The guiding principles of this service are to deliver a hosting solution fit for the customers needs; this includes features such as;

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1 Hosting Service Service Level Definition Aims of Service The service provides a central hosting environment that encompasses a range of solutions for hosting, from simple HTML websites through to resilient application/database hosting, including hosting of third party applications required by the University. The guiding principles of this service are to deliver a hosting solution fit for the customers needs; this includes features such as; A professional partnership from initial enquiry through to final delivery Simple plain English guidance to help clarify requirements Flexibility to accommodate a range of standard requirements and environments ITIL based support environment to provide you with help, guidance and solutions to best meet your business needs Collaboration with third party software and hardware vendors Cost effective hosting Open and transparent charging model Consultancy when preparing research proposals A Working Partnership Customer requests may come in many formats, from customers looking for a simple website who may not have any experience of the steps required to design, implement and host the site, through to system owners looking for somewhere to host an application with very specific server needs. The hosting service intends to provide a sounding board to allow people to ask questions and receive the professional guidance they need to get their service up and running. Communication with our clients is a key element of the service; this is enhanced through our standard service reporting, delivered via our monthly managed services website ( which provides a monthly commentary relating to specific events within our hosting environment. This information includes general service information as well as information on any outages and planned maintenance and associated projects. Periodic Service Review meetings as well as tailored client reporting and Key Performance Indicator coverage are just some of the options available upon request. Customers who have specific reporting requirements should discuss these with the Service Management Section as they may fall outside of the current standard report offering. In collaboration with our partners in IS Infrastructure Division and established support and maintenance relationships with organisations such as Sun and Oracle, the service provides two primary hosting environments based on Windows and Unix operating systems. Database hosting is primarily offered through Microsoft SQL Server on a Windows environment and Oracle on Unix (a basic mysql service is also available). A full list of available features can be found in the Service Elements section below. No matter what hardware and operating system combination is utilised, full hardware maintenance and system backup facilities are provided as part of the service.

2 End to End Guidance & Support One major benefit of using a central hosting service is the ability to utilise other value-add services that IS can offer. Customers can have a single point of contact for access to dedicated teams of Web Designers, Graphic Designers, Application Developers and Database Administrators. For further information see: We can not only host pre-built and third party applications and websites but also take on the full process of building, testing and implementing new developments. All of this can be overseen by one of our Project Managers following our established and proven project methodologies. Once the development has gone live, our Production and Application Management teams will maintain systems availability working to a minimum uptime target of 99.5% availability. Externally Funded Research Applications The hosting service can also provide great benefit to academics completing research funding proposals. We are happy to assist with any hosting related questions when preparing the technical details of any research proposal. Guidance can be provided on what infrastructure and software combinations will best achieve the desired results, as well as detailed estimated costs for the chosen solution. Funding bodies reviewing proposals that contain a technical element frequently require the applicant to include a technical appendix describing what they intend to do and how. Even a simple website must go through several stages; Design, Development, Testing and finally Deployment, all of which we can help explain in plain English. The Service Management Section, and other IS teams providing value-add services, have a wealth of experience providing guidance and expertise in all elements of website and application construction and implementation. We can also help to plan for the future, providing advice on issues such as sustainability, ensuring that any electronic publication, website or application, remains accessible to the target audience for the required time scales. Operational Framework Hosting is provided on Windows or Unix/Linux, with options for both shared and dedicated infrastructure. Our shared infrastructure is designed and maintained to the same high standards as our dedicated environment with guaranteed uptime as well back up, monitoring and performance reporting suitable for the majority of client requirements, and has the added benefit of cost sharing. For these reasons, wherever possible, we would recommend customers look at shared hosting solutions. In the case of top end infrastructures, we have separate infrastructure for web/application hosting and database hosting meaning that even on shared infrastructure we uphold a best practice policy of separating database and software code. There are times when shared infrastructure is simply not an option, most commonly when required technologies are unavailable on our shared platform, or where a greater degree of autonomy is required. In these instances the most suitable option may be a dedicated infrastructure. The standard set of applications and utilities are shown in the table below, additional specific requirements are available upon request. For current versions of the software please contact the hosting team. Please note, in some cases it may not be possible to support older versions on a shared infrastructure.

