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Managed Services

Supported Operating Systems

The following operating systems are supported:

Linux/Unix: The Unix team supports Red Hat Linux, CentOS, and FreeBSD. (In 2018, the Data Center will end legacy support for Solaris, and will migrate from Red Hat Linux to CentOS.)
Windows Server: The Windows team supports Windows Server 2022 as the standard for new servers. Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2016 are supported for existing servers.
VMware: The Virtual Hosting team supports clusters of ESX servers and shared storage.

Roles and Responsibilities

Responsibilities of the systems teams:

Develop hardware requirements and specifications: consult with clients and/or application vendors in developing hardware and software requirements and specifications for new servers and systems; coordinate information exchange with hardware and operating system vendors
Hardware purchase and delivery: generate vendor quotes, coordinate purchases, and receive equipment delivered to the Data Center
Provisioning: coordinate IP and hostname allocation and the implementation of the firewall rules needed for systems management
- Physical hosting: coordinate the installation, racking, and cabling of hardware hosted in the Data Center
- Virtual hosting: provision and ensure access to the Vsphere client to provision virtual machines
- Cloud hosting: provision and ensure access to cloud services, including servers and storage
Operating-system installation and configuration
- Provide build, configuration, patch, and management infrastructure for supported platforms
- For each host, configure the operating system in compliance with the standards required by UCOP, UCSC, and ITS policy
- Set user and file permissions, manage operating-system accounts and groups
- Work with application and database administrators to install software packages and make kernel-parameter changes as needed (packages are installed from supported package repositories only)
- Grant privileges to the application and database administrators to install, start, stop and configure their software as needed
- Track and manage OS-level SSL-certificate expiry
Management of OS and hardware: manage the operating system by installing OS patches; manage group and user-account information; coordinate hardware and OS support through the life cycle of the server
System monitoring: monitor server availability and track the utilization of server resources
For servers enrolled in the Data Center Backup service: install backup client software, work with the backup administrator to resolve issues with unsuccessful backups, perform restores as needed
Troubleshooting: provide 24/7 or 9/5 on-call support, as specified for each supported server or device; diagnose and correct hardware and operating-system problems; provide support to application and database administrators when they are troubleshooting applications/services
Serve as liaison with other ITS teams: The systems engineers serve as the customer's liaison with other ITS teams, including Information Security, Networking, and Operations

Responsibilities of the customer:

Develop hardware requirements and specifications in consultation with the systems engineers: consult with clients and/or application vendors in developing hardware and software requirements and specifications for new servers and systems
For physical hosting, provide a FOAPAL for hardware acquisition and ongoing operating-system licensing and support
The central virtual hosting service includes the ongoing licensing and support for the Red Hat Linux and Windows operating systems; for departmental virtual hosting, the client is responsible for guest-level OS licensing
The cloud hosting service includes the ongoing licensing and support for Joyent SmartDataCenter
Install, configure, maintain, uninstall, and troubleshoot applications or databases
Provide contact and escalation information, and keep that information current
Specify the operational support level for the server (24x7 or Monday-Friday, 8am - 5pm)
For services where pre-scheduled maintenance windows have been defined, prepare applications and clients for outages as needed
For services where pre-scheduled maintenance windows have not been defined, review and confirm proposed maintenance activities (if no response is received, system-maintenance scheduling requests will be considered approved)
Coordinate and communicate with end users, as needed, about application-level impacts of outages or scheduled maintenance
Alert systems engineers of emergencies, high-utilization periods, or ongoing issues that may require support or modification of maintenance schedule
Manage the application and supporting software to standards that comply with the standards required by UCOP, UCSC, and ITS policy
Maintain application-level software-licensing compliance and support
Track and manage application-level SSL-certificate expiry
Make requests and report issues to the systems engineers using SlugHub; for urgent issues, follow up the ITR ticket with a phone call to the on-call or to a DCO manager
For physical servers located outside of the ITS Data Center, provide systems engineers with physical access
Protect sensitive data with appropriate encryption and access controls
Provide account management for application- or database-level accounts
Monitor application availability
Prepare application data for backups, as needed
Identify, document, and communicate application- or database-level configuration requirements, such as firewall ports, kernel parameters, required packages
- for DNS, the server administrator will request and manage the server's "A" record
- for Windows systems, request firewall-rule changes from the Windows team
- for Unix systems, request firewall-rule changes from the Security team
Forecast application resource needs

Availability

This is a 24x7 service supported by the DCO systems teams. Escalation is provided through Data Center Operations and each team's on-call rotation.

For planned maintenance, the DCO systems teams follow the ITS Change Management Process, and planned changes are posted on the ITS Maintenance Calendar.

Data Security

This service is appropriate for P1 - P4 data, excluding EAR/ITAR and PCI.

Eligibility

Managed Services are available to all UCSC academic and administrative departments.

Costs

There is no cost for managed services.

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Note: This service is also offered by Academic Divisional Computing. more information