationale
All cluster nodes unresponsive	1	Complete production outage
Data corruption detected	1	Risk of data loss
Primary node failover not completing	1	Production at risk
Read replicas not syncing	2	Data consistency risk, but writes functional
Query performance degraded 60%	2	Significant impact, workaround possible
Dashboard charts not rendering	3	Monitoring affected, core DB functional
CLI command returns incorrect help text	4	Minor documentation issue
Feature request for new function	4	Enhancement, not defect

Appendix B: Information Required for Support Requests

To ensure efficient resolution, include the following in all Support Requests:

Required:

Account ID and company name
Aegis-DB version number
Operating system and version
Deployment type (single node, cluster, cloud)
Severity level assessment
Detailed issue description
Steps to reproduce (if applicable)
Error messages and log excerpts

Recommended:

Recent configuration changes
Workload characteristics
Timeline of issue occurrence
Impact assessment
Workarounds already attempted