Policy on Locating Administrative Applications or Equipment In Central Data Centers

Definition:

Terms used in this policy are defined within the document: Data Center Application and Equipment Hosting Services.

Policy Statement:

Schools and divisions may request that applications or equipment be hosted in a central data center to protect and sustain them in a controlled environment. Requests may be satisfied under the following circumstances:

1. Adequate guest hosting resources are available to support the application from the common computing and storage platform.
2. Adequate resources are available in a central data center for any required equipment,
3. Allocation of resources is approved by the Office for Cyberinfrastructure.

Space, power and cooling are expensive resources required for computer equipment and they must be used efficiently. The priorities for use of these resources are for (1) shared online storage services, (2) shared computing services, (3) dedicated research equipment, and (4) dedicated administrative equipment.

Timing of Requests

A favorable decision for guest hosting for an application on the central computing and storage platform will require two to four weeks to implement to transition the application to the central platform.
A favorable decision for hosting equipment will require four to eight weeks to implement due to necessary electrical distribution work and delivery of other equipment.

Renewal of Hosting Service

At least once every 24 months, the Office for Cyberinfrastructure will ask each current equipment or application owner to reapply for hosting service. This will be treated in the same manner as the original application. If the renewal application is denied, then the equipment or application owner will be notified to remove the equipment or application within 30 days.

Process

The process for requesting hosting services is:

• Requester submits an administrative application/equipment hosting request to the Office for Cyberinfrastructure. This request describes the application and the equipment, its resource requirements, and the anticipated duration for the hosting.
• The Office for Cyberinfrastructure assesses the completeness of the request, compares the requirements to available resources and makes a decision. The requester is notified of the decision.
• If the request is approved, then the Office for Cyberinfrastructure begins project planning with the requester to implement the request.

Request to Locate Administrative Applications/Equipment in a Central Data Center

Date: <Date>

To: Thomas Board, Assoc VP for Cyberinfrastructure

From: <Requester>

Re: Request to locate administrative applications/equipment in a central data center

Please attach a description of the application(s) to be hosted. Include vendor architectural information that would address the sizing of Web, application and database tiers, the expected initial data storage requirements and the expected annual growth rate, and any specialized network requirements.

Please indicate the service you are requesting:

If this is a request for a guest host, then attach any available detailed vendor specifications for the software application. This should include a statement from the vendor of its support of the application in a virtual environment. It should also include a description of the recommended virtual environment configuration.

If you are requesting equipment hosting, please attach the additional information:

• Please attach detailed vendor specifications, which must be sufficient to gauge the required power, cooling, and rack space;
• Please attach documents addressing your consideration of guest hosting and why you have not elected it for this request.
• Please answer the following questions:
  • Has the equipment been purchased? Has the equipment been delivered to a University building already?
  • Is the equipment powered and in use already within the University? If so, where is it located?
  • Why are you requesting that this equipment be hosted in the central data center?

Are there any security special requirements for this request? This could include (but is not limited to) storage of sensitive information protected by law. If so, please attach an explanation.

By submitting this request, you agree that you have read and understand the description of the hosting services, including NUIT’s rights and those aspects not included, which may be found at http://www.it.northwestern.edu/bin/docs/cyb/Data-Center-AppandEquip.pdf. You also understand that implementation of an approved request may require four to eight weeks of site preparation.

Original Issue Date: