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Thank you for your reflections, Troy. What about pricing? The last time I checked it out, ATS had sort of priced itself out of the market; my boss just laughed and shook his head. But perhaps that has been rethought. Kim Geiger Broadcasting/College of Communication Arts & Sciences >>> On 3/26/2012 at 9:55 AM, Troy D Murray <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Al, > > I'm not using the co-location services of AIS, I mean IT Services, but I'm > using the self-hosted virtualization offering. I would imagine that you work > through a similar process with using both service offerings, although in the > end you're moving physical hardware instead of moving or creating virtual > hardware like I did. > > Initially I wanted to know how using their virtualization servers and > network would work and perform. I contacted the department and was able to > have a short meeting with them to discuss this. The next day Ed Z created a > virtual server so I could test things out. I used that for some testing over > a month or so while I made sure that this was the direction I wanted to go. > > Next, I contacted IT Services to discuss moving my systems over. They > arranged a meeting with people from the networking, network security, > virtualization, backup teams/groups and a few others. I explained to them > what I need (servers, network, firewalls, configuration, etc), they asked > questions, we had a discussion, we made some decisions, and I walked out with > a timeline of when I could start. > > To answer your specific questions, our network performance has been very > good. Our web applications are running faster on their virtual hardware then > the physical hardware we had locally in the labs. The network team carved > out some IP address that are public facing, but also a few other "private" > addresses for using their backup services or just my server to my server > communication. They made use of the virtual switch and some VLAN's to tag my > traffic as well, and we were able to use two virtual firewalls. > > To be honest, at first it was somewhat intimidating to me to work with the > network security guys. Their technical knowledge in this area exceeds my > own. However we were able to accomplish what we needed and have a working > solution. I had to remind myself a few times that their questions weren't > meant to be intrusive or questioning my technical knowledge or even the > validity of the needs, but trying to ascertain what they needed to accomplish > in their work so that I had what I needed. Truth be told, afterward I felt > this was beneficial as it helped me to reaffirm the decisions and final > design of things. > > Finally, I was a little nervous about moving my servers over as I felt like > I was "giving up" a measure of control and a little "job security" by doing > so. However I knew trying to re-create what they already had in place wasn't > economically feasible nor could I have access to it as quickly. In the end, > I find I have more time to work on other projects that I find more > interesting then having to manage hardware and networking. > > Maybe this helps answer some of your questions. If not, the delete button > is right there. :) > > Troy Murray > Michigan State University > College of Medicine > Life Science > 1355 Bogue St, B-136D > East Lansing, MI 48824 > E: [log in to unmask] > P: 517-432-2760 > F: 517-355-7254 > RedHat 5 Certified Technician > RedHat 5 Certified Systems Administrator > HL7 V2.6/2.5 Certified Control Specialist > > > > On Mar 26, 2012, at 8:30 AM, Al Puzzuoli wrote: > >> I am curious as to experiences folks have had using this service. How is the > network performance? What happens in terms of network / firewall > configuration? Is that managed by AIS as well? Also, I assume We could put > the bulk of our servers at AIS, but also maintain a NAS and backup PC to run > virtual machines from our office In case of AIS downtime? >> Are there any aspects of the service you have found inconvenient or > limiting? >> Thanks for any info, >> >> Al Puzzuoli >> Michigan State University >> Information Technologist > http://www.rcpd.msu.edu >> Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities 517-884-1915 120 Bessey Hall > East Lansing, MI 48824-1033 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>