CMDI Data Storage and Retrieval Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Revised 5/25

Overview:

As part of the college’s mission to promote excellence and innovation in teaching, learning, and scholarly and creative endeavors, CMDI offers the community secure, flexible, and industry-standard data storage and retrieval. The college strives to make these services accessible and inclusive for all members of the CMDI community.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

The CMDI data storage service offers secure and efficient storage solutions for data generated and utilized within the college. Other relevant departments or specialized data management and analysis teams usually manage responsibilities outside this scope.

The parties involved include the CMDI Tech Experience Team, Administrative Staff, and Faculty.

Purpose and Scope of the Agreement: This Service-Level Agreement (SLA) outlines the terms and conditions for the data storage services that CMDI provides to the CMDI community.

Effective date and duration of the SLA: The SLA will take effect on July 1, 2025Ìý

Service Offerings:

The storage options available include cloud storage, network-attached storage (NAS), and storage area network (SAN).

  • Storage capacity and scalability: The storage capacity is 96TB and can be scaled as needed.
  • Backup and disaster recovery: The CMDI Tech Experience Team will routinely back up customer data, as outlined in the following subsections.
  • Full Backups: The provider will perform full backups of community member data at least once a week during off-peak hours.
  • Incremental Backups: The RAID configuration employed on data servers will use dual failover protocols to safeguard data against loss in the event of a drive failure. Furthermore, servers will be set up with ample resources to implement hot swap protocols for failed drives if a failure occurs during off hours.
  • Data Retention: Backup data will be kept for a minimum of 30 days and can be restored upon request by a community member. After this timeframe, the disk space reserved for backup will be overwritten.
  • Disaster Recovery Plan: CMDI will collaborate with OIT (Office of Information Technology) to ensure data retention and possible recovery during a natural disaster or "acts of God."
  • Recovery Time Objective (RTO): In a service disruption or data loss, the provider aims to achieve a recovery time objective of no more than 48 hours, during which normal operations are restored.
  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The provider aims to achieve a recovery point objective of no more than four hours, meaning that the latest backup available for restoration should reflect a maximum data loss of four hours.

CMDI will utilize "snapshot" software to generate disk images of "known good state" data as a backup measure to prevent data loss.

Notification: In the case of significant data loss or service disruption, the provider will quickly inform the community member through the agreed-upon communication channels outlined in the SLA.

Service Level Objectives:

Performance metrics and service levels:

  • Data availability: The stored data must be available and accessible to community members 100% of the time, 24/7/365.
  • Data retrieval time: Users can access their data anytime, as long as there are no active service interruptions.
  • Data durability and integrity: The provider shall guarantee the durability and integrity of community member data, reducing the risk of data loss or corruption.

CMDI will determine and communicate the duration for which user data will be stored based on necessity and role.

Support and Maintenance:

Support Services:

  • Contact: CMDItechteam@colorado.edu

Response times: The provider shall acknowledge and respond to community member inquiries within 24 hours.

Maintenance and upgrades:

  • Planned maintenance: The provider must notify department chairs or their DTAC representatives of scheduled maintenance windows at least five business days in advance.
  • Upgrades and updates: The provider shall inform community members about any system upgrades or updates, which include new features, enhancements, or changes, along with advance notice of service disruptions.

Responsibilities and Obligations:

User responsibilities:

  • Data management: Users manage and organize their data within the storage system.
  • Compliance: The community member is responsible for ensuring that the data stored by the provider adheres to relevant laws and regulations.

CMDI Tech Experience Team responsibilities:

  • System Availability: The provider must guarantee the availability and performance of the data storage system.
  • Security: The provider must implement suitable security measures to safeguard community member data against unauthorized access or disclosure, following OIT and University security guidelines.
  • Data Integrity: The provider must implement the measures outlined in Section 2 of this document to prevent data corruption or loss.

Change Management:

  • Change requests: Modifications to the data storage system or the SLA must be submitted via a formal change request process, as specified in the CMDI protocol and procedures.
  • Approval and impact assessment: Changes will be reviewed, approved, and evaluated for potential impacts on data availability, security, or service levels.

Confidentiality and Data Security:

  • Confidentiality: The CMDI Tech Experience Team agrees to uphold the confidentiality of community member data and shall not disclose it to any third party without prior consent.
  • Data security: The provider will implement suitable security measures to safeguard community member data against unauthorized access, loss, or alteration.

The CMDI Tech Experience Team is fully committed to adhering to the university and OIT's confidentiality and security guidelines.

Out of Scope:

The CMDI Data Storage service is designed to be a secure and accessible data repository for the CMDI community and does not support data analysis, interpretation, or visualization.

  • For large-scale data services beyond this scope, please get in touch withÌýOIT Research Computing.
  • For more details on utilizing your data, please refer toÌý

User Eligibility:

Data storage is available to all CMDI Faculty, staff, and students.

Service Availability:

Staff support is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm.

Cost:

Generally, there is no charge for this service.

  • Data services or projects that are outside the general terms and conditions of this SLA will be considered on a case-by-case basis, as will available funding.

Request support:

Email: CMDITechTeam@colorado.edu

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