Manage a 900-station computer park with WAPT
collectivité - sdis 95How Manage a 900-station computer park with WAPT ? Yann Corai, IT technician in the SDIS 95 he tells us about his daily life with WAPT.
Présentation
The SDIS 95 it’s 39 rescue centers in all the department and 2 955′ SDIS95 agents. In 2021, 83 886 interventions have been realized with an average of 230 interventions by day.
900 postes administrés
46 sites
7 Team member
The infrastructure of the SDIS 95
The SDIS 95 is composed of 39 rescue centers, 1 departmental school, 1 departmental workshop (technical center) and 3 group command centers.
Most computers are windows. Yann Corai is part of a team of 7 people composed of: a logistician, a referent, a technical project manager and three IT correspondents. The SDIS 95 has 3 WAPT servers..
The problems encountered
Before WAPT, workstations were mastered using a technique that relied on copying the hard drive and recovering user data when possible. The team wanted to automate the deployment of a workstation without removing the hard disk to go faster.
Users were autonomous in their updates and did not necessarily understand the importance of these updates. Going to users one by one and asking them to update made the intervention sporadic. Another problem encountered was the trigger to change their method of operation: a few years ago, the SDIS 95 moved to Windows 10. With this change, it was necessary to completely review the practices used previously. The first solution tested was WAPT and it was validated immediately.
Testimony
“I can better secure my IT assets with WAPT. My CISO thanks me every day for that.”
Yann Corai, SDIS 95
Technicien GSIC
Understanding the WAPT mechanism
Like any software, WAPT is full of features and its handling can be complex depending on its use. The SDIS 95 has therefore decided to provide training and telephone support in order to have a better knowledge of the tool.
The team was able to understand the mechanism of WAPT such as the principle of dependencies, signatures and certificates, the composition of a package, the update on shutdown, the creation of the agent etc.. Now the team is autonomous to create packages. It is also important to understand that Yann Corai did not master Python, but he can create WAPT packages in Python. Today, he spends less and less time on WAPT because he has assimilated the functioning.
Estimated gains with the use of WAPT
First of all, WAPT has allowed the computer park to gain in reliability and security. Moreover, the software allows them to update a computer in only 5-10 minutes. They hardly use OCS Inventory anymore. From a user point of view, Yann can send updates without the user even realizing it, sometimes in the middle of the day.
For updates requiring a restart of the computer (Windows Update for example), Yann can send a message to the users from the console to ask them to turn off their computer during the lunch break. “The service provided to the users is without comparison with our old way of working”. A nice way to conclude this interview!
Video feedback
Some of our customers have agreed to talk about their experience in pictures. Find them in the dedicated Youtube playlist: