The computer laboratory at Sardar Patel Institute of Technology was
being used extensively by students, teaching and non-teaching staff
alike. Students used the computers to perform practical
experiments, work on various projects, and for online research. The
faculty used the systems for research and development, while the
non-teaching staff performed administrative tasks on the
computers.
The laboratory assistant needed the systems for maintenance or for
installing third-party software. However, the extensive use of the
IT infrastructure by these stakeholders created certain issues.
Since there was no centralized storage, student data was stored in
duplicate on different systems or on flash-based pen drives (that
are notorious for spreading malware). There was no central
repository to store final-year projects which were hence maintained
in hard copies.
The private cloud allows students to launch multiple virtual
machine instances from any computer system. Post deployment, the
institute can also create machine instances on-the-fly and create
an infrastructure according to requirements.
Dr Deven Shah, HOD, IT Department, Sardar Patel College
Internet connectivity was either used inefficiently or misused
by stakeholders to access unauthorized websites via proxy server
software. In case of system failure, the laboratory assistant had
to set up the machine afresh. Purchasing new machines or hardware
refreshes led to an increase in costs due to fresh hardware and
licensing costs.
Open source-based private cloud
deployment
To overcome these issues, the Institute adopted a private cloud.
Using Eucalyptus Systems’ private cloud solution, the
Institute built an internal, private cloud based on open source
technologies and compatible with Amazon’s cloud services.
Some of the existing desktops were clustered to create the cloud
infrastructure and no additional hardware had to be purchased.
The Institute has been one of the early adopters in the educational
sector to adopt an open source-based private cloud. Post
deployment, the Institute can create machine instances on-the-fly
and create an infrastructure according to requirements. It does not
have to invest in additional infrastructure. In the year prior to
the deployment, the college scrapped out 75 legacy machines. Post
deployment, the Institute can reuse a lot of its existing
infrastructure and does not require to invest in additional
capacity.
Cloud reduces IT spends by 70
percent
Each department is allotted Rs 10 lakh as its annual IT budget.
Post deployment, IT spends for each department have reduced by 70
percent resulting in annual savings of up to Rs 7 lakh. Each
student has his own storage space in the cloud. Students can use
the cloud storage space to store their daily experiments. College
projects would still be available to the college for reference even
after the student attains his degree.
The private cloud also allows students to launch multiple virtual
machine instances (based on various practical experiments) from any
computer system. A student and can attach her storage space to that
particular instance to save any work done. In case a particular
instance gets infected by a virus, the infection remains in that
particular instance, and does not affect other running instances.
This ensures a higher level of security. The deployment has also
allowed the college to ensure optimum usage of bandwidth. Each
virtual machine instance is allotted a fixed amount of Internet
bandwidth, restricted to a few MBs in terms of data transfer caps.
This ensures that students do not misuse the connectivity to
download large multimedia files or software or surf unauthorized
websites.
Sardar Patel Institute of Technology is a Silver EDGE
(2010) winner. The complete list of EDGE winners is published in
the October print issue of InformationWeek (India)
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