About Municipality of Krimpen aan de IJssel
The Municipality of Krimpen aan de IJssel provides public services to the 30,000 inhabitants of this Dutch town, located in the south west of the country. Formerly an agricultural town, Krimpen aan de IJssel has grown to become one of the suburbs of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe.
Challenge
Facing the end of vendor support for its NetWare® operating systems, the Municipality of Krimpen aan de IJssel wanted to move core services such as e-mail, directories and system management to a new platform for the future. Based on its long and positive experience of NetWare, the Municipality aimed to stay as close as possible to the original environment, and to continue using the same management tools.
As a second challenge, the Municipality needed to introduce new applications running on Microsoft Windows Server, with Microsoft Active Directory domain controllers. To minimise the IT administration burden, the organisation looked for a solution that could automatically synchronise user information between Active Directory and Novell eDirectory™.
For both of these requirements, the Municipality needed to ensure minimal disruption to its normal operations–so careful planning and the support of a trusted partner were essential.
Novell Solution
The Municipality of Krimpen aan de IJssel engaged KMC Solutions BV, a leading Dutch systems integrator and Novell Platinum PartnerSM, to specify and deliver a solution. Following a detailed planning phase, the Municipality migrated from NetWare to Novell Open Enterprise Server running on Linux–re-using its existing HP hardware.
"We were perfectly happy with NetWare, but we needed to consider the long-term support options, and it made sense to move to Linux," said Robin-John van Tol, System Engineer at the Municipality of Krimpen aan de IJssel. "Novell Open Enterprise Server enabled us to migrate the underlying operating system to Linux, while preserving the powerful management features of NetWare. KMC Solutions planned and delivered the migration faultlessly, and everything ran smoothly."
The Municipality migrated to Novell Open Enterprise Server one server at a time to keep risk to a minimum, and was able to complete the change rapidly and without impact on normal operations. Novell Open Enterprise Server includes Novell Cluster Services™, enabling a seamless transition from the old NetWare clusters to the new solution, and providing a completely familiar environment for the IT staff. In addition, the Municipality introduced SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server to run its Novell GroupWise® e-mail and collaboration software for 300 users, and Novell ZENworks® Desktop Management for administering the Municipality's 220 workstations.
To solve the challenge of synchronising user information between its core Novell eDirectory environment and the new Microsoft Active Directory domains, the Municipality deployed Novell Identity Manager. The Novell solution automatically replicates changes across all directories, maintaining consistency without any manual effort for the Municipality's IT team.
"Novell Identity Manager enabled us to introduce a new set of directories without any additional effort." said van Tol. "Once again, KMC Solutions did an excellent job on the implementation, so there was no disruption."
Results
By migrating from NetWare to Novell Open Enterprise Server running on Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the Municipality of Krimpen aan de IJssel gained an open, flexible and stable platform for the future. The organisation was able to move its existing clustered servers to the new platform without any changes, and can use the same familiar Novell tools to manage all its systems.
"We continue to use Novell ConsoleOne® and Novell iManager for all administration tasks, giving us a completely familiar set of tools for both direct and remote management of our core systems," said van Tol. "All we really noticed with the migration was the excellent performance, reliability and stability of Linux–we are very pleased with the new solution."
The introduction of Novell Identity Manager enabled the Municipality to roll out its new Windows applications without increasing the workload for the IT team. Novell ZENworks Desktop Management provides similar benefits, enabling the small team to easily manage the full estate of 220 Windows workstations.
"Novell ZENworks makes it easy to deploy operating system images and applications to workstations, removing the need to physically visit a user's machine to install software," said van Tol. "Without this software, we would almost certainly require a much larger team to provide the same level of service. KMC Solutions helps us to maintain high standards with a small team by providing good support and links to the right technical resources in Novell."