WWW.RackForce.com RackForce Networks Inc Dynamic Datacenter Services +1 (250) 717-2340 (International) +1 (866) 468-12158 (North America) CONTENTS Getting Started With RackForce... 1 Customer Service Center (CSC) Portal... 2 Support... 3 Alter Account... 5 Manage Account... 5 Reports... 8 Resources... 10 GETTING STARTED WITH RACKFORCE Thank you for choosing RackForce as your infrastructure provider. The intent of this document is to introduce you to the ways in which you can interact with RackForce staff, and how to manage your account. This will include an overview of the Customer Service Center, The Ticket System, How to Add/Remove/Alter services, and Tivoli Storage Manager. Here are the most important contacts for you to know Technical-Software-Network questions/problems Billing Questions/Problems Login: Customer Service Center (https://support.rackforce.com/) Web: Open Support Ticket (https://support.rackforce.com/tickets_center.php) Support Line: 1-866-468-1151 (North America - Toll Free) Support Line: 250-717-2340 (International) Fax: 1-866-468-1156 (North America - Toll Free) Fax: 250-717-2343 (International) Hours: 24/7/365 days per year Web: Open Billing Ticket (https://support.rackforce.com/tickets_center.php) Admin Line: 1-866-468-1158 (North America - Toll Free) Admin Line: 250-717-2340 (International) Fax: 1-866-468-1156 (North America - Toll Free) Fax: 250-717-2343 (International) Hours: 8:00am to 4:30pm weekdays Pacific Time (GMT -8) Mailing Address: Suite 200-2130 Leckie Place, Kelowna BC, Canada V1Y 7W7
Sales Inquiries General Inquiries email: sales@rackforce.com Direct Sales Line: 1-800-941-1921 (North America - Toll Free) General Inquiries: 1-866-468-1158 (North America - Toll Free) General Inquiries: 250-448-4041 (International) Admin Line: 1-866-468-1158 (North America - Toll Free) Admin Line: 250-717-2340 (International) Fax: 1-866-468-1156 (North America - Toll Free) Fax: 250-717-2343 (International) Hours: 8:00am to 4:30pm weekdays Pacific Time (GMT -8) Mailing Address: Suite 200-2130 Leckie Place, Kelowna BC, Canada V1Y 7W7 CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER (CSC) PORTAL The login page (shown above) for the CSC is located at https://support.rackforce.com When you become a RackForce customer a Username and password is assigned to you and those will get you into the CSC. To receive your username and password go to https://support.rackforce.com and click on the Click Here for Password and ClientID link which will bring up the following page. Enter the last name and email address of the person the service was ordered under and the Username and Password will be emailed to that person
Once you have retrieved that information you can the proceed back to the login page and log in. FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND THE CSC As you can see from the picture above there are six different tabs you can select., and each tab has dropdown selections. SUPPORT Under The support tab you have the Support Matrix which outlines what each support plan covers. Also under support you have the Ticket Center- the heart of communicating with RackForce staff. When you first enter the Ticket Center you will see something like the following
If you have more than one account the first thing you should do is select it from the dropdown list The first tab is a list of all the tickets ever created on your account with the subject area hyperlinked such that clicking on it opens the ticket for viewing. The second tab is straightforward. If you need to search for a particular phrase or subject matter in a ticket in order to find the right ticket, this is the place to go. The third tab is where you go to create a Support or Billing ticket. Choose the correct type of ticket then select a subject from the drop down box and add your text to the details area. RackForce endeavors to respond to and begin trouble-shooting for any support ticket opened, either by RackForce monitoring systems or by the customer through the Rackforce Customer Service Center, within thirty (30) minutes of the opening of the trouble ticket. Service level objectives and escalation objectives for critical service trouble tickets are indicated below. Severity Description Response Commitment MTT Repair 1 Business Halted affecting users 30 min. 60 minutes or escalate to RackForce Level 3 tech. 90 minutes or escalate to RackForce management 2 Business Impacted affecting Users 30 min. 90 minutes or escalate to RackForce Level 3 tech. 180 minutes or escalate to RackForce management 3 Non Critical workaround but inconvenienced 30 min. 8 hours or escalate to RackForce Level 3 tech. 24 hours or escalate to RackForce management. 4 Service Request able to work 90 min. 48 hours or escalate to RackForce Level 3 tech. 7 days or escalate to RackForce management At all times there are Level 2 and Level 3 techs on duty with Level 4 techs and senior management on call if something needs to be escalated to them. Billing staff will respond during the week between 8am and 4:30 pm Monday through Friday GMT-8.
