Issue Escalation, Change Request, and Migration Processes

This article summarizes information for Co-Managed systems related to issue escalation, the change request process, and the migration of a system from ITS-Managed to Co-Managed.

Issue escalation

Issue Escalation refers to situations when an issue has been identified with a server that needs to be escalated for additional triage or troubleshooting.  Examples may include issues that appear to impact the hosting platform, storage platform, or network.

Steps:

• Customer identifies an issue with their server that they believe may be caused by an external, non-OS related, element.
• Customer should first check the Help Desk Alert Page to ensure there is not a wider issue that has already been identified that may be the culprit.  If there is an issue identified, it means that ITS-EI is aware of the issue and is actively working on a fix (please then continue to monitor the page until it is updated with a problem resolution).
• If there is not an active issue being addressed, customers are encouraged to submit a support ticket via email (its-coman-support@iowa.uiowa.edu); providing as much detail as possible related to the issue.
• ITS-EI staff will investigate, and if a problem is identified, will work to fix the issue.  If no immediate issue is found, ITS-EI staff may ask for additional clarifying information, reassign the ticket, or recommend that the customer contact an application vendor for additional support options.
• Ticket will be resolved or reassigned.

Change Request Process

Change Request means the process for requesting features of the service for which the customer does not currently have direct access, such as VM snapshot creation and rollback, DR restoration, and hardware configuration changes such as adding disk, CPU, memory, etc.  All requests for configuration changes or service items related to Co-Managed servers should be managed via a support ticket.

Note: VM Snapshots are HIGHLY encouraged prior to making system changes as it allows for a much quicker and easier rollback if changes made need to be reverted.

Steps:

• Customer identifies a need for change that they cannot directly do themselves.
• Customer submits a support ticket via email (its-coman-support@iowa.uiowa.edu); providing as much detail as possible, including server name, for the request.  A single ticket may be submitted for multiple systems, provided that detail is included in the ticket. Examples of the information requested includes (copy template info below to body of email):
  • VM Snapshot (strongly encouraged before system changes)

Server / hostname:

Date / time for snapshot to be taken:

Email address for notification:

VM powered on or off for snapshot: On/Off

Snapshots are kept for 2 weeks and then deleted unless other plans are made and confirmed

• Host-level Firewall change (for changes on the datacenter firewall, complete request for here: https://workflow.uiowa.edu/form/firewall-request)

Define the desired traffic to be allowed in this format:

Source IP, destination IP, protocol (TCP / UDP), port number

• VM Resource change:

CPU: number to add or remove +/-

Memory: amount of RAM (in gb) to add

Disk: amount of disk to add to which volume/drive (in gb)

• ITS-EI staff take ownership of the ticket and fulfill the request.  If there are questions or items that need additional clarity, staff will work with the requestor to resolve these discrepancies.
• Ticket will be resolved and closed

ITS-Managed to Co-Managed Migration Process

This section covers the high-level process for migrating a system from ITS-Managed to Co-Managed.

Steps:

• Customer identifies a desire to move a system, or group of systems, to the Co-Managed service.
• Customer notes this request via contact with a director of ITS-EI-SAS (Tom Neese), ITS-EI-CAS (Steve Troester), or ITS-EI-TPS (Chris Lawrence).  Alternatively, customers can open a support ticket noting this request.
• ITS-EI Directors will initiate discussion about timing, logistics, and other facets of the change.
• ITS-EI staff will prepare the system(s) for migration to the Co-Managed service.
  • This may require several steps, including some that require customer input.  A staff member will help coordinate this process and provide more detail; as it may differ slightly from system to system.
• Upon completion, the system is considered to be Co-Managed (and application management and other facets of the service are solely the responsibility of the customer).