Hosting of Servers and Applications
The ITS computer rooms are specifically designed for the support of computer equipment
and networking. These computer rooms can offer the following services:
• UPS power supply
• Network connectivity
• Raised flooring
• Air conditioned environment
• Controlled access
• Software monitoring and emergency call-out to a single designated phone
number.
These facilities enable ITS to offer hosting services to our clients across campus. This
offers individual departments an alternative to maintaining their own computing
facilities. Use of this service may also eliminate the need for departments to purchase and
maintain their own hardware.
This may be of interest to Campus departments in one of two ways:
:
1.
Hosting your application on one of our existing ITS servers
It may not be necessary for you to purchase and maintain your own server. ITS can host
your application on a shared hardware platform. In this model, the application resides on
one of our standard servers.
ITS looks after everything related to the server:
 The servers all have redundant power supplies and are configured when possible
with hot swappable disk.
 We maintain a spare server of the same configuration in case of an emergency.
 Timely patching is maintained of the Operating System and critical MS
applications such as SQL server.
 Legato backup services for the OS, application and any database files are
provided.
 The Client application shares the Operating System and potentially the database
software with other hosted applications.
In situations where the application requires its own copy of the Operating System, the
application can still share a hardware platform with other applications using VMware
software. For example, this would be the best choice when the application is supported by
an external vendor or group who would require administrative access to the server. The
OS can still be updated, restarted and otherwise maintained without impacting the other
applications on the same server. In this model, the client must share the cost of the
VMware software as well as the backup license.
While this model does include an additional up front cost for using this “virtual” server, it
significantly outweighs the cost of purchasing and housing a new machine.
In both models, additional costs will apply when database licensing is required.
2.
Hosting your server in our ITS Machine Room
In a situation where you must maintain your own hardware platform, ITS can house this
server for you. This option saves you the responsibility of establishing and maintaining a
location that provides the physical security and environmental controls needed to house
these critical machines.
When preparing to purchase a new server, we welcome the opportunity to review your
requirements with you. Based on our experience, in order to maximize the resources
available in our machine room and minimize unexpected problems, we have established a
standard server model that we can recommend when appropriate.
For further details regarding prices for both of these models, please refer to the ITS
services document.
http://www.uwo.ca/its/services.pdf