Blackboard provides managed hosting services for clients' mission critical applications. They guarantee 99.7% uptime and manage over 600 clients globally across various sectors. Their infrastructure includes 6 datacenters worldwide with over 12,000 sqft of space, 2000+ servers, and 150+ network devices. Blackboard ensures reliability through redundancy of servers, storage, power, and network connections across multiple locations. They provide 24/7 support through dedicated teams and monitoring of over 10,000 system metrics every few minutes. Clients benefit from scalability, security, cost control, and relief of management responsibilities through Blackboard's fully managed service.

1. Managing Clients’ Mission Critical
Applications
Harry Choi, Vice President
Blackboard Managed Hosting
Harry.choi@blackboard.com

2. Key Drivers of Managed Hosting Service
• Blackboard®
application becoming more mission
critical
• Zero downtime expectation
• Crucial to have an environment that is reliable
and guarantees maximum uptime
• The people behind the systems are as important
as the technology

3. • Offering Services since 1999
• Over 600+ Customers from All Market Sectors
• 110+ Team Members located in 4 Continents
• 5+ million total active Blackboard users
• Average of 13+ terabytes of data transferred
daily
• 150+ million http hits per day during peak activity
• 99.7% or Better Uptime Availability Guarantee
(SLA)
Global Statistics

4. • 6 Datacenters (3 in US, 2 in Amsterdam, 1 in Sydney)
• 12,000+ SqFt of Global Datacenter Space
• 2000+ Servers & 150+ network devices
• Over 1 Pedabyte of NAS/SAN Storage
• 10,000+ services monitored every 3-5 minutes
Infrastructure Statistics

5. Blackboard Managed Hosting Clients
600+ Clients from All Market Sectors

6. 5 Key Value Propositions of Bb Managed Hosting
Cost
Control
SecurityReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service

7. Cost
Control
SecurityReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service
• ASP Infrastructure located in Tier-3
& 4 Datacenters
• Multiple ISP connections to various
Tier-1 ISPs for redundant access to
Internet & aggregate 9.4 Gbps
capacity
• Redundant Routers, Firewalls,
Load Balancers, Switches &
Servers
• 4 levels of power backups for 100%
power availability
• Climate control for
optimal network
environment
VA1
VA2
VA3
EMEA
Internet
AUS
DC
Reliability: Redundancy & Stability

8. VA2 Datacenter
Network Uptime in 2007 & 2008: 99.9%

9. 100% Power Backup Guarantee

10. Security: Protect Network and Backup
Data
• Physical Security – Tier-1 datacenter security
including:
– limited access to authorized personnel
– identification badges
– security cameras
– 24x7 on-site security
• Network Security – Including:
– Firewall & Intrusion Detection System
– Full-time Security Engineer
– Third Party Audit
• Data Security: Multiple levels of database and
file backup Cost
Control
SecurityReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service

11. Security – Physical Security
24 x 7 x 365 Security
Guards
Access Lists limit entry to
authorized personnel
Biometric Scanner

12. Security – Physical Security

13. 1st
level
Data is stored on highly
available clustered
headunits
2nd
level
Daily Snapshots stored
online for 30 days on fully
redundant storage
systems
3rd
level
Daily backups are
SnapMirrored to backup
datacenter
Cost
Control
Securit
yReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service
Security: Redundant Data Storage & Backup Strategy
1ST
LEVEL: CLUSTERED
HEADUNITS IN HA SETUP
2ND LEVEL: DAILY SNAPSHOTS
STORED ONLINE ON FULLY
REDUNDANT STORAGE SYSTEMS
1
2
3
3RD LEVEL: DATA MIRRORED TO
HIGH AVAILABLE, NEARSTORE
FILERS IN SEPARATE
DATACENTER

14. Scalability: Build an Environment to Support
Growth
• Bandwidth and Storage are Never Capped
• Additional Bandwidth on Demand
– Available in 1 Mbps increments
• Additional Storage on Demand
– 10 GB unit increments for Learning System
– 1 TB unit increments for Content System
• Additional Servers Added as Needs Grow
• Additional Active Users Support
– Includes incremental bandwidth, storage and hardware
• Software Updates/Upgrades Made Easy
Cost
Control
Securit
yReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service

15. MISSION
CRITICAL
EXPLORATORY
TIME
SUPPORTED STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATIVE:
(Welcome Advanced
Platform)
Phase I Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
INSTITUTIONALGROWTH
Scalability: Evolutionary Best Practices
Production
Environment
Evaluation
Environment
Staging
Environment High-Availability /
High Performance
RAC Production
Environment
Development
Environment(s)
RAC Staging
Environment
Complex Hosting
Project Mgmt
Business
Continuity
Environment
T & D
Environment
Production
Environment

16. Fully Managed Service: 24 x 7 x 365
 One Stop Client Support for Software & Hosting
 Services backed up by 99.7% Availability Guarantee – credit issued
for violations
 24 x 7 Managed Hosting Support
– Dedicated Technical Support Manager (TSM)
– Phone, Web and Email based Ticketing System
– All Upgrade and Patch Applications Provisioned by
Experienced Professionals
Cost
Control
SecurityReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service

17. Managed Hosting Organization: 24 x 7 x
365 • 110+ Team Members
• Experienced Professionals in
respective teams with various
technical certifications
• Dedicated to Hosting Clients Only
• 24 x 7, 3 Shifts in 4 Continents

18. Fully Managed Service: 24 x 7 x 365
Infrastructure Monitoring and Management
 Key Performance Metrics
polled every 5 minutes
– cpu = 5-minute load average
– disk = % free on local mount
points
– nfs = % free on NFS mount
points
– memory = real, virtual and
swap
– procs = scanning ‘ps’ output
– Obak = Oracle backup status
– ofiles = Oracle data/index file
sizes
– files = other file/directory sizes
– Application Check for
Response Time, etc…

20. Coradiant TrueSight Sample Report
Reports can be generated
as needed to review End-
to-end performance
Review of user satisfaction
based on response times
for requests.
User satisfaction trends
at various points in
time.

21. Fully Managed Service: Reporting Tools for Clients (e.g. Insight
Tool)
State University
Application
metrics
Historical
Reporting &
Graphs
Bandwidth
Usage
Storage Usage

22. Insight Reporting Tool – Cont’d
Bandwidth Usage
Sample Institution
95th
Percentile for
this month
View bandwidth
info from previous
months
Create graphs and
charts of
bandwidth usage
over time

23. Cost Control: Lower Costs than Self-Hosted
 Institutions realize significant savings each year by
hosting with Blackboard Managed Hosting
 Savings depend on the type & size of
implementation & institutions’ circumstance.
 Blackboard Managed Hosting can provide a
customizable three-year Total Cost of Ownership
(TCO) calculation document.
Cost
Control
SecurityReliability
Scalability
Fully
Managed
Service

24. Questions?