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Embracing the Cloud: New Approaches for Campus IT Services

Learn how the New Jersey Institute of Technology is leveraging the cloud to deliver innovative and flexible IT services on campus. Explore concepts like outsourcing, SaaS, and virtualization, and discover the benefits and challenges of adopting hosted and open source solutions. Find the right balance between control and flexibility, and gain insights from management viewpoints on cloud computing. Discover how NJIT is implementing Google Apps for email and mail hygiene, and consider the potential for outsourcing faculty/staff email. Stay ahead of the curve in campus IT services with this informative presentation.

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Embracing the Cloud: New Approaches for Campus IT Services

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  1. EMBRACING THE CLOUD: NEW APPROACHES FOR DELIVERING CAMPUS IT SERVICES New Jersey Institute of Technology David F. Ullman ullman@njit.edu Blake Haggerty haggerty@njit.edu 11/9/209

  2. ABOUT NJIT New Jersey’s science and technology university Founded in 1881 Located in Newark, New Jersey One of three public research universities 416 full-time faculty members Undergraduate enrollment of 5,924 Graduate enrollment of 2,916 Bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees

  3. A LOOSE CLOUD METAPHOR “Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them” - Wikipedia “The Network is the Computer” – Sun Microsystems It’s no longer about centralized, decentralized, or distributed

  4. CLOUD RELATED CONCEPTS Includes the following concepts: • Outsourcing or more appropriately, “Right Sourcing” • On-demand software • SaaS - Software as a Service available from ASPs, and more recently: • IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service • PaaS – Platform as a Service • Virtualization of disparate systems • Exploring open source alternatives • Commercial vendors supporting open source • Find the best of breed – wherever they are

  5. FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE Just because you can doesn’t mean you should • Move beyond desire to host everything internally • Choose where to be innovative and agile Embracing hosted and open source solutions • Maintain realistic expectations Relinquish control in return for gaining flexibility • Balance staff resources, budget and instructor needs • Align staff levels to workload

  6. “THE BOSS”

  7. BE CAREFUL WHEN OFFERED KOOL-AID

  8. AGENDA • Disclaimer • Management Viewpoints on “cloud computing” • Commoditized services - need only a utility provider • Open source - as good as or better • Go where the users are – why reinvent the wheel • Just in time computing – agility for elastic needs • Clouds can be local too – build your own clouds • Niche critical applications – not payroll or registration, but still important • Summary and Lessons Learned

  9. CURRENT REALITY Support Staff is limited • Alternative IT does not mean losing jobs • This is not a punishment or admonishment Budgets continue to be squeezed • There are more “mission critical” tools to support • “Mission critical” tools increasingly complex Willing to outsource bookstore, dining services, cleaning, security – Why the reluctance with some aspects of IT

  10. CLOUD PREREQUISITES FOR SUCCESS Local authentication and authorization • Shibboleth-like authentication • Can be open source LDAP, Microsoft Active Directory • Allow for seamless and easy customer access (SSO) • Do not share passwords with cloud providers Locally brand cloud applications • Branding disguises the true “host” of application A degree of Web Services expertise • From .csv extracts to XML APIs, ways to extract and share data among hosts

  11. View #1: COMMODITIZED SERVICES It doesn’t matter who does it or how it is done – just that it works! Some IT applications have evolved to the point where they have become commodities • E-mail, mail hygiene (virus protection, spam filtering, etc.) • Like gasoline, electricity, bandwidth, long distance service Commodity providers today have an economy of scale we can not compete with

  12. MAIL IS A COMMODITY Historically (2007) – NJIT used Sun Messaging Server (student and alumni) • Old hardware • Low quotas • Poor administrative tools Mail System Administrators advocated local-hosted Zimbra solution (Zimbra hosted model not yet available) Goggle and Microsoft solutions not taken seriously

  13. COMMODITY WAKE-UP CALL Arizona State saves $500,000 annually outsourcing e-mail to Google” The Chronicle of Higher Education – 1/11/2008 Microsoft Live@edu • Value-add coupled tightly with other Microsoft offerings • Avoid getting too dependent on vendor • Only available to Windows users Google Apps • Google Apps/Open Office possible alternative to some Office licensing

  14. IMPLEMENTING GOOGLE APPS Google makes it “relatively” easy • Pilot tested for buy-in ($0 commitment) • Local LDAP authentication • Addresses remain the same: ucid@njit.edu • Student notifications started 4 weeks out • Detailed web site documentation • Pre-defined Google mailboxes for existing students • Sunday night “switch” - incoming mail goes to Google • Migrated “old mail” to Google in batches over 2 week • Remove access to “old” mailboxes

