Information Technology News Archive

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Academic Data Center

NACS Exchange Services

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For most departments, email needs can be met with NACS Mailbox Services which is provided to the campus at no charge.

NACS offers Exchange services to departments which require an integrated Microsoft environment, including email, calendar, and group communications. Clients have access to the service from anywhere on the Internet. This service is intended as a lower-cost alternative to local email management for departments that already use Exchange.

NACS is currently supporting an Exchange server for the Paul Merage School of Business and several other departments including the School of Law . The Exchange Service provides support for Outlook, Outlook Web Access, Outlook Mobile Access, Exchange ActiveSync, Microsoft Entourage, and standard-based POP/IMAP/SMTP clients.  For users who often use multiple computers, Exchange has a web interface.

The servers used for the Exchange platform are hosted in the Academic Data Center . NACS manages the software, system administration, server hardware, storage management, upgrades, backups, and performance tuning for the Exchange servers. NACS also has a 24/7 monitoring and response group to make sure service is restored quickly in the event of an interruption.  NACS would be happy to meet with interested department managers to assess whether this service matches department needs.  Contact us at nacs@uci.edu .

Data Center Upgrade

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Recent announcements by earthquake scientists and the US Geological Survey indicate that Southern California is due for a major earthquake in the next 30 years. That along with other data suggests that there’s as much as a 30-50% chance of major shaking affecting the UCI campus in the next 10 years.

NACS has studied the likely effect of such a quake on central computing systems and data stores in our Engineering Gateway Academic Data Center (ADC). Aside from the obvious scenarios, like computer racks falling over or the raised floor collapsing under the strain of holding two very large UPSes, we discovered that disk drives housing critical campus data (e.g., our campus e-mail services) are susceptible to damage in such an event and possibly in a milder quake.

To mitigate the risk of serious data loss, NACS has followed the lead of the UCSD ADC and purchased and installed ‘Isobase’ rack isolation equipment. This equipment was installed during the June 24th scheduled service outage. Similar to base isolation technology used on modern high rise and freeway overpasses, ‘Isobase’ places computer racks on essentially a shock-absorber surface. Six racks which house NACS’s e-mail, calendaring, EEE, and other critical campus services were installed on this base. We plan to purchase bases for our remaining systems in the ADC as funds become available.

If you have any interest in this equipment or what steps you can take to protect computers and disks from seismic events please contact NACS. NACS also has a service for hosting your equipment in our ADC.

Web Hosting and Development

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There are many ways for departments and researchers to create and maintain Web sites at UCI. NACS has one solution which affordably meets a variety of potential needs.

NACS offers a Linux-based service which provides the Apache server, MySQL for simple databases, and programming in Perl, PHP, and Python. Subscribers are given 1 GB of storage space and shell access to the web server via SSH to setup content for their Web site. NACS provides server maintenance, system administration, file system backups, and web server configuration.

NACS also offers the standard Microsoft web suite of IIS and ASP on a Windows Server.

If you want help creating content, NACS can work with you to design and develop your site, or to enhance an existing site. An initial consultation will be needed to define the scope of the work and to provide a estimate of the time required to complete the project.

If you have a server and want a 24-hour supervised, secure, climate controlled environment in which to house it, NACS can host web servers in ourAcademic Data Center.

Additional services will be offered either as a standard hourly rate or a flat monthly charge depending on the nature of the services being requested. Seehttp://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/webhost.html for more information.

These services can be combined or provided independently of each other. Please contact us to discuss your specific needs or any questions you may have.

Co-location Service

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Many departments are finding their daily tasks have grown dependent on one or more central computers, called “servers.” Sometimes it is a file server, which stores shared documents and data; other times it is a web server, which is responsible for presenting your department and its mission to the world.

You may find that the responsibility for housing, maintaining, and securing that server is a distraction from your core mission. Hence, NACS has inaugurated a “co-location” service, where we house, secure, and oversee your computer so you can get back to work. Costs vary depending on the combination of services which meets your needs.

NACS has a room ideal for housing computers: it is climate controlled, insulated from electrical fluctuations, and supervised 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you would like to explore the opportunity to delegate some or all of the responsibility for physically protecting your key servers, ensuring network security, or maintaining the operating system, call NACS.