A prerequisite for this service is a Timeplan. Before a Timeplan can be created for LocalTime and the LocalTime service can commence, the customer must engage with Intersect in an implementation project . This project has a templated Implementation Plan and produces a number of deliverables.
LocalTime Service Catalogue
Roles and Responsibilities
There are three primary entities: Researchers, Local IT and Intersect Operations. Between them they participate and interact in four areas of responsibility – Researcher Experience, Local Capacity and Performance, OwnTime Sysadmin and Nectar Sysadmin.
A simplified overview of roles and responsibilities is illustrated:
This division of labour offers numerous advantages, chief among them being:
- Local resources are able to focus their energies on closer-to-researcher activities, including application software configuration, researcher support, application reuse, and so forth.
- Local autonomy over hardware capacity planning and performance management is absolutely retained.
- Local resources remain exclusively available to researchers – there is no community tax from joining the Nectar Cloud.
- Intersect resources already perform these functions for Nectar and OwnTime clouds, meaning instant familiarity, security and time to market.
- Intersect prioritises automating commodity services, local priorities can be focused on automating research services.
Service Definition
| Service Request | Service Definition | Response Time / Volume Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 Support | Intersect provides an escalation path for Openstack-related and physical server issues that university Local IT are unable to address due to authorisation and other limitations. For example, a virtual machine that is running on a compute node may be in an “error” state or there may be an error between the compute node and the control plane that requires investigating services on the compute node. To obtain assistance, Local IT must raise an incident via help.intersect.org.auHelp.intersect.org.au. Depending on the nature of the issue, Intersect may in turn escalate the issue to Nectar DHD or Core Services. Intersect will coordinate the resolution of the issue to conclusion on behalf of Local IT. | Response Time: See Incident Management Process Volume Limits: Average of one (1) incident raised per physical server per month |
| Escalate OwnTime issue | Researchers and Local IT continue to enjoy standard escalation for OwnTime issues through help.intersect.org.au through existing subscription to OwnTime. | Response Time: Incident Management Process |
| Add Compute Nodes to Openstack | Once Local IT has performed the physical installation of the server, including provision for power and networking, they can raise a service request with Intersect to add the new node to Openstack. Local IT is required to provide all necessary information for Intersect to add the new node to Openstack, including: - MAC address - Hardware specifications - Openstack aggregate and other related details. Based on the information provided by Local IT, Intersect will: - Install and configure the operating system on new compute node(s) - Allocate IP address(es) - Set up the Openstack services - Run automated tests and manual tests as required - Record test results against the service request; and - Advise Local IT when nodes are ready for use | Response Time: Five (5) business days to commence work. Bulk requests will be scheduled and an expected completion timeline notified. Volume Limits: Unlimited |
| Request Nagios Alerts | Local IT are able to receive Nagios alerts for the compute nodes by supplying an email group to the Intersect Operations team. This is actionable by raising a Help.intersect.org.au service request. The request must be made by an agreed authorised person. The request must specify the relevant node details. | |
| Configure and maintain networking | Operations is responsible for maintaining the configuration and operation of the Intersect physical and logical network environment. Typically, changes are required based on new features, security issues or bug fixes. Operations will make changes by following Cloud.Time standard configuration management practices. Local IT may reasonably request minor configuration changes as required. The request must be made by an agreed authorised person. Major changes to network or security configuration requested by Local IT are outside the scope of services and will need to be quoted. Intersect will evaluate, advise and arbitrate what constitutes a major change. | Changes requiring an interruption to Intersect service require seven (7) days notification and will be scheduled according to Cloud.Time production considerations. Changes that only impact local services require two (2) days notification and will be scheduled by negotiation. Standard Downtime Notification applies. |
