The University of Ottawa centralizes data storage with Synology
"Synology's RS2818RP+ will offer a convenient way of providing our researchers with a secure, reliable location to store their research data that can easily accumulate into terabytes. By combining their individual needs into one big solution, we will be able to provide a very cost-effective storage solution."
Jarno van der Kolk – Senior Scientific Computing Specialist for the University of Ottawa
The Company
The University of Ottawa is the largest bilingual university in the world, and home to the largest law school in Canada. Centered in the heart of Canada's capitol, students and researchers at the University of Ottawa continue to make advances in social sciences, health, engineering, and science. The University of Ottawa is home to more than 40,000 students, 5,000 employees, and more than 210,000 alumni spread around the globe.
The Challenge
More than 2,000 researchers conduct their studies at the University of Ottawa, and their research is generating more data every year. Originally, uOttawa researchers were responsible for buying their own servers or cloud storage solutions, which led to hundreds of gigabytes of data spread out across dozens of different storage mediums. The IT team at uOttawa realized that this could lead to security and continuity issues on an institutional level, and began seeking out a cost-efficient, centralized data storage solution.
The solution needed to provide a secure environment with backup power, environmental controls, and restricted access to any sensitive data.
The Solution
The IT team at the University began searching for a system that could provide at least 100TB of storage with room to expand.
University of Ottawa chose two Synology RS2818RP+, both filled with 12TB hard drives for a total raw storage capacity of 384TB of data. One RS2818RP+ acts as a central file server for the more than 2,000 researchers. The second server acts as a backup destination for the main file server, performing weekly backups. The IT team also plans on utilizing Synology's snapshot technology, which makes files that are accidentally deleted easier to recover.
A centralized file server, like RS2818RP+, creates a permanent, maintenance-free storage solution for uOttawa Researchers who may struggle to find a place for their research data. It also frees up the resources of the IT team to focus on one centralized server instead of dozens of other storage mediums. RS2818RP+ is also compatible with Synology's RX1217 expansion unit, allowing uOttawa to easily expand their storage as the needs of their researchers continue to grow
The Benefits
Security & Reliability
Instead of terabytes of data stored in various mediums by thousands of researchers, uOttawa now has one centralized and secure server to store an ever growing supply of data. The ability to simply add on an expansion unit also offers some future-proofing for uOttawa as their data demands continue to grow.
Centralization & Convenience
By centralizing data into one server, uOttawa has freed up the resources of their IT team, and created an easy-to-maintain storage environment. Synology's support for NFS, SMB, AFP, and iSCSI also allows the researchers who are working on different operating systems and migrating data from different storage mediums, to easily integrate into the University's new storage environment.
Price-Performance Ratio
While researching storage solutions, uOttawa found Synology to be more cost-effective compared to other solutions that offer the same functionality. Synology's systems also come with a comprehensive warranty and next-business-day replacement if anything should ever happen.
Recommended Models
- RS2818RP+
Recommended Features
- Centralized data storage for more than 2,000 researchers
- File encryption capabilities to secure sensitive research data
- An easy-to-maintain data environment for the University's I.T. team
- Easily expandable to meet ever growing storage needs