NAS Server and Archive
Storage, Backups & Hosting
Duke's NAS is a file storage server used for departments and schools. The NAS allows your stored files to be shared by multiple clients.
NAS-Archive
You may also use NAS-Archive. This offering is an addition to the existing tiers of storage OIT offers. The NAS-Archive solution is targeted at meeting data needs that can withstand some reduction in performance and uptime with the benefit of a lower cost solution.
The below chart shows the differences in NAS and NAS-Archive storage options.
| Item | NAS | NAS-Archive |
| Targeted Storage | Almost any network accessible (CIFS or NFS) storage across Duke University | Any archive type data that will be written once and accessed minimally and does not require backups. If read/write times and/or uptime is a critical factor, the standard NAS should be used instead. |
| Minimum amount | Starting January 1, 2023, minimum is 100gb | 5 TB initial request with increments of 5 TB thereafter. |
| I/O Requirements | Production NAS storage. 10 Gb connections from the NAS to the core with tools to monitor and identify bottlenecks | 1 Gb connection with only minimal monitoring. Data will be maintained on spinning disks and should be accessible at all times, but expectations on time to write and/or retrieve data should be minimal (within reasonable expectations) |
| Monitoring | Multi-level monitoring and alerts that allow for proactive identification of issues and bottlenecks at all levels (network, array, disk, volume, etc.) before they become user impacting issues. | Very minimal monitoring and alerts beyond simple up/down, network connectivity, and/or high level capabilities. |
| Backups | Snapshots for file-based recoveries and OIT backup service for Standard and Disaster Recovery options. | Same as NAS |
| Support | 24/7 OIT support with 24/7 "gold level" vendor support and monitoring. Full vendor call home functionality identifies faluts to the vendor's supportteam often prior to actual failures. | Minimal up/down availability monitoring. 8/5 vendor support. As with all OIT supported services, downtime will be minimizied, however, up to 24 hours of downtime may be scheduled periodically to allow for upgrades and/or rebalancing of the storage arrays. |
| Hardware | High level of hardware redundancy built in (controllers, backplanes, power, etc.) to minimize downtime. | Minimal hardware redundancy built in (power & RAID disks). |
| Access Method | NFS and/or CIFS | NFS and/or CIFS |
| Cost (Actual and Charged) | See pricing | See pricing |