Terms of Service for Containers as a Service

UB CaaS is an environment designed to house web and application hosting.  UB CaaS offers a linux container to develop, maintain and supplement web sites and applications. UB CaaS platform provides the ability to supplement other content management platforms such as UBCMS, as well as provide a robust environment for stand-alone web hosting and application/scripting needs.

UB CaaS is not intended as a general-purpose content management system for official university business. Departments are directed to use UBCMS as an official web communication platform.

Eligibility

UB departments, faculty and staff may request access to UB CaaS.  UB CaaS is restricted to active university faculty, staff and authorized students whose role is to develop, author or publish official university web pages and applications.

UB CaaS requested by faculty, staff and authorized students must use the environment for the purposes of University business in support of academic, teaching, learning and research.

Requests for access to UB CaaS must be made through the online form.  Requesters must have an active UBITName.

Support and Service Availability

UB CaaS service is available and monitored 24 x 7.  Support questions for UB CaaS service is restricted to business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Availability of the UB CaaS service may be interrupted for maintenance and other updates during maintenance windows. Announcements and alerts are posted through the UBIT Alert System and communicated with the UB CaaS Listserv.

• For technical problems, including non-response of the system,  contact the UBIT Help Center to open a support ticket or the Network Operations Center outside normal university business hours.
• For system integrity problems, or to request additional features, please contact system administrators using the request form.

UB CaaS Upgrades

Operating system upgrades and patches will be applied monthly as they are released. 

Tenants are strongly encouraged to verify the functionality of their websites, applications, scripts, etc in production after the upgrades. Sites/applications/developed components that are not functioning will need to be corrected by the tenant/site developer.

Roles and Responsibilities

The support of the UB CaaS infrastructure is a joint responsibility for UBIT (EIS) and the tenant.

Terms of the Service

• It is recommended that tenants have both development and production pods.
• There will be no automatic content synchronization between the containers.
• Upgrades will be coordinated with the tenants and security related upgrades will be fast tracked to production in an expedited time frame.

Tenant Responsibilities

Manage content, scripts and applications within their container.  This includes:

• Creation and editing of content
• Synchronizing content between the development and production pods
• Follow UB policy and standards
• Properly secure code and files, including proper access to files
• For any development, you are responsible for ensuring the security of the code and any files utilized within the code and associated sites
• Responsible for the cost of any purchased software outside of the base software and tools available for use within the environment.  This will include any on-going support cost going forward
• Renewing the support contract for any purchased software for their site
• Assist in Patching/Upgrades of system components (Software, product upgrades/patches, operating system patches, etc.)
• Testing of site after system upgrades to verify site is displaying and functioning properly
• Make the necessary modifications to the site, applications, etc based on changes within the upgrade process
• Verification of the production site after the upgrade/patching the production environment
• Training departmental staff on how to develop and maintain sites/application/components developed by the tenant’s organization
• Tenants developing in languages other than perl and php will be responsible for the installation and configuration of the authentication modules/libraries. CIT will provide perl and php templates which include components and configuration for Shibboleth authentication.  

UBIT/EIS Responsibilities

• System administration of the central servers which include routine patching and backup of the servers
• Periodic upgrades of server software and hardware
• UBIT will monitor UB CaaS service to ensure a stable and secure environment using automated system-monitoring tools
• Reports regarding inappropriate use of UB CaaS service may be sent to abuse@buffalo.edu
• UBIT will provide perl and php templates which include components and configuration for Shibboleth authentication.  Note: Tenants developing in languages other than perl and php will be responsible for the installation and configuration of the authentication modules/libraries

Summary of Costs

There is no cost of using the UB CaaS environment