Servers in a traditional computing environment typically run an individual application within a single operating system. Virtualization allows multiple applications with independent operating systems to run on a single physical computer, increasing machine usage and efficiency. These "virtual" servers exist on the host computer separately from one another as if they were on a dedicated machine.

Aggie Cloud provides infrastructure to host servers and services in a virtual server environment. This service is based on the VMware suite of virtualization products and is available to Texas A&M University colleges, departments and approved affiliates.

Aggie Cloud from the Texas A&M Technology Services is not a cookie-cutter experience. We offer custom solutions in addition to standardized templates. We will work with you to design a solution that meets your needs and integrates well into a shared environment. We are here to help you before, during and after deployment.

Getting Started

To request a virtual server: Aggie Cloud Access - TAMU Self-Service

If you have questions, please email vm-request@tamu.edu.

Texas A&M University (Part 02) rates are displayed below. See General Computing Rates for TAMUS, Non-TAMUS, and Auxiliary Rates.

*This service is nonrefundable once purchased in a given fiscal year.

**See Server Administration for more about this service.

Aggie Cloud from the Texas A&M Technology Services provides infrastructure to host servers and services in a virtual server environment. This service is based on the VMware suite of virtualization products, and is available to any Texas A&M University college or department, or approved affiliate.

Services

The following provides a summary of base services provided as part of the Texas A&M Technology Services server virtualization services:
Virtual machine creation – create a virtual machine to customer's specifications for memory, CPU reservation, disk space and supported OS.
Backups – perform weekly snapshots of only the first disk attached to each virtual machine (usually the Operating System disk) for disaster recovery purposes.
Infrastructure monitoring – 24/7/365 monitoring of virtualization infrastructure, including on-call service and response to events.

Service Availability

Normal Service Availability
The Texas A&M Technology Services Aggie Cloud is available for customer use 24 hours per day, seven days per week, all days per year, excluding scheduled maintenance periods.

Problem Reporting and Change Notification
Texas A&M Technology Services will notify customers of general and widespread events using the IT Alerts website. A mailing list will be maintained by Texas A&M Technology Services to include contact information provided by customers.
Subscribers may report questions or concerns through Help Desk Central at helpdesk@tamu.edu or 979.845.8300.

Key Service Indicators

The following provides a description of the key service level objectives defined by this service level agreement:
Overall availability: percentage value of service availability (infrastructure).

• Performance target: 99%

Customer satisfaction: percentage of positive responses to customer satisfaction questions in periodic surveys.

• Performance target: 90%

*Overall availability is calculated as the hours the service is available in the reporting period divided by the total hours in the reporting period. This percentage reflects scheduled and unscheduled downtime.

Other Party Responsibilities

In addition to the services provided by Texas A&M Technology Services, subscribers of this service and identified owners/administrators agree to adhere to applicable Texas A&M Rules & Regulations and Acceptable Use Policies.

Help Desk Central (HDC) responsibilities include call logging and dispatch to Texas A&M Technology Services Infrastructure Systems & Services operational support. HDC is not able to provide telephone technical support for this service.

Texas A&M Technology Services support staff is responsible for maintenance of the service infrastructure. This includes physical hardware and dependent systems such as storage and the internal network. This team is also responsible for service, security and performance monitoring, and infrastructure backups. Disaster recovery planning (for the major infrastructure components), hardware maintenance, storage planning and strategic planning for the service also are responsibilities of CIS. It is the customers is responsible for providing their backups.  Our Infrastructure backups are for our DR purposes only.

• vRealize Automation allows self-service provisioning.
• NSX, VMWare’s software-defined networking, includes integration with Infoblox.
• Load balancing and firewalls at the virtual layer.
• Workflow automation, with approvals if needed.
• Auto-provisioning of virtual servers based on templates.
• Ability to provide short-term virtual servers, with daily billing increments.

Item	Description
Additional Memory (Virtual Server)	Annual fee per GB.
Additional vCPU	Annual fee per vCPU