HOSTED SOLUTION
Fast!
Reliable!
Easy!
April 13, 2015
Christopher AielloDirector of IT, Product Quality & Customer Support
Brian BowenSr. Systems Administrator
Presented By
1. Why a Hosted Solution
2. Configuration
3. Infrastructure
4. Monitoring
5. Maintenance & Support
6. What’s There Today
7. What’s Next
8. Q & A
Agenda
WHY A HOSTED SOLUTION
1. Consistent, Standard, Scalable and
Repeatable Environment.
2. Goal: Solution will be Fast, Reliable, Easy.
Why are we doing this?
CONFIGURATION
Virtual Servers
Built from VM templates to maintain
consistency
Configured to ProgressBook Suite large-sized
multi-district specifications
Scale based on demand
CentralAdmin Server
Currently joined to ITC domain
Domain member dependency will be removed in a
future ProgressBook release
ProgressBook Hosted Configuration
Database Servers
Replicated via "AlwaysOn Availability Groups"
Replicated Database for ITC Access Reporting - DASLr, other reporting tools
Extracts, snap-shots, backups, etc.
Resources - pictures, custom report cards, etc.
ITC Server
Read-Only Domain Controller Won’t be needed in future ProgressBook Release
ProgressBook Hosted Configuration
Database ServerPBSuite Databases
Integration Services
GradeBookMasterService
RO Database ServerPBSuite Databases
DASLrOther DBs
DataMapParentAccessMasterService
VendorLinkPBWebServices
SpecialServicesStudentInformation
CentralAdminApplication ServerJAMS Scheduler
ReportBuilderRO Domain Controller
Other Software
< 1 minute Replication
ProgressBook SuiteHosted Environment Configuration
Limited Access ITC Access
Microsoft SQL AlwaysOn Technology
ITCDomain
INFRASTRUCTURE
Data Center
Tier 4 (top tier) data center
Two factor, badge and biometric access
24/7 Network Operations Center
Multiple Dedicated Fiber Connectivity
Dual, underground power feeds, battery and
generator backup 100% Uptime SLA on at least one of the feeds
Server/Storage
Nutanix
Hyper-converged infrastructure
Disk, Memory, CPU all together
Best in class industry leading hardware
No single point of failure in server-storage
Non-disruptive building block type expansion
High availability on demand
Currently 4 Nutanix Nodes
Network
Redundant 10 Gb ring connections to OARnet
backbone.
No single point of failure in networking
Can easily add quadruple capacity
Combination of physical and virtual
Separate routing for Public and Private ITC
traffic
MONITORING
Availability
Application MonitoringIntegration Process
Services
Background Jobs
System MonitoringCPU utilization
Memory Utilization
Disk space usage and I/O
Uptime
Performance
Performance Metrics
Page response times
SQL query response times
Server utilization
System Health Dashboard
Current status
Access historical performance data
Dashboard
Piloting PRTG as Monitoring Tool
MAINTENANCE
& SUPPORT
Automation
Multi-environments
Cloning & Snapshots
Utilizes the VMware vCenter toolset
Possibilities for environments
Production & Testing
Each can utilize your own data & Active Directory
Test new versions with your own data
Investigate problems with your own data
Automation
Scripted upgrades
Reduce manual effort
Utilizes the VMware Orchestrator toolset and
Microsoft PowerShell
Reduces Upgrade Risks
Snapshot environment and rollback on failure
Upgrade scripts maintained by Software Answers
Test upgrade and calculate upgrade times
Automation
ProgressBook Suite Upgrade Workflow
OPEN ITEMS
Open Items Update
CentralAdmin
Must be on a server that is a member of the ITC domain
Requires a read-only domain controller in the hosted environment to work
Domain member dependency will be removed in a future ProgressBook release
Won’t need to be on server that’s a member of ITC domain
May not require ITC read-only domain controller in hosted environment
Read-Only Database
Must be a member of hosted domain
Access via SQL accounts is OK
Access via Windows accounts needs further analysis
Auditing/Transaction Log Monitoring
SQL Change Data Capture implemented in 15.0, but requires SQL Enterprise
Hosted Environment will have this
SSL Certificates
All web servers will require SSL certificate
Recommend having wildcard certificate
WHAT’S THERE TODAY
User Experience Lab
ProgressBook Suite 15.0.0 Beta
Created from standard templates
Running standard server configuration
Running the User Experience Lab
ProgressBook Electronic File Cabinet
Created from VM templates
Ready for production with 15.0
Using SQL AlwaysOn
Writes to read-write primary database
Reads from read-only secondary database
Connected to User Experience Lab
WHAT’S NEXT
SSST
Test environment that mirrors production
ITCs
Onboarding two ITCs
Ready for production July 1
Production Environments
Q & A
MCOECN AND SOFTWARE ANSWERS
Partnering to provide
excellent software to our
schools!
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