CIT’s virtual Linux server offering provides an efficient, lower cost option compared to dedicated, physical servers. With virtualization, customers get their own virtual machine (VM) that runs securely and independently on a physical server with other VMs. The VMs are separate but share the resources of the physical server or a pool of physical servers.
The VM option includes managed storage and backup and regular patching and maintenance. Additional options include SSL certificates, network security architectures, application firewalls, shared and dedicated load balancers, central web and database services.
For the VM option, CIT offers the following configurations:
- Up to 8 CPUs and 8GB of memory
- Initial storage of 75GB - Additional storage is available in 25GB increments
- Red Hat Linux operating system
Customer Benefits
Virtualization generally results in a lower cost solution over standard dedicated physical servers. Along with the cost savings, opting for virtualization brings you additional operational benefits, such as:
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Complies with the NIH Greening Initiative: Virtualization decreases the number of administered physical servers and so reduces the need for floor space as well as overall power and cooling requirements.
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Faster and More Flexible Provisioning: Virtualization expedites most steps of the server provisioning process. The flexibility makes implementing additional servers easier. Ease and speed of implementation of additional VMs provides customers with the flexibility to request additional test or development servers to validate system changes.
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Decreased Downtime: Virtualization allows servers to remain accessible during host server maintenance or failure.
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Higher Capacity Utilization: Virtualization provides customers the ability to easily increase capacity. Shared CPU and memory resources can be increased or decreased among virtual machines to allow for peak or sudden workloads.
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Secure and Robust Systems: Virtualization maximizes uptime of business critical systems and offers effective business continuity.
Support
The CIT hosting staff provides the same operating system support, patching, security, backup and monitoring as it does for the dedicated hardware solution.
For more information
For more information or to request service, contact the NIH IT Service Desk online or by phone:
