Distributed Hosting

The N.C. Department of Information Technology offers customer-managed and NCDIT-managed hosting solutions for North Carolina government agencies, local and county governments and community colleges. 

We provide singular and multi-tiered systems to meet your computing needs on a 24/7 basis. These can be configured as different types of solutions:

  • Virtual or physical NCDIT-managed solutions that span from the operating system to the systems level. These solutions are created in a safe and secure environment, monitored and patched.
  • Disaster recovery solutions
  • Highly available solutions

Request Distributed Hosting

Getting Help

Support Get Technical Support
NCDIT Service Desk: 919-754-6000
Support Hours 24/7
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Features

Service Details
NCDIT-Managed Solutions
  • NCDIT procures, installs and connects all systems to meet application and vendor requirements. 
  • The following operating system and server platforms are supported:
    • AIX on IBM p-Series servers
    • Linux on x86 servers (currently RedHat)
    • Solaris on x86 or SPARC servers
    • Windows on x86 servers
  • The service includes:
    • Multiple, redundant, diverse high-speed internet connections
    • Security systems and zones
    • Procedures
    • Redundant power, cooling and environmental systems
  • NCDIT personnel manage:
    • All patches (operating system, database and security)
    • System configuration changes
    • Connectivity
    • Firewall configuration and changes
    • Replacements
  • Operating systems are upgraded at your request. NCDIT coordinates with you to set an upgrade timeframe and processes it through NCDIT’s change control.
  • A rigorous change-control process ensures sufficient lead time, internal approval processes and back-out plans.
  • Capacity – available and consumed – is and maintained by Distributed Hosting for more than 2,000 virtual hosts throughout North Carolina.
Storage & Backups
  • Leverage NCDIT’s disaster recovery and business continuity functionalities to protect your business-critical applications and associated data. 
  • The service connects data mirroring and enterprise backups across NCDIT’s redundant high-speed network to its geographically dispersed eastern and western data centers. 

See the Technical Details section for more information.
Support & Maintenance

Eliminate operational concerns. Distributed Hosting maintains and supports hardware and operating systems and conducts performance and system monitoring, security vulnerability and scanning.

See the Technical Details section for more information.
 

Benefits

  • Your organization’s IT staff can focus on improving application productivity because Distributed Hosting eliminates the burden of managing hosted solutions. 
  • Efficiency and productivity increase for customers using both NCDIT-managed systems and databases. Both services use the same approach. The database is installed with a base configuration. You are only responsible for maintaining the application-level components of the database (creating tables, links, functions, etc.).
  • User productivity is maximized. NCDIT configures, optimizes and expands system performance to meet your organization's requirements and application demands.
  • Uptime is improved. Virtual solutions provide almost continuous service when transferring the virtual system to other hardware in the event of a hardware issue. This strategy also offers faster creation time. 

Request Process

To request this service, or for more information, submit a client questionnaire form via the NCDIT Service Portal.

Authorization

  • Service requests that incur a cost to the agency will typically require approval from the requesting agency’s CIO, financial officer or manager, depending upon your agency's requirements. 
  • Any staff with access to the NCDIT Service Portal may engage the team for support or information.

Requirements & Customer Responsibility

Required NCDIT ServicesNot available
Other Technical Requirements & PrerequisitesCustomers need to possess a technical understanding of their application architecture.
Customer Responsibility
  • Agency staff are required to submit a ticket using the NCDIT Service Portal for additional support or information regarding this service. 
  • The staff and agency receiving services are also responsible for completing the New Project/Server Client Questionnaire.

Expected Delivery

Acknowledgment TimeThe service team should acknowledge a service request within about 2-3 business days.
Turnaround Time
  • The service team should be able to complete a well-defined service request within about 4-6 weeks.
  • Procurement and licensing steps required before the delivery of services may extend the timeline.  

Customers

Suggested ForAny state or local government agency as well as educational institutions
Required ForNone
Spotlight Customers
  • N.C. Department of Health and Human Services 
  • N.C. Department of Commerce
  • N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources 
  • N.C. Department of Labor
  • N.C. Governor's Office
  • N.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Office

Support Process
  • Submit a ticket using the NCDIT Service Portal or contact the NCDIT Service Desk at 919-754-6000.
  • NCDIT provides:
    • License assignment
    • Administrative support for server access and service governance
    • Documentation and self-help resources
Service Support HoursSupport for the service is available 24/7.
Service AvailabilityThe service is available 24/7, excluding planned outages and maintenance windows.
Standard Maintenance Windows
  • Sundays: 4 a.m. to noon
  • Site-specific changes may be coordinated with customers at non-standard times.
Service Communications
  • Changes or outages that might have an impact on customers are communicated through the NCDIT Communications Hub and Agency Change Advisory Board. 
  • The agency's admin for this service will support communications to the agency users of the service..
Service Level AgreementsDistributed Hosting Service Level Agreement

  • Approved rates for this service are published in the NCDIT Rate Schedule.
  • Additional costs include the cloud service provider charges for monthly consumption.
     

