LAITS offers management of Windows and Linux servers (as well as Linux workstations and remotely accessible Windows virtual desktops) as an a la carte service.
Support
Support Hours
LAITS provides Server Management from 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday-Friday, during class days of academic semesters, and 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday-Friday during non-class days (hereafter ‘regular business hours’). After hours support will be provided to the client as described under ‘Outages’. Support during the winter break intersession is not provided unless specifically arranged with a customer.
Contacting Support
LAITS provides support via the following channels:
- email: laits-server-help@utexas.edu
LAITS cannot ensure a timely support response for any request initiated outside these channels.
Terms and Rates
Terms
The client or LAITS may choose to terminate our agreement by providing written notice via email no less than 90 days prior to the proposed date of termination of support. Clients should provide notification to LAITS via email to laits-escalation@utlists.utexas.edu. A fee for labor may be charged to transition server support to other providers. A prorated refund will be provided to client for the balance of funds.
Client agrees to the terms of our services as delineated in this website.
Rates
LAITS charges a flat fee for server management that covers the standard support and maintenance of a server. Work requested to be performed outside of this standard support and maintenance will be billed to the customer in addition to this flat fee. Work outside of standard support includes consultation, system onboarding and offboarding, system rebuilds, significant OS/application upgrades and application troubleshooting.
LAITS server management staff will notify customers if work requested is outside of the standard support, along with an estimate of the amount of time and cost, prior to beginning any work that would be charged hourly rates. Our rates are as follows:
| Standard Linux or Windows Server Management | $1250/year |
| Complex Linux or Windows Server Management | $2500/year |
| Server Monitoring | $250/year |
| Linux/Windows Workstation Management (Physical or VM) | $350/year |
| LAITS Backup System | $200/TB/year |
| Rate for Linux Support | $146/hour |
| Rate for Windows Support | $97/hour |
| After Hours Rate for Linux Support | $219/hour |
| After Hours Rate for Windows Support | $146/hour |
| One Time Onboarding/Offboarding Fee (at system onboard) | $300 |
Standard and Complex Servers
Our rate is based on the support required for a given server. Any server with one or more ‘Complex’ features will be charged the Complex Server Management rate.
| Function | Standard Server | Complex Server |
| Platform | UT-VMG Virtual Machine | Physical Server Non-UT-VMG Virtual Machine |
| Operating System | Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2019 Windows Server 2022 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Other Operating System |
| Applications | Single purpose system Standard application stack Well Supported/Contributed open source | Multiple applications Multipurpose system Non-standard application stack Non-supported vendor applications Open source with limited contributors |
| Access | Less than 10 access groups UT Active Directory LDAP | More than 10 access groups Nested access groups Non-standard access control Local accounts |
| Compliance/Risk | Standard compliance requirements | HIPPA or other special compliance High risk data/applications |
| Monitoring | Standard monitoring | Multiple application or service monitoring Special client notifications |
| Maintenance | Normal maintenance window | Special maintenance window |
| Outage Response | Business Hours | After Hours (subject to additional charges) |
Onboarding/Offboarding Systems
LAITS charges a one-time fee per server to cover the costs of onboarding/offboarding servers into our management. This covers costs for adding and removing servers from ISORA inventory, Nagios, UT-VMG, documenting in the wiki, etc. This fee is charged for new servers or rebuilt servers as part of the initial commissioning of the system.
UT-VMG or UDC Co-Location
For most situations, LAITS recommends using a UT-VMG virtual machine. LAITS can configure and provision your server VM as required with the necessary CPU, RAM, and storage for the clients purposes. UT-VMG is billed monthly directly to the customer by ITS.
If a physical server is required, LAITS strongly encourages that they be co-located at the University Data Center (UDC). The UDC charges are billed annually directly to the customer by ITS.
Server Build/Rebuild
Clients may require LAITS to do the initial build or a rebuild of a server. Depending on the complexity, LAITS will charge a minimum of 4 hours at the appropriate hourly rate for this work.
If the amount of time is expected to be significantly more than 4 hours, LAITS staff will provide the client with an estimate before beginning the build. Note that new servers will also be charged the Onboarding/Offboarding rate above.
Server Monitoring
LAITS provides monitoring of services as a stand-alone service for customers who desire us to monitor status of websites or applications. This is for hosts that are not managed by LAITS: basic system monitoring is included as described elsewhere in this document.
Backup
UT-VMG provides backup as part of their service. LAITS will help clients with determining the cost of backups and configuration to meet client’s needs. For physical systems, or systems where the UT-VMG backup system won’t be sufficient, LAITS can configure systems to use the LAITS tape backup system.
Service Description
Server Management
Services included in server management are:
- Monthly OS patching
- Critical OS patching when required by the ISO
- System monitoring and alerting
- Monthly OS security review
- Basic OS troubleshooting and resolution
- Account creation and access control
- Active directory or LDAP services for access control. Other access control services may be provided at additional charge.
