Many of us walk by the Data Center frequently, but few have been inside the authorized area. In fact, visitors are required to sign in upon entry. What happens ‘upstairs’ at the CNYRIC? We connected with Kevin Clapp, manager of the Data Center and Dave Osborn, operations shift supervisor to find out.
Q: What is the Data Center?
A: Located nearby the Help Desk in CNYRIC 2, the Data Center is a secure, climate-controlled area in the CNYRIC. The Data Center hosts data, networking, and secure output for our CNYRIC school districts. The Data Center is staffed 6 a.m - 8 p.m, five days per week.
Hosting district data
The Data Center provides district administrators with ease of mind knowing the private information contained in their student management and financial systems is secure. That data is protected in one of the Data Center’s 60 physical or 375 virtual servers.
Q: How does the Data Center ensure the data is safely stored on a server?
A: We protect districts’ data in many ways. Our remote backup service provides a secure, efficient means to protect district data. If a server becomes damaged or corrupt, we can retrieve lost data and make sure districts maintain operations with minimal downtown. The Data Center also shares a reciprocal relationship with WNYRIC to the ensure the off-site safety of district’s secure data. Finally, the Data Center protects districts’ data with redundant power supplies and a generator backup.
Q: Why do we need so much redundancy and backup?
A: If the Data Center was ever impacted by a major event, such as a fire or extended power outage, our district’s data would still be protected. Protecting their information is of critical importance to us.
WAN rhymes with can . . . and other interesting networking details
Q: What happens in the Wide Area Network (WAN) room in the Data Center?
A: This is where the CNYRIC communicates directly with districts. Our WAN reaches across the region, providing a core infrastructure for high-speed, dedicated Internet connectivity for all school districts and BOCES participants.
Q: Do we have anything to do with phone systems?
A: Yes. The Data Center supports multiple phone systems. Our hosted Voice Over IP service offers districts the ability to host their phones on centralized, redundant servers on the CNYRIC network, reducing the cost of additional hardware and software.
Printing and scanning secure documents
Q: What’s secure output?
A: It’s the scanning and printing of anything with personally identifiable data such as payroll checks, student report cards, student schedules, address labels, as well as regents and standardized exam answer sheets. We have several high-speed Xerox printers that help us produce professional results in a timely manner. We can scan 6,000 sheets per hour with our scanner. Additionally, we have several quality control checks in place to make sure we’re delivering quality products to our districts.
Q: Are our paychecks printed in the Data Center?
A: Yes. And they’re stuffed into envelopes by machines in the Data Center, too.
Q: What’s the busiest time of the year for the Data Center?
A: June. The Data Center prints between 600,000 to 1 million secure documents during the last month of the school year.
