CIS 310 Management Information Systems Infrastructure

Infrastructure What is IT Infrastructure? Value chain, support primary and secondary activities – Support to run things (hardware, networks, help, training…etc. – Speed them up – Add quality – Reduce cost – Give insight that wasn’t possible without connections between functional areas – Needs to have flexibility to meet changing needs of the market & business

What happens when you have weak infrastructure? Inefficient Ineffective Lost Opportunity Unhappy clients & customers – hard to change the opinion once the trust is lost Costs you money

MIS Infrastructure Hardware Network Cables Client/Server Software Cloud Wikipedia: Information technology infrastructure is the integrated framework upon which digital networks operate. This infrastructure includes data centers, computer networks, Database Management devices and a regulatory system.

Sample Network Figure from:

Network Architect / Information Architect Network Architect plans the entire network infrastructure for the company. – Solves problems like: Throughput Security Information Architect – database, data flows, EWIS for the company. – Solves problems like: How do I expand the database and not have it crash? How do we add modules to SAP?

Infrastructure Support Infrastructure Support provides for support of the company assets if an emergency occurs. – Natural Disaster – Malicious Attack Support comes in the form of – Backup and recovery – Disaster recovery and – Business continuity planning

End of Infrastructure What is infrastructure? Why is infrastructure important to a business?

Networking video

Networking Network = connecting computers together so they can communicate – Architecture - peer-to-peer, client/server – Topology - bus, star, ring, hybrid, wireless – Protocols - Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) – Media - coaxial, twisted-pair, fiber-optic

A simple peer-to-peer network

Client/Server

A Server Rack

Where are my servers?

A simple client/server network

Youtube Staples – Easyhelp =_hqfNdrw8Bc Wireless Network

Bus Star Ring Hybrid Mesh Topology Images from Escotal.comEscotal.com

Types of Networks Local Area Network (LAN) Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) Wide Area Network (WAN)

Protocols Ethernet Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Medium Coaxial Twisted-pair Fiber-optic Media TypeBandwidthPerformance: Typical Error Rate Twisted-pair for analog voice applications 1MHzPoor to fair (10 –5 ) Coaxial cable1GHzGood (10 –7 to 10 –9 ) Fiber75THzGreat (10 –11 to 10 –13 )

End of Networking Optimizing and Maintaining the Network Infrastructure “The Cloud”

Agile Infrastructure

Agile = flexible Can my network support a 1000 times growth in network traffic during a big event? – Victoria’s Secret – Mars Rover, Curiosity Is it easy to upgrade my network with the latest security features? How reliable is the data I get from the network?

Network Agility Having an agile network lets a company – Quickly and easily react to change – Provide 100% network up-time – Improve network easily as technology improves – Support new applications that are needed – Increase or decrease the network capabilities as needed

The Ilities Characteristics of an agile MIS infrastructure – Accessibility – Availability – Maintainability – Portability – Reliability – Scalability – Usability

Ilities (contd.) Accessibility – Allowing different people, different levels of access. (Admin – has full access) Availability – Making the network available for a defined period of time. 100% up-time if it is a critical system. (Amazon vs. Blackboard vs. FAA)

Ilities (contd.) Maintainability – Easy to maintain. If it is easy to maintain, you can modify it quickly to meet business needs. Portability – Applications can work on different devices. (Web pages are platform independent.)

Ilities (contd.) Reliability – System is functioning correctly and giving accurate information. Scalability – System can increase or decrease it’s capacity depending upon need. Usability – Ease of use of the system. Low learning curve.

End Accessibility Availability Maintainability Portability Reliability Scalability Usability

Backup and Recovery

Backup and recovery Disaster recovery and Business continuity planning

Backup and Recovery Backup – Need a secure copy of all your transactions, customer data, accounting, HR….etc. – Massive amount of data. – Store the backup somewhere safe! – Daily, weekly, monthly backups. Recovery – Get the system up and running after a bad event. – Fault tolerance, Failover, Failback

Disaster Recovery Planning is Paramount Disaster recovery plan – detailed plan about what to do in the event of a disaster. Drill the plan. Practice so people know what to do. Know the risks and the costs of not being able to recover quickly.

Sample Plan Disasterrecoveryplantemplate.org Outline of what a typical plan might include: – Lists of key personnel and how to contact them. – Descriptions of all the major applications and frequency of use. – Emergency backup procedures for each system. – Contact names for vendors. – Procedures for switching to an alternate site.

Alternate Sites for IT Operations Hot site – Exact replica of the companies computer facilities. Room with all your hardware and software pre-loaded. Cold site – Site with no equipment. A place to set up your alternate site. Warm site – Room with hardware but, you have to configure it and provide the data.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP) The plan for the company to restore the systems and function as an operational business again. – Partial vs. complete recovery – Critical Systems – Prioritization, triage

End