Service Levels & Support Operating Model
Azroth delivers independent technical support for selected end-of-life and end-of-service-life NetApp storage environments. Founded by five former NetApp Technical/Escalation Support engineers with more than 75 combined years of experience, we help you extend the useful life of your installed storage and use lifecycle budget deliberately. We are a focused, remote-first U.S. team—not a large call center—and our operating model is designed to put senior technical judgment close to every case.
Open a Support TicketPre-publication notice: The coverage windows, response targets, and field-service dependencies below are proposed operating terms. They must be approved and incorporated into the applicable service agreement before they become binding.
Business Hours Standard
Azroth's default support tier, available for qualifying supported systems during 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday–Friday, excluding stated holidays. This tier is designed for customers that need experienced assistance with troubleshooting, recovery planning, platform health, configuration guidance, and lifecycle decisions during their normal operating day.
Extended / 24x7 Critical Coverage
Available for qualifying engagements—confirm at contract [Whether 24x7 coverage is genuinely offerable pending leadership confirmation]. It is not a blanket, automatically available service level for every customer or platform. Where contracted, Azroth will maintain an on-call rotation across its five senior engineers for Severity 1 events outside Business Hours Standard.
Severity Definitions and Response Targets
Severity is assigned by business impact, not by the age of the platform or the number of alerts. Azroth may adjust a severity after initial diagnosis in consultation with the customer.
| Severity | Business impact | BHS: target acknowledgement | BHS: target engineer engagement | 24x7: target acknowledgement | 24x7: target engineer engagement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sev 1 — Production Down | A supported production storage service is unavailable, or a critical data-access event has no reasonable workaround. | Within 30 minutes | Within 1 hour | Within 30 minutes, including contracted after-hours coverage | Within 1 hour, including contracted after-hours coverage |
| Sev 2 — Degraded | Production remains available but performance, resiliency, capacity, or a key operational function is materially impaired; a workaround may exist. | Within 1 business hour | Within 4 business hours | Within 1 hour | Within 4 hours |
| Sev 3 — Non-critical | A non-urgent issue, planned maintenance question, advisory request, or problem with an acceptable workaround and limited business effect. | Within 4 business hours | Within 1 business day | Within 4 business hours | Within 1 business day |
| Sev 4 — Informational | A how-to question, documentation clarification, health-review request, or other request with no current production impact. | Within 1 business day | Within 2 business days | Within 1 business day | Within 2 business days |
Acknowledgement confirms that Azroth has received and logged the request. Engineer engagement means a senior support engineer has begun active review; it is not a promise of resolution within that interval.
How to Open and Manage a Case
Use the channel that matches the urgency of the issue:
- Email intake: sales@azroth.com, or your dedicated support alias once provisioned [Dedicated support alias pending confirmation]
- Urgent phone intake: [Phone number pending]
- Case tracking portal: Azroth Customer Portal — open, track, and update support tickets directly.
For Sev 1 events, use the phone intake method in addition to email or the customer portal. Please include the affected cluster or controller, serial number, business impact, start time, recent changes, contact details, and a callback number.
Escalation Model
Azroth is deliberately structured so that cases do not disappear into layers of tiered support.
- 1
Assigned support engineer.
A senior engineer owns the case, leads diagnosis, and coordinates the next technical action.
- 2
Senior escalation engineer.
If the issue requires a second technical viewpoint, broader platform experience, or a formal recovery review, another senior escalation engineer joins the case.
- 3
Founder-level escalation.
Material production risk, prolonged service impairment, or a dispute over technical direction can be escalated to Azroth leadership.
Every case is ultimately backed by NetApp-trained escalation engineers. That experience informs the diagnosis and remediation approach; Azroth is an independent provider and does not represent NetApp or act on NetApp's behalf.
Remote Support and Onsite Scope
Remote diagnostics and remediation
Remote support is the standard delivery model. With customer-authorized access and appropriate discovery data, Azroth can help evaluate symptoms, interpret logs, isolate probable fault domains, recommend corrective actions, and guide recovery or replacement activity for the supported environment. Remote assistance does not remove the customer's responsibility for change control, access approvals, backups, and execution decisions in its environment.
Onsite service
Onsite labor, where included, is delivered through a named regional field-service partner network [Field-service partner network and covered regions pending confirmation]. Site availability, arrival expectations, skills coverage, badging requirements, and any travel or after-hours charges depend on the confirmed location and partner terms.
Holidays and Exclusions
Business Hours Standard excludes U.S. federal holidays unless the agreement states otherwise [Holiday schedule pending confirmation]. Extended / 24x7 Critical Coverage applies only when explicitly purchased and documented.
Unless expressly included in a written agreement, support does not cover:
- Unsupported or unverified hardware, software, firmware, or third-party integrations.
- Work made necessary by unauthorized changes, missing backups, inaccessible systems, environmental conditions, or facility and power issues outside the supported equipment.
- NetApp software-license issuance, entitlement transfer, or access to OEM-only support resources.
- Onsite labor, parts, shipping, travel, data recovery, or disposal services not included in the agreed scope.
Targets vs. Contractual Commitments
The response and engagement times on this page are operating targets, not contractual commitments, unless they are expressly incorporated into a signed service agreement or order form. Resolution time depends on the fault, system condition, available access and data, customer change controls, part availability, third-party dependencies, and the scope of the service engagement. Any contractual service level must identify the covered assets, hours, severity rules, exclusions, remedies, and contact procedures.
Customer Responsibilities
Fast, effective support depends on shared operating discipline. Customers are responsible for:
- Maintaining accurate contacts, supported-asset details, and an authorized escalation list.
- Providing timely, secure access to the environment as agreed, including required logs, AutoSupport-equivalent data where available, configuration information, and change history.
- Maintaining current backups and following their own recovery, security, and change-control processes.
- Opening a case before making material changes related to an active issue whenever practical. Do not make unauthorized or uncoordinated changes while Azroth is diagnosing an incident; if an emergency change is necessary, document it and notify the assigned engineer immediately.
- Supplying a safe, accessible site and an authorized onsite contact when field service is in scope.
FAQ: What does 24/7 mean at Azroth?
24/7 means that, for a qualifying engagement with contracted Extended / 24x7 Critical Coverage, Azroth provides an after-hours on-call path for Sev 1 production-down events. It does not mean every request receives round-the-clock active work, and it is not automatically included with Business Hours Standard. Because Azroth is a focused team of five senior engineers, after-hours coverage is planned through a documented on-call rotation and accepted only when the supported footprint and service terms can be responsibly staffed.
Start with a Support-Fit Review
Tell us what NetApp systems you operate, the business services they support, and the coverage outcome you need. Azroth will confirm whether the environment fits our supported scope.