NGINX, the fast Web server, now comes with commercial support.

NGINX, the popular open-source Web server, recently swept by Microsoft's Internet Information Services to become the second most popular Web server in the world. Not bad for an open-source project without any commercial support! NGINX is changing that now. Its parent company has just announced commercial support options for businesses.

According to the newly formed, July 2011, Web company, NGINX's original creators and developers will provide support for small, medium or large-scale commercial Web site installations. Three technical support packages are available--Essential, Advanced and Premium--covering installation, configuration, performance improvement, software maintenance, design, implementation, and optimization assistance.

NGINX promises to offer "rapid response and resolution of problems and incidents, including emergency bug fixes and prioritized development. Subscribing customers will also receive proactive notifications about major changes, security patches, new and interim software releases, and recommendations about available updates and upgrades. All packages can be supplied based on either a 12- or a 3-month contract. Subscribers to the Advanced and Premium options receive design, implementation and optimization assistance, as well as prioritized development. Premium subscribers will have access to an additional set of customization options."

Consulting services are also available to assist customers in tailoring their bespoke configurations or adding further features and functionality. Since enterprise adoption of the NGINX is trending up as one of the top 5 business open-source applications, I expect many commercial customers to be interested in these service level agreement (SLA) support plans.

"These options were designed with NGINX business users in mind," said Andrey Alexeev, co-founder of NGINX in a statement. "Whether you are using a NGINX in a single instance or thousands of NGINX-based Web servers for commercial applications, we now have direct vendor support to suit all levels of demand. We listen very carefully to our customers, and the commercial technical support packages are designed to address their most common needs. Several enterprises have already subscribed, and in the future we will be offering more services based on customer feedback."

That said, NGINX also promises that it will not be abandoning its open-source roots. "Open-source community users will continue to have access to an extensive range of free support and advice from a variety of online resources. Documentation, knowledge base, mailing lists and forums that provide insights on how to work with NGINX, address bug fixes, obtain workarounds, and build applications are being constantly improved. Users can also download and browse complete source code and binary packages from NGINX web sites, and report and track bug fixes.

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