As January 2005 signals the start of a new calendar year and semester,
it also marks the beginning of a new model for centralized data storage
at NC State.
The Information Technology Division (ITD), in collaboration with NC
State colleges, Resource Management and Information Systems, NC State Libraries
and the Office of the Provost, is pleased to announce the launch of
the university’s new Storage Management System (SMS). In addition,
ITD has developed an innovative web-based Quota Manager to enhance the
usability of the new SMS for NC State students, faculty and staff.
The first improvement most NC State students, faculty and staff will
notice is that they can now double their basic allocation of 150 megabytes
of combined IMAP email and network/web network storage in the Unity
computing environment. This storage space is also known as “disk
space,” “personal file space,” “storage allocation” or
simply “quota.”
By simply going to the SysNews web site and logging in to "User
Info," Unity computing account holders can click on "Quota
Manager" and increase their total quota allocation to 300 megabytes.
ITD staff expect to make more quota available to Unity account holders
in the coming months as they assess and analyze usage patterns for the
new system.
The new Quota Manager is a first-of-its-kind application that provides
computing account management options not available at other universities.
Unity account holders can choose how they allocate their total quota
among IMAP (email), AFS (personal/web space), and Novell (user profile
files), depending upon their individual needs. Since users can more
easily manage their own quotas, this is an advantage to IT support staff
as well.
The university purchased four Dell/EMC Clarion CX700 Enterprise Storage
Management Systems in May 2004, and thorough testing and preparation
for the conversion to the new system began soon afterward. During the
fall, technical staff migrated more than 35 terabytes of data from the
existing storage infrastructure to the new SMS. The move was successfully
completed in late December.
The Enterprise SMS has an initial storage capacity of 96 terabytes,
which was split between two separate sites on campus. The data from
one site is mirrored to the other site. This provides full disaster
recovery capabilities and will enhance the speed and stability of many
IT systems, including email.
The new SMS system represents a significant investment in the modernization
of the NC State technology infrastructure. The purchase was made possible
by campus-wide collaborative efforts and innovative cost sharing among
academic, administrative and student funding sources.
“The expanded capabilities provided by the SMS help prepare the
campus for next-generation LITRE activities, Grid computing and other
emerging technologies for teaching, learning and research,” according
to Sam Averitt, vice provost for Information Technology. “The
new SMS will also streamline institutional data storage and reduce the
cost per unit.”
“The modular architecture of the Enterprise SMS is designed to
be highly scalable,” says Alan Galloway, director of ITD Systems. “It
will enable the campus to more cost- effectively meet rapidly growing
needs for file storage space.”
The university’s former file storage system had reached the limit
of affordable scalability to meet the file and email storage requirements
of the university. Requests for substantial increases in storage allocations
for academic computing had grown more urgent in recent years. The outmoded
system also led to hardware failures, system outages and the increased
risk of data loss.
Beginning January 7, 2005, NC State students, faculty and staff can
obtain their quota increase by logging into the ITD SysNews site and
clicking on “Quota Manager”: http://sysnews.ncsu.edu
For more information about the features and availability of the new
SMS and the Quota Manager, contact the NC State Help Desk at 919-515-HELP,
email help@ncsu.edu or visit http://sysnews.ncsu.edu.
Send your feedback and comments to help@ncsu.edu.
