Support Policy
Last Updated Date:
February 10, 2021
February 10, 2021
The following support policy has been updated as of September 22, 2022. For the most recent applicable support terms, please see https://www.datastax.com/
General Support Policy
DataStax provides Support of eligible software under the terms of this Support Policy as long as Customer maintains a current subscription to Support. “Support” means the services described in this Support Policy and does not include one-time services or other services not specified in this Support Policy, such as training, consulting or custom development. This Support Policy is part of and subject to an agreement with DataStax (the “Agreement”) that incorporates this Support Policy and the Order Schedule under which Customer purchased its Subscription to Support.
1. Supported Software
Support covers only the software delivered to Customer by DataStax under the Agreement (the “Supported Software”). The Supported Software includes the open-source software and other third party components delivered to Customer by DataStax. Similar third party components might be available from other sources, but Support covers only the software delivered to Customer by DataStax.
For Customer’s using DSE 6.8 and above without Search, Graph or Analytics workloads, Supported Software also includes the open source project Stargate. No license to Stargate is provided under this Agreement, but DataStax will Support Customer’s use of Stargate as set forth herein. Documentation for Stargate shall be found at: https://stargate.io/docs.
2. Technical Contacts
Support may be initiated and managed only by Customer’s Technical Contacts. “Technical Contacts” are named individuals who are responsible for administration of the Supported Software within Customer’s organization. Customer may designate the number of Technical Contacts that corresponds with its licensed volume in Table 1 below. Customer shall only designate as Technical Contacts those individuals who have knowledge of and experience with the operation of the Supported Software and who have sufficient permissions and authority to access the Supported Software in Customer’s environment. Additional Technical Contacts may be available for an additional fee.
TABLE 1
| # Nodes | # Technical Contacts |
| 1-50 | 5 |
| 51-100 | 10 |
| 101+ | 15 |
3. Informational Support
DataStax will provide reasonable product and technical support to address questions concerning use of the Supported Software. Technical Contacts may initiate Support by submitting a ticket through our 24-hour web ticketing system at https://support.datastax.com. Support is provided in the English language only. Customer acknowledges information and materials provided to DataStax in connection with receiving Support may be used by the DataStax global support team for the purpose of providing Support in accordance with this Support Policy.
4. Technical Currency
As part of Support, and at no additional license fee, DataStax will provide Customer with all new versions of the Supported Software that it generally releases, including all improvements, enhancements and bug fixes. All such new versions are provided subject to the terms of the Agreement. Support does not include any item that DataStax licenses separately from the Software or that DataStax makes available for an additional fee.
5. Issue Resolution
DataStax will make commercially reasonable efforts to resolve any Issues submitted by Customer’s Technical Contacts. Such efforts may include helping with diagnosis, suggesting workarounds, providing patches, or making a change to the Supported Software in a new release. An “Issue” is a material and verifiable failure of the Supported Software to conform to its Documentation. Support will not be provided for the following: (1) use of the Supported Software in a manner inconsistent with the applicable Documentation, (2) modifications to the Supported Software not provided by or approved in writing by DataStax, or (3) use of the Supported Software with products or software not provided or approved in writing by DataStax. Customer shall not submit Issues arising from any software other than the Supported Software or otherwise use Support for unsupported software.
6. Service Levels
When a Technical Contact submits an Issue, DataStax will reasonably assess its priority according to the appropriate priority levels defined below. DataStax will confirm the priority level with Customer and will resolve any disagreement regarding the priority as soon as is reasonably practicable. Urgent and High priority levels are not available for non-production systems.
TABLE 2
| Hours | 24x7x365 |
| Logging | Web |
| Issues | unlimited |
| Priority | Response |
| Urgent | 1 hour |
| High | 4 hours |
| Normal/Low | 24 hours M-F, excluding holidays |
“Urgent” means a catastrophic problem in Customer’s production systems. Examples include a complete loss of service, production systems that are crashed, or a production system that hangs indefinitely. Customer cannot continue essential operations.
“High” means a high-impact problem in Customer’s production systems. Essential operations are seriously disrupted, but a workaround exists which allows for continued essential operations.
“Normal” means a lower impact problem on a production or non-production system that involves a partial or limited loss of non-critical functionality, or some other problem involving no loss in functionality. Customer can continue essential operations. Normal problems also include all problems on non-production systems, such as test and development systems.
“Low” means a general usage question. It also includes recommendations for requests for new products or features, and requests for enhancements or modifications. There is no impact on the quality, performance, or functionality of the product in a production or non-production system.
7. Customer Responsibilities
Customer shall provide DataStax with data, process information, supporting analysis, and access to Customer’s Technical Contacts as reasonably required to allow DataStax to resolve reported Issues. Customer is responsible for the adequate duplication and documentation of all of its files and data for back-up purposes.
8. How to Escalate a Support Issue
DataStax Support is committed to providing accurate and timely solutions to technical support needs. If Customer has a critical or serious technical issue on its production system or is not satisfied with the response or resolution provided by DataStax Support, Customer may use one of the following escalation paths to have its concerns addressed:
For support issues where the business impact has changed or was not correctly stated initially, request to have the priority of the ticket increased according to the above service level definitions;
For an existing issue that has become critical in nature where Customer’s production system is down, inaccessible, or Customer is dissatisfied with the DataStax response or resolution, follow the procedure below for management review:
Verify that the support ticket is up-to-date and all requested information and files have been provided and request an escalation; and/or
You can use either “Escalate to Support Engineer” or “Escalate to Manager” buttons depending on the situation and if you need more eyes on the situation.
Once an escalation request has been received, the support manager will: (1) contact Customer’s Technical Contact to acknowledge the escalation and determine the mode of communication and frequency of updates; and (2) work to ensure that the appropriate resources are available to identify a solution or workaround.
9. End of Life Policy
Support covers the following Software: (1) the current Major Release and the two prior Major Releases; and (2) each Major Release for at least 36 months after its general release; and (3) all Minor Releases under a supported Major Release. If none of the conditions in the preceding sentence are met, then the Supported Software has reached its End of Life (“EOL”). For example, if a Major Release were made available on January 1, 2000, then it would be supported until January 1, 2003, even if 7 Major Releases were made available in that period. Similarly, if only two Major Releases are made available over a four-year period, then both will be supported throughout that period.
“Major Release” means a new version of the Supported Software made generally available by DataStax with substantial improvements, enhancements and bug fixes, represented by a change in the number to the left or right of the first decimal point (such as a version change from 1.1.0 to 2.1.0 or from 1.1.0 to 1.2.0). “Minor Release” means a version change represented by a change in the number to the right of the last decimal point.
The Supported Software will reach its End of Service Life (“EOSL”) 6 months after the EOL. In the 6 month period between EOL and EOSL dates, DataStax shall provide Limited Support (provided Customer has a current Subscription to Support). “Limited Support” means all the features of Support except that if Customer has identified a defect in a Major Release that has reached EOL, DataStax will evaluate fixing the defect in a release that has not reached EOL. Except as provided in the paragraph below, after the EOSL for a Major Release, DataStax will not support such Major Release and/or any Minor Releases of that Major Release.
In addition, DataStax may choose to designate one or more DataStax Enterprise Software releases as a Long Term Support Release. DataStax will provide “Extended Support” for a Long Term Support Release for at least seven (7) years after its general release. After a Long Term Support Release reaches its EOL, as specified above, Extended Support shall include only major bug fixes (i.e., high-priority security patches only), and no minor bug fixes or defects shall be fixed for such release. In order to upgrade from a Long Term Support Release, Customer must follow the upgrade path specified in the applicable Documentation (which may require intermediate upgrades).
Support for other versions of the Supported Software is not provided under this Support Policy. Support only covers use of the Supported Software on the platform or operating system versions that are specified at http://www.datastax.com/products/datastax-enterprise#DSE-Supported-Platforms-Table. Support does not cover use of the Supported Software on platforms or operating systems that are no longer supported by the original vendor. A list of current versions of the Supported Software, specifying the relevant EOS and EOSL dates for each Supported Software release as well as the designation of any Long Term Support Release versions, is available at: www.datastax.com/support-policy/supportedsoftware.
10. Support of Customers of Resellers
If Customer purchased its Subscription through a reseller, then please see the applicable agreement with that reseller for any applicable additional or different terms (for example, Customer’s first contact for support may be the reseller, rather than DataStax).
11. Amendments
Except as expressly provided herein, no modification of this Support Policy will be effective unless contained in writing and signed by an authorized representative of each party. From time to time, DataStax may amend this Support Policy in its sole discretion. DataStax will post the amended terms on the DataStax website at www.datastax.com/support-policy. DataStax will also update the “Last Updated Date” at the top of this Support Policy. By continuing to access or use Support after DataStax has provided Customer with such notice of a change, Customer is indicating that it agrees to be bound by the modified Support Policy. If the changes have a material adverse impact on and are not acceptable to Customer, then Customer must notify DataStax within 30 days of the applicable Last Updated Date. If DataStax cannot accommodate Customer’s objection, then the prior Support Policy shall govern until the expiration of the then-current subscription period. Any renewed subscription will be governed by the then-current Support Policy. No term or condition contained in Customer’s purchase order or similar document will apply unless specifically agreed to by DataStax in writing, even if DataStax has accepted the order set forth in such purchase order, and all such terms or conditions are otherwise hereby expressly rejected by DataStax.