Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe University Simplifies and Automates Network Management with BlueCat6

Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe University (HS-OWL) in Germany was facing challenges with its network environment. The university had a limited IPv4 address space and was using an open source tool to document its IP addresses and networks. However, there was no integration between this tool and the university's DNS and DHCP core network services. The management and maintenance of these separate tools were time-consuming for the IT staff. The lack of integration also increased the risk of a network configuration error causing an outage that would directly impact the university's students, faculty, and staff. The university's network encompasses about 10,000 active IP addresses on campus and serves the needs of some 6,000 students and 600 staff. The DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management (IPAM) solution selected would have to be scalable to support network growth and include a flexible API to enable integration with the university's existing in-house and custom-built network management tools.

Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences (HS-OWL) is located in North-Rhine Westphalia, western Germany. The university has three campuses in the cities of Lemgo, Detmold, and Höxter. HS-OWL's strong technological and scientific departments are complemented by other courses of study including ecology, sociology, economics, design, and language instruction. The university's network environment, including routing, switching, telephony, and wireless, runs on Cisco. The university's network encompasses about 10,000 active IP addresses on campus and serves the needs of some 6,000 students and 600 staff.