The University of Leicester recently rebuilt its network using Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Professional. Serving both faculty and students with its campuswide NetWare-based network, the university was faced with unique challenges such as roaming user support, high security, and broad application support. Windows 2000 is the basis of the solution that met these challenges today and provided the right foundation for the university’s future computing needs.
Company Profile
For Peter Burnham, assistant director of the Computer Centre at the University of Leicester in Leicester, England, addressing the differences between the university’s user base and that of an average corporation is not merely an exercise in academics. While faculty and staff have their own personal computers in their offices, much of the student computing at the university takes place in "Open Access Areas" distributed around campus. The machines in these areas are used on a drop-in basis or as part of formal course work. With about 15,000 users, these 1,000 computers must present a unified user interface that preserves individual user options, and they must support high security since all students have access to all machines.
Says Burnham, "The challenges of this type of computing are not usually encountered on the office desktop, where most users have their own assigned machines. The fact that Windows 2000 addressed both of these issues—unified interface and security—so well was our first clue that it would be the best solution for the university." The Windows 2000 operating system preserves individual user options through roaming profiles, whereby users are presented with the same customized settings and access to data regardless of which machine they log on to. Windows 2000 also satisfies the university's need for high security.
Another key benefit of Windows 2000 is its broad support for applications. The university needs to support a wide range of programs, from internal productivity applications for staff to the latest scientific applications for students to use as part of their coursework. With the support of Windows 2000 for over 3,000 applications, staff, faculty, and students will be able to run the programs they need to be more productive and to learn.
Says Burnham, "Clearly, Windows 2000 was the right choice in terms of what our user base requires. Fortunately, it is also the right choice in terms of management. We expect that the Active DirectoryTM service and the IntelliMirrorTM management technologies will make it very easy to deploy desktops and applications like Office 2000. We look forward to the resulting simplified management of our campus-wide facilities."
Business Situation
The university requires a platform that supports roaming profiles for students, high security, and a unified interface to ease system integration with formal course work. The operating system must have support for the future.
The Windows 2000-based Solution
The University of Leicester has replaced its Novell Netware-based network running on a total of 18 servers with a new network consisting of 7 Compaq servers running Windows 2000. Four of these are domain controllers, one runs Microsoft Systems Management Server, another runs Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, and another runs Microsoft SQL ServerTM. As of January 2000, the University of Leicester’s Windows 2000 network supports over 4,500 registered users sharing over 1,000 client computers. The clients are divided, with roughly 700 located in staff offices and 300 in student Open Access Areas. Peak usage on the network exceeds 500 concurrently active users. According to Burnham, "Since the start of this academic year, Windows 2000 has provided exceptional service."
An Opportunity for Change
Before deciding to replace the existing systems with a Windows 2000-based network, the University of Leicester maintained a diverse group of operating systems, including Novell NetWare 3.12, VMS, Silicon Graphics and Sun versions of UNIX, and Microsoft Windows NTŪ Server 4.0. Burnham explains the university’s problem with this setup, "We considered that the range of platforms we were supporting was simply too broad. We felt that the university would benefit from a single platform for students. We needed to account for the services we were providing, bring them up to date, and provide a solid platform for future development."
Of immediate concern to the university was that users were demanding a more modern interface, new applications would not run under the existing operating systems, and difficulties with software drivers for new computer hardware were beginning to crop up. "We don't have a captive set of users. If we don't provide good services, students and faculty will eventually develop their own solutions, costing the university much more money in the long run. We must provide the efficiency and manageability of a large, central service, but we must also provide application support and a user environment that meets the stringent demands of our academic users," says Burnham.
The university's complex heterogeneous network was the result of the Computer Centre's continued response to increasingly complex demands by users. With this trend continuing, the university recognized that it could respond better to user demands, decrease its support burden, and prepare better for future demands by moving to Windows 2000. Says Burnham, "One of the great things about this move was that, while we will achieve far better security, hardware and software support, and flexibility in terms of usability—we will really simplify our network."
Addressing Users’ Needs
The university divided users’ needs into three basic areas:
