Alesund kommune Simplifies Network Management and Eliminates DHCPRelated Downtime with BlueCat

Alesund kommune, a Norwegian municipality with a population of 42,982, was using a combination of Windows 2000 server, Linux and BIND to manage its DNS and DHCP. However, the lack of redundancy for DHCP made it impossible to ensure the robustness of the network. The municipality occupies seven of the outer islands in the county of Møre og Romsdal, making it a highly-dispersed environment. Alesund wanted to find a DNS/DHCP solution that would not only eliminate potential network downtime, but would also simplify network management and improve administrator and user productivity while simultaneously decreasing the associated costs of managing its distributed network. The municipality has approximately 3,000 nodes in the network, spread over about 200 different subnets, with most of the clients being Windows and PXE (Pre-Boot Execution Environment) thin clients. With Windows 2000 server, it was impossible to divide all the nodes up into different classes within subnets, which made the system extremely difficult to monitor and manage.

Alesund kommune is a Norwegian municipality with a population of 42,982. The municipality occupies seven of the outer islands in the county of Møre og Romsdal: Heissa, Aspøya, Nørvøya, Oksnøya, Ellingsøya, Humla, and Tørla. Alesund town centre is located on the islands of Aspøya and Nørvøy, and further residential areas are located on the islands of Heissa and Oksnøya. The municipality has approximately 3,000 nodes in the network, spread over about 200 different subnets. In addition to its 2,500 employees, Alesund also provides nodes for several thousand students in the lower grade schools.