PRO-3300.03: Virtual Machine (VM) Hosting Services

PROCEDURE SUMMARY

Intended Audience: IT service/process owners, IT server administrators, IT asset managers
Procedure Owner: Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS)

EIS provides hosting services for virtual servers at a monthly rate based on the size of the VM. EIS also offers three options for hosting services.

Sizes and Pricing

Hosting Options

• Option 1: Full Application Installation
• Option 2: “Packages to Cursor” VM
• Option 3: “Bare Metal” VM

For the complete procedure, click "Full Document" tab at top of page.

FULL DOCUMENT

Intended Audience: IT service/process owners, IT server administrators, IT asset managers
Procedure Owner: Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS)

1. Purpose

This procedure stipulates the virtual machine (VM) hosting services available from EIS to university departments. Hosting services include options for different resource configurations, as well as different levels of operating system support, backup and recovery options, and configuration management.

2. VM Standard Configurations and Pricing

These fees are approved annually through the university fees and rates process.

3.  Hosting Option 1: Full Application Installation

3.1 Examples

• Drupal
• IIS
• Microsoft SQL Server
• CRC/CLM

3.2 Operating System Options

The VM will be substantiated with an OS that EIS supports:

• Windows
  • Windows 2019
  • Windows 2016
  • Windows 2012 R2
• Linux
  • Centos 7
  • OEL 7
  • Ubunto 18.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

3.3 Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Options

Snapshots are taken nightly. Five snaps are kept on the “home” cluster and two are sent to the other cluster. No off-site backups are included.

OS, packages, and applications at the versions specified by your application will be installed and managed by Puppet to the best of EIS’s ability and application permitting. Depending on the package and service, it will be a Tier 1-, 2-, or 3-managed server per PRO-3300.0X, Automated Server Configuration Management. Monitoring via the Icinga tool will also be present and running.

OS and package upgrades will be coordinated at least one month before installation. Upgrades will be scheduled during business hours and “best effort” between customer and EIS.

3.4 Ongoing Support

EIS Provides:

• Troubleshooting OS
• Troubleshooting package version
• Connectivity troubleshooting
• Application access (i.e., Application Administrators’ ability to connect)
• OS availability
• Application availability

Customer Responsibilities:

• Primary Application Contact
• Secondary Application Contact
• Negotiation of off-site backup (if required)

4.  Hosting Option 2: “Packages to Cursor” VM

4.1 Examples

• AIM
• EAS Supported Applications
• Oracle RDBMS

4.2 Operating System Options

The VM will be substantiated with an OS that EIS supports:

• Windows
  • Windows 2019
  • Windows 2016
  • Windows 2012 R2
• Linux
  • Centos 7
  • OEL 7
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

4.3 Business Continuity

Snapshots are taken nightly. Five snaps are kept on the “home” cluster and two are sent to the other cluster. No off-site backups are included.

Packages at the versions specified by your application will be installed via Puppet to the best of EIS’s ability and application permitting. Depending on the package and service, it will be a Tier 1- or 2- managed server per PRO-3300.0X, Automated Server Configuration Management. Puppet will only manage the presence of packages, not the configuration thereof. Monitoring via the Icinga tool will also be present and running.

Package and OS upgrades will be coordinated at least one month before installation. Upgrades will be scheduled during business hours and "best effort" between customer and EIS.

4.4 Ongoing Support

EIS provides:

• Troubleshooting package version
• Connectivity troubleshooting
• Application access (i.e., Application Administrators’ ability to connect)
• Providing a VPN Enabled Service Account for application installation

Customer provides:

• Application installation
• Application Patching / Maintenance
• Application Availability
• Primary Application Contact
• Secondary Application Contact
• Negotiation of off-site backup (if required)

5.  Hosting Option 3: “Bare Metal” VM

5.1 Examples

• ResTek Servers
• CBE SharePoint and SQL Environment
• CAS Tech Servers

5.2 Operating System Options

In this Option, the VM will be substantiated with OS and Boot media of the unit’s choice. No installation functions will be performed.

5.3 Business Continuity

Snapshots are taken nightly. Five snaps are kept on the "home" cluster and two are sent to the other cluster. No off-site backups are included.

5.4 Ongoing Support

EIS provides:

1. Access to the Console Screen
2. Access to VCenter via Group Membership
3. Limited coaching
4. Backups are the responsibility of unit administrator

Customer provides:

• Primary Application Contact
• Secondary Application Contact
• Negotiation of off-site backup (if required)
• All other maintenance, administration, and support

6.  References

University Fees and Rates Schedule

Change Log