SharedDrive - Terms of Service

This document describes the terms of service for DoIT's SharedDrive service which offers departmental file and print sharing to campus departments.

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 through a consult.  The storage is intended for departmental file and print sharing use only.
      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. SharedDrive has 3 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. SharedDrive can be requested without mirroring which would cut the cost in half, but the customer must accept the risks associated with that.
      3. Storage is billed monthly.  Billing is based on the average amount utilized over a calendar month.
      4. 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 blocks after it runs through a deduplication algorithm and after a storage team member shrinks the volume down to a size that's going to have some slack 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.
      5. Backup is not included in the storage pricing.  DoIT recommends Bucky Backup for backing up data.  For cost information, please see the Bucky Backup site.
    3. Requests
      1. Turnaround time for storage requests is subject to storage resource availability.
      2. Expected turnaround time for a request is 10 to 20 business days, barring unforeseen circumstances.
  3. Service Period:
    1. Departmental file and print sharing services shall be provided until the customer files a request to have the storage removed, or DoIT discontinues the service. (Select the "Discontinue Service" button on theDoIT's File & Data Storage Request Form to file removal request). Customer will be billed monthly for the average daily storage allocation until the storage has been removed.
    2. DoIT reserves the right to cancel service with 7 days’ notice if the service is used inappropriately, as it may impact other customers.
    3. Customer may request additional storage at any time via the request form.
  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 via the DoIT's File & Data Storage Request Form.
        2. Customer data has been removed from all DoIT Storage systems and the current billing month has ended. Billing for the final month is based on the average daily allocation during that month.
    2. DoIT:
      1. DoIT has the right to alter or terminate this policy at any point by providing 30 days’ notice to the customer contact.
      2. 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.
      3. 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 SharedDrive Service:

      1. Installation Prerequisites
        1. Customer must complete the DoIT's File & Data Storage Request Form.
        2. Based on the information in the request form, DoIT will determine if the stated purpose is appropriate for this service. This service is intended for departmental file and print sharing only.
        3. Customer must make sure that their department firewalls are updated to allow Windows File Sharing and Mac AFP traffic from the following subnet 10.128.38.0/24.wisc.edu.
        4. Customer must have an IT support point of contact to provide administration to the file share.
          1. If an IT support point of contact is not available the customer can use RaDS.
        5. Customer must request an OU Admin account in the Campus Active Directory.
        6. Customer must have a Windows computer joined to the Campus Active Directory with AD Admin Tools installed on it.
      2. Major Incident Handling
        1. DoIT's SharedDrive 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. In the event of an extended incident that causes loss of access to storage, the customer may be directed to connect to the mirrored storage at DoIT's alternate data center, if the customer requested mirrored storage.
      3. Upgrades and Patching
        1. DoIT will periodically perform necessary code upgrades and/or patching to the storage systems and servers. This work is normally scheduled for the 3rd Sunday in April and October. 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 SharedDrive.
        3. Server patching may require planned outages to maintain things like Windows patches and customers will be notified in advance of the outages.  In the unlikely event that there is a loss of connectivity after the planned outage, the customer should try re-connecting 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 SharedDrive.
      4. Backups
        1. DoIT will provide offsite mirroring for protecting data in the event of a data center or storage system disaster, if the customer has requested this service.  However, offsite mirroring is not a replacement for periodic backups of your data. The customer is solely responsible for having data backed up. DoIT cannot guarantee that data will be available or recoverable in the event of an incident.  If you do not have your own backup system in place, DoIT recommends Bucky Backup: https://www.doit.wisc.edu/services/backup-bucky-backup/
      5. Data Content and Security
        1. Storing Restricted Data elements on Shared Drive requires additional security controls and compliance requirements. In order to identify restricted data, a Data Classification survey must be completed for each Shared Drive storage allocation.
        2. Customers with restricted data must complete a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment before using Shared Drive.
        3. All computers or devices that work with Restricted Data will need to meet the Cybersecurity Endpoint Configuration standards.
      6. Additional Service
        1. DoIT only provides the instructions for making connections to the File Share, initial setup and configuration and basic troubleshooting steps.  For additional service/support, customers can contact Repair and Desktop Support (RaDS) who charge on a time and materials basis for any work completed on customer equipment. These requests fall outside of the normal SharedDrive service.
      7. Performance
        1. For SharedDrive (Tier 4 storage offering), because it is delivered over the campus IP network, DoIT cannot guarantee performance or uptime. If you have regular performance problems with this storage it is likely that it is being used for an unsuitable application with too high of an I/O rate.   DoIT will recommend that you upgrade to a higher performing storage.
  6. Contacts:
    1. SharedDrive staff may be contacted by e-mail at doit-fileshares@doit.wisc.edu
    2. Questions and other problems should be addressed to the DoIT Help Desk (4-HELP).