- Implementation of ISO minimum security standards
- Vulnerability or quarantine response
- SSL certificate management
- UT-VMG provisioning, configuration and management
- Customized system monitoring alerts (additional cost)
- Splunk (additional cost)
Workstation Management
LAITS provides management of Linux workstations and remotely accessible Windows virtual desktops. This service includes:
- Monthly OS patching
- Critical OS patching when required by the ISO
- Basic OS troubleshooting and resolution
- Account creation and access control
- Active directory or LDAP services for access control. Other access control services may be provided at additional charge.
- Implementation of ISO minimum security standards
- Vulnerability or quarantine response
- UT-VMG provisioning, configuration and management
System Maintenance
LAITS will apply and keep operating system (OS) patches and updates current. LAITS will deploy updates during a regular scheduled monthly maintenance window. Clients will receive at least 48 hours notice before any disruptive maintenance is performed. Emergency outages will be conducted when the integrity of the system itself relies upon the maintenance. Examples may include disk corruption, ISO quarantine, critical security patch updates directed by security, or system security breaches.
System Monitoring
LAITS uses Nagios to monitor systems. Nagios requires agents to be installed on all systems to perform monitoring. LAITS will typically monitor the folllowing items with standardized alert thresholds:
- Ping response
- Hardware status – CPU, memory, hard drive
- Core application(s) status – if feasible
At the request of the client LAITS can add the client to receive notification for their systems alerts.
Outage Response
LAITS will maintain an outage alert system to ensure that the appropriate parties are notified of events that may cause a disruption of access to client servers. Outages will be resolved only during regular business hours, unless specifically requested by the client or previously agreed to in the SLA. If an outage occurs after hours, resolution will begin at the start of the next business day. If after hours support is necessary, after hours rates will be charged for all time worked.
During winter break, LAITS does not provide a skeleton support crew, and support will be limited. Response time will be a minimum of six (6) hours (not inclusive of problem identification and resolution), and client will be charged the after hours rate.
During regular business hours, outage response time will be one (1) hour. During after hours, outage response time will be four (4) hours. In both cases, this does not include problem identification and resolution. Events outside of LAITS control, such as upstream issues with UT network and data center infrastructure, will be reported to the client with no further action required by LAITS.
Security and Compliance
LAITS will monitor and maintain security settings that are compliant with the UT Information Security Office (ISO) standards to the best of our abilities. LAITS will respond to any vulnerability notices and complete any patching or remediation necessary to prevent quarantine. The department point of contact may be consulted if vulnerabilities impact the server applications that are not managed by LAITS.
Access Management
LAITS will maintain a list of authorized users and administrators who are able to access each server. This list will be reviewed annually with the client contact to ensure accuracy. Authorized users may be added or removed from this list at any time upon request by the client contact. User access will be limited to the commands and tools needed to do their work. Users will not have access to administrative commands or tools. LAITS cannot guarantee the integrity of the system if the client requires administrative access.
Client Responsibilities
Policies
- Customers/employees will abide by the University’s Acceptable Use and Security Policy, UT Systems Information Resources Use and Security Policy, or Texas state laws. Failure to abide by the policies and laws set forth by the University or state will result in immediate account suspension.
- All LAITS-supported Windows servers must have ISO-recommended security tools installed, including Nessus clients, as outlined by the UT ISO Security Office policies.
- All LAITS support server systems will be monitored by Nagios.
- Customers are required to notify LAITS whenever they receive a notification from the Security Office about a potential security issue with one of their systems. LAITS usually receives most notifications about security issues from the Security Office, but not all.
- Customers are required to keep operating systems and applications licenses current. LAITS will not attempt to override a license that has expired.
- Customers that own physical servers supported by LAITS must have an active support agreement with the hardware vendor. LAITS will not support systems that are not under support or older than seven (7) years old.
- All LAITS supported Systems will have a virus scanning software installed. This includes Linux systems and any system that supports virus protection software.
Physical Hardware and Operating Systems
- Physical hardware must be supportable and an active warranty is strongly encouraged.
- Operating systems must be current and supportable. LAITS will annually consult with the client to forecast when new hardware or an operating system upgrade will likely be required. (OS upgrades will typically have an additional charge.)
Applications
- Insure locally developed application software is checked into the University’s GitHub each time there is a modification to the code base. LAITS is not responsible for management or recovery of locally developed application code which is not managed in this way.
- It is the responsibility of the client to ensure that applications are regularly patched and updated to maintain supportability.
Security and Communication
- Promptly report any issues or concerns to LAITS via email channels.
- Systems must be compliant with all University and Information Security Office (ISO) protocols and regulations.
- Do not install or use unauthorized software or tools.
- Client will not try to circumvent the system security or attempt to access administrative tools.
Change Log
| 2024-12-12 | Added “Policies” section under “Client Responsibilities” |
Last Updated: 2024-10-22