  15. FACULTY/STAFF E-MAIL and MAIL HYGIENE Currently Locally-hosted Microsoft Exchange 2007 • Gmail has improved Outlook and mobile integration • Final legal/business issues may be more subjective Postini provides mail hygiene • Virus checking, spam filtering, DOS protection • Annual Fee - 2,000 mailboxes at $4 per mailbox • Considering Postini for e-mail retention and e-Discovery Will revisit outsourcing Faculty/Staff email before next Exchange Upgrade

  16. ALUMNI E-MAIL Transition from “e-mail for life” to mail forwarding • Concerns: • Maintaining 16,000 mailboxes/accounts • Most alumni don’t want another email address • Privacy • If hosted - forwarded mail needs hygiene service ($4 head) • Solution: • Outsource alumni e-mail to Gmail (like students) • Alumni can choose to forward or discontinue service • Evaluate in 3 years

  17. View #2: OPEN SOURCE - AS GOOD OR BETTER Old model: “Build or buy” New model: “Build, buy, befriend” • Open source can meet mission critical needs • Not your father’s shareware • Lots of options not previously available • Introduce disruptive technologies more often and early • Vendors will support open source solutions • Red Hat Linux • Less strain on IT (don’t need to build it) • Different budgetary challenges • Scale IT and instructional needs over time

  18. THE NEED FOR AN ALTERNATIVE LMS Needed to replace WebCT Campus Edition 4 (2006) Due Diligence – Explore open source while evaluating commercial alternatives • Evaluated Sakai and Moodle • At the time Moodle was more mature and easier to manage/use • Early in both product’s life spans • Both pilots hosted at NJIT • Establish working groups • 28 instructors used Moodle over next year • Never planned on adopting open source as primary LMS

  19. THE NEED FOR AN ALTERNATIVE LMS Campus Edition 6 vs. Moodle (spring 2008) • Moodle grew on people as it matured –in spite of open source hiccups • 1st CE 6 pilot failed due to multiple reasons For $3,000 hired MoodleRooms to host pilot • Wanted hosting provider • UIS didn’t have time to dedicate to pilot • Possible solution to “open source dilemma” of support • Wanted integration assistance • NJIT would still manage course creation/customer support

  20. MOVING TO MOODLE Results: CE 6 vs. Moodle • 2nd CE 6 trial ran into numerous problems • Faculty demanded a return to CE 4 from CE 6 • Blackboard continued with new announcements (2008) • Faculty intimidated by Black Board’s migration path • Faculty, students and technical staff continued to provide positive Moodle feedback - no deal breakers • MoodleRooms continued to host While waiting for clarity on BlackBoard’s direction we committed to migration support for CE4 to Moodle

  21. MOVING TO MOODLE

  22. MOODLE MADNESS Grass Roots Adoption • Unsolicited increase of 99 courses (fall 2008) • Overwhelmingly positive input • Stable product • Pricing allowed for incremental growth (not FTE model) • LDAP integration and add/drop handled with CSV file Blackboard “issues” continue (spring 2009) • 100% license increase over next 3 years • Migration path still murky to us • Stability/support concerns

  23. OTHER OPEN SOURCE TOOLS Mahara (ePortfoli) • Bundled with MoodleRooms package • Functionality comparable to commercial packages Word Press (Blogs) • Started with few users and moved to multi-user

  24. OTHER OPEN SOURCE TOOLS Drupal (Content Management) • Very early on with evaluation – how will it fit? • Used for courses, websites, video repository and groups • Drupal zealots still in disruptive phases Open Course Ware • Extending concept to open education

  25. View #3: GO WHERE THE USERS ARE WRY@ (Translation: Where are you at?) • iTunes, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter • Campus portals were initially seen as social network • How many students today view your portal as such? • Why Reinvent Wheel? • Leverage preexisting infrastructure • Adopt tools that customers are already using • Extend brand while increasing your reach • Gain global exposure while providing valuable contributions • Providing authentic content • Meet students needs/expectations for technological university

  26. NJIT ON ITUNES U What do your students use for music? • Leverage iTunes infrastructure • Utilize Apple’s bandwidth and storage • iTunes’ familiar interface Let students take lectures with them • Eliminate streaming/buffering problems • Avoid paying Acacia surcharge Open content to public or restrict use

  27. NJIT ON ITUNES U Bring your content and brand to larger audiences • First school in NJ with a private and public face • Greater exposure for NJIT and instructors • Increase visibility worldwide • 45,229 hits for our “Wall Street Meltdown” series (6 videos) • “Mortgage Markets” - 16,728 hits • “Lehman Brothers One Year Later” - 14,535 hits Content is reusable in multiple sites • YouTube, http://www.njit.edu, http://www.njit.tv

