National Library Board of Singapore Completes Migration to Linux
Aug 25th, 11:23 UTC
Resolvo announced today that The National Library Board of Singapore has completed the migration of 52 Windows NT Domain Controllers to a Linux-based solution in all its 26 sites nationwide.
Resolvo
announced today that The Singapore National
Library Board (NLB) has completed the migration of 52 Windows NT Domain
Controllers to a Linux-based solution in all its 26 sites nationwide. The migration
exercise was initiated primarily to counter the impending support end-of-life
for Windows NT, as well as to solve issues brought about by the current architecture.
Since 1998, each
of the 26 NLB operating locations has a Windows NT Server Primary Domain Controller
(PDC) and a Backup Domain Controller (BDC), serving a total of about 900 NLB
staff. However, with Microsoft ceasing online support for NT by 1st January
2005, NLB faces the need to upgrade their systems immediately. Apart from the
NT replacement/upgrade decision, NLB also faces other issues in the current
NT operating environment, for instance the limited user access between non-trusted
domains, due to the blocking of NetBios ports across the sites, and the lack
of centralized control over the 26 sites.
In December 2003,
Resolvo was engaged by NLB to architect and implement a cost-effective and scalable
solution to replace the NT servers. At the core of the solution is a Linux Master
Authentication Server, comprising of a combination of Samba and OpenLDAP, running
at the central Network Operation Centre (NOC). Slave servers with a similar
setup are implemented across the rest of the sites. It is through the NOC that
centralized control and administration of each location's domain controller
is accomplished. Various enterprise applications can also be "pushed down" from
the NOC to the PDCs, and the old issue of non trusted domain had also been resolved
with the integration via the NOC. The migration took place in March 2004 and
was completed 4 months later. In total, more than 1000 Windows workstations
are migrated to the new architecture.
With the new architecture,
it is estimated that the costs savings compared to the Windows 2003 route is
as much as 30% and it has afforded NLB with greater scalability and flexibity
as they move into a whole new era of enabling users with global access to information
anywhere in the world.
For more info,
see Resolvo's Case
Profile (PDF file).
About Resolvo
Resolvo is a resource
optimization company incorporated in April 2000, and is devoted to provide innovative
and cost-effective technology solutions to enable business objectives to be
realised in the most resource efficient manner. Resolvo's 3 core business solution
areas, Business
Analytics Solutions, Office
Collaboration Solutions and Linux
Infrastructure Solutions are designed to support and create value in different
levels of business IT needs.
Resolvo is also
the leading Linux solutions provider in Singapore and are strong advocates of
using Linux-based technologies in all solutions wherever possible.
(Submitted by Chan Ying Yip of Resolvo Systems)
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