Business Email SLA
1. Scope
This is the service level agreement for HostHere.lk Business Email plans. Document reference SLA-05, version 2.3, effective 15 January 2026.
It supplements the Master SLA. The Master SLA’s scope, definitions, exclusions, DNS exclusions, support SLA, service credits, claim process, change notice and general terms apply in full to this service, except where this document expressly says otherwise. If this document conflicts with the Master SLA, this document prevails for this service only.
2. Uptime commitment
HostHere.lk guarantees 99.9% service availability for Business Email, measured over a rolling 30-day window.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Uptime target | 99.9% |
| Maximum allowable downtime per 30-day window | 43 minutes |
| Measurement method | Rolling 30-day window |
| Monitoring | HostHere.lk internal and third-party monitoring systems |
3. How uptime is measured
The uptime guarantee covers HostHere.lk’s mail server infrastructure only. It does not extend to email delivery outcomes, upstream sending networks or anything else outside HostHere.lk’s direct infrastructure control.
Email service availability means all three of the following components are operating at the same time, as confirmed by HostHere.lk’s monitoring:
| Component | What is measured |
|---|---|
| Webmail availability | The webmail interface can be reached over HTTPS from the public internet and a user session can be established. |
| Inbound mail flow | The mail server accepts inbound SMTP connections and queues incoming messages for hosted domains. |
| Outbound mail submission | The mail server accepts authenticated SMTP submissions from users and queues them for delivery. |
All three must be working for the service to count as available. If any one of them fails at server level because of a cause within HostHere.lk’s control, that is downtime under this SLA.
3.1 Webmail as proof of service
If you report that email is not working, HostHere.lk’s primary diagnostic standard is webmail. If webmail can be reached over HTTPS and email can be sent and received through it, the email service is treated as fully operational under this SLA.
Problems with third-party email clients, including Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird and mobile mail apps, are not a service failure under this SLA. You are responsible for configuring every third-party client correctly using the connection settings HostHere.lk publishes.
3.2 Server-level monitoring only
HostHere.lk monitors and guarantees availability at mail server level. Availability of individual mailboxes, per-account delivery status and per-user connection problems are not monitored or guaranteed. A fault affecting one mailbox while the mail server as a whole is working is not downtime under this SLA.
4. Exclusions
These are in addition to the universal exclusions in Master SLA section 5. They are excluded from the email uptime calculation and from credit eligibility.
4.1 Email delivery outcomes
The guarantee covers mail server availability and mail flow, not delivery outcomes. Excluded:
- whether the recipient’s mail server accepts an outbound message
- whether a delivered message reaches the inbox or is classed as spam
- bounce rates, delivery rates and open rates
- delays caused by recipient-side throttling or greylisting
- queuing delays inside upstream sending networks after HostHere.lk’s submission point
4.2 DNS and MX record dependencies
- If your domain’s MX records are managed by a third party, HostHere.lk accepts no responsibility for inbound mail routing failures. These are fully excluded from this SLA.
- The 72-hour DNS propagation exclusion in Master SLA section 6 applies to MX record changes as well as A and CNAME records. If an MX record was changed in the previous 72 hours, resulting inbound delivery problems are excluded.
4.3 Domain reputation and blacklisting
- Domain reputation is your sole responsibility. HostHere.lk does not manage, monitor or take responsibility for the reputation of your sending domain.
- If recipient mail servers, spam filtering services or DNS blacklists (DNSBLs) block your domain because of your own sending behaviour, this is excluded.
- If HostHere.lk’s shared sending IPs are blacklisted for reasons within HostHere.lk’s control, HostHere.lk will make reasonable efforts to fix it. If mail submission keeps working during the fix, no downtime is recorded.
4.4 Email client configuration
Problems caused by how you configured any third-party email client, mobile app or email software are excluded. This includes wrong SMTP, IMAP or POP3 settings, SSL/TLS configuration errors and authentication failures caused by wrong credentials.
4.5 Spam filtering decisions
Decisions by spam filtering systems, whether run by HostHere.lk, upstream providers or recipient mail servers, to classify or reject messages are excluded.
5. Outbound sending infrastructure
5.1 How outbound email is delivered
Outbound email is sent through reputable upstream sending networks run by third-party providers. HostHere.lk does not operate the outbound sending infrastructure itself. It chooses upstream providers for their reliability, deliverability reputation and published service levels, which match or exceed HostHere.lk’s 99.9% availability target.
HostHere.lk does not name its upstream sending providers in this SLA. This does not affect your rights under this document.
5.2 What HostHere.lk guarantees on outbound mail
HostHere.lk guarantees that:
- the mail server accepts authenticated outbound SMTP submissions from you
- accepted messages are passed to the upstream sending network for delivery
- if one upstream sending network is unavailable, HostHere.lk will make reasonable efforts to route through another
HostHere.lk does not guarantee:
- the availability or performance of upstream sending networks beyond HostHere.lk’s submission point
- that outbound messages will be accepted by the recipient’s mail server
- delivery times after the point of submission to the upstream network
5.3 Shared IP pools
Outbound email goes out through shared IP pools managed by HostHere.lk’s upstream sending infrastructure providers, who actively manage IP reputation within those pools.
HostHere.lk is not liable for delivery problems caused by reputation events from other senders in the same pool that are outside HostHere.lk’s direct control. Where such an event is confirmed, HostHere.lk will make reasonable efforts to fix it by routing through another upstream network. If mail submission keeps working during the event, no downtime is recorded under this SLA.
5.4 Dedicated IPs
If you need a dedicated outbound sending IP, you can ask for one, subject to availability and applicable fees. Where a dedicated IP is assigned:
- your own sending behaviour alone determines that IP’s reputation
- HostHere.lk does not manage or take responsibility for dedicated IP reputation
- blacklisting of a dedicated IP caused by your sending behaviour is excluded from this SLA and is not downtime
6. Acceptable use and abuse
6.1 Permitted use
Business Email is for legitimate business communication. You must comply with HostHere.lk’s Acceptable Use Policy at all times.
6.2 Prohibited sending
The following are prohibited and may lead to immediate suspension or termination of email services without notice and without credit or compensation:
- sending unsolicited commercial email (spam)
- sending to harvested, purchased or non-opt-in mailing lists
- sending content that breaks applicable law, including Sri Lanka’s Electronic Transactions Act and Computer Crimes Act
- sending malware, phishing content or deceptive messages
- exceeding the sending volume limits of your plan
- using the service in a way that causes or contributes to the blacklisting of HostHere.lk’s sending infrastructure
6.3 Suspension for abuse
If HostHere.lk decides, at its sole discretion, that your sending behaviour is abuse or puts the integrity of its email infrastructure, or other customers’ deliverability, at risk, it may:
- immediately suspend outbound sending for the affected account
- terminate email services for the affected account
- report the activity to the relevant authorities where the law requires it
Such suspension or termination is not downtime under this SLA. No credit or compensation is payable for any suspension or termination resulting from abuse or Acceptable Use Policy violations.
6.4 Infrastructure protection
Where your sending behaviour, including a compromised mailbox sending spam, puts the shared sending infrastructure and other customers’ deliverability at risk, HostHere.lk may act immediately to protect the shared environment. This is treated as an emergency security suspension under Master SLA section 5 and is not downtime under this SLA.
7. Backups and data retention
7.1 Email data backups
For Business Email, HostHere.lk makes daily incremental backups. All provider backups are incremental. They are meant only for disaster recovery, for example restoring service after a major platform or storage failure. They are not a substitute for routine mailbox archiving, legal hold or everyday recovery of individual messages. You remain responsible for your own ongoing retention and copies where needed.
Backups are taken daily and kept for seven (7) days on a rolling basis. HostHere.lk also keeps separate incremental retention cycles:
- Weekly cycle: four (4) backups retained
- Monthly cycle: three (3) backups retained
| Layer | Frequency / cycle | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Daily incremental (within included backup scope) | Daily | 7 days (rolling) |
| Weekly retention cycle | Weekly | 4 incremental backups |
| Monthly retention cycle | Monthly | 3 incremental backups |
15 GB cap per email service. Included provider backup for Business Email has a hard cap of 15 GB per Business Email service (per subscribed email service). If the data in backup scope goes over the cap, provider backups may be unavailable, partial or suspended until usage is back within the cap or you get additional backup scope from HostHere.lk.
Extra usage. You can ask support for additional backup usage or capacity above the 15 GB cap where offered. Additional fees may apply. Other backup options, including expanded capacity beyond the agreed limits, may be offered for extra fees and may be governed by the separate SLA or order terms for that purchase.
You can get restore help through the control panel or tools we provide for Business Email (where enabled), or by contacting support, including by ticket.
When the service is terminated or suspended, HostHere.lk may delete all backups for the email service. You can ask support whether recovery is still possible; limited availability and additional fees may apply.
7.2 Restoration
- Restores from provider backups are aimed at disaster recovery. You can use self-service tools where available, or ask for help through a support ticket. HostHere.lk will help on a best-effort basis where backups exist.
- Restores have no guaranteed completion time under this SLA.
- HostHere.lk may charge a restoration fee for requests beyond one restore per billing cycle, or for requests that are not a good-faith disaster-recovery case.
7.3 Your responsibility
The default included backup (daily incremental backups, retention as above, subject to the 15 GB cap per email service) is a courtesy for disaster recovery. It does not replace your own data retention. You are strongly advised to keep local copies or archives of important email. HostHere.lk does not guarantee that the default backup will be available, complete or intact, and accepts no liability for email data loss caused by its failure, corruption or unavailability.
If you buy additional backup options or expanded capacity, the commitments and remedies for those features are governed solely by the separate SLA or order terms for that purchase.
8. Service credits
Credits for this service follow Master SLA section 8 in full. In short:
- A credit is available when monitoring confirms the uptime target above was missed in a rolling 30-day window, the downtime is not excluded downtime, and your account is in good standing.
- Credit = (excess downtime as a share of the 30-day window) × monthly period value × 10.
- Total credit in any rolling 30-day window is capped at 75% of the monthly period value.
- Credits are calculated on the remaining period of the billing cycle only, and are applied as account credit towards future invoices for this service.
- A cash refund of the amount above 50% of the monthly period value can be requested where the accumulated credit is above 50% of the monthly period value and above LKR 1,500.
- Credits are the sole remedy for availability failures, and do not stack for the same outage.
| Excess downtime in a 30-day window | Credit (% of monthly period value) |
|---|---|
| 43 minutes | 1% |
| 3 hours 36 minutes | 5% |
| 7 hours 12 minutes | 10% |
| 36 hours | 50% |
| 54 hours or more | 75% (the cap) |
9. How to claim a credit
- Open a support ticket through an official HostHere.lk support channel within 10 business days after the end of the rolling 30-day window in which the downtime occurred.
- Include your service identifier and domain name, the date and time of the incident (GMT+5:30), a description of the impact and any monitoring evidence you have.
- HostHere.lk verifies the claim against its monitoring records, which are the primary authoritative reference.
- Verified credits are applied within 14 business days of claim approval. Accounts that are not in good standing cannot receive credits.
Full details are in Master SLA section 9.
10. Support
Support for this service follows Master SLA section 7. The support SLA is separate from the uptime commitment.
- Guaranteed hours: Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM GMT+5:30. HostHere.lk aims to respond within 30 minutes by support ticket, live chat, WhatsApp or another official channel.
- Best effort only: Sundays (10:00 AM to 10:00 PM) and public holidays in Sri Lanka, with no SLA guarantee.
- Outside guaranteed hours: responses are provided within an 8-hour window. The team is usually available from 6:00 AM to 1:00 AM (GMT+5:30) as a courtesy, with no credit or remedy attached.
11. Changes to this SLA
HostHere.lk may update this SLA as described in Master SLA section 10: material changes are published with a new version number and effective date, customers get at least 30 days’ notice, and continued use after the effective date means you accept the update. Governing law and the other general terms are in Master SLA section 11.
Other product SLAs
- Linux shared hosting (99.5% uptime)
- Linux reseller hosting (99.5% uptime)
- Business class hosting (99.5% uptime)
- Managed WordPress (99.9% uptime)
- Virtual private servers (VPS) (99.9% uptime)
- Bulk emailing service (99.9% uptime)
- SMS & WhatsApp gateway (99.9% uptime)