| Escalate Nectar Distributed Help Desk issue | All Nectar Cloud users may lodge tickets directly with the DHD, potentially including local researchers and in most cases these will be vectored to Intersect Operations. Intersect will escalate questions, incidents and issues on behalf of local researchers to the Nectar DHD for assistance when required. DHD Questions will be dealt with as a Non-standard Request. | Response Time: Best endeavours with targets as determined by the Nectar DHD Operating Level Agreement. Local IT acknowledges and agrees that Intersect’s Response Times are subject to the Nectar DHD response. |
| Access Nectar supported virtual machine image | Intersect will assist local researchers in use of the national catalogue of Nectar supported virtual machine images. From time to time these are updated by Core Services to include operating system updates, patches and security fixes. Assistance is requested via help.intersect.org.au. | Response Time: Two (2) business days for an initial response. Resolution times are contingent on the service request. |
| Access Launchpod deployment service | Intersect offers Launchpod services as a way to create virtual machines with specific applications pre-installed. Refer https://intersect.org.au/launchpod . Assistance with Launchpod is requested via help.intersect.org.au. Support for applications that are deployable through Launchpod. | Response Time: See Incident Management Process |
| Remove compute nodes | Removing an existing compute node entails the following sequential steps: 1. Local IT requests the removal of a compute node by raising a help.intersect.org.auservice request. The request must be made by an authorised person; 2. The request must identify the relevant node details; 3. Intersect Operations will firstly check that there are no virtual machines running on the server to be removed. If VMs exist, Intersect will work with Local IT to move these to other compute nodes; 4. Intersect will then remove the server from the Puppet automation and Nagios network monitoring configurations. Intersect will finally remove the Openstack configuration for the server; and 5. help.intersect.org.au will formally confirm removal, after which Local IT may redeploy the hardware as required | Response Time: Two (2) business days to commence work. Bulk requests will be scheduled and an expected completion timeline notified. Volume Limits: Up to 24 removals per calendar year. Additional charges apply beyond this limit. |
| Request Nectar Project allocation | Local IT may request a Project allocation from the OwnTime Local pool via the Nectar Cloud dashboard or other mutually agreed process. Intersect Operations will action this request provided these preconditions are met: 1. The request has been made by an agreed authorised person; 2. There are resources available to allocate; 3. Available resources are within service limits. By making a request Local IT agrees that it has allocated resources to meet the request. | Volume Limit: The service assumes Local IT will make a small number of reasonable Project allocation requests. |
| Adjust Project resources | Local IT can request a Project be allocated additional resources from the OwnTime Local pool by raising a help.intersect.org.au service request. Intersect Operations will action this request provided these preconditions are met: 1. The request was made by an agreed authorised; 2. There are resources available to allocate; 3. Available resources are within service limits | Volume Limit: The service assumes Local IT will make a minimal number of reasonable Project resource adjustment requests. |
| Delete a Project | Local IT can request a Project be deleted by raising a help.intersect.org.au service request. Intersect Operations will action this request provided these preconditions are met: 1. The request was been made by an agreed authorised person; 2. Prior to making the request, Local IT must terminate all VM instances running under the Openstack Project in question; and. 3. Actioning this request will not cause the relevant volume limit to be exceeded. | Volume Limit: Twenty (20) Project deletion requests per year. |
| Create a private VM flavour | Intersect will create a private VM flavour that the customer can access when instantiating VMs if: 1. the flavour is viable; and 2. the request has been made by an agreed authorised person, and 3. actioning this request will not cause the relevant volume limit to be exceeded. Viability criteria include: 1. the amount of memory specified for the flavour is compatible with compute node architecture; 2. the number of cores (both GPU and CPU) specified for the flavour are compatible with compute node architecture; and 3. the flavour can be snapshotted. The person requesting creation of a private VM flavour must specify all required details of the flavour, including: 1. vCPU core count 2. GPU requirement 3. RAM requirement 4. Scratch storage requirement | |
