Customer case
MANAGING SEVERAL DOMAINS IN ONE CONSOLE
ASSOCIATION – ÉDUCATION & FORMATION
How to manage multiple domains in a single console using WAPT?
We explain everything based on the case of Jordi Morillo, systems & networks administrator at Education et Formation: infrastructure, challenges, needs, usage, and benefits with WAPT.
Presentation
Education et Formation is a non-profit association under French law (association loi 1901) specializing in education, originally focused on combating discrimination and illiteracy, based in Normandy.
As it evolved, the organization started offering new courses for basic education and skills development, as well as vocational training leading to diplomas.
Education et Formation operates 20 sites across Normandy, totaling 800 client workstations. They have implemented a Samba Active Directory domain for the “Trainees” section and a Microsoft Active Directory domain for the “Administration” section. The two Active Directory domains are not interconnected through trust relationships.
800 administered stations
20 locations
2 adminsys
Problems encountered
- Firstly, on the “Administrative” side, users had administrator rights on their computers, so they could install any software. Consequently, during updates, it was common for other programs to install without the user noticing (such as Avast antivirus installing during an Adobe Reader update, for example).
- Next, computers in the “Trainee” section used SambaEdu, integrating the WPKG solution for deployment. It was clear that the solution was not very functional and did not provide any inventory reporting.
Testimony
The product is useful, it saves time.
Why use WAPT?
For Education et Formation, the strength of WAPT lies in its ability to manage multiple domains within a single administration console. System administrators also appreciate its ease of installation and use. The fact that WAPT is developed in Python was an additional argument for the organization, as well as the strong community support behind the software.
Version, support, and training
Education et Formation started with WAPT version 1.3, before the Community and Enterprise versions were available. In the second year, the organization purchased support tickets to assist with software development.
In 2019, Education et Formation upgraded to WAPT Enterprise to manage Windows Updates across the student network, benefit from reporting with specific queries, and utilize certificate-based authentication.
Testing Phase
- Duration: 2 months
- Number of test machines: 15
- Package development
What WAPT has brought to Education & Training
On the administrative side, the issue was resolved by revoking administrator access from regular users. System administrators can now control installations and updates across the network. Simultaneously, a successful transition of these machines to Windows 10 was completed.
For users needing specific programs, system administrators developed a package containing the necessary utilities for everyone. Although some packages remain visible to users, they need to contact system administrators to install these software.
Nowadays, time savings have been observed in the “Stagiaire” section, which was previously in poor condition (no information feedback, regular crashes). System administrators now handle software deployment and updates more efficiently.
WAPT was chosen to replace WPKG because it provides reporting capabilities that were lacking in the latter (which did not offer status or state of the workstations).
Estimated gains using WAPT