Linux solves Bergen schools' IT

The Solution? Consolidate more than 100 file, print and domain servers to 20 HS20 blade servers in two IBM BladeCenter chassis, running SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server.

The Benefits? Reduced operating system licence and support fees; centralised architecture offers easier, more cost-effective management and maintenance; stable solution with built-in component redundancy for greater resilience; effective load balancing; enhanced scalability

Bergen's story

Bergen, located on the North Sea coast, is Norway's second city, with a population of some 250,000. The City of Bergen, the central public authority, is responsible for providing the IT infrastructure for 100 schools - among many other community services.

Around 32,000 students and 4,000 teachers use the Bergen educational network, which was ageing, unreliable and expensive to maintain.

"Each school had at least one file, print and communications server running Microsoft Windows NT Server, with a person dedicated to support, plus we had a central team on call should a server fail. A mixture of different vendor hardware meant that maintenance was complex and costly," comments Ole-Bjorn Tuftedal, Chief Technology Officer at City of Bergen Kommune.

"Disk, fan and power supply failures were common, and system corruption by viruses and other problems meant that engineers were faced with an ever-increasing workload. We had an amazing range of software versions and disk images, and the demand for human intervention was constant. City of Bergen wanted to find a more cost-effective way to provide these IT services."

Slicing out costs

Tuftedal decided at an early stage that a centralised architecture would be more cost-effective, and after a public tender process, chose IBM BladeCenter technology running SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server. A total of 20 dual-processor HS20 blades in two BladeCenter chassis have replaced more than 100 physical servers, reducing costs and providing a clear path for future expansion.

Ole-Bjorn Tuftedal explains, "By implementing Linux on BladeCenter, City of Bergen is able to provide a highly stable, easy-to-manage environment for the educational network. Costs are lower, as we no longer have to employ dedicated support people at each school, and site visits are not needed.

"Even practical issues such as the dual fans and redundant power supplies in the BladeCenter architecture mean that the system is inherently more reliable, and the simplicity of adding blades means that we have more than enough scope for expansion."

The BladeCenter solution provides file, print, email, DNS, DHCP, Samba server, OpenLDAP and Web services and is sized to support up to 6000 concurrent users. The blade servers are diskless ("faster and less to go wrong," says Tuftedal), and operating system images, applications and data reside on an IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server.

Selecting the right OS

For the new solution, City of Bergen could have chosen either Microsoft Windows or Linux as its operating system.

With in-house skills on both operating systems, two key elements became deciding factors: the ability to balance load across processors, and integration with the storage server.

"We found Microsoft offered good failover capabilities, whereas Linux also has good clustering functionality. We selected SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server because of its true load-balancing capabilities, and support for storage server technology. BladeCenter gave us the best range of operating system and architecture choices, and has enabled City of Bergen to build a highly cost-effective, reliable system," comments Ole-Bjorn Tuftedal.

Existing Microsoft Windows file server clusters for 15,000 users in City of Bergen required IBM TotalStorage NAS Gateway 300 model G27 dual-node clustered file servers to provide stable access for multiple users.

The new solution for 32,000 users does not need this gateway layer; Linux on BladeCenter delivers all the necessary scalability, network security and connectivity - a further saving for a hard-pressed public service.

Off to a great start

City of Bergen is one of the early adopters of the advanced BladeCenter architecture, and implemented Linux right from the outset.

"Linux does not have a great reputation for working with the newest technologies, yet by the end of the first day we had implemented Linux on diskless blades connected to the storage server," says Ole-Bjorn Tuftedal. "The support from IBM and SUSE was excellent, and helped us to ensure a successful outcome."

He concludes, "Compared with the alternative of Windows servers, we estimate cost reductions of about 30 percent, and we expect considerable reductions in management costs with IBM BladeCenter."