  28. SCHOOLS ON FACEBOOK Schools on Facebook (www.Inigral.com ) • Students and student groups build new NJIT connections and social networks within a separate, private, secure NJIT-only Facebook area • Leverage a “place” where students already ”hang out” and know how to navigate, and are comfortable • Pre-configure “groups” that students “opt-in” to join • courses, majors, residence hall floors, athletics, etc. • Private groups are not available to larger Facebook community • Increase enrollment and retention by facilitating friendships and connections

  29. YOUTUBE CHANNEL

  30. YOUTUBE CHANNEL

  31. View #4: JUST IN TIME COMPUTING Old Model: Limited by resources, budget and space New Model: Limited by imagination • What was previously unrealistic or impossible in the classroom may now become easy and affordable • Unlimited on demand computing power • A server for every student • Maintain and control IT costs • Instructional needs are very elastic • Expensive instructional resources can often sit idle • Resources for distributed teams of students

  32. Amazon Web Services for Education • Unmetered instruction and research access: • Elastic Compute Cloud – requisition resizable compute capacity within the cloud on many O/S platforms • RedHat Linux, Windows Server, OpenSolaris and more • Simple Storage Service – store and retrieve large amounts of data • Provide the same resources “just in time” for face-to-face and online/distance classes • Hands-on experience without campus security threats

  33. AMAZON WEB SERVICES FOR EDUCATION • Recent Example: • Graduate course on distributed computing • 7 teams, 4-5 students each • Face-to-face and distance learning class sections • Each team receives their own “cloud” with 2 Linux servers (an App Server and DB server) for development of three-tier applications • Potential • Senior project or “capstone” courses • Specialized need for theses and dissertations • Test research concepts

  34. AMAZON WEB SERVICES • Instruction no longer limited by computing infrastructure • Amazon awards $100 per student per course • Administrative Use • Only pay for what you use – easy to ramp up • 8.5 cents per hour • $2.04 a day • $62.05 per month • $220.00 per semester • $744.60 per year Serious Possibilities for Enterprise Business Contingency

  35. View #5: CLOUDS CAN BE LOCAL TOO Virtualization enables you to host “local clouds” Managing virtual machines saves staff time, energy and space • Allocate resources on the fly • Enable IT staff to be more agile • Easier redundancy and disaster recovery • Lower long-term total cost of ownership

  36. Virtualization of Application Servers • Spring 2007: • Hardware supporting critical systems aging • Machines acquired between 1996 and 2005 • 50+ servers at or near capacity – many without redundancy Traditional approach to replacing with individual servers required immediate $540,000 investment with $250,000 investments annually for four years

  37. Virtualization of Application Servers Virtual Solution included 2 “computational clouds • Cloud #1: computational complex of 3 Sun V890’s • Run Solaris zones for high transaction processing applications • Currently running 17 separate zones • Cloud #2: cluster of SunBlade 8000’s • running VMware to create virtual Windows or Linux machines • Currently running 73 separate virtual machines • Summer 2008 Expansion for Banner ERP • Added two additional Solaris complex’s for Banner ERP • One additional VMware cluster

  38. Virtualization of Application Servers • Simplified infrastructure = reduced systems administration • Redundancy and resiliency built into cluster designs • Reduced power (25kW - 20% of room capacity) • Reduced cooling requirements (7.3 tons) • Replacement cost reduced by $350,000 (4 year financing) • Significant spare capacity for growth • Zones and virtual machines expand and contract with application lifecycle • Managing spare capacity more flexible within a single cloud than among 50-70 individual machines

  39. THIN CLIENTS CONNECTING TO A LOCAL CLOUD Next Logical Step: replace workstations with thin clients (where possible) • Banner ERP training facility has 36 thin clients which connect to two virtual Windows terminal servers. • Success will prove that desktop services can be delivered through a central cloud, reducing TCO for desk-top services.

  40. View #6: NICHE CRITICAL APPLICATIONS • Emerging applications are often mission-critical in a certain niche, where usage patterns may vary • Example niche applications from cloud providers: • Emergency Notification – Federal Signal • Faculty Annual Report - Digital Measures • Employee Applicant Processing - People Admin • “Ask NJIT” Online Help – Intelliresponse • Easier to license a cloud service to meet these niche needs • All are branded and authenticated locally

  41. LESSONS LEARNED: IT MANAGEMENT Everything should be seamless • Local authentication and authorization • Local branding • Web services for interoperability Contingency planning • Cloud providers can experience growing pains • Exit strategies • Open Source vendors live and die by their service • Risk tolerance varies, find what works “best” for you

  42. LESSONS LEARNED: INSTRUCTIONAL Introduce disruptive technologies early and often • Look for new tools regardless of source • Use hosted pilots instead of waiting for internal support • Early pilots helps establish roots for later • Option of transitioning from disruptive to supported Gradual migrations work well • Communicate– let customers know how decisions are made and how changes impact them • Listen to faculty (think therapist)

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