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Shared File Services

Flexible, secure, file storage

Shared File Services (SFS) provide file storage which enables sharing of files between groups of users and computers.

Support either the CIFS or NFS (v3) protocols.
Off-site Disaster Recovery copy of the data maintained for protection against an Ithaca campus disaster. (No extra fee.)
Optional snapshots of the data within the share itself (usable for restoring individual files).
Replication of the data across two physical sites on campus. (Requires extra fee.)

Colleges, units, departments, and individuals can order shares of varying sizes.

Shares are centrally provided, monitored, and have an offsite disaster recovery (DR) copy.

The following protocols and operating systems are supported.

	CIFS	NFS (v3)
Windows	X
Macintosh	X
Unix		X

For research data or data that requires archival services, you may also want to consider the storage services from the Center for Advanced Computing.

Terms and Conditions

Fees are billed monthly to your Kuali Account as listed under Fees and Billing.

Computers accessing Shared File Services must comply with the Technical Requirements.

Computers accessing shares configured for high-risk (formerly “confidential”) data must be configured and managed in compliance with Policy 5.10 Information Security by the technical support provider.

What to use a share for? See the Appropriate Uses for Shares page.

Related Policies

Service Details

Best for:

University (mission data) that needs to be stored in a secure, central location.
Files you want to share within your department or with other departments at the University.

Audience(s):

Faculty IT Professionals Staff

Cost:

For Fee: See details about fees

Capacity:

Low velocity data. Less than a 20% daily change rate. Examples: Microsoft Office documents; small databases (with a very small number of users); disk-image storage (ISO, DMG); files without excessive updates/downloads.
If daily change rate is higher than 20%, but data does not require DR-backups, Shared File Services may still be appropriate. Examples: Data composed of temporary files from a data conversion process (no possible DR restoration) or duplicate data files whose master copy is elsewhere.

Regulated Data:

See the Regulated Data Chart for Cornell policy considerations for this service.

Support Contact:

IT Service Desk

Phone: (607) 255-5500

Form to Get Help (if you have a NetID)
Form to Get Help (if you don't have a NetID)
Support Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm (Eastern Time)
Emergency Service Disruptions: After Hours Support

Compare to:

1 Managed Servers

Best for:

Servers that you don't want to manage yourself and do want to maintain on campus.

Also used for:

Disaster recovery
Backups
Virtual or physical servers

2 Box

Share your files with free cloud storage, thanks to a campus-wide license.

Best for:

Storing and sharing large numbers of documents.
provides tools to easily edit common files in Office on the desktop or in Office Online.
Can share files with anyone with an email address / collaborate with other institutions.
Excellent security for your data with encryption of your data both in transmission and while stored in the cloud, detailed auditing of who has acted on and viewed your files, watermarking of files, and view-only files that you can prevent others from downloading.

Cost:

Comparison	Shared File Services	Managed Servers	Box
Cost:	For Fee	For Fee	No Fee

Audiences:

Comparison	Shared File Services	Managed Servers	Box
Alumni:
Faculty:
IT Professionals:
Staff:
Students:
Visitors: