What does your license purchase get you?
- Unlimited use of the version purchased - your license never expires!*
- No required yearly maintenance fees**
- Web-based support and free product updates for 1 year
- Access to free MIB updates for 1 year
What does a maintenance package get you?
- Access to our web-based support and product updates
- Ability to transfer the license from one machine to another
- Access to MIB updates when available
Support Policy Description
Initiation: Support is performed mainly through the web and is initiated by using our online support request form.
Time to respond: A qualified support engineer (not just an automated response) will respond, usually the same day.
Operating Hours: Basic Support is available Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm, EST, with the exception of national holidays. If you have purchased a special premium support contract with sales we are also available on holidays and with limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Please contact sales for more information on premium support contracts. They cannot be purchased over the web.
Fixes to bugs: By having access to our support staff you have direct access to our engineering staff, as our engineers do the support. We do this in order to get you back up and running with minimal time and effort. To that end, it is possible to get fixes to bugs very quickly, sometimes even the same day and most usually within 1 week. However, our staff reserves the right to determine which support issues are bugs and which are not. Also, there is no set time-limit for bug fixes and we reserve the right to hold off the fix (if so required), until the next product release.
Access by phone: For the basic support plan, our support engineers will decide if it is necessary to contact the user by phone and are not required to do so. The majority of support cases can easily and quickly be solved by using electronic means.
Access to debugging information: Our support engineers may need you to enable debugging on your machine and send back logs. Without these logs sometimes it is impossible to determine the cause of the problem. The customer must work with our support staff to produce and send the required logs, and if our staff cannot get access to these logs for any reason we may be forced to close the support issue, even if it is unresolved. Logs may be vetted by the customer if necessary, but it will add time to the support period.
Access by remote control: It is possible that our support engineers will at times need to remotely log into your computer. At ByteSphere we use Citrix GoToAssist. If this is a requirement to solve the support request (to be determined by our technical support staff), then you must make every effort to make your computer accessible (including installing Citrix GoToAssist plugin or some other type of remote access software, and/or opening up a hole in firewall, etc.). If you cannot make your computer accessible and this becomes a requirement to solve your support issue, we may be forced to close the issue, even if it is unresolved.
Onsite visits: Our sales and/or support engineers will not go onsite unless there has been a pre-arranged contract with our sales department to that effect. If an onsite visit is desired and we have adequate staff during that period the customer may decide to pay for this visit (charges to the customer will include hourly rates, travel, room and board, needed equipment costs, etc.).
Operating System and Hardware discrepancies: In the event our software stops working on your machine we will make every reasonable attempt to make it work again. If after a reasonable time period (to be determined by our support staff), it is estimated that this problem is due to a change within the operating system, a conflict with the hardware and/or a driver, or any other unforseen issue, and there is nothing else that can reasonably be done by our staff, the support engineer may suggest to install the software to another machine and transfer the license. We will assist with the license transfer process. ByteSphere is not required to make our software work on a machine that has been modified, upgraded, or has had other software installed since the original installation of our software. Our suggestion is that you please make sure our software works on your machine BEFORE you purchase, and once you do purchase, make sure to limit upgrades or perform them one at a time in order to identify potential conflicts. This will help you and our support staff to determine the exact source of any conflict and possibly come up with a workaround.
Description of Service: Standard support should be used in order to alleviate potential problems or issues with the software. Our support staff will work with you to determine the cause of the problem and try to come up with a solution. Having a support contract does not imply that our staff will train users to learn the product, although occasional questions about the product are expected. It is advised that users read the online documentation first before submitting a support request. If so desired, an in-depth training session can be purchased separately from a support contract. To purchase training, please Contact Us. Also, please do not abuse the support service (e.g. submitting multiple support cases each day asking questions for which answers can be either easily found in the documentation or in the public domain). If ByteSphere feels that the service is being overused due to a general lack of understanding of the product or for network management in general, we will suggest purchasing a training session.
*Licenses for a certain version do not expire - there is no internal time limit of the license for a certain version to expire, but is valid only on one machine and only on the original machine it was installed on, unless it is transferred to another machine under the maintenance period. If the user ugrades to a new version of the software, a new license will be needed, and maintnenace may be necessary. If the user re-installs the operating system (i.e. OS upgrade, hard-drive crashes, etc.), or replaces a major hardware component on the machine (i.e. the motherboard and/or the hard-drive), this will invalidate the license and only those with an active maintnenace agreement will be able to transfer their license to the upgraded computer without having to purchase a new license. Return policy: please note that license purchases are not refundable after retrieval of the license from our licensing system or, in the case that the license has NOT yet been retrieved, after a 24-hour period after which the purchase has been completed. Transfer Policy: a license is transferable to another individual's machine in the same organization but MAY NOT BE TRANSFERRED to the same or different individual at another organization (i.e. licenses cannot "travel" with the individual in case of change of vocation). In addition, transfers are only allowed during the maintenance period. If maintenance has expired, transfers will not be allowed until maintenance has been renewed. There are no exceptions to these policies. There are no exceptions to the return policy, as the user has access to a 7/30 day trial and should be able to determine whether or not the software fits their needs.
**Maintenance is included in the first 12 months for any new license purchase. After the 12 month period, maintenance must be purchased to continue to have access to our support staff and free software updates, in addition to license transfers. Maintenance is not mandatory. If your 12-month maintenance has expired and you need to contact our support staff but you don't need a maintenance contract, consider purchasing a support case. Support cases do not include access to product updates. If it is determined that during a support case that a product update is necessary and a maintenance contract is acquired by the customer, the additional cost of the maintenance contract to the user will be charged. This will be determined by subtracting the cost of the support incident from the cost of the 12-month maintenance contract. If the cost of the support incident is greater, the customer will automatically get a 12-month maintenance contract renewal.
Licenses purchased before 1/15/2007 fall under Current Version + 1 (CV+1) Licensing. Under this policy, unlimited updates are available for the specific product version licensed, and the next major version after that (i.e. if v.2.x is licensed, the license is valid for v.2.x, and v.3.x indefinitely. Upgrades to the next major version after CV+1 (e.g. major version upgrade from 2.x to 4.x), will be supported, but a maintenance contract must be purchased based on the original purchase price of the license.
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