Enterprise Storage - Terms of Service

This document describes the terms of service for DoIT's Enterprise Storage service offering.

Terms of Service

  1. Service Provider:

    University of Wisconsin, Division of Information Technology, System Engineering and Operations, Systems Engineering  and Shared Computing Services groups.

  2. Services Provided:
    1. Storage
      1. DoIT will provide disk storage space from a DoIT Data Center, to the campus customer as requested.  The storage is intended to provide disk storage space for large-scale, campus-wide services.
      2. DoIT will house storage in data center facilities that are physically secure, have UPS backed power, and managed cooling.
      3. Upon request DoIT will mirror the customer storage to another Data Center for purposes of disaster recovery. Data will be copied once per day to the remote site.
    2. Pricing
      1. Enterprise Storage has several tiers of storage available which range in performance and price.  For more information on pricing and performance, please see DoIT's File & Data Storage site.
      2. Storage is billed monthly.
      3. Note that the billed amount is not based on the usage you see in your file system.  It's based on what the storage sees as used space. The storage software can't see inside your file system, it only sees the blocks.  If you write a 10 GB file and later delete the file it doesn't know that the file is deleted because all the file system does is remove the file system pointer and say the space is available to be written over. The blocks still have data. In the long term it will be over written at some point with new data.
      4. Some data protection is baked into the storage, but you may need additional backups. Consult with the Storage Team and/or Bucky Backup Team.
    3. Requests
      1. Turnaround time for storage requests is subject to storage resource availability.
  3. Service Period:
    1. Enterprise Storage services shall be provided until the customer files a request to have the storage removed, or DoIT discontinues the service.  Customer will be billed monthly for the allocation until the storage has been removed.
    2. Customer may request additional storage at any time.
  4. Storage Cancellation Policy:
    1. Customer
      1. Customer will be allowed to terminate storage billing at any point simply by filing a removal request.  Removal requests may take up to 10 working days to process.
      2. Billing will cease when all of the following conditions are met:
        1. DoIT has been provided with a removal request.
        2. Customer data has been removed from all DoIT Storage systems and the current billing month has ended.
    2. DoIT:
      1. In the event that DoIT determines the storage is being used inappropriately and/or impacting other customers or DoIT's ability to manage the storage systems, DoIT has the right to terminate service by providing 7 days’ notice to the customer contact.
      2. Billing will cease when all customer storage has been removed from the DoIT storage systems.
  5. Service Terms & Conditions:
  6. The following Terms and Conditions must be followed while using the Enterprise Storage Service:

      1. Installation Prerequisites
        1. Customer may schedule a consult by contacting storage @ doit.wisc.edu.
        2. Based on the information from the consult, DoIT will determine if the stated purpose is appropriate for this service. 
        3. Customer must make sure that their department firewalls are updated to allow access to the appropriate subnets.
        4. Customer must have an IT support point of contact to act as a contact in case of issues.
      2. Major Incident Handling
        1. DoIT's Enterprise Storage is equipped with redundant disks, hot spares, dual controllers, redundant network connections, and dual power supplies. The data center has redundant power, cooling and UPS. However, incidents may occur which result in a loss of storage to the customer's server. In the event of a data center environmental crisis (climate control, power failure, fire, etc.), storage equipment may be shut off at DoIT's discretion.
        2. Notification of outages will be the same as other DoIT services. Customers should check the outages page at http://outages.doit.wisc.edu or contact the Help Desk at 608-264-HELP or help@doit.wisc.edu.
      3. Upgrades and Patching
        1. DoIT will periodically perform necessary code upgrades and/or patching to the storage systems and servers. This work is scheduled as needed. Emergency patches may be applied on any weekend if deemed necessary. Patching during the workweek will only happen under critical circumstances.
        2. Patches and code upgrades normally result in controller reboots. With redundant controllers and paths, the customer will not normally be impacted by this work. In the unlikely event that there is a loss of storage connectivity, the customer should simply re-connect to the server and notify DoIT of this event. If connectivity is still unavailable, the customer should contact the Help Desk at 608-264-HELP or help@doit.wisc.edu and open a case on Enterprise Storage.
      4. Backups
        1. DoIT can provide offsite mirroring and/or snapshot for protecting data in the event of a data center or storage system disaster, if the customer has requested this service. However, offsite mirroring alone is not a replacement for periodic backups of your data. The customer is solely responsible for having data backed up if necessary. DoIT cannot guarantee that data will be available or recoverable in the event of an incident.  DoIT recommends Bucky Backup for critical data: https://www.doit.wisc.edu/services/backup-bucky-backup/
      5. Data Content and Security
        1. The customer is solely responsible for the content of their data and meeting any associated privacy or security standards such as HIPAA. DoIT has no knowledge or control over customers' content, nor do we fully control sharing of a customer’s storage. You may have other requirements if you have restricted data. Please work with Cybersecurity to find out what requirements you have.   
      6. Performance
        1. Storage performance is not guaranteed due to the number of factors that can affect storage including the networks. DoIT may recommend that the customer upgrade to higher performing storage if the storage usage is not appropriate for the tier being used.
  7.  Contacts:
    1. Enterprise Storage staff may be contacted by e-mail at storage@doit.wisc.edu
    2. Questions and other problems should be addressed to the DoIT Help Desk (4-HELP)