The Division of Technology Services (DTS), Hosting Services product involves the management of servers, storage, and backup/restore services for executive branch agencies within the State of Utah. It includes installation, deployment, maintenance and support of the operating system (OS), web server, and application server software. The customer is responsible for the costs of securing proprietary software, application server software, database software, and for software maintenance. DTS Infrastructure will be responsible for the funding of hardware, and hardware maintenance related to the server environment. Security revisions, version upgrades, as well as data storage, data backup/restoration and other services required for maintaining the stability, safety, and peak functionality of the server are performed by system administrators within the Infrastructure Hosting group.
In support of the policy for separation of duties, Hosting Services has the responsibility for Application deployment to all Production Systems and will maintain Root and Administrator rights to all servers. In the event a new application needs installed, Hosting will work with Developers and/or Engineering teams to perform the installation. Hosting will make a best effort in working with the application owners in troubleshooting and supporting issues on production systems.
Billing for Hosting Services is calculated using two rates. One rate is determined by counting the number of operating systems. This rate is used to pay for server administration costs including personal services and current expenses. The other Hosting Services rate is determined by counting the number of CPU cores allocated to the operating system instance. This rate pays for the hardware and software, including the OS and operational software (e.g. monitoring, etc). Storage and backups are offered as different products outside of Hosting Services and are identified as Product Number 2536.01.16, SAN Storage, Number 2536.02.16, Low Cost Storage (NAS) and Product Number: 2535.01.16 Backup, Archive and Restore Services.
Product Features and Descriptions
Server Hardware
Server hardware applies to all server components including: Web servers, application servers, data base servers, file servers etc.
DTS will work with the customer to determine the optimal place for hosting requested applications, web sites, programs, etc. with the emphasis on virtualizing as much as possible. In the cases where agency project initiatives have not been identified in the IT Planning process, DTS and the agency may need to work together to identify funding strategies to support additional infrastructure costs. Larger server resources may require a Special Billing Agreement (SBA).
All hardware maintenance contracts for server equipment will be provided by DTS unless otherwise stated and agreed to within an SBA.
Server Software
The cost for licensing software (including the basic operating system) as well as software support for system administrators is included in the rate for this product. Proprietary agency software, database software, application server software and custom application software is not included.
Server Administration
- Root/Administrator Access/rights: System Administrators maintain sole root/administrator access/rights on servers.
- Installation, deployment, maintenance and support of the operating system (OS) and the web and application server software.
- Operating System Administration: Revisions and patches are monitored, managed, scheduled and installed using the DTS Change Management Process. Security patches will be applied as they become available.
- Application Server Administration: Revisions and patches are installed as directed and scheduled by the agency. Security patches will be applied as they become available.
- Web Server Administration: Revisions and patches are installed as directed and scheduled by the agency. Security patches will be applied as they become available.
- Application Deployment: Provide packaging and deployment infrastructure for customer applications, sites and programs. Ensure that applications are packaged and deployed to servers on a timely basis using standardized and automated procedures (where possible).
- Best effort support for troubleshooting applications
- Monitoring of system performance, management of environment characteristics including: load balancing, security, availability requirements, clustering, capacity planning, deployment, and day-to-day operations.
- Work with the customer to analyze, recommend, and implement solutions to improve the operational efficiency of applications in the server environments.
Network Connections
Ethernet service connectivity
Fault tolerant network with redundant paths
Operational support provided
Data Center Maintenance
All costs associated with the data center management for the purpose of supporting the hosting environment will be provided. This includes:
Equipment racking and cabling, power and environmental needs, backup power and emergency generator fail over.
Access into the secure data center area is very limited and in adherence to the DTS security policies. DTS has implemented surveillance including video monitoring and management of physical access to the data center(s).
Storage
- SAN Storage: external to the server
- Redundancy is built in
- Customer specifies the number and the size of each LUN within a designated sizing standard
- Suitable for mission critical applications
- Data replication for business continuity is not a component of this product, but can be provided and charged through an SBA.
- Scheduled maintenance on the storage device will cause a service outage for the server during the maintenance window
- Not to be used for data backup purposes
- Redundant, fault tolerant hardware with a RAID 5 storage array
- Support for a wide array of operating systems and hardware platforms
- Physically secure, climate controlled environment
- 24×7 monitoring of the hardware availability
- Reliable uninterruptible power with battery backup and generator power
Data Protection Services
- Enterprise servers hosted in the Salt Lake City or Richfield data centers.
- Agency specific servers that may reside at an agency site.
- Servers are backed up to disk and tape resources located in the SLC and Richfield data centers
- Data accessed by the server located on external devices (SAN and NAS) can also be backed up
- System Administrators will be responsible to initiate restoring data as requested by the agency
- Initial full backups of system data are performed. Thereafter all backups are differential (changed data only). Additional rates may be applicable if multiple full backups or an archive is required.
- Physically secure, climate controlled environment
- 24×7 monitoring of the hardware availability
- Reliable uninterruptible power with battery backup and generator power
Features Not Included
Agency Application Support
Hosting Services does not include application support for application functionality, fixes and modifications.
Equipment or Software Replacement
Software that will not be covered for replacement will include data base software and maintenance, agency specific proprietary software and maintenance, application server software and maintenance and custom developed application software purchased and used by the agency.
Problem Resolution
Problem resolution does not include re-writes, fixes, or modifications to applications. It is not the responsibility of administrators to fix deficiencies inherent to the operating systems, other server support systems, or security patches approved by the customer for deployment or ordered by the customer to address security or system compatibility.
Ordering and Provisioning
Use the order buttons on the right. If you would like assistance, please contact the DTS Service Desk at or call them at 1-800-678-3440. A System Administrator will contact the person designated in the order form to discuss the requirements. Once those services are defined, DET Operations will work with the agency to identify all the tasks and a Remedy order will be submitted and the tasks assigned.
DTS Responsibilities
Understand the needs and requirements of the customer.
Promptly inform the customer of any outages or problems discovered.
Repair outages on a best effort basis and according to SLA agreements established and agreed upon with the customer and DTS.
Customer Responsibilities
Provide DTS with a written and signed description of the work to be performed with the expected date of completion (Statement of Work).
Provide DTS with the agency name, technical contact information, and the ELCID code to be used for billing purposes.
Submit all requests and problems through the DTS Service Desk or by contacting your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM).
