Hosting Services

The ITS computer rooms are specifically designed for the support of computer equipment and networking. These computer rooms can offer the following services:

  • UPS power supply
  • Network connectivity
  • Raised flooring
  • Air conditioned environment
  • Controlled access
  • Software monitoring and emergency call-out to a single designated phone number.

These facilities enable ITS to offer hosting services to our clients across campus. This offers individual departments an alternative to maintaining their own computing facilities. Use of this service may also eliminate the need for departments to purchase and maintain their own hardware.
This may be of interest to Campus departments in one of two ways:

  1. Hosting your application on an existing ITS server

    It may not be necessary for you to purchase and maintain your own server. ITS can host your application on a shared hardware platform. In this model, the application resides on one of our standard servers. ITS looks after everything related to the server:

    • The servers all have redundant power supplies and are configured when possible with hot swappable disk.
    • We maintain a spare server of the same configuration in case of an emergency.
    • Timely patching is maintained of the operating system and critical Microsoft applications such as SQL server.
    • Legato backup services for the operating system, application and any database files are provided.
    • The Client application shares the Operating System and potentially the database software with other hosted applications.

    In situations where the application requires its own copy of the operating system, the application can still share a hardware platform with other applications using VMware software. For example, this would be the best choice when the application is supported by an external vendor or group who would require administrative access to the server. The operating system can still be updated, restarted and otherwise maintained without impacting the other applications on the same server. In this model, the client must share the cost of the VMware software as well as the backup license. While this model does include an additional up front cost for using this “virtual” server, it significantly outweighs the cost of purchasing and housing a new machine. Please see the requirements checklist for the VMware model.

    In both models, additional costs will apply when database licensing is required.

  2. Hosting your server in our ITS Machine Room

    3. In a situation where you must maintain your own hardware platform, ITS can house this server for you. This option saves you the responsibility of establishing and maintaining a location that provides the physical security and environmental controls needed to house these critical machines.
    When preparing to purchase a new server, we welcome the opportunity to review your requirements with you. Based on our experience, in order to maximize the resources available in our machine room and minimize unexpected problems, we have established a standard server model that we can recommend when appropriate.

For further details regarding prices for both of these models, please refer to the ITS services document.

Western provides the best student experience among Canada's leading research-intensive universities.