What is Division of Information Technology's (DIT) Virtual Server Hosting (VSH)?
The Division of Information Technology (DIT) offers a fee-based Virtual Server Hosting (VSH) to the University community. Server virtualization is a technology which will benefit any department needing the flexibility that owning their own server would provide without the overhead of maintaining it. Running a physical server requires having appropriate support infrastructure, taking physical security precautions, and performing regular hardware upgrades and maintenance. DIT's virtual server hosting service offers departments virtual servers on a highly available VMware multi-node cluster running at a fraction of the cost of purchasing, housing, and maintaining a physical server. For a price comparison of the cost and support of a physical versus a virtual machine, please click here.
What are the service benefits?
Here are just a few reasons why choosing DIT's VSH is of value to your College/Department:
Not all applications are well-suited for virtualization
Some computation and/or transaction intensive applications may not be the best candidates for virtualization.
Some applications that require extremely large amounts of storage may not be the best candidates for virtualization.
Large database servers or data warehouse applications may not be appropriate for virtualization.
Some computation and/or transaction intensive applications may not be the best candidates for virtualization.
Vendor products that are not supported to run on VMware are not appropriate for virtualization. Most applications are supported in a virtual environment, but it is still best to confirm with the application vendor.
Some applications may require resources beyond the limits of the offered virtual server sizes. DIT can assist in reviewing a particular application or service and determine if it is suitable for virtualization.
Service Description
VSH provides departments with virtual machines for hosting files and applications at a fraction of the cost to purchase and maintain a physical infrastructure. This tiered service (Non-Managed and Managed) provides departments the option of choosing the virtual machine and support that is right for them. The Non-Managed Virtual Machine option is for departments who only need a virtual machine and have system administrators on staff to manage the operating system and application. The Managed option is for departments that need the virtual machine for their application and system administration support. The Managed option comes in two tiers 9x5 (supported during University Business hours) and 24x7 (System Support 24x7/365). With each option, departments will be able to request more disk space, memory, and number of CPUs at an additional cost.
Service Pricing
As described above, DIT offers Managed and Non-Managed virtual hosts at the following prices:
VM Server Hosting Rates:
Feature | Non-Managed $50/Month |
Managed 9x5 $175/Month |
Managed 24x7 $300/Month |
---|---|---|---|
vCPU (Included) | 1/vCPU | ||
Base RAM (Included) | 4GB | ||
Base Storage (Included) |
15GB |
||
Additional Storage (5GB Increments) (Monthly) |
$0.15/5GB | ||
Additional vCPU (Monthly) |
$10/vCPU/Month | ||
Additional RAM (Monthly) |
$5/GB/Month | ||
Guest OS Management |
$60/hour During university |
Included | |
Recreate VM | $200 per | Included | |
VM Modifications (i.e., name, storage, networking, etc.) |
$50 per | Included | |
File-Level Backup | End-User | Included | |
Image-Level Restore (upon availability) |
$200 per | Included | |
Application Installation | $60/hour | ||
Supported Operating Systems (Operating System cost and maintenance included) |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ver. 7, Windows 2019, Windows 2016, Windows 2012 R2 | ||
One-Time Setup Fee | $120 | ||
Application Support (Web, MS SQL, etc.) |
$60/hour minimum. Send request to vmwaresupport@umd.edu for more details. |
* Please click here for detailed explanation of what is included in a managed server.
* Price includes the cost of your IP address from NCT.
Service is billed monthly, with the initial billing period starting on the first day of the first full month in which service begins. Either party may terminate a support agreement with or without cause however, a minimum of 30 days advance notice is required.
DIT provides a separately charged backup service, which includes off-site storage of tapes. Although not required, this service is strongly recommended. System problems or file corruption without a good backup can result in a complete loss of data. Additional information including cost is available at the Data Backup entry on the Service Catalog. Customers who purchase the backup service will receive a single, itemized invoice each month that breaks down all charges. The total amount of the bill will vary depending on the amount of data backed up that month.
Customer Requirements
Request a Server
Managed Virtual Machine Details
Physical vs. Virtual Cost (Based on average numbers seen historically)
Physical Machine | Virtual Machine (without DIT Support) |
Virtual Machine (with DIT Support) |
|
---|---|---|---|
Cost | $7,000 (due at purchase) *For comparison, $117/month manufacturer warranty only (at additional cost) |
$50/month (base) |
$175/month with 9x5 hardware/software support $300/month with 24/7 hardware/software support |
IP Address | $17/month | Included | Included |
Additional Storage | Purchased with hardware whether used or not | $0.15/5GB/month for enterprise class Nimble SAN storage (pay as you grow) |
$0.15/5GB/month for enterprise class Nimble SAN storage (pay as you grow) |
Additional Memory | Purchased with hardware whether used or not | $5/GB/month (pay as you grow) |
$5/GB/month (pay as you grow) |
Hardware Lifecycle Replacement (5-Year) |
Purchase a new server | Hardware is replaced by DivIT at no additional cost | Hardware is replaced by DivIT at no additional cost |
Hardware Warranty | $2,100 (5-year 4x24 response) | Not Required | Not Required |
Hardware/Operating System Support | $70,000 (average cost of a Server Administrator in College Park, MD)1
DIT Support |
9x5 only at hourly rate and based on availability | 9x5: $1,200 (included in VM cost) 24x7: $2,400 (included in VM cost)
|
Hardware Redundancy | $7,000 (average cost of two identical servers) |
Included at no cost | Included at no cost |
Time to Deploy | Weeks to months | Minutes to hours | Minutes to hours |
Time to Add Hardware Like Memory or Storage | Days to weeks (Downtime required) |
Minutes to hours (Downtime may not be required) |
Minutes to hours (Downtime may not be required) |
1 This figure is based on the averages found from reputable job search and salary collection websites.