| Delete a private VM flavour | Local IT can request deletion of a private flavour by raising a help.intersect.org.au service request. Intersect can assist by supplying a list of VMs using that flavour if requested by Local IT. Intersect Operations will action this request provided these preconditions are met: 1. The request was been made by an agreed authorised person. 2. Prior to making the request, Local IT raises an individual help.intersect.org.au request to delete each VM instance of the target flavour. 3. No VMs of that flavour can exist. | Volume Limit: Twenty (20) flavour deletion requests per year. |
| Assist customer to list all VM instances of a specified custom flavour | Local IT will, at first instance, log on to the customer Cloud Time Dashboard to determine a list of its VM instances and associated flavour. If Local IT advises Intersect that it has been unable to determine such a list, Intersect will supply a list of VMs using that flavour, if: 1. The request was made by an agreed authorised person; and 2. The specified flavour exists. | |
| Delete a VM instance | Local IT is responsible, at first instance, for deleting a VM instance of a particular flavour. If the customer advises Intersect that it has been unable to delete the VM instance in question, Intersect will delete the specified VM, if: 1. The request was made by an agreed authorised person; and 2. The specified VM is correctly identified as being of the required flavour. | Volume Limit: The service assumes Local IT will only request Intersect to delete a VM instance in the event they are unable to do so due to a problem which requires Nectar administrator access to rectify. |
| Change customer OwnTime Local Openstack by adding, changing or deleting an aggregate | The request for a change of a LocalTime Openstack by adding, changing or deleting an aggregate must be made by an agreed authorised Person. The request must specify the details of the proposed change. | |
| Other request | Not every request can be anticipated by this Specification. Local IT may need to make Non-standard Requests that are not categorised in this Agreement as follows: 1. Local IT raises a help.intersect.org.au request that is subsequently classified by Intersect Operations as “non-standard”. 2. Intersect Operations will further classify the request as either minor or major in its sole discretion. 3. Certain minor requests may be fulfilled at no additional charge to the customer at Intersect’s sole discretion. 4. Intersect will provide an estimated cost and timeframe for fulfilling major or chargeable minor requests and will not proceed until approved by the customer. |
Standard Reports
| Report Name | Definition | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption Report | Local IT may at any time access the Cloud.Time dashboard, comprising information across all Time plans, including vanilla Nectar, OwnTime, and LocalTime services. | Daily |
| Incident Summary Report | Intersect will provide an incident report listing relevant incidents. Incident reports are limited to the information normally collected within the help.intersect.org.au system. | Weekly |
| Physical server usage report | Intersect will provide a physical server usage report. | Weekly |
Service Limits Per LocalTime Instance
| Category | Openstack Service Item | Cardinality / limit / comments |
|---|---|---|
| Projects | ||
| Total number of projects | A maximum of either: 1. 2 projects per 100 CPU cores under management; or 2. One project per 10,000 GPU cores. It is expected Local IT will create a small number of projects each with considerable resources and will create individual VMs for researchers through these projects. To cater for IT technical local researchers, there is also sufficient projects for individual local researchers to have a project of their own. |
|
| Swift Object Storage | ||
| Number of VM snapshots per project | A maximum of 200 | |
| Total Swift Object Storage capacity | 10TB in total across all projects. Local IT to decide the quota for individual projects, subject to this overall allocation. This limit is subject to Swift object storage availability across Nectar and may need to be revised. Note that Instance Snapshots use Swift object storage. |
|
| Volume Storage | ||
| Total volume storage limit | 0TB. Storage can be purchased from Intersect - see Space rates | |
| Compute Service | ||
| Total number of virtual machines | Limited by hardware capacity. For VMs requiring a public IP address, Local IT will need to supply an IP address block | |
| Total number of CPU cores | Limited by hardware capacity and any configured overcommit ratio | |
| Total amount of memory for virtual machines | Limited by hardware capacity and any configured overcommit ratio | |
| Total number of custom flavors | 20 | |
| Total ephemeral storage | Limited by hardware capacity | |
| Total number of security groups | 30 per project | |
Service Request Response Time
After Intersect receives a service request, and has made an initial response, if not otherwise stated in the service request response time, Intersect will aim to complete the request within 10 working days.
Service Review Meeting
Intersect will regularly meet with the customer representative as mutually agreed, but at least on a monthly basis, to review the service.
Read about Service Boundaries and Support Arrangements here.