The NC State VCL Team has been asked a number of times to estimate the full cost to implement the VCL de novo. This is *very* hard to do for a number of reasons. Two very important reasons: the exact size desired or needed is seldom known; and the amount of existing infrastructure, including hardware, software and people, is seldom specified or known.
We've put together the following list as guidance in the initial steps of estimation - and this can serve as a starting point. However, we suggest that an incremental approach is much better than starting a large installation all at once. Starting with a chassis or two of blades (or equivalent dozen or two of other servers) - the experimentation and development of expertise and usage can proceed smoothly at relatively low cost and low risk. We'd appreciate additional comments and suggestions about aspects which we may have left off this list or any other aspects. --henry schaffer Infrastructure Machine room space Computers/servers (e.g. Blade Servers) Sizing based on number of concurrent users and computational power needed for applications - implications for space, cooling, ... Storage - at least for VCL operation, maybe also user storage Chassis/Racks to hold the compute and management nodes (blades or other servers) Network Communications switches and routers to support scalable infrastructure Configuration of above - assigning IP addresses, perhaps MAC addresses, ... Hardware maintenance Software Installation of VCL Open Source software package, including all the subsidiary packages - Linux, pHp, Perl, Apache, ... Licensing and installation of VMware - or whatever virtualization software will be used (may be free - but still requires effort) Provisioning software (xCAT, other) License manager software, if used, e.g. FLEXlm, Keyserver, ... note: the app vendor may specify this Configuration and maintenance, including patching, of this software Configuration web page skin, ..., authentication methods, ... operation of the web server Software Licensing License agreements for apps, could be existing campus agreements or new licenses with vendors (many vendors require special licenses for use in a cloud) OS licensing Creating environments Making the images - this is not one of the big jobs Updating images Support Supporting local users, training, faculty image creation, etc. FAQs, help desk, mailing lists, etc. Sharing resources/ supporting K-12 Working with the schools, could be other universities or K-12 areas - training the teachers, the IT technical people, ... Meeting school/district CIPA requirements CIPA requirement training with teachers and technical people involved in supporting K-12