Indiana State University

Success Story

Midwest university implements Novell identity-driven solution for both storage and resource management to reduces user administration time by 30 percent

Overview

Indiana State University has more than 11,000 students, nearly 600 faculty and more than 71,000 alumni throughout the world. In 2004, The Princeton Review named the university one of the best colleges in the Midwest.

Challenge

Storage management is a time-consuming IT task, particular in organizations with terabytes of data and dynamic user populations. The IT staff at Indiana State University was burdened by the manual processes for storage allocation and network management. The university wanted a solution to automatically allocate personal network storage for its 11,000 students, based on identity.

Managing the university's desktops was also a cumbersome process, requiring the IT staff to travel to individual workstations to install new applications or provide support. An automated desktop management solution would free up the IT staff to work on more strategic projects.

Novell solution

"As a university, it is essential that we allow students and staff to securely store and share files on the network. Novell eDirectory and File System Factory are indispensable to us in managing this aspect of our network. This solution is the only way we know of to manage network storage based on identity."

Mike Servis
Network Systems Programmer
Indiana State University

Indiana State University began by automating identity management with Novell® eDirectory™ and Novell Identity Manager. The university then selected Novell File System Factory to manage personal storage and Novell ZENworks® to manage its desktops.

"We can't imagine life without a Novell solution for identity management," said Mike Servis, network systems programmer at Indiana State University. "We heard horror stories about other solutions and wanted to stick with the industry leader."

Novell eDirectory provides the central repository for the university's user identity information. Novell Identity Manager synchronizes information across applications and systems, including SAP, to maintain accurate user data, without the need for manual updates. With automated identity management, the IT staff can easily provide thousands of new students with network access the first day of school.

Using Novell File System Factory, university IT administrators create policies to automatically allocate personal storage for each new user account. File System Factory integrates with Novell eDirectory so users get access to personal and group storage on the network based on their identity. File System Factory also manages storage for the life of the user, and cleans it up when the user leaves the system.

"As a university, it is essential that we allow students and staff to securely store and share files on the network," said Servis. "Novell eDirectory and File System Factory are indispensable to us in managing this aspect of our network. This solution is the only way we know of to manage network storage based on identity."

In the past, students were frustrated by having to access multiple user directories in different departments. The university wanted to centralize storage on a clustered network, but lacked the resources to manually transfer thousand of individual home directories. Instead, the IT staff installed Novell File System Factory in a few hours and migrated 10,000 student directories in just a few days and without any user disruption.

Teachers also benefit from File System Factory with the ability to create shared directories that give students easy access to class materials.

"There was nothing hard about implementing Novell File System Factory," said Servis. "Novell seems to know exactly what the market needs and is always coming up with an innovative way to fix real problems."

Automating desktop management with Novell ZENworks has greatly simplified life for the IT staff. Previously, the staff had to hire students to spend several weeks visiting workstations across campus to install new applications. With ZENworks, the staff can distribute applications, updates and patches within hours from a central location.

The remote control capabilities of ZENworks allow the IT staff to troubleshoot workstations from their desks. The staff can now provide faster response to helpdesk calls, without having to travel to individual workstations.

The university has increased security by using ZENworks to manage resources according to user identity, rather than device. Students have access to authorized applications and resources from any computer on campus, based on their identity.

Results

Indiana State University has an identity-driven solution from Novell for both storage and resource management that has greatly improved its IT efficiency. The university has reduced overall user administration time by 30 percent and can give a new student or employee access to personal storage five times faster. File System Factory has reduced the time spent on storage management by 50 percent and allows the university to make more efficient use of network space.

Novell ZENworks allows the IT staff to deliver applications ten times faster and has reduced the time spent on helpdesk calls by 20 percent.

"With technology changing so fast, we simply don't have time for routine administration tasks," said Servis. "Our Novell solution frees us up to evaluate new technologies, rather than worrying about user administration, disk space and service packs."