# Tech support (FAQs) # How can I ask for tech support? [![image-1633534750630.png](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-10/scaled-1680-/voGbwfMatUSiVsQ9-image-1633534750630.png)](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-10/voGbwfMatUSiVsQ9-image-1633534750630.png) Our main communication channel for paying Subscribers is [support.cloud68.co](https://support.cloud68.co "https://support.cloud68.co"). On-boarded Subscribers can also contact our team by using [support@cloud68.co](mailto:%73%75%70%70%6F%72%74@%63%6C%6F%75%64%36%38.%63%6F), which will open automagically a support ticket for you. ### Do you offer support via phone?
Our team members are millennials and [GenZ members](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z) and are not used to use 'the phone'. We use BigBlueButton (open source software of course) for video calls to offer tech support. It's just like using 'the phone', but better. Everyone on a Subscription plan can easily schedule a call to reach our tech and user support team by visiting [cloud68.co/schedule-a-call](https://cloud68.co/schedule-a-call).
### What about tech support via Twitter/Mastodon? Sometimes we also answer questions on our social media channels, but it’s is not guaranteed that we will answer there as quickly as if you contacted us at our primary support channels. Just a reminder that our Twitter account is[ @Cloud68HQ](https://twitter.com/cloud68_co). # Using support.cloud68.co We offer technical support to our Subscribers based on the packages they have. **Starter packages:** standard support **Medium+ packages:** priority support ### Who has access to your support system? If you are a subscriber of ours you can access our support system by requesting a username and a password at support (a) cloud68.co. #### If you have a username and a password In this case visit support.cloud68.co and get access with your credentials. ### When do you offer support? Our support team is active from Monday to Friday from 9.00 - 17.00 [CEST](https://www.worldtimeserver.com/time-zones/cest/). # What are your support days and hours? Our friendly tech support team is available from Monday to Friday 9.00 - 17.00 [CET/CEST timezone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_European_Summer_Time "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_European_Summer_Time"). ## Tech support during weekends During weekends and official holidays, only high priority and downtime-related support tickets are handled. ## Official holidays and unavailability Below are the days that our team is **not expected** to offer tech and user support, except in high priority situations: - January 1st - January 2nd - March 14th - March 22nd - May 1st - August 15th - September 5th - November 28th - November 29th - December 8th - December 24th - December 25th - December 31st

Our team members monitor our and your infrastructure around the clock including weekends and official holidays to make sure everything is up and running and most importantly secure.

# Scheduled maintenance & software updates In this page, we explain our approach on instance updates from the actual version you are using to a new one.![undraw_clean_up_ucm0.png](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-10/scaled-1680-/DAivq3BrZKfSJemV-undraw-clean-up-ucm0.png) ### When is an instance updated The approach we have decided to follow for the management of all the instances is to update to major stable releases, unless there is a security or an unscheduled critical update. We have found this to be a more stable and secure approach. Minor updates might also break some things in the instance, which will force us to revert to the previous version and cause disruption and potential downtime to our Subscribers. ### Instance update procedure Due to potential downtime to the instance(s) we manage, we inform our Subscribers beforehand, at least five (5) business days before we proceed with an update. ##### Should you update the instance(s) on your own? We encourage our Subscribers that do their best to follow the security practices. One of these practices is to have every software you use up to date. But if every subscriber updates their instance without informing our support team, it can cause a lot of issues on a hosting provider side. The issues can be from simple to fix like an app not working on new releases, to the platform having a major bug that had escaped the QA of the developing team of the platform. ##### Our approach on software updates For the reasons mentioned above, we test each major release on our test environment, and then if everything looks good, we inform you (our Subscriber) about the specific date we plan to update your instance. On this testing phase, we test major release or minor releases that contain vulnerability fixes. Vulnerability issues on well-developed platforms such as Nextcloud are uncommon, but they still can happen once in a while. This is why we do our best to test and notify you in a timeline as short as humanly possible. Our update procedure is fully automated (we let our automation code do the work) and ensure no human error is present while updating. ## Scheduled maintenance When we need to proceed with a software/platform update, we plan on a scheduled maintenance to your instance. In this case, the main contact person responsible for the Subscription package will be notified by email. We usually work on planned instance updates on weekends (Saturday to be more specific), unless there is a request from one of our Subscribers to act differently. The reason we choose Saturdays is due to the fact that we don't want to disrupt your work during weekdays when the instances are used the most usually. In certain cases and where applicable, we will make sure to also add a notification notice (see below for an example of such notification on a Gitlab instance) for the day and time that the scheduled maintenance will be implemented. [![image-1620036809825.png](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-05/scaled-1680-/RtFhCUkJGtMTIL7E-image-1620036809825.png)](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-05/RtFhCUkJGtMTIL7E-image-1620036809825.png) # Service not available [![undraw_server_down_s4lk.png](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-10/scaled-1680-/768pHgiqQRcw5kbF-undraw-server-down-s4lk.png)](https://docs.cloud68.co/uploads/images/gallery/2021-10/768pHgiqQRcw5kbF-undraw-server-down-s4lk.png)In case of unplanned disruption of service, we will try to inform our Subscribers using the following methods: 1. **email** directed to the main contact person responsible for the Subscription; 2. **Mastodon** announcement [fosstodon.org/web/accounts/234260](https://fosstodon.org/web/accounts/234260); For major disruptions, we might also publish a blog post [https://cloud68.co/blog/.](https://cloud68.co/blog/)