SIMS IT Infrastructure

Infrastructure:

The SIMS server hardware infrastructure consists of a Sun Microsystems E450 server, two SunFire X4140 servers, two Sun A1000 raided storage arrays, a Dell PowerEdge 2650, a Dell PowerVault LTO2 tape library system, and a SonicWALL PRO 3060 firewall. All of these devices are housed in a environmentally controlled secured access server room. The firewall sits in between the university network and the SIMS servers, protecting the latter from unauthorized access.

Servers:

Sun E450 is the primary SIMS file and license server. The SunFire X4140's were implemented over the last year in order to migrate services off the E450 as well as to separate services for improved performance. Both Sun A1000 raided storage arrays are connected to the E450, providing over 1TB of storage in addition to the 2TB collectively available on the SIMS servers. One X4140 serves as the primary web and database server, while the other X4140 serves as the email server. The Dell PowerEdge 2650 serves as the primary backup server for the SIMS unix servers.

Backups:

Server backups are performed daily and are backed up to tape on a three month rotation. Point-in-time yearly backups are performed in July and archived to permanent storage. Tape backups are stored both off site and in a fireproof vault. Automated workstation backups are performed weekly to external hard drives.

Security:

All servers are secured via a SonicWALL PRO 3060 firewall. Server OS's are patched regularly and applications are kept up-to-date. All SIMS servers and workstations are protected by Sophos AntiVirus. The university network topology does not allow for SIMS workstations to be protected by a hardware firewall, so all PC's are protected via Windows Firewall. PC's also run anti-spyware utilities and are set to patch daily for further protection.

Software:

• Email Server: Exim 4 MTA, Dovecot IMAP Server, MailScanner, Sophos AntiVirus, SpamAssassin, SquirrelMail, Mailman
• Web Server: Apache 2, PHP 5, Drupal 6, MediaWiki
• Database Server: MySQL 5, Navicat, phpMyAdmin
• Backup Server: Veritas BackupExec 9.1, Acronis True Image
• Supported Scientific Applications: PC-SAS 9.2, Matlab r2006b, ESRI ArcGIS 9.2, ERDAS Imagine 9.3, SigmaPlot 11, SPSS 17, Endnote X2, PC-ORD 5