April 2024 CIO Update
Happy Spring! This month, I’d like to feature a significant change to our web application infrastructure as well as some updates on major projects.
New Dyn System / Docker
For a decade, many of VCU’s most prolific web applications have been stored on an unassuming server cluster called “Dyn”, alongside its sibling, “sDyn.” As the years have passed by, we’ve seen applications come and go, but some things never change – the necessity of a flexible, scalable, and secure environment to host Linux-based “dynamic” applications. Over sDyn and Dyn’s life, we’ve seen security concerns evolve, PHP versions fall out of support, and the need to quickly develop and deploy applications become commonplace.
To that end, Web Services has recently unified the two servers into one. Keeping within the naming convention, it has been dubbed “newDyn.” newDyn is modernized with “containerization” technology, solving legacy infrastructure issues without a massive effort to recode aging applications. This approach isolates applications, empowering teams to utilize disparate dependencies, even supporting entirely different versions of PHP. “Containerizing” an application allows for scalability, supports an aggressive security posture, and an easier deployment pipeline. If you’re interested in reading more about the benefits of containerization, please visit this CircleCI article.
If you want to start building an application on newDyn or you just have questions about it, please contact us at [email protected].
SAS EBI Migration
The SAS EBI servers provide three significant services for university reporting. The servers house the VCU Reporting Center, which provides reports on Ellucian Banner Operational Data Store (ODS) data for thousands of users in administrative units throughout the university. SAS EBI is also utilized to provide extensive extract, transform, load (ETL) processing and creation of custom reporting tables in the ODS, using Banner ODS data as well as other data sources (including Fischer Identity Management, DocuSign, VCUCard, and others). Finally, the SAS EBI servers include SAS Enterprise Guide (SAS EG), a major reporting tool allowing end users in functional units the ability to query data in the ODS and build and maintain their own custom reports.
With the migration, the look and feel of current SAS EBI tools for end users will remain the same. The only major exception is the move from housing the VCU Reporting Center on the SAS Information Delivery Portal (IDP) application to the SAS Stored Process Web Server. This new application will be more streamlined and efficient for the VCU Reporting Center users.
Administrative Systems anticipate minimal disruption of production processes during the transition.
Technology Operations Center (TOC)
We are now officially occupying the TOC with multiple team members (myself included) working in the new office space. Our network and data center migration work continues to progress at a blistering pace. All 100 racks (50/floor) are set with top of rack switches installed. In addition, 1575 CAT 6A Ethernet cables and 2436 strands of single-mode fiber have been terminated on the data center floors.
We are still waiting on a number of Power Distribution Units (PDUs) needed to power the racks. As we receive PDUs, we will be able to complete the set-up of the ACI network and begin to migrate equipment from the current Pocahontas data center. We will also begin next month to take in new server and storage equipment that has been stored by our vendors while awaiting rack space. Needless to say, our schedule continues to be somewhat fluid, but there is progress every day. I will provide more detail as it becomes available.
Thanks to the entire Technology Services team for the amazing work! I also want to wish our student employees all the best as they begin finals and in some cases graduate!
Alex