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ITEM: |
CONSENT
CALENDAR |
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3. |
CONSIDER EXPENDITURE OF
BUDGETED FUNDS FOR BACKUP SYSTEMS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE PURCHASE AND
IMPLEMENTATION |
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Meeting
Date: |
November 20, 2006 |
Budgeted: |
Yes |
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From: |
David A.
Berger, |
Program/ |
Capital Assets |
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General
Manager |
Line Item No.: Account
No. 99-01-9160 |
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Prepared
By: |
Rick
Dickhaut/ |
Cost
Estimate: |
$14,500 |
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Inder-Mohan S. Osahan |
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General Counsel Approval: N/A |
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Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee considered this item on November 9, 2006 and recommended approval. |
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CEQA Compliance: N/A |
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SUMMARY: The District’s tape backup system suffered a hardware failure caused by a faulty robotics arm and simultaneous malfunction of the tape drive in early October 2006. Due to the severity of the failure of the old hardware, staff has not been able to backup the data to the tape system and has instead temporarily backed up data to an available server on hard disks, which is quite out of the norm for data backup. The District’s email system is also vulnerable to failure because of a potential timeout during the backup process. The failed backup tape system was scheduled for replacement in fiscal year 2005-06 as part of the regular capital equipment replacement program, however, the replacement was deferred to fiscal year 2006-07 due to budget constraints.
Since 1987 the District has accumulated over 2+TB (terabytes) of data that include all computer data files, map files, and digital photos. It is anticipated that going forward the District will accumulate additional data at the rate of 1 TB (1000GB) per year. The system being proposed for purchase will be able to accommodate all current District data to be backed up on the system at approximately 50% of its total capacity of 4.8TB. This will allow data growth for an estimated 2 years after it goes into production. If needed, this new system would allow another magazine of tapes to be added to provide a total uncompressed backup capacity of 9.6TB. General life span for this type of a tape loader is estimated to be 3 to 4 years, so after that it will again need replacement with newer technology. The components required for the new backup server are detailed on Exhibit 3-A.
RECOMMENDATION: District staff recommends that the Board approve expenditure of budgeted funds in the amount of approximately $14,500 to purchase and implement new backup systems hardware and software. The Administrative Committee considered this matter at its November 9, 2006 meeting and voted 3 to 0 to recommend approval.
IMPACT ON STAFF AND RESOURCES: The hardware and software listed on Exhibit 3-A is included in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 budget in account number 99-01-9160, Capital Assets. To have the work completed at a low cost, staff will be installing the new hardware and configuring the new software in-house with support from the manufacturers and CJM Networking.
BACKGROUND: The District’s current backup tape system has been in use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for over five years. It provides a daily and monthly backup of mission critical District data for daily operations. Over time, and with constant use, electronics equipment wears out and needs repair or replacement of hardware and software. The backup tape system was scheduled for replacement last year as part of the regular capital equipment replacement program; however, the replacement was deferred for one year due to budget constraints. In early October 2006, the backup system suffered hardware failure caused by a failed robotics arm and simultaneous malfunction of the tape drive. Since that time, a standby server has been used to conduct regular and full backups of the data, however, data is stored on an array of hard disk drives (which remains on-site) and the potential failure rate is considered high due the risk of a hard disk crash or any other server/hardware failure. To avoid having a loss of critical District data before a new backup system can be purchased and put into operation, staff has implemented redundancy for the mission critical file server, but not for this server backup system.
3-A Backup Server Components
U:\staff\word\boardpacket\2006\2006boardpackets\20061120\Consent\03\item3.doc