> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.macstadium.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# MacStadium support plans and services

> Compare MacStadium support tiers: Business, Pro, and Premium, with 24/7 monitoring, Remote Hands, and engineering support for networking and virtualization.

## About Support

MacStadium offers various First-Line Support Services 24/7 for customers on the Business, Pro and Premium support plans including:

* Monitoring, that automatically opens support tickets
* Remote Hands and Basic Support (primarily for Host-Level issues)
* Shift manager to triage, evaluate severity, and escalate issues

## Overview

Severity definitions for cloud environments:

* **Severity 1** - Outage incident affecting multiple customers
* **Severity 2** - Outage incident affecting a single customer
* **Severity 3** - Non-outage incident that adversely affects one or more customers. For example, network latency.
* **Severity 4** - Non-outage incident related to a redundant component failure
* **Severity 5** - False alarm

### Advanced Engineering Support

<Note>
  Customers on the Business, Pro and Premium support plans can get 24/7 Engineering Team Support
</Note>

* Networking, storage, and virtualization expertise
* Break/fix, upgrades, advice, troubleshooting
* Non-urgent tickets are worked in the order they are received

### 24/7 Off-Hours and On-Call Engineering Support

* 4-hour maximum response time for system unavailability (Severity 1 and Severity 2)
* Non-urgent issues handled 8 AM the next working day (Severity 3 to Severity 5)

## Getting Started

**MacStadium Ticketing System**

1. Start by logging in to [portal.macstadium.com](https://portal.macstadium.com)
2. Click **Support Center** in the bottom-left corner.
3. Click **Create Ticket** in the upper-right corner.

If the request is related to a specific subscription, then select it from the dropdown:

1. Select the appropriate ticket type.
2. Type a message in the text box.
3. (Optional) Attach files by clicking the paperclip icon in the bottom-left.

* If the ticket or attachment contains sensitive information such as login credentials, and so on, then click the checkbox marked, **sensitive information** to ensure the message is never stored or transmitted in plain-text (meaning, *via email*).

4. Click **Create Ticket** and the ticket is created, assigned a number, and added to the new ticket queue.

* You can review all tickets (open and closed), responses, and attachments via the same portal.
* You can close tickets by selecting **Closed** from the dropdown (beside the ticket number).

## Possible Reasons for Creating a Ticket

Creating a ticket through MacStadium's [customer portal](https://portal.macstadium.com/support-center/tickets) is the fastest and most secure way of reaching MacStadium engineering staff. Each ticket is immediately reviewed 24/7 by one of our customer support technicians. When necessary, tickets are escalated to more specialized engineering staff. Tickets are the best way to kick off most requests.

### Environment Setup

* Questions about the IP plan document.
* Questions about firewall set up.

### Remote Hands Request

* Troubleshooting a non-responsive host.
* Re-imaging a host whose OS has become corrupted.

### Configuration Change Request

* Requesting version update for a host OS or virtualization control layer.
* Requests for infrastructure additions.
* If you work with an Account Manager, reach out directly and have them quote prices, kick off the request, and so on.
* If you do not have an Account Manager or have a simple request, you can open a ticket for:
  * Firewall upgrades
  * Host additions
  * Storage LUN expansions
  * Additional IP addresses
  * Notification on performance issues

<Note>
  Contact MacStadium if any unexplained performance degradation occurs.
</Note>

<Note>
  MacStadium engineers can troubleshoot and return your infrastructure to optimal performance.
</Note>

### Monitoring Alerts

* Network Management System (NMS) alerts generated by our operational monitoring system.
* Email alerts generated by internal monitoring sent to [support@macstadium.com](mailto:support@macstadium.com) via an email address associated with the account.

## Subscribe

[status.macstadium.com](http://status.macstadium.com/)

<Note>
  Shows current status of each data center and is the ideal place to stay up-to-date on scheduled maintenance or unplanned outages.
</Note>