Maintenance, Support, and Service Uptime

Shifter’s fees include maintenance of the infrastructure layer (such as the OS and middleware), updates to WordPress itself, and technical support via email.
The scope of support is based on the following shared responsibility model.

Shared Responsibility Model

Screenshot: Shared Responsibility Model

Security, compliance, and stable site operation on Shifter are maintained through shared responsibility between our company and the customer.

For details on the Shared Responsibility Model, please refer to the documentation. Our Scope of Responsibility

Our Scope of Responsibility

Maintenance of the infrastructure layer, such as the OS and middleware, and updates to WordPress core.

Customer’s Scope of Responsibility

Proper management of Shifter account information and third-party components running on WordPress, such as themes, plugins, and SaaS.

  • Management of passwords and account settings
  • Management of source code, theme, and plugin settings; verification of their functionality; and verification of website functionality
  • Maintenance and management of website data (such as source code, content, and media files) and data collected on the site
  • Any other matters outside the scope of this hosting service’s support

About Support

Support Hours

Weekdays, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM JST (excluding year-end/New Year holidays and other closures). Please note that inquiries received outside support hours may take longer to answer than those received on business days.

Support Contact

The Shifter website’s contact form.

We do not provide support via phone, online meetings, or in-person visits other than through the method listed above.
Please be aware of this in advance.

Scope of Support

We are available to answer questions regarding the basic use of Shifter and matters related to your contract.

What Is Included in Support

  • Basic usage of Shifter
  • Inquiries regarding contracts and payments
  • Basic questions about implementing Shifter
  • For consultations regarding implementation, please also take advantage of our online one-on-one consultation sessions.

What Is Not Included in Support

  • Site migration services (available for a fee)
  • Tutorials or consulting on website development methods
  • Adding features to your site, configuration assistance, or troubleshooting and fixing bugs
  • Consulting on recommended plugins or themes
  • Consultations regarding issues with plugins, themes, or third-party software (please contact the respective developers)
  • Technical support for the standalone use of open-source software published by our company
    (For details, please refer to the Shared Responsibility Model)

If you are experiencing issues with plugins, themes, or other components, we also offer paid support via our ticket system. Please feel free to contact us.

How to Request Support

Please provide your contract details.
Please include your company name and, if you have multiple contracts, your Site ID to help us identify the correct one more efficiently.

Screenshot: Please include your company name and, if you have multiple contracts, your Site ID to help us identify the correct one more efficiently.

About Maintenance

Definition of Maintenance

Maintenance performed to ensure the security and performance of the server environment.
Please refer to the following for Digital Cube’s information security initiatives.
https://www.digitalcube.jp/our-privacy-security/

Maintenance Scope

  • Application of OS and middleware updates and security patches as needed
  • Updates to the WordPress core
  • Regular backups related to the Shifter service
  • Recovery operations in the event of an outage affecting Shifter services

Items Not Included in Maintenance

  • Verification of whether themes, plugins, or other third-party components on the customer’s site function properly on Shifter
  • Verification of plugin and theme functionality during WordPress updates on the customer’s site

Service Uptime

  • SLA (Service Level Agreement): Not provided
  • SLO (Service Level Objective): Set as follows.
  • Customers are responsible for properly managing WordPress, which they can freely customize through settings, edits, and other means.

* SLOs do not guarantee system uptime.
* The estimated annual downtime due to maintenance and other reasons is not guaranteed to occur; it is an estimate based on historical data.
* Even in the unlikely event that the estimated annual downtime is exceeded, this will not be subject to refunds or other compensation.