Success Story

NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP Drives Storage Efficiencies Enabling Sheridan College to Increase Video Surveillance Capabilities for Student Safety and Security

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

IndustryEducation, Public Sector

The ChallengeSiloed storage was no longer cost-e�ective and end-of-life systems needed to be replaced with a more �exible and scalable virtualized storage environment.

The SolutionNetApp Clustered Data ONTAP delivered a FlexPod architecture that could scale without a need to “rip and replace”, provide better management and an optimized solution to support more than 500 VMs and multiple applications across 4 campuses and 3 cities.

The ChallengeThe challenges of managing a multi-site storage environment often meant “rip and replace” as Sheridan College’s requirement to manage massive volumes of data for students, faculty and administration continued to grow. Sheridan followed a strict RFP process to identify the right storage partner who could support their heavily virtualized environment while delivering the ability to scale without replacing hardware. NetApp rose to the top of the RFP contenders by recommending Data ONTAP, an always available clustered architecture. As an added bonus, Sheridan realized storage compression and cost savings that allowed them to re-allocate capital for additional video surveillance equipment, improving Sheridan’s already high commitment to making campuses a safe place in which to work, study, and live.

In 2012, the Sheridan Board of Governors adopted a strategic plan that declared Sheridan will continue to be an outstanding educational institution, using their “essence of creativity and innovation to forge a new path that meets the future needs of their students, their communities and the country”.

That strategy included a commitment to providing the most up-to-date technology and support for thousands of users across a multi-campus complex. In order to identify a solution ideal for the current and future demands of their VDI environment and application workloads, the IT team at Sheridan College went through a rigorous RFP process to �nd the best solution that would cost e�ectively upgrade and support their data centre to serve four campuses in three Ontario cities.

With the pressure on educational institutions to maximize precious resources, they were looking for cost e�ective methods of replacing storage silos and indiscrete storage arrays with a �exible, scalable system and strong networking components, heavily optimized for their virtual infrastructure.

Websitewww.sheridancollege.ca

The Benefits• Simplified data centre operations - One network, one data centre• Rapid replication using FlexClone and Snapshot technologies for development and QA environments• OnCommand Unified Manager for management capabilities• Optimal storage growth capability – no downtime with clustered Data ONTAP• Better storage compression for video meant that cost savings could be allocated toward the purchase of additional surveillance cameras for increased campus security

About The ClientWith approximately 20,000 full-time students and 35,000 continuing education enrollments every year, Sheridan College is one of Ontario’s leading post-secondary institutions, playing a critical role in shaping the future of our society. Their faculties include arts & design, business, humanities & social science, applied health, science & technology, and skilled trades.

James DuncanSenior Technology Architect

“We needed storage capabilities we could grow into without putting pressure on the budget. NetApp’s single scalable architecture and clustered data ONTAP operating system meant that we could easily grow without having to replace any technology”

The SolutionOnce the NetApp solution was selected, a senior team from NetApp were assigned to the project.

“NetApp came to us with a great reputa-tion in the market. But in addition to technology, one of the advantages of working with them was the strong team of resources they made available to us,” said Duncan. “We were really impressed with just how well they were able to help us improve our environment by leveraging the unique capabilities that NetApp brings to the table such as FlexClone and Snapshots.”

FlexClone allows Sheridan to instantly replicate data volumes and datasets as transparent, virtual copies—true clones-without compromising performance or demanding additional storage space. In addition, NetApp Snapshot technology is providing Sheridan the ability to create point-in-time copies of �le systems, again with no performance impact and using minimal storage space, enabling data protection from a single �le to a complete disaster recovery solution.

The Benefits“The real standouts for us were FlexClone and Snapshots, giving us instant virtual data replication,” concluded Duncan. “But we are equally happy with the OnCommand Uni�ed Manager, which has given as a single dashboard to monitor the health of our environment and ensure operational e�ciency.Since going live, Sheridan has realized the following:

• Increased virtualization and performance with NetApp’s architecture and clustering capabilities• Simplified data centre operations - One network connecting two data centres, serving a variety of academic and departmental applications across 4 campuses in 3 di�erent cities• Rapid replication using FlexClone and Snapshots in their development and QA environments• OnCommand Unified Manager for management capabilities, health status and alerts• Optimal storage growth capability – no downtime• Better storage compression for video meant that cost savings could be allocated toward the purchase of additional surveillance cameras for increased campus security

Duncan continued, “Expanding is now easy and trivial, making our lease refreshes simple to deal with, and we are pleasantly surprised at how much storage we have been able to grow into without increasing our budget. Being able to use unspent capital to purchase additional surveillance equipment was a bonus we hadn’t anticipated.”

“We have a complex environment with more than 500 VMs running a mix of academic and departmental applications,” added Duncan. “We are heavy users of Oracle and PeopleSoft, MS Exchange for on premise email as well as SharePoint and SQL Server. Our operating systems are split between Linux and Windows and we virtualize with VMware. The ability to do rapid replication of our environments for development and QA has become incredibly valuable.”Job #1 was to break down siloes in di�erent parts of the organization to simplify data centre operations and improve service delivery. With Cisco UCS already deployed, a FlexPod architecture was created by integrating NetApp storage and converging them into a single architecture that takes advantage of FlexPod capabilities such as validated designs and a premium cooperative support model.

“Again, another way that NetApp stood out was in the delivery of everything,” continued Duncan. “We were working with compressed timelines and needed the environment fully operational in less than 8 weeks. NetApp and their delivery partner Softchoice made that happen.”

“When technology, delivery and deployment work well it becomes a transparent process. Our systems were coming to end-of-life and we had an urgent need to get storage in place quickly. NetApp and Softchoice met our expedited timelines. We could not be happier with the overall experience and, of course, the outcome.”James DuncanSenior Technology Architect

Leading organizations worldwide count

services to manage and store their data. Customers value our teamwork, expertise and passion for helping them succeed

www.netapp.com

Follow us on:

© 2015 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. No portions of this document may

are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApp logo, Flash Cache, Flash Pool, FlexPod, OnCommand, SnapManager, SnapMirror, SnapRestore, and Snapshot are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Cisco, UCS,

trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. Microsoft, SQL Server, and SharePoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. VMware and vSphere are registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. CSS-6775-0415

TECHNOLOGIES

Infrastructure:• FlexPod• NetApp FAS and E-Series• VMware vSphere• VMware Horizon View• Cisco UCS

Applications:• Cisco Video Surveillance Manager• Cisco Unified Communications• Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and SQL Server• Oracle/PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Finance, CRM and HR• Oracle Database

http://communities.netapp.com/index.jspahttp://www.linkedin.com/groups/NetApp-111681/abouthttp://twitter.com/#!/netapphttp://www.facebook.com/NetApphttp://www.youtube.com/user/NetAppTVhttp://www.slideshare.net/NetApp