HOSTED SOLUTION -...

HOSTED SOLUTION

Fast!

Reliable!

Easy!

April 13, 2015

Christopher AielloDirector of IT, Product Quality & Customer Support

AielloC@software-answers.com

Brian BowenSr. Systems Administrator

BowenB@software-answers.com

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!