ITS uses a number of techniques to avoid unplanned service outages. We will soon be extending these techniques to COLLAB, which holds shared folders for departments, projects, committees and student organizations. We will be using similar approaches on these directories as we do for user directories on HOME and for course folders on the COURSES volume.
If you are concerned about this and what it might mean for you, please talk to your ITS Coordinator. Here are some of the questions we’ve anticipated that you may ask:
What changes are you making? Why now?
We will be implementing quotas on the top-level department, project, committee and student organizations to try to avoid having the COLLAB volume fill unexpectedly. When COLLAB completely fills up, everyone using COLLAB is effectively locked out until the situation is resolved. This has already happened a few times this academic year. We would like to avoid it in the future, if possible.
What is the baseline quota?
The baseline quota for COLLAB folders for departments, projects, committees and student organizations is 2 GB per directory. (At the time of this writing, the median folder size is 74 MB.) For folders that are over or close to this 2 GB limit, we will set quotas with at least an additional 25% overhead to insure that work can continue. Both the baseline and overhead values will be reviewed periodically to try to find a good balance between avoiding unplanned service outages and convenience for individual users.
How does this affect me?
The effects will be the same as for your HOME directory or any course folders you have rights to. The actual quotas on COLLAB will be much larger than the typical HOME directory quotas. This approach has worked well on the COURSES volume, allowing us to plan for volume growth proactively rather than reacting to crises when the volume fills.
What if I need more space?
Talk to your Coordinator. For small to medium requests, this shouldn’t be a problem.
What if I need more space than that?
COLLAB may or may not be a good fit for your needs. We may not be able to handle several large projects (or a single, very large project) on COLLAB. Additional planning may be required. Talk to your Coordinator, and we will try to find a technology that works for you.
How can I tell what the quota is and how close I am to having a problem?
We don’t have a very good answer for this yet. We are working on a couple different ideas. Watch this space for more information.
Can I use all of my quota? Have you allocated all of those resources?
The quotas are only a means to keep COLLAB from running out of space unexpectedly. They are not an indication of resources that we have actually allocated.
Our average users consume only a fraction of the quota, and we count on that. Allocating resources to cover all quotas would be very expensive and very wasteful. Instead, we try to allocate resources based on use. Of course, sometimes other factors come into play, such as budgetary or technology constraints.
Are you planning quotas for other services?
Yes. ITS hosts a number of services for users, and some of them are susceptible to the same problem when resources disappear unexpectedly. We already use quotas to manage resources in HOME, COURSES and email. And, although it’s not quite the same, we use similar techniques to manage our Internet connectivity. On a case by case basis, we may need to manage various other resources in order to make them predictably available.