“A lot of people connect from off-campus locations, and we don’t like making them use a VPN…. DirectAccess in Windows Server 2008 R2 will be a much more seamless, simplified solution.”

Graham Thorpe, Manager, Windows Infrastructure Group, McGill University

McGill University in Montreal, Canada, continuously improves its IT infrastructure with new solutions.It recently deployed Windows Server® 2008 R2 to take advantage ofenhancements in Active Directory® and features like DirectAccess. As a result, McGill expects to ease administration and simplify access to applications and data. It also has a better foundation for future projects.


Business Needs

Established in 1821, Canada’s McGill University is an internationallyrecognized research institution located in Montreal in the province of Quebec. Its alumni include numerous Rhodes Scholars, eight Nobel Laureates, and two Canadian prime ministers.

The university has 300 fields of study in departments spread across two campuses.

For many years they were served by a distributed IT environment, but for the last decade McGill has moved to a more centralized infrastructure based on Microsoft® products.Approximately half of the university’s applications run on the Windows® operating system, and the rest are UNIX-based programs.In the past, people had to use different credentials to access each system. That changed in 2002 when McGill began to centralize authentication and eventually replaced Novell Directory Services with the Active Directory® service. Now, staff andstudents log on to multiple systems with one set of credentials. “It’s been a great success,” says Graham Thorpe, Manager, Windows Infrastructure Group at McGill University. “At this point, virtually any authentication that happens at the university is verified through Active Directory.”

Other core systems also run on Windows, including a central file server and a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol service that assigns IP addresses for approximately 30,000 network connections. Students and faculty connect to a variety of important resources, including a learning management system from Blackboard that they use to manage courses and assignments, and Banner ERP, an enterprise resource planning solution from SunGard that they use to pay fees and handle enrollment processes.

McGill has also consolidated its e-mail systems with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition and maintains approximately 70,000 mailboxes for staff, students, and alumni.

Solution
The university strives continuously to improve IT administration and services for the campus community, and it follows new Microsoft projects closely. In late 2008, McGill was planning to upgrade its server hardware and decided that would be a good opportunity to evaluate the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system.

The universityupgraded its central file servers from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise on IBM System x3650 server computers.File services enhancements include the built-in File Classification Infrastructure, which administrators can use to automate manual processes with predefined policies.

Impressed with the solution’s reliability and ease of management, McGill decided to expand deployment.Thorpe, says, “As we explored the solution further, it just became natural to use Windows Server 2008 R2 for new projects.”

One of the first priorities was upgrading its six domain controllers from Windows Server 2003 to Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008 R2. The upgrade is now finished, and McGill looks forward to improvementssuch as theActive Directory Recycle Bin feature, which administrators can use to recover deleted objects in a domain while keeping the domain controller online.

McGillplans to use Windows System Resource Manager to control server resources with preconfigured or custom policies. It will also take advantage of DirectAccess, a feature available in both Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. By using DirectAccess, userswill be able to connect through the Internet instead of using a virtual private network (VPN). The solution will improve access to multiple resources, including an innovative system that uses the Microsoft Silverlight™ browser plug-in to stream recorded lectures.

Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the foundation for other deployments, including Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft System Center products.

The university is currently runningMicrosoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 and would like to use it to manage both its Windows and Linux environments. It is also testing Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 with virtualized servers running on Hyper-V™ technology.

Benefits

McGill University is taking advantage of Windows Server 2008 R2 to manage its IT environment more efficiently and to improve and expand services.

Simplifies management.Over the years, McGill hasimproved services for students and employees while easing IT administration. It expects to continue the trend with Windows Server 2008 R2. “Reliability and management should be even better with Windows Server 2008 R2,” says Thorpe. “For example, Windows System Resource Manager very effectively shows how server resources are being used—it’s really a timesaver.”Thorpe also expects that Active Directory enhancements will improve management. “As an administrator, you always have the fear that someone will accidentally delete something and then you’ll have to take the domain controller offline to restore the data from backups,” Thorpe says. “The Active Directory Recycle Bin feature will be a huge benefit, because we will be able to recover deleted objectsquickly without interrupting service.”

Enhances service.Staff and students will also benefit from improved access to information and applications.Like many universities, McGill tries to balance security with providing open access to its resources.“A lot of people connect from off-campus locations, and we don’t like making them use a VPN,” says Thorpe. “Also, sometimes they forget to disconnect and then all their traffic goes through the VPN pipe.DirectAccess in Windows Server 2008 R2 will be a much more seamless, simplified solution.”

Promotes innovation.With Windows Server 2008 R2, McGill is ready for future projects.“It’s interesting to talk about dramatic gains, but it’s also important to recognize that a series of small improvements can add up to a better experience overall,” says Thorpe. “We can take advantage of Windows Server 2008 R2 to lay the foundation for future functionality or solutions that we need to deploy.”

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the latest version of the Windows Server operating system from Microsoft. With Windows Server 2008 R2, you can create solutions that are easier to plan, deploy, and manage than with previous versions of Windows Server. Building on the features, security, reliability, and performance provided by Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 extends connectivity and control to local and remote resources. This means that your organization can benefit from reduced costs and increased efficiencies gained through enhanced management and control over resources across the enterprise.

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Windows 7

Built on the Windows Vista® foundation, Windows 7 will help make users productive anywhere, enhance security and control, and streamline PC management. The investments in Windows 7 are shaped by the evolving needs of end users and IT professionals in the enterprise. Users are becoming more computer-savvy and expect more from the technology they use at work. They expect to be able to work from home, from branch offices, and on the road with the same level of productivity. As user needs have changed, the demands on IT professionals have increased. Today, IT professionals must provide more capability and greater flexibility for users while continuing to minimize cost and security risks.

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