Standardization of the system landscape
Cordes & Graefe operates two data centers with around 1,200 virtualized systems and a further 70 or so bare-metal systems. The infrastructure also consists of IBM power systems, which are operated with SLES, among other things. The employees of the IT Infrastructure Team are responsible for lifecycle management. All team members complete their tasks according to an individual workflow. Host deployment and configuration are carried out manually, while automation takes place for both Linux and Windows in the form of scripts. Repository management exists for the SLES systems. An RMT is available for this purpose, which stores both the ppc64 and x86 packages locally. Staged repositories are used for the SAP systems. All other systems use an auto-update and obtain the packages directly from the distributor. For certain software, it is necessary to keep the minor version of the operating system at a specified level.
Cordes & Graefe wanted to standardize the system landscape. The company needed a central solution to organize all operating systems. In addition, software maintenance should be standardized and deployment and configuration management should be automated – ideally controllable from a single interface. Only one tool should be used for automation: Ansible.
orcharhino
While searching for a suitable solution, Rainer Schilling, IT Infrastructure employee at Cordes & Graefe, came across orcharhino. After a brief proof of concept, he and his colleagues quickly decided to work with this tool. Another requirement of Cordes & Graefe KG was the creation, packaging and maintenance of the Subscription Manager for the ppc64 architecture. ATIX also provided this function in a very short time. The benefits package also quickly convinced the management and the project was able to start. In an infrastructure workshop lasting several days, an ATIX consultant presented the functions of the tool so that the employees at Cordes & Graefe could work independently with orcharhino. The infrastructures are now maintained homogeneously and automatically. This saves resources and valuable time.
“ATIX AG has completely convinced us as a supplier and service provider. orcharhino makes our work much easier. We can create reports, freeze different versions and finally have a solution that works with Linux deployment as well as image-based with Windows and Linux. This saves us a considerable amount of time. What used to take us an hour can now be done in five minutes. “
– Rainer Schilling, IT Infrastructure employee, Cordes & Graefe
Holding company of the GC Group, headquarters and IT service provider for 150 KMEs
Bremen, Germany
approx. 300 employees, locations in Bremen, Stuhr and Hennef
Cordes & Graefe KG is the holding company of the GC Group – Germany’s market-leading wholesaler for building technology. As the GC Group’s IT company, we see ourselves as more than just a service provider – we are a driver of innovation and technology and therefore number one for our customers. We are also the change initiator of modern and service-oriented IT structures. As a head office and service provider, we supply around 150 medium-sized companies and over 24,000 employees at more than 1,600 locations with IT systems. With over 200 IT employees, we develop and support applications, systems and infrastructure components. More information can be found at https://www.gc-gruppe.de/ueber-uns/holding
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