cis-y2k.jpg (12051 bytes)

Network Operating System
Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Introduction

The Strategic Servers Team of the Computing Infrastructure Technology Group (CITG) offers comprehensive system administration and management for a variety of Network Operating Systems (NOS). The definition of Network Operating Systems encompasses Windows 2000/2003 Server and Novell NetWare systems. These services conform to the LBNL's computing and security standards and requirements, and represent a cost effective option for LBNL departments to meet their own computing needs.

This document serves as a detailed guide to the Network Operating System services offered by the Strategic Servers Team of the Computing Infrastructure Technology Group (CITG). Please direct questions and requests to the team leader of the Strategic Servers Team listed at the end of this document.
 
 

Policy

It is the Strategic Servers Team's goal to provide the LBNL user community with standard, well managed computing services as well as state-of-the-art software and hardware technologies. These services are on a flat rate basis that is calculated annually, based on the actual costs of providing these services.  Our policy is to establish published recharge rates and to adhere to them whenever possible. These rates are to be uniformly available throughout the entire Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory community, with the exception of UCB campus, Donner, and Washington DC sites.
 
 

Terminology

Network Operating System Server:

The following is a list of minimum hardware and software configurations that a NOS system should have in order to be considered for a Support Level Agreement:

  • All hardware devices connected and used in conjunction with the NOS server must be certified by the Vendor of the host operating system, either Novell Netware or Windows Server.
  • The NOS must be Windows 2000 Server or higher, Intranetware 6.0 or higher.
  • The processor architecture of the server must be at least Intel Pentium III based.
  • The physical location of the NOS server needs to be in a data center grade computer room accessible at all times by the Strategic Server team (Strategic Servers will provide space for systems under an SLA).

NOS Services:

The following table lists all the system oriented services NOS server system typically can have. Services that are not listed in this table are considered application oriented.

  • Distributed Printing Services*
  • Shared Disk Storage
  • Floor Space in a Strategic Server Computer Room
  • Operating System (i.e. sys volume)  Backup *
  • UPS Power
  • NDS / Domain Configuration
  • OS Upgrades / Patches*
  • Troubleshooting NOS and Hardware Problems
  • Disaster Recovery*
  • Scheduled Off hour Maintenance
  • Specification and acquisition assistance when obtaining new hardware.
* These items are only covered in the Novell SLA. An extra charge would be incurred for these services under the Windows SLA.

System Coordinator:

Any NOS system that is currently under an SLA will have a System Coordinator assigned to that NOS system as the overall technical point of  contact. However, all requests for services should be forwarded to the Help Center (486-HELP) first in order to ensure the highest priority and quality service. In an emergency please directly contact your System Coordinator and the Help Desk.
 

T&M (Time and Materials):

Any NOS system that is not covered under a Support Level Agreement falls into the T&M category.  T&M requests for systems work receives the lowest priority and does not preempt any work on contract managed machines.

Optional Services:

The following optional services are offered.

  • System/user advanced consultation and training.
  • Local printing installation/support.
  • Extra hardware/software installation, and troubleshooting.  Examples include hardware installation, disk installation, disk partitioning, file system management, printer/scanners/plotters setups, Gigabit setups, etc.
  • Any special security enhancements.
  • Customer Privileged Account access on an approved basis.

 

Service Rates

T&M (Time and Materials) $110/hr

T&M requests for systems under an SLA receive priority status. Urgent T&M requests will have an additional 50% surcharge on top of the currently published T&M rate.

Miscellaneous Services

Backups (90 day retention. 1 full/month, 1 level 5/month, daily incrementals)

Restores T&M (1 hr minimum)

Initial System Setup T&M (6 hr minimum)

All non-standard services T&M (1 hr minimum)

Contract Support Rates

Basic contract support for Novell Servers $675.00/mo

Basic contract support for Windows Servers $235.00/mo

Support for Server Backups and Restores are provided by the Backup Group.  
 

Support and Metrics

A.  System monitoring.

Systems are actively monitored during business hours, and downtime notifications are automatically sent to responsible personnel for immediate response.

B.  Access to Help Desk for all user consultations and problem tracking.

A system under a SLA with a problem related to supported services will enjoy the highest "level 3" priority when dispatched from HELP. This means 90% of the problems are resolved within 2 working days (8am-5pm) from the time it is dispatched from HELP (for a clear definition of the HELP priority levels, please refer to the Help Desk's publication). If the request is determined to be of T&M nature, it will still be put on a "priority" status within the Strategic Server's T&M queue. Priority T&M has a metric of 90% resolution within 1 working week. (Metrics exclude non controllable factors, such as waiting for parts, vendor delays, or software bugs, etc.

E.  Network accessibility and management (DNS, IPX, and IP).

F.  Installation of all "Lab sanctioned" system and security patches within 60 days of release. (Novell SLA Only)

G. Installation of all Lab sanctioned OS upgrades for standard configurations within 6 months.

This is also done at user/owner's discretion. Notifications will be sent one month in advance.

H. General system security measures.

  1. No user privileged accounts.
  2. In case of security incidents, all required actions as directed by Lab CPPM.
  3. Password creation and aging in accordance with LBNL Security policy.

I. System crash diagnostics and recovery.

For systems under SLA, emergencies include system crashes, failures of Strategic Server approved peripherals. The Strategic Server's Team will try every means to get system back on line, including the option of replacing hardware.

J. Distributed printing setup.

Contract system management also includes creation of printers and queue NDS objects.

K. Privileged account access.

Privileged account access on the managed system  is restricted to Strategic Server Team only. Privileged Account passwords are not to be shared or given to the customers, and access will be secured by the Strategic Server Team.

Mark Rosenberg CITG Group Lead, MLRosenberg@lbl.gov, x6708.

Last modified September 9, 2005