ARCHIVED: Completed project: EI Disaster Recovery improvements

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Primary UITS contact: Troy Williams

Completed: December 31, 2008

Description: Enterprise Infrastructure manages the technology for critical enterprise systems at Indiana University. The use of information technology, the priority of systems, and the technology architecture have changed dramatically over the past ten years. Consequently, the investment and approach to preparing an infrastructure for recovery in the event of a disaster has also changed dramatically.

To this end, UITS reallocated over $1M in capital to improve the state of disaster recovery (DR) at IU. This three-year plan establishes a process for continued improvement and provides an infrastructure flexible enough to meet changing business continuity priorities.

Outcome: At completion of this project, the recovery timeframe of our highest priority enterprise applications (excluding IU Exchange) will move from six weeks to within two weeks of a disaster. We will have a common backup/recovery environment at both main campuses with data stored at the local and remote sites via current technology automated tape libraries (ATL).

Milestones and status:

  • November 2006: Project start date; final DR proposal submitted
  • January 2007: DR proposal approval and allocation of funds
  • Year one deliverables:
    • Establish QuickShip contract for emergency server capacity needs Completed January 2007
    • Implement single-frame IBM 3584 ATL at IUPUI Completed May 2007
    • Implement Linux-based TSM servers at IUPUI and IUB data centers Completed June 2007
    • Implement a 10Gbit network link between IUPUI and IUB TSM servers Completed July 2007
    • Migrate existing EI 3494 tape media (20GB) to 3584 media (700GB) Completed November 2007
  • Year two deliverables:
    • Migrate IUB Data Protector clients to TSM Completed January 2008
    • Deinstall and sell 12-frame IBM 3494 ATL Completed February 2008
    • Implement single-frame IBM 3584 ATL at IUB Completed February 2008
    • Increase tape drive and media capacity and balance workloads Completed March 2008
    • Deinstall and sell IUB StorageTek 9710 Silo Completed September 2008
    • Migrate IUPUI Data Protector clients to TSM and 3584 ATL Completed July 2008
    • Deinstall and sell IUPUI StorageTek 9710 Silo Completed September 2008
  • Year three deliverables:
    • Implement SAN infrastructure at IUPUI to enhance DR capabilities Completed February 2008
    • Increase VMware X86 capacity at IUPUI to enhance DR capabilities Completed March 2008
    • Migrate Digital Library 3494 ATL clients/media to 3584 ATL Completed April 2008
    • Deinstall and sell Digital Library 3494 ATL Completed October 2008
    • Offer backup services to existing and future Research Technologies services as deemed appropriate by RT
  • Potential future improvements:
    • Improve physical server balance between IUPUI and IUB data centers
    • Install an NAS device at IUPUI to complete SAN capabilities
    • Conduct in-depth disaster recovery tests to validate processes
    • Implement virtual routers to allow cross-campus applications
    • Evaluate data mirroring to reduce recovery to hours or minutes
    • Consider migration of database servers to standard X86 hardware

Comment process: Send email to Troy Williams.

Benefits:

  • Reduces recovery period of high-priority applications from six weeks to two weeks
  • Provides a common backup/recovery environment at both data centers
  • Reduces ATL hardware from 15 frames to 2 frames
  • Reduces tape cartridges from 3500 to 300
  • Automatically stores all data offsite; data never leaves the ATLs
  • Improves security of data at rest as well as interaction with tapes

Project team:

  • SAV group:
    • Mike Floyd
    • Keith Arbogast
    • Teresa Hunter
    • Frank Hancock
    • Ron Childers
    • Troy Williams
    • Robert Reynolds
    • Andrew Poland
  • Operations group:
    • Dan Miller
    • Hafid Adnane
    • Chad Harris
    • Toma Montgomery

Project partners:

  • Database group: Dan Young
  • ESA group: Mike Egolf
  • EI networks: Kirt Guinn
  • Digital Library program: Jon Dunn
  • Research Technologies: Kurt Seiffert

Project sponsors:

  • EI AVP: Dennis Cromwell
  • EI Systems director: Rob Lowden

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Last modified on 2018-01-18 16:14:43.