Hedgehog has assembled the following list of questions to help you in evaluating hosting services. Be sure to talk to some of the host's current clients. It may help to contact not only the references that they give you, but also others that you find on your own.

Some questions that you may wish to ask include:

INCLUDED SERVICES

• What kind of routine services are included? Be sure to get an exact list of services provide and how often they are performed.
• Does the host provide software support?
• Does the host provide application support?
• What management tasks are you expected to take care of on your own?
• What services are extra, and how much do they cost?

• Does the host support the hardware and software that you need?
• Does the host provide a range of hosting options or is their service one-size-fits-all?
• Is hardware and software leased by the hosting company or can you provide your own?

• Who will your point-of-contact be and what hours are they available?
• If your main point-of-contact is not available 24/7, who is your contact during off hours?
• If you are dealing with a single contact, how many other customers is that contact working with?
• If you are dealing with multiple contacts, what process is in place to ensure that each person has an understanding of the specifics of your environment?
• What kind of staff turn-over is there in account management, and how are transitions handled?

• Historically, what is your uptime percentage?
• What kind of SLA (Service Level Agreement) do you have?

• Does the host track what patches and updates are released for all your supported software?
• Does the host apply the patches/updates and is there an additional cost associated with that service?
• What if an update comes out and you do NOT want it applied?

• How often are backups performed and how are they stored?
• Is the backup and restore system tested regularly?
• What is the process for requesting that data is restored and how long does it take?
• Are there costs for performing restores?

• What kind of monitoring is provided?
• How is the monitoring system monitored? (There should be external monitoring of their monitoring system.)
• What is the process if there is a problem (how are you notified, and how quickly)?

• What kind of physical security is there?
• Is there appropriate network redundancy?
• How is power conditioned? Is power fed through connections to multiple grids? Is there sufficient battery power to handle switchover while generators power up? Are there at least n+1 generators? What contracts do they have with diesel providers?
• How is a constant temperature and humidity level maintained? Is the backup power system sufficient to maintain the HVAC system? Is there adequate water onsite to cycle through the HVAC system in the event that outside water becomes unavailable?
• Is there dry fire suppression?
• Is the facility scalable? How do they project growth?
• How are the various systems maintained and tested?