University of Twente (UT)University of Twente (UT) is an active research university. UT is the only campus university in the Netherlands and offers courses and research opportunities in scientific fields ranging from psychology and public policy studies to applied physics and biomedical technology. The University of Twente joins forces with the Universities of Technology in Delft and Eindhoven in the 3TU Federation. Besides, the TU is a partner in EICU, the European network of innovative universities.
ChallengesUT wanted to replace the existing outdated Innosoft directory server (hardware and software) that managed staff and student contact details. The replacement had to provide the same functionality as the existing solution and had to offer the possibility of (near) real-time synchronisation with the database. Besides, the management and maintenance of the new solution had to be simplified and - forced by security guidelines – external access to the contact details had to be realised by a secured SSL connection.
SolutionEverett advised UT to implement a solution built on two Oracle Virtual Directories connected with the database. Everett installed and configured these directories, one for the internal university network and the other for external use via the SSL connection. Both offering the same contact details displayed in the same way as before. The introduction of a mandatory authentication process for students and staff resulted automatically in better protection. Due to access control lists and Java plug-ins spammers couldn’t gain access to user data. Everett ensured that contact and logon data sources no longer can be accessed directly, what consequently leads to an increased security level.
“Oracle Virtual Directory provided us with more solutions than we initially thought we needed. The implementation was also a success thanks to Everett’s knowledge and effort”, said Ferdy du Chatenier, Project Manager, University of Twente.
Oracle Virtual Directory made it possible to built the directory structure conform the wishes of the university; data maintenance and management is simplified as contact details are managed in just one place. Time is saved by the directory management with a streamlined process for adding, replacing, removing, and combining sources without customers and users of the data, noticing it. Staff and students can log in with one username and password. The use of Oracle Virtual Directory provides greater flexibility and more opportunities for future expansion.
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