Cornell IT has entered into an Enterprise Agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide public cloud services to the Cornell community. The agreement allows Cornell faculty and staff (but not students) to opt-in to use AWS cloud-based IT infrastructure services under a Cornell Master Account. Participating in the Enterprise Agreement has a range of benefits:

• The Cornell Enterprise Agreement was reviewed and approved by University Counsel, and provides greater protections than the standard AWS click-through license terms. Data usage guidelines regarding which types of data can be stored in Amazon can be found here.
• Participants will be provided with an AWS sub-account that is associated with the Cornell Master Account. Their AWS usage will be direct billed, eliminating the hassles and restrictions of procurement cards or credit cards. Over time, as Cornell use of AWS increases, participants will enjoy discounts based on the total aggregated Cornell consumption of AWS under consolidated billing.

AWS is not a service provided by Cornell IT—it is a contracted-for service that individual Cornell units can purchase and use. Use of AWS and associated fees are the sole responsibility of each purchasing unit.

The responsibility of Cornell IT is limited to maintenance and oversight of the Enterprise Agreement, including monthly re-billing of AWS charges to units whose service consumption generates those charges.

What is needed to participate in Cornell’s AWS Contract?

• An onboarding discussion between CIT, the College Business Officer (CBO), the IT Director, and the Security Liaison, to discuss information regarding responsibilities and practices
• A commitment from the College Business Officer to take responsibility for all AWS bills generated under the unit’s accounts
• An acknowledgement of commitment to adhere to these Cornell security and data policies:
  • 5.10 Data Security
  • 5.4.2 Reporting Electronic Security Incidents
  • 4.12 Data Stewardship and Custodianship
  • 4.5 Access to Student Information
• The name and email address of responsible account holder
• KFS account code for re-billing
• Must be Cornell staff, faculty, or researcher. Students are not covered under this contract

What else do I need to know?

• Information about AWS pricing, including a calculator to estimate cost of your services in the cloud. If you would like help using the calculator, the Cloudification Service team is available to assess your services to help estimate total cost.
• There are tools and services in AWS that allow you to monitor and alert on high usage. These tools should be utilized to prevent unexpected charges.
• Billing questions or disputes are the responsibility of the account holder, but as the Master Agreement holder, CIT is available to aid in these efforts.
• Enterprise Support for AWS services is free to Cornell AWS customers under the Cornell contract. All AWS Enterprise Support fees are paid centrally.
• Advanced for fee services are available from Amazon.
• Optional for fee Managed Hosting services and consulting for applications in the cloud will be available from CIT.
• Responsibility for all activity occurring within a unit’s account is held by the account holder. Access granted, data distributed, and maintenance of applications within the cloud are the responsibility of the account holder.
• CIT, Cloudification Services, and the IT Security Office are available to consult on and review application infrastructure and configuration prior to deploying in order to ensure best practices. This is a free service.
• If you are already using Amazon services and wish to convert your current account to a sub account under the Master agreement send an email to cloud-onboarding@cornell.edu.