After years of consideration, the University’s Information Technology Services (ITS) implemented the finishing touches in their switch of file-sharing servers from Novell’s NetWare server to Microsoft’s Dragon server. The decision to make this change was implemented two years ago, and the project was completed this past fall.
Using the old Novell server, all students, faculty and staff were given a personalized folder in which they could store files. Network printers around campus were also controlled using these servers. The new system, which is a part of Microsoft Windows, offers similar file sharing services at a much lower cost, as well as requiring fewer operating systems to run on.
“So far the system has been extremely stable and met all of our expectations,” said Joanna Agostinelli, Director of User Services for ITS.
Talk has been circulating around campus regarding the change in servers for the past few months, but not all students have noted the change. Some students do not utilize the computer labs frequently enough to notice the difference.
“I haven’t noticed any changes in my computer,” said Dana Raviv ’06.
There were various reasons for the switch, most importantly price and the amount and convenience of services rendered. According to ITS, the Novell hardware that they were using was unable to keep pace with the new equipment that the University had upgraded to.
Furthermore, the software license agreement that the University had with Novell was quite expensive, and much of the University was already running on Microsoft servers. While the University already had a more cost effective licensing agreement with Microsoft, ITS held out buying the Dragon server because up until recently it didn’t offer all the optimal features.
A little over two years ago, Microsoft Active Directory released a version of the Dragon server which was capable of performing all of ITS’s desired functions. Upon its release, ITS seized the opportunity to reduce the cost of campus wide file and printer sharing as well as cut down on the number of computers needed on campus.
There were many stages to the conversion, starting with the reconfiguration of all campus network printers. This reconfiguration allowed the printers to run without the use of Novell. Next, all data and accounts had to be migrated to the new systems. Lastly, all faculty, staff and lab computers as well as lab printers needed reconfiguration.
After these major steps were completed, as well as many more minor ones, announcements were made to network users as well as providing user information.
“The HelpDesk students were very important in answering questions about the migration and assisting folks in logging into the new system and accessing data on Dragon,” Agostinelli said.
While central file storage in not needed by everyone, it is extremely useful for storing files to be accessed from multiple computers or files to be shared by multiple users. Dragon can also be used to backup important files, as the servers are backed up nightly.
For more information regarding the use of Dragon, such as logging in to the network on campus as well as accessing the network from home, contact ITS or visit the website, www.wesleyan.edu/its/dekstopsupport/nas/.
Leave a Reply