Information for potential customers
Cost
The cost of hosted services is based upon a number of criteria, which are enumerated below. Hosted services can be funded at the Vice Chancellor level, if approved.
- The amount of support required for servers determines the cost of the service. Servers are categorized as Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3, dependent upon criteria such as the number of users on the server; their processor, memory, and storage requirements; the complexity of the applications runningon the server; and the amount of administrative support required. See the classification procedure and the details of the Levels 1, 2, and 3 criteria.
- Quotes for new servers are based upon "best fit' against the criteria. Individual servers are reviewed annually. The primary support administrator for the server will reclassify it, if necessary, for the coming year.
- Departments running applications on multiple servers are given discounts based upon the server function. A 25% discount is applied to additional servers running the same vendor application, such as Web and application servers, clustered or load-balanced servers, and development servers.
- Test or quality assurance (QA) servers receive a 75% discount if they are only used when applications are being upgraded.
- Disaster recovery servers also receive a 75% discount.
- Use the Get more information link to ask about sample charges for servers of various configurations and levels of support.
- Customer-specific information, special requirements and charges, signatures, billing information, helpdesk/emergency contact information, and the responsibilities of customer and OIT with respect to computing hardware, software, applications, and server management must be documented in this Service Level Agreement (SLA) template in order to approve the service request.
Hardware requirements
Hosted services customers have two hardware options for running departmental applications:
- Purchase a server, usually based upon the application vendor's specifications. Hosted services can provide quotes for purchases of a properly configured server.
- Have hosted services configure a virtual server with the same applications vendor's specifications. Hosted services adds an annual charge to cover the cost of the virtual hosting environment. Even with this charge, this option is usually less expensive than the cost of a new server, and has many additional benefits, one being the elimination of a larger capital investment in future server hardware.
Software licensing and vendor applications
Hosted services customers must purchase Windows Server licenses and certain other software, whether the application runs on a purchased server or virtual server.
Campus does have agreements for certain licenses and hosted services will provide a quote from the University's software reseller for any software needed. Hosted services customers will then purchase the software licenses, as well as be responsible for their own application costs and ongoing maintenance from the vendor.