EDUCAUSE Core Data Servic e Module 5: Data Centers
This module inc ludes questions about data c enter c onfiguration and servic es provided by c entral IT. If your institution does not have at least one data c enter operated by c entral IT, please do not submit data for this module.
Data c enters are defined as fac ilities w ith a raised floor housing one or more servers or mainframes, assoc iated storage, peripherals, plus pow er and c ooling systems designed spec ific ally for c omputing environments, but not separate netw ork operation c enter(s) or telephone sw itc h fac ilities. In
responding to the survey questions, please enter data that desc ribe your *c urrent* IT environment, unless a question spec ific ally requests data for the prior fisc al year. This is an optional module. If you c hoose to c omplete this module, all questions are required unless otherw ise noted.
1. W hic h statements apply to the management of data c enters at your institution? (Chec k all that apply.)
Some data center hosting is located on our campus
We make use of hosting services within our multicampus system or district
We make use of hosting services at a shared or state/consortia facility (not within a multicampus system or district)
We make use of commercial data center services
Our institution provides data center services for other institutions
Our institution provides data center services or manages data centers on behalf of a shared service or consortium
Other (please specify)
2. How many data c enters are managed by your institution? Num ber m anag ed by centr al IT
Num ber m anag ed by other adm inistr ativ e units Num ber m anag ed by academ ic units
Other management
3. W hat are the tec hnic al c harac teristic s of up to four of the largest data c enter(s) operated by c entral IT? If a data c enter has not undergone an expansion or an upgrade, enter the year of installation in that field.
Year data center installed
Year of m ost r ecent expansion or m ajor
upg r ade
A ppr oxim ate squar e footag e of r aised floor
Per cent occupied Per cent of ser v er s v ir tualized Data center 1 Data center 2 Data center 3 Data center 4
4. W hic h, if any, of the follow ing apply for eac h data c enter operated by c entral IT? (Chec k all that apply.)
Rack space or a separ able ar ea is pr ov isioned for depar tm ent-owned equipm ent Rack space or a separ able ar ea is pr ov isioned for system s owned by other institutions or consor tia Networ k oper ations center colocated with data center Telephone switch center colocated with data center Not applicable -none of these Data center 1 Data center 2 Data center 3 Data center 4
5. W hat are the primary, sec ondary, and tertiary pow er sourc es for eac h data c enter operated by c entral IT?
Public g r id A lter nate public g r id Cam pus g ener ation Dedicated on-site g ener ator Other (please descr ibe below)
Not applicable Data center 1 -pr im ar y Data center 1 -secondar y Data center 1 -ter tiar y Data center 2 -pr im ar y Data center 2 -secondar y Data center 2 -ter tiar y Data center 3 -pr im ar y Data center 3 -secondar y Data center 3 -ter tiar y Data center 4 -pr im ar y Data center 4 -secondar y Data center 4 -ter tiar y
Other pow er sourc e
6. W hic h hardw are and softw are systems are deployed in data c enter(s) operated by c entral IT? (Chec k all that apply.)
Dell servers Fujitsu servers Hitachi servers HP servers IBM servers Sun/Oracle servers Mainframe(s) - any vendor UNIX servers - any vendor Linux servers - any vendor Windows servers - any vendor SCSI-attached storage - any vendor
Network-attached storage (NAS) - any vendor Storage area network - any vendor
Other (please specify)
7. W hat provisions are in plac e for data c enter disaster rec overy? (Chec k all that apply.)
Multiple data centers on campus provide redundancy
Facility at central office of our multicampus system or district
Contract or reciprocal arrangement with another educational institution Contract or reciprocal arrangement with government agency
Contract with commercial provider
Testing of disaster recovery site has been performed within the past year Other (please specify)
Not applicable - no provisions are in place
8. Please provide, in a paragraph or tw o, any bac kground information about your institution's data c enter(s) that c ould be useful to other CDS partic ipants w ho may be using your data in their
benc hmarking. Examples: W e have just opened a new data c enter w ith substantial exc ess c apac ity intended to c entralize distributed researc h c lusters. Our multic ampus system offic e is outfitting a data c enter that c an be used for our produc tion and bac kup. (optional)
9. Please provide the name and e-mail address of the person to c ontac t regarding your institution's responses to this module of the CDS survey. (optional)
10. EDUCAUSE w elc omes your feedbac k on this survey module. Please let us know of any
tec hnologies, innovations, or c hallenges important to your institution that are not addressed or are inadequately addressed in this year's survey. We'd also like to know if any questions in this module are not relevant to your institution. And how else c ould this module of the CDS survey be improved? (optional)
11. How easy w as it for you to c omplete this module? Please take into c onsideration the amount of time it took, the ease of gathering information needed to answ er the questions, the ease of identifying people at your institution to supply the answ ers, the c larity of the questions, etc . (optional)
Very difficult Difficult Somewhat difficult Somewhat easy Easy Very easy
©2011 EDUCAUSE. Reproduction by permission only. You are viewing one module of the 2011 EDUCAUSE Core Data Service (CDS) Annual Survey. CDS is a benchmarking service used by colleges and universities since 2002 to inform their IT strategic planning and management. CDS comprises an annual survey of campus IT environments and practices; a peer data access service accessible to institutions that complete the survey; an annual report analyzing aggregated data about IT use and management in higher education; and an Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) restricting data disclosure. The complete survey and additional information and resources can be found on the CDS website (www.educause.edu/coredata). Contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at coredata@educause.edu.
