Distributed Server Hosting

Service Description

The Office of state Finance (OSF) – Information Services Division (ISD) provides centrally managed hosting solutions for state agency applications. OSF - ISD provides multiple platforms geared to meet customers' computing needs. This service provides customers with a reliable, monitored, secure and managed solution.

The Distributed Hosting service design includes high-speed Internet connections, security systems and zones, procedures, cooling and environmental systems and redundant power.

Physical site security includes: coded key cards and zoned access to different areas of the building; and surveillance cameras located throughout the facility and grounds. All visitors must be escorted.

Adherence to Statewide Information Security standards is paramount in protecting the OSF State data center. It is important that vulnerabilities be uncovered and remediated as quickly as possible to minimize the risk of data being compromised and to maximize the integrity and availability of all state resources.

OSF - ISD offers hosted distributed computing solutions on multiple platforms, such as Windows and Linux. OSF provides installation, upgrades and monitoring support for the infrastructure and system software.

OSF - ISD offers a wide variety of storage capabilities including tape, and disk. These capabilities span the mainframe and the distributed systems environments, which also include virtual server offerings.

The following services are included:

• Tape Backup / Data Recovery
  • Standard tape rotation / retention schedule
  • Daily incremental backups – retained off-site
    • Backups run Monday through Saturday
  • Full backups are performed weekly and retained off-site
  • All tapes are moved off-site daily to vault storage
• Hardware support and maintenance
  • OSF technicians install and set up all server hardware in accordance with industry best practices. Also, in conjunction with the hardware Operating System (OS) vendors, OSF technicians will apply firmware patches to systems in accordance with state policies and standards.
  • OSF will also repair or replace any hardware component under warranty shown to be detrimental to the continued operation of a system.
• Operating system support and maintenance
  • OSF will apply patches to operating systems in accordance with state policies and standards.
• Capacity, performance and system monitoring
  • OSF monitors several key items for all servers:
    • File System (Monitored for warning and alarm levels) / Logical File System (Windows)
    • Memory
    • CPU
    • Processes
    • Log files
    • Service Reporting
    • Event Management – Alerts / Management
• Consulting services
• Business Continuity services
• Core Infrastructure is defined as common services and components such as Active Directory or Tivoli Storage Manager (backup) services that support all State enterprise requirements
• Agencies must provide for supplemental recovery hardware in their application design requirements

Customer Benefits

• Application information gathering and document creation is the responsibility of the business system owner. The business system owner is responsible for engaging the agency security liaison, agency technicians, vendors, and others as required. Service Coordinators are available to facilitate the gathering of requirements and templates.
• Contact the OSF Service Desk:
  • When changes are being applied to your applications
  • When application changes are slated to be applied that may conflict with the OSF standard maintenance window
  • When the installation of a mandatory OS or security patch is known to have an adverse impact on a customer application(s). The customer shall assume all risk associated with not installing the patch.
• Plan ahead to ensure that required storage is available as needed
• Consolidate servers where applicable
• Take advantage of virtual server environments
• Take advantage of capacity and performance planning for efficiencies and performance improvement

Customer Market

This service is available for all Oklahoma state agencies, offices, officers, bureaus, boards, commissions, counsels, units, divisions, bodies, authorities, or institutions of the executive, legislative, or judicial branches of state government. It is also available to counties, municipalities, townships, Tribal governments, and other political subdivisions.   

Customer Responsibilities

• Submit change requests and incident (problem) tickets for upgrades, problem resolution, new application installs, and application changes requiring system level resources
• Be available for questions regarding an incident ticket or change request
• Work with OSF to resolve issues

How Do We Charge?

OSF ISD provides a customized hosting delivery package based upon the customer’s requirements. The cost of Distributed Hosting platforms (Windows and Linux) is a monthly charge comprised of the following:

• Monthly charges for servers and support include:
  • Initial business requirements analysis, configurations and cost proposal analysis with the customer
  • Security analysis
  • Installation of the server, OS and monitoring tool
  • Hosting, monitoring, backup, security scans and hardware support and warranty costs
  • Maintenance and patching of servers
  • Operating System upgrades
  • Inclusion in Disaster Recovery Plan

Please contact the OMES Service Desk if you need any addition information about services in this catalog.