Polish University: Stable Operations Assured

Background

Securing permanent operations

Various IT professionals claim that back-up infrastructure is a must for any institution that offers external client services. The University of Opole, located along the Oder River in southern Poland, is a multidisciplinary public academy that includes nine scientific departments — humanities, theology, law, economics, mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural sciences, and technology — that collaborates with universities in Europe, Asia, and America.

Challenges

To educate nearly 9,000 students annually, the IT infrastructure of the University of Opole must continuously operate to ensure staff have access to the central system for academic services and student information. Applications that are not running properly are a problem for both students and employees.To ensure that reliable and effective cross-discipline IT services are available when needed, the University chose to integrate and secure two separate, pre-existing IT infrastructures with a combination of shared mass storage and dual power supplies.

Solutions

Easy integration with current IT systems

The University of Opole worked with Infonet Projekt, a Huawei Enterprise Business Partner based in nearby Bielsko-Biala, to integrate pre-existing storage systems into an established IT infrastructure.

“Our first intention was to enlarge the existing storage systems that had been installed only two years earlier — to which Infonet Projekt responded that the desired level of integration would not be possible, and suggested that the University purchase an entirely new storage platform with higher capacity,” said Slawomir Paszkiewicz, Administrator of Linux Systems and Network Services, University of Opole.

The University chose Huawei’s OceanStor 2600 V3 storage system due to its ease of use, seamless integration with existing hardware, and competitive price. “Thanks to Huawei’s advanced OceanStor solution, the University of Opole’s old storage systems were upgraded, so that now we are able to back up files without the need to purchase additional products or operational costs,” adds Slawomir Paszkiewicz.

Simulated IT failures were added as part of the new technology applications at one center, while the switch from one Huawei storage system to the other took just seconds. After power was restored and data re-synchronized, the system continued to operate at maximum efficiency. Furthermore, Huawei’s new storage system strengthened the overall reliability of the university IT mass storage infrastructure.

Benefits

Uninterrupted access to the IT network

After applying the solutions to ensure alternative and dual power supplies, the University of Opole built a more stable, reliable, and integrated IT infrastructure.

“Previously when the system would fail, the University would lose connection with the IT network and employees would lose access to files and data for hours. We are now better prepared for these kinds of situations and, when needed, the system will automatically switch to a secondary system that conducts regular backups with 40 percent greater speed. Altogether, the University increased storage space from 600 GB to 15 TB, and it can be further expanded in the future. Altogether, these solutions ensure the continuity of IT system operations,” summarized Slawomir Paszkiewicz.