Prevent delays be directing support requests to NMR, not Chemistry IT or CIT. Thank you!
Summary expectations
- The owner and manager of this service is Ivan Keresztes <ik54>.
- Ivan is responsible for this server's function and continued maintenance, its operations, and patron and back-end documentation related to this service.
- Ivan is responsible for creating and implementing any desired enhancements.
- The server and its infrastructure reside or depend on resources controlled or otherwise managed by Ivan
- To be super-clear, not Chemistry IT or CIT.
======== DRAFT ========
Table on Contents
Purpose of this write-up from Oliver, Chemistry IT Manager
This write-up represents an investment by Oliver to help inspire greater clarity in problem resolution by NMR so the right people and groups work on the problem, and no delays occur by the problem being routed to the wrong groups or people. I also hope the write-up will inspire NMR staff to take additional steps to help prevent a crisis when problems do occur.
This is a public-facing web server critical to NRM's service offerings. Specifically, the tolerance for outage of this server is (define, please), per Ivan and Coates.
- Consequence if not available for hours? days? lost data going back how long? etc.)
Key recommendation from Chemistry IT
Much of the below recommendations are simply best practices. They are certainly worth investing in if the scheduling server is critically important to NMR's service delivery.
- Develop break/ fix procedures for Ivan's group which are independent from Ivan so it can serve the group when Ivan is away, if necessary.
- Document processes to ensure server software remains patched, while ensuring continued functionality. This would include, especially for a public-facing web server, patching regularly, or upgrading over time, the OS, Apache, Perl, and their associated programs.
- Line up, document, and test processes to ensure server is backed up and restorable to an acceptable period of time in the past.
Example: Contact CIT to determine if they would be capable and willing to provide expert support services via their fee services. Information available at <http://www.it.cornell.edu/about/atsus/iws/>. Explore if CIT (or other firm) could provide support backup to what Ivan knows about the server's set-up, especially important if he's away and a crisis occurs. Doing so before there are problems can increase the chance of getting expert and rapid responses, as compared with what you will get if waiting for a problem to occur. CIT (or other firm) might also be able to expertly and cost-effectively facilitate adding reasonable security, or functional enhancements, over time.
Clarifying CIT and Chemistry IT staff are not responsible
- CIT and Chemistry IT are not responsible for break/ fix of the NMR web scheduler or any of its or related infrastructure.
- CIT and Chemistry IT are not responsible for enhancements to the NMR web scheduler or related infrastructure.