Network Data Storage and Backup
CSBS Computing provides storage services via a Hitachi SAN (Storage Area Network).
This SAN currently has a 100TB capacity of high performance disk. All storage is protected
by incremental nightly backups and monthly full backups. Clones of the tape media
are duplicated to verify functionality and then sent off site for disaster recovery.
All data is encrypted prior to being written to tape.
Basic storage is provided to all CSBS users at no charge. Use of the network storage
is strongly encourage due to the benefits of redundancy and backup. Hard drives fail,
laptops are stolen and thumb drives are lost. If your data is valuable, protect it
appropriately and use the network storage provided. Due to limited resources, quotas
are used to maintain effecient use of the storage for all users. Please see the Quota Policy Page for more info. All quotas are a starting point, increased quotas can be granted.
Leased-Storage Costs:
Leased storage can be provided to support short or long term projects. Leased storage consists of dedicated filesystem space with user-defined access policies. Leased file systems are dedicated filesystems. The benefit of leased storage is there is no infrastructure cost and it can be rapidly scaled as needed.
Dedicated disk space is leased at a cost of $200 for 1TB for 5 years. A university billing account is required to lease storage services.
These costs are used to help offset the replacement cost of the disks themselves,
the infrastructure cost of the SAN is absorbed by CSBS Computing.
Leased-Storage Backup Costs:
Leased-Storage backup policies are determined by the user. Backup costs are $0.13 per GB of data that is written to tape. Accrued expenses are most affected by the amount of compression possible against the source data and the rate that the source data changes. With a standard backup policy of nightly incrementals and monthly fulls we would estimate backup costs for 100GB of data, with a daily rate of change of 2%, the daily backup costs over the course of the month will be approximately $5.20, plus a monthly full backup, costing $13.00 for a total backup charge of approximately $18.20. These numbers can vary, but generally represent the upper end of expected charges.
To request leased storage, please submit a helpdesk request.