Columbia University                        UNIX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION SERVICES
Academic Information Systems (AcIS)                      FOR SUNOS AND SOLARIS
contact: Alan Crosswell, alan@columbia.edu                        July 2, 1997

1. Introducing UNIX System Administration Services

AcIS is able to offer low cost UNIX system administration services by leveraging our investment in administration of AcIS-operated UNIX systems and your connectivity to the University fiber-optic TCP/IP network. The network enables us to provide support remotely, including file backups, routine software updates and most troubleshooting.

The following sections of this document describe pricing for Assisted System Administration Service, the value of this service, a description of service features, and specific system configuration requirements. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call or send mail to Alan Crosswell, Manager of Computing Systems, AcIS, 854-3754, alan@columbia.edu.

2. Price List

The AcIS System Administration Service fees follow. These fees will be charged to an authorized FAS account number monthly. See below for a detailed description of these services.

Service                                Fee
Initial Setup                           Depends on configuration.
Assisted Sysadmin                       $100 per month for the first system.
                                        $50 each additional system.
Additional work not covered above       $55 per hour before 6/30/2000.
Additional work not covered above     **$75** per hour as of 7/1/2000.

3. Benefits of System Administration Service

AcIS operates central servers and desktop workstations for a UNIX user community of approximately 30,000 students, faculty, and staff of Columbia University (All members of the CU community indirectly use UNIX through AcIS services such as email and the Columbia Web which are implemented on UNIX systems.). Our experienced professional staff have been managing networked UNIX systems since 1983 and a variety of other types of computer systems since 1963. The breadth and depth of our staff, with both specialization in systems from Macs to mainframes, and cross-pollination among those specialists provides an excellent resource to help run your workstations and servers, and to integrate them into the global Internet network infrastructure.

4. Assisted System Administration Service Description

Assisted System Administration consists of AcIS staff working together with the client system administrator in administering the system. Day-to-day on site administration is performed by the client with AcIS providing remote support via the network and on-site emergency assistance.

Included services are:

1. Systems software maintenance. Vendor operating system and utilities upgrades, configuration,and bug fixes. Includes the O/S, networking and other utilities.
2. Systems software problem tracking and resolution. Vendor operating system problems and their resolution will be tracked by AcIS with the vendor. AcIS will act as the vendor point of contact.
3. System hardware failure resolution. AcIS will act as the vendor point of contact and will coordinate hardware diagnosis and repair.
4. Contract administration. AcIS will administer hardware and system software maintenance contracts for the client. (The client is responsible for contract fees.)
5. Daily system administration support. AcIS will (a) assist the department's system administrator(s) in configuring routine system administration procedures such as user ID administration and backups; (b) remotely monitor the system to detect problems such as hardware/software failures and security breaches; (c) aid in resolution of problems as needed.
6. Application software installation assistance. AcIS staff will provide the client with guidance in installation of applications software. Examples of this guidance include capacity planning and selection of software installation options. AcIS will not undertake to acquire, install, or support application software under the Assisted System Administration agreement beyond the above-mentioned assistance. Further involvement will necessitate hourly consulting fees.

Excluded services, to be performed by the client, include:

1. Daily file backups. Backups consist of running backup utilities, mounting tapes, safely storing tapes, etc. AcIS will assist in setting up backups, but will not come on-site to run them. We also offer the AcIS Network File Backup Service.
2. User ID administration. Creating and deleting user IDs, mail aliases, disk quotas, etc.
3. Application software installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and end-user consulting.