It is very important to use the ticket system. It allows multiple staff to work on the issue and provides an historical record that can be referred back to if a problem recurs. Even if you phone support you should first open a ticket. When support or billing staff respond to your ticket an email will be sent to the primary and secondary email accounts listed for that account, as well as any sub -users that have that option selected, notifying you to log into the CSC and view the response. For privacy and security reasons the response itself will not be in that email. Please make certain that the default email address for your account is not one that is hosted on a server in the same data center, and is also one you check regularly. Additionally please make certain that you have support@rackforce.com, billing@rackforce.com, and sales@rackforce.com whitelisted in your contact email accounts. If you feel an issue needs to be escalated above the support staff that are working on it please ask the staff in your open ticket to escalate to the next higher support level and also email supportmanager@rackforce.com ALTER ACCOUNT There are six options under Alter Account 1. Order New Server: self explanatory, it copies the order forms from the main site. Please use the CSC to order new servers though rather than the main site as it ensures that server will be attached to the same username as your other ones. It also alerts the sales staff to this new order came from a current customer in good standing and that will speed up the order process. 2. OS Upgrade: periodically operating systems become end-of-lifed and are no longer supported. This selection allows you to upgrade easily. 3. Migrate DDS Account: RackForce virtual servers are designed to be easily migrated from one hardware node to another in order to increase server resources. With the advent of the RackForce ddscloud Enterprise this is no longer necessary as those servers are easily scaled in situ. 4. Add/Remove Account Services: This is where you will go to request changes to your account (note: if you are on contract this must be done through your sales representative). Any of the add-on services that can be ordered through the main website can be added or removed here if they are applicable to the plan you are on. 5. Request IPs: Due to the worldwide shortage of IPv4 IP space if you want a private subnet or more than 13 IPs you must order them through here and provide a completed ARIN IP Justification form (downloadable from this page) which must be approved before the IPs will be assigned. 6. Cancel Account: If you need to cancel an account this is, for security reasons, the only way you can do so. Please note that RackForce requires 30 days cancellation notice. Any part of that 30 days that enters a new billing period will be prorated. MANAGE ACCOUNT There are five options available under Manage Account
1. Update Contact Information: all very straightforward 2. User preferences: this one is important as it determines how our ticket system will interact with you. 3. Manage User: Here, you can create sub-users in the Customer Service Center for your employees, contractors etc (anyone you need to have access to the CSC) and control what they can and can not do/see.
This is very important because whenever a ticket is created on an account it will use the default owner of the account's name unless someone has signed in with a subaccount. Using subaccounts ensures that both you and RackForce know who has posted a ticket on your account. 4. Billing Information: Here you can change/update your billing method and update your credit card. 5. Billing History: A record of all the billing statements (invoices) for that account.
REPORTS From here you can open each statement and print it off for your records or for your accounting department. Reports has six options to choose from and is one of the most important parts of the CSC 1. Server Account Details- this lists your account type and your IPs it also provides you with a way of assigning a canonical name to your account to make it easier to identify. This is especially important if you have multiple servers. For example if you have a SQL server and a Web Server you could name the, sql.mycompany and web.mycompany. This way wherever there is a dropdown menu asking you to choose the server you are making changes to or opening a ticket on there is less chance of action being taken on the wrong server. 2. Configure my server:
Here you can set the hostname for your server but note if you are using a hosting control panel, such as Plesk or cpanel, you must set it in there. This is also where you go to set up reverse DNS for your server. For some server types you can also restart your server from in here. 3. TSM Backup and Archive Report: If you have subscribed to TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) backups this is a very important page for you. Most TSM accounts come with set amounts of storage for backups and archives and if you go over those amounts you will incur overage charges. It is vitally important that you work with support to configure TSM from the start to only back up what you want and in the frequency that works best for you, from those that are available. If you have not received your users guide to TSM yet please ask support to email it to you or download it from https://support.rackforce.com/docs/tsm_customer_guide.pdf. You will be
able to see from this page whether your backups were successful and also if you have exceeded your limits. 4. Bandwidth Usage Report: Here you can view your bandwidth usage for the last 7 days, usage this month, usage previous month and year to date RESOURCES The last tab presents you with links to a number of resources on the RackForce network. 1. CSC Bulletins: When you first open the CSC you will see the current bulletin - these are RackForce's way of communicating with its customer base. 2. Hosting Manuals and Tutorials: Instructions on setting up your Plesk or cpanel control panels 3. RackForce Knowledge Base 4. RackForce Blog: Writings on topics of interest related to datacenters 5. Newsletters and Press: A bit of our history 6. Customer Feedback: We love to hear from you - it s how we grow and improve our services. POSTSCRIPT Thank you for choosing RackForce as your datacenter infrastructure provider. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is our core business and we have one of the greenest and most advanced datacenter infrastructures available today. Please co not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, concerns, compliments, or requests.