3 Standard Utilities Category Unix Windows Software Languages Cold Fusion Java PHP Cold Fusion.NET / ASP PHP Web Servers Apache IIS Application Servers Database Tomcat JBoss Cold Fusion Oracle mysql Cold Fusion Tomcat MS SQL Server mysql MS Access* *MS Access is a hosted-only technology and supported or enhancement are only provided under exceptional circumstances and by prior agreement. ** It should be noted that although we are happy to discuss customer needs that fall outside our standard solutions we have an obligation to protect existing University systems. Hosting is provided for ed.ac.uk, ac.uk and non ac.uk domains. Contact the Service Management team for more details; they can be contacted directly via the University CMS System listed as IS- Service Management. service.management@ed.ac.uk Managing Website Content Customers can use a wide variety of editing applications for working with HTML pages. Guidance and training is available from IS, see - for further details. There are several options for uploading content to the hosted environment, depending on which environment is used. For further guidance on which option is most appropriate for you, we recommend you contact your local computing support staff. Environment Facility Guidance Unix Windows The Simple website and Web + Application hosting options on Unix require a Timeshare account ( This is normally set up for you at the same time as your hosting web-space is configured. FTP Samba Share Uses your Active Directory (Windows logon) account. Contact your local computing support staff for assistance if you do not have an AD account. Samba Share Network Drive omputing/mapadrive.shtml General guidance on creating and publishing Web content is available at Specific advice and guidance on editing and authoring tools is available at The University s supported Browser policy is available at

4 Integration with Other University Applications Where elements of the hosting service would need integration with other current University applications, we can help with the design, consultation and delivery of these elements. This would be in conjunction with our colleagues from the Project Services as part of a full corporate infrastructure integration project.

5 Service Elements The matrix below defines the range of services offered. Shared Hosting Dedicated Hosting Features Simple Website Web + DB Web Application Hosting Web Application Hosting (Web-Application) Windows Unix/Linux Windows Unix/Linux Windows Unix/Linux Windows Unix/Linux Space 1GB 1GB 3GB 3GB >3GB >3GB n/a n/a Bandwidth No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit No Limit Scripting.NET / ASP PHP.NET / ASP PHP.NET / ASP Coldfusion As required As required Coldfusion PHP Perl Coldfusion PHP Perl Coldfusion Java SSL Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes EASE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes SSI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Access No No Yes Yes No No No No mysql MS SQL Server No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes FTP Accounts Domains Sub Domains Secure Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Directories (AD or.htaccess) Streaming Media Server Yes No Yes No Yes No No Monitoring (MOM) Production Management * No No Project No No Required Required Management Graphic Design Additional Support Days (Blocks of 6) ( 265 per day) ( 265 per day) Annual Cost * Production Management support can only be offered with prior-agreement and a full handover process defined.

6 Prices quoted above are inclusive of hardware maintenance and continuity elements including: Server set-up and application configuration Management of the server environment Security services including firewall and patching Backup and recovery Service Continuity Planning Performance and capacity management Fault rectification on hardware and system software Notifications of all planned downtime typically two weeks in advance Unplanned downtime communicated via (MyEd and the service log Prices quoted do not include: SAN based storage costs. For additional SAN costing information please refer to: Initial purchase cost of dedicated servers. We will provide you with quotes for server hardware based on your requirements and may be able to offer reductions where multiple similar servers are being purchased e.g. for a resilient infrastructure. Any reduction will be specified and included in a quote. Podcasting, Streaming & Webcasting Extras With our Podcast, Streaming & Webcasting services, you can author, manage and distribute live or pre-recorded audio and/or video content and broadcast them over the Internet. Whether you are making a major announcement, delivering a quarterly earnings report, conducting a sales presentation or launching a new product, Webcasting is an ideal solution. For information and pricing on streaming and hosting optional extras, please refer to the pricing structure contained within the Podcasting, Streaming & Webcasting Service Level Definition:

7 Service Availability Support is available, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. excluding University Holidays Except for planned service outages, the service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Planned downtime is scheduled giving two weeks notice via MyEd Service Announcements: For additional information on all managed services, please refer to: Reporting Service Contacts and Issue Reporting Service Management Section (Delivery and Integration Team) Current contacts details for Service Management are at: The Service Management Section can be contacted directly via the University CMS System listed as IS-Apps Hosting. hosting@ed.ac.uk For general support enquires on a running service, customers should first contact their local computing support officer. Where this isn t possible, queries can be submitted via the communications channels detailed above CMS calls to all IS-Apps teams are handled on a priority basis. The table below gives information on priority levels and the associated response times that we aim to achieve. Priority Description Incident Response Time Critical High Medium Low For production business critical faults that affect the whole system and would cause risk to overall objectives and reputation. Generally this would mean the service was not functioning at all. For production faults that affect individual or isolated users circumstances rendering the system ineffective under these conditions For production or test faults that affect functionality that is not essential to normal operations, or where a higher priority call has been provided with a temporary work around. For any work that is seen as nice to have or can be managed without indefinitely. Within 1 working hours Within 4 working hours Within 48 hours N/A No commitment to fix archived for review at system upgrade. Incident Updates Daily Every 2 working days Every working week n/a Problem Updates by priority (Level 2 or 3 only) Target to close top 5 priority calls monthly Monthly review of priorities, but with weekly update. Monthly review of priorities. n/a Feedback or Escalations Feedback on the Hosting Service should be sent to hosting@ed.ac.uk Escalation procedures for any service issues should work as per the Example Support Process section below.

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