Purchase of Servers for NWISWeb Real-Time Software Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 14:44:28 -0500 From: "Lewis V. Wade" Reply-To: "Lewis Wade, Acting ACH/Information, Reston, VA" Organization: U.S. Geological Survey To: "DC - All District Chiefs", "Gary M Russell, Assistant District Chief, Las Vegas, NV" , "David P Brown, Subdistrict Chief, Altamonte Sprg, FL" , "John F Harsh, Tampa Subdistrict Chief, Tampa, FL" , "Carl R Goodwin, Subdistrict Chief, Miami, FL" CC: "E - All WRD Employees", "Dorothy M Woods, Secretary (OA), Reston, VA" Subject: Purchase of Servers for NWISWeb Real-Time Software In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 445 MEMORANDUM March 26, 1999 To: District Chiefs Chief, Las Vegas Program Office, Las Vegas, Nevada Chief, Altamonte Springs Subdistrict Office, Altamonte Springs, Florida Chief, Tampa Subdistrict Office, Tampa, Florida Chief, Miami Subdistrict Office, Miami, Florida From: Lewis V. Wade (signed) Acting Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Information Subject: Purchase of Servers for NWISWeb Real-Time Software The purpose of this memorandum is to share good news concerning the availability of reprogrammed Year 2000 (Y2K) funding to purchase servers for the Water Resources Division (WRD) for the upcoming release of the NWISWeb real-time software. NWISWeb will replace the current rt-www real-time software. Existing USGS Y2K funding has been made available to WRD and reprogrammed to ensure that WRD has a server environment that will run Y2K compliant software. Based on a recommendation by the Computer Policy Advisory Committee (CPAC), the NWISWeb real-time software will be implemented and supported on Sun Enterprise Ultra 5 web servers. The reasons for this determination are the following: o WRD is evolving toward a computer infrastructure that contains Sun UNIX and WindowsNT. Data General (DG) hardware maintenance contracts and DIS support for DG will end in September 2001. As announced earlier this month, WRD is making a transition to SUN Enterprise 450 servers for the NWIS. o To meet the many needs of the users of real-time data, the NWISWeb software requires more computer resources than can be provided by the DG servers. o Although Districts could run NWISWeb software on another platform, resources for continued system development and support will be focused only on Sun Solaris. Again, based on CPAC recommendations, the Office of Information will use the reprogrammed money to purchase Sun Enterprise Ultra 5 web servers for the following sites that need to run NWISWeb software locally: o all District Offices o the 3 Florida Subdistrict Offices o the Las Vegas Program Office o each of the NWISWeb development offices in TX, IL and MT will receive an additional system for development The specifications of the Sun Enterprise Ultra 5 system can be found at: http://wwwqvarsa.er.usgs.gov/unix/solaris/sun-quote.html The Sun Enterprise Ultra 5 systems have been ordered and delivery can be expected in the next couple of weeks. The primary purpose for these new servers is to run the NWISWeb software. Detailed installation instructions for these new servers will be provided by the DIS Sun Technical Advisory Committee prior to the release of the NWISWeb software, scheduled for August 1999. In addition, two Sun 450 servers have been ordered that will serve as National Web servers. A team has been put in place to determine the location and implementation for these redundant/mirror systems. It is anticipated that in the future, sites will be able to serve their real time local data from these National Web servers. Copy to: All WRD Employees