Storing servers in the cloud

[gl3nnym]

Hi All

 

Wasn't sure where to post this so I will put it here.

 

As a school we are looking at virtualisation and saving costs on electricity and server replacements. In light of this we was thinking about hosting some of our servers in the 'cloud'.

 

Do you think this is viable? For example to have non-critical servers that we could access like a normal server as if it was in the building but stored somewhere else like rackspace?

 

Any advice appreciated.

glennym

[zag]

Sure we have outsourced our webserver for years as I'm sure many others have.

[gl3nnym]

I am thinking more like file servers and backup domain controllers. Would other schools see this as a viable option?

[squeeky]

i wouldnt see this as viable myself, i need all the bandwidth i can get and our connection is a massive bottleneck at 10meg

[zag]

Nope, totally pointless.

 

I wouldn't even virtualize my file server locally.

[glennda]

I wouldn't see it as a viable option to host a file server in the cloud possibly email using something like live@edu or similar - dependent to much on an internet connection plus the bandwidth we have isn't enough for a file server I would prefer to virtualize it all in house to reduce power etc - I'm currently slowing virtualizing the system I have here so far i have removed 6 physical boxes onto 2 with a San. My Aim is for next summer to virtualize Exchange or possibly if i have had enough time to play with zimbra maybe use that.

[Sunderwood]

We virtualise everything here except one domain controller. Have you got a backup broadband line? Are these servers mission critical? if the broadband line goes down is it the end of the world?

[gl3nnym]

We have a great link here, about 60MB connection. It rarely goes down but if it does then students will still need access to their work. Sounds to me like storing production servers (file server) online with Amazon for example is not the best idea. How about backup solutions? Having an offsite backup is another idea we are looking at for data protection.