rsrThe creation, support, and operation of an Internet Site
and related Services can range from a very simple to a very complex operational structure. Providing general Internet Service also requires a unique combination of physical components (Servers, Hubs, Switches, Internet Circuits) and logical components (operating systems, HTTP Servers, databases), as well as operations and programming support (generally, people!). As indicated in the RidgeStar Service Agreement, RidgeStar (the company and the people behind it) provide these Services to its Clients, as deemed mutually beneficial.
Over the years, the Services industry has used several different "pricing models" intended to set Service Fees at a fair and reasonable amount, based upon the value received by the Client. At RidgeStar, we have assigned an adjusted numeric value to each service we directly or indirectly provide to our Clients. This "numeric value" has been named a RidgeStar Service Unit (or RSU). The sum of all these RSUs produces a quantitative total that indicates the volume of RidgeStar provided Services consumed by the Site over the course of a month.
How are Service Fees Established?
- For the first service Period (usually, one year)
- The Client describes the features and expected volumes for the new Site. RidgeStar (in conjunction with the Client) will assign a "Service Tier" for the site, based upon our experience with other similar Sites. The Service Fee selected is set based upon anticipated volumes AND the tasks RidgeStar must perform to deliver a functioning site for the initial service period
- Renewal (after the first service period)
- The average monthly RSU consumption associated with the Site during the immediately preceding service period will establish the RidgeStar Service Tier for the next service period. This may cause the Service Tier and related Service Fee to be adjusted (up OR down) at each billing
Services and RSU values
The following Internet Services have been assigned the corresponding adjusted RSU value (to permit all the resources to be utilized to set the Service Tier):
| Key | Service | RSU | Description |
|---|
| 1 | Bandwidth | 0.5 | a Megabyte of data transferred (HTTP+SMTP) |
| 2 | Disk | 0.15 | a Megabyte on disk |
| 3 | DNS | 100 | a Domain serviced by DNS entries |
| 4 | Email | 0.01 | Email message handled by the Mail Server |
| 5 | Fields | 2 | a Field in a Database Table |
| 6 | Graphics | 1 | a Picture or graphical file |
| 7 | Hits | 0.00225 | an HTTP request for a file |
| 8 | ListService | 200 | for each ListServ list |
| 9 | OtherFiles | 0.05 | a file that is not a graphic or script file |
| 10 | PHPFiles | 5 | an operational script file |
| 11 | MailService | 1 | Mail Server Definition |
| 12 | Records | 0.005 | a Record in a Database Table |
| 13 | SSL | 10 | each SSL Certificate managed |
| 14 | Tables | 50 | a Database Table |
| 15 | TouchLine | 12 | a TouchLine User |
Where "Resource" is defined as follows:
- Bandwidth
- the number of characters (in megabyte increments) of information transferred from an Internet User to the RidgeStar Server or from the Ridgestar Server to an Internet User
- Disk
- the number of characters of information (in megabyte increments) stored on the RidgeStar Server's disk(s) to directly service your Site
- DNS
- the number of Sites and/or domains the RidgeStar is managing on your behalf
- Email
- the number of Email Messages handled by Mail Service for a Domain
- Fields
- the number of database Fields defined in the Tables that make up your database (if applicable)
- Graphics
- the number of files stored in your Site folders that end with the file extensions of GIF, JPG, or PNG
- Hits
- the number of HTTP requests for a Server based file that have arrived (each Page will require 1 or more Hits to service it)
- ListService
- the number of List Service definitions (ListServ) you have
- OtherFiles
- the number of files stored in your Site folders that are not Graphics or PHP files
- PHPFiles
- the number of files stored in your Site folders that represent HTML pages and/or script functions
- MailService
- the number of Accounts, Forwarders, and Aliases defined for your Account
- Records
- the number of Records stored in all your database Tables (if applicable)
- SSL
- the number of SSL Certificates RidgeStar is managing and processing on your behalf
- Tables
- the number of defined database Tables in your Site's database (if applicable)
- TouchLine
- the number of distinct Users that utilized TouchLine in the last month
