Service Page

OIT Storage Services

General storage services include Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Block Storage (fiber channel) for campus departments and units for an annual fee. Most storage offerings include backups with a primary and disaster recovery (DR) copy following the campus retention policy of 28 days. For special storage requirements beyond what is listed please please click on the "Help With This Service" button.

The OIT Storage Resource Summary page provides recommendations depending on the type of data that needs stored.

Supported by OIT Platform Compute Services (PCS) team. 

Part of OIT's Shared Services Organization

For more information or help with this service, send a request to oit_platform@help.ncsu.edu or click on the "Help With This Service" button.

Service Features

Network Attached Storage (NAS)

NAS includes support for Windows Service Message Block (SMBv3) and Linux Network File System (NFSv3,v4) shares. This service is intended to replace the need for standalone file servers for Windows and Linux client systems. File shares are created by OIT and co-managed by OIT and the campus department/unit IT staff.

  • Features include
    • File system snapshots up to 7 days
    • Replication by request and for an additional fee
    • Encrypted at rest

Snapshots will consume a small percentage of the customer’s storage quota. Total snapshot storage consumption depends on the rate at which the data changes and number of snapshots created.

SAN (Block) Storage

The SAN (Block) Storage service is primarily used to support the Virtual Machine (VM) hosting service for directly attached VM disks and related VM hosting rates. This service is also available for co-location partners that need to maintain server infrastructure in OIT supported Data Centers. The appropriate tier of SAN block storage listed below is determined by the peak IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) that a specific application service needs. OIT-PCS will work with customers to determine the tier based on performance monitoring and historical experience. However, adjustments will be made as necessary based on actual consumption reporting. OIT does utilize Quality of Service (QoS) to protect neighboring VMs and not impact the performance of other applications. 

  • Bronze (Block-Capacity)
    • Best suited for general desktops and lightweight services
    • Workloads not exceeding 500 IOPS and less than 30% writes
  • Silver (Block-Standard)
    • Best suited for web and application services
    • Workloads not exceeding 900 IOPS and less than 50% writes
  • Platinum (Block-Performance)
    • Best suited for highly transitional applications (databases/etc)
    • Workloads exceeding 900 IOPS or 50% write operations

NCSU Drive - All campus users with a valid Unity ID

Department Shares

Virtual Machine hosting Service

Storage Rates (FY24-25)

Storage rates include the shared cost of infrastructure, equipment, equipment maintenance, primary and DR backups, and FTE effort supporting the service.

Storage TypeAnnual per TB rateAnnual per GB rateCost per GB/Month
NAS with backup$170$0.1660$0.0138
NAS (replicated & backed up)$300$0.2929$0.0244
NAS (no backups)$150$0.1465$0.0122
Bronze (Capacity)$375$0.3662$0.0305
Silver (Standard)$475$0.4638$0.0386
Platinum (Performance)$825$0.8056$0.0671

 

Available For
  • Faculty / Staff
  • Students