View NCDIT Rate Schedule

NCDIT-Managed Solutions

Physical site security includes:

  • Coded key cards and zoned access to different areas of the building
  • An on-site security personnel
  • Surveillance cameras throughout the facility and grounds
  • A database of individuals authorized to access the facility
  • 24/7 secured customer access, with all visitors escorted
  • All visitors, contractors and/or vendors must be escorted by a green badge holder in order to access the raised floor of the facility.

Hosting services provide a variety of business continuity services based on the customer’s recovery time objective. 

NCDIT's core infrastructure recovery time objective is 72 hours. Core infrastructure is defined as common services and components such as Active Directory and Commvault services that support all state enterprise requirements. Agencies must provide for supplemental recovery hardware in their application design requirements.

Storage & Backup Solutions

All hosting environments can be integrated with storage, backup and archive services. NCDIT supports mainframe and distributed hosting environments with a wide variety of storage solutions, including dedicated physical and virtual hosting. NCDIT provides virtual tape and multiple disk tiers such as high-end disk storage, network attached storage and mid-to-high latency low-cost storage).

Backup and data recovery is available based on customer requirements. The standard media rotation and retention schedule is as follows:

  • Daily incremental backups are retained off-site for two weeks.
    • Backups can be retained longer than two weeks if requested.
    • Backups run Monday through Saturday.
  • Full backups are performed weekly and retained off-site for 1 month (one copy per week).
  • Backups are moved off-site daily

Support & Maintenance Solutions

Service Details
Hardware support and maintenance
  • NCDIT engineers install and set up all server hardware in accordance with industry best practices. Together with hardware operating system vendors, we apply system firmware patches in accordance with state policies and standards.
  • NCDIT repairs or replaces hardware components that are under warranty or appear to potentially disrupt system operation.
Operating system support and maintenance NCDIT engineers, in conjunction with operating system vendors, apply patches to operating systems in accordance with state policies and standards.
Performance and system monitoring
  • NCDIT monitors several key functions for all servers on Windows, Linux, AIX and Solaris platforms
  • Processes and log files can be monitored as requested.
  • NCDIT monitors several key functions for the server farm network.
  • Standard fault, configuration, performance and security management monitoring includes:
    • Fault detection with incident ticket creation and notifications sent to operational personnel
    • Archiving device configurations and ensuring security policies are enforced in the configuration
    • Collecting and reporting on performance metrics
    • Syslog collection, storage and analysis
    • Device authentication, authorization and accounting
Security, vulnerability and scanning
  • OS logs are configured to be sent to NCDIT’s SIEM.
  • Windows and Linux operating systems, where standardization is possible, are configuration hardened per Statewide Information Security Manual requirements following DISA STIG as the main template as part of establishing a readily deployable baseline. Customers should indicate during provisioning, or before, that additional regulatory requirements must be met, whereby additional applicable configuration checks and hardening will then be done.
  • Regular internal and external scans, as per Statewide Information Security Manual requirements, of IP addresses under the state of North Carolina's control:
    • NCDIT takes every precaution to protect the network infrastructure and the machines scanned.
    • Regular scans are tuned to ensure minimum impact. Deeper scans with additional checks are available on request or if the customer indicates additional regulatory requirements must be met.
    • NCDIT makes no representation or warranty that vulnerability scans will disclose all vulnerabilities. Customers will be responsible for scheduling third-party assessments and penetration tests to meet State and/or regulatory requirements as applicable to the application(s) and data.
  • Monthly executive level report, at minimum, of the scanning results is provided to the customer’s agency Security Liaison and whomever they designate.
  • Detailed scanning results are available via a web interface to the customer’s agency Security Liaison and whomever they designate to have access. This includes custom dashboards that assist in meeting Statewide Information Security Manual requirements and assists in distinguishing what is the customer responsibility vs our responsibility.
  • Consultation on findings and mitigations
  • Tracking findings according to classification and status

Training & Help 

Not available

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