CANHEIT 2012 Building the Digital University
Disaster Recovery Through Cooperation
Disaster Recovery Through Cooperation We had a Dream - also a Nightmare • Where we have been • Where we are today • Challenges • Where we are going
Who We Are • St. Thomas University in Fredericton • Mount Allison University in Sackville • Université de Moncton in Moncton
We had a Dream. . . Or Nightmare • How would we cope? • How would we get there? • Who would pay for it? • Who would join us
Where We Have Been • ECN • Datatel cooperation • Virtualized servers at one datacentre
The ECN • The NB/PEI Educational Computer Network • Forty Years (!) of cooperation - Yes. . . There were data networks 40 years ago. . . Maybe smoke signals? ? ? • Great Organizational model • Great Financial Model • Network, Spam filtering, software licensing etc.
ECN Network Fredericton to Sackville: 250 km or < 10 ms St. Thomas at Fredericton Université de Moncton at Moncton Mount Allison at Sackville
Datatel Cooperation • MUSIC Consortium from 15 years ago • Workorder system run from MTA • MTA makes customizations etc. • STU has provided analyst expertise • Single team - lots of savings
VMs at one site • MTA early adopter of VM technology • STU brought capital to the table • MTA built datacentre, has staff • Two Universities (120 VMs) in a rack • Great efficiencies
Where We Were 2010 • Virtualized Servers working very well • Current agreement works and is model for small university cooperation • Very productive, staff train and work together • Huge positive environmental impact • Management shares common vision
Timeline to 2010 Shared Datacentre Datatel ECN Network 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Challenges • NO credible disaster recovery capability • Rapidly growing storage requirements (memory and disk) • Server Hosting/Maintenance Agreement ending 2012 • Current Infrastructure EOL in 2012
Where are we going? • Original agreement set to expire in 2012 • Refresh of current infrastructure (with NO DR capability) would cost about $250, 000. 00 • Background of rapid growth in storage and to a lesser extent RAM requirements
KIP Funds • STU Applied for KIP funds for several IT projects • Received 485 K • Gave us funds to BOTH refresh datacentre AND establish DR facility
DR Site • Looked at several options • STU - didn’t want to build a machine room • MTA - didn’t want to expand a machine room • UNB - in the process of gutting a machine room • Private rackspace vendors - problem was getting data to them (cost of bandwidth) • Best solution - a University on the ECN network • Ended up at Université de Moncton.
D/R Process • Technical Staff did considerable research framing the problem and looking for a solution • We issued an RFI - received 5 responses • Pursued discussions with one respondent to further define plans • Issued an RFQ to finalize numbers • Bulletproof was chosen as the partner
Adopted Solution MTA - Refresh Ude. M - New Servers Storage (magic ) Automatic Replication over ECN Network
Engaging Ude. M • We are excited about engaging another partner, in this case to house equipment • Offer on the table for Ude. M to put a rack at MTA • Leverages ECN investments • $500/month + Power
Dell Equallogic • Sticker Shock - but it’s “ALL IN” and easy to manage. . . • Atomic Unit is the SAN • Simple and powerful • Replication is part of the package • Peace of Mind (priceless)
Key Points • New data centre infrastructure PLUS DR site • Five years maintenance up front • Retain leadership position in IT • New partner U de M, more welcome • We sleep better now - much better!
. . . But there’s more • We’ve been approached by two other institutions, both wish to eliminate data centres, both have received quotes from commercial providers. • Our costs are about 1/2 the commercial providers • We must be doing something right!
New Timeline New Partners Datacentre + D/R Shared Datacentre Datatel ECN Network 1970 1980 1990 2000 2015
The Future • (1 year) We hope to be hosting servers for at least four institutions - Huge win financially, environmentally and politically. • (1 year) ECN plans to conduct a review to explore further cooperation/consolidation • (3 -4 years) be positioned to take advantage of what options exist - ECN Datacentre? Commercial providers? Rebuild of current sites? "the cloud". . . Who knows.
Further out. . . Forecast is cloudy. . But we will be ready for it.
Dilbert • . . . of course there's a relevant Dilbert. . . • We are too cheap to pay $45 to show you the cartoon, so see cartoon for 25/May/2012 at http: //www. dilbert. com
CANHEIT 2010
2010. . . Nearby. . .
Questions ? ? ? ?
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