The City Council of Fregenal de la Sierra chose Zentyal as its first domain and directory server
“We chose Zentyal for the robustness and security of Linux, as well as for the very affordable licensing. Zentyal has allowed us to organise and structure our infrastructure and centralise the management.”
Miguel Ángel Corrales, Computer technician, City Council of Fregenal de la Sierra
Before implementing Zentyal, the City Council did not have a server. They deployed Zentyal mainly as the domain controller and file server. Their main goal was to centrally manage computers and configure the necessary permissions and rules per user and per group.
The challenge
The number of computers in the Fregenal de la Sierra City Council had been gradually growing over the years. To date, they didn’t have a server, simply a collection of computers connected in a workgroup. Because of this, their biggest problem was the decentralisation of the PCs: domain policies, backups, access logs, etc. were missing.
The City Council was looking for a server solution that would allow them – above all, manage centrally the workstations and file sharing. One of their main requirements was to be able to configure permissions and rules per user and per group. Likewise, the solution had to be robust, secure and affordable.
After evaluating a number of options, they decided to make a test installation with the Zentyal Server Trial version. Before taking the purchase decision, the system was thoroughly tested during two months. During this time they carried out a large number of tests and recreated different scenarios, making sure that everything was working correctly.
The solution
After the testing period concluded successfully, the City Council made a clean install of Zentyal Server. They installed a single virtual server using the Proxmox VE platform. This server has 2 sockets and 9 processor cores, 40Gbs of RAM and two hard drives in RAID 0 with 6TB each.
The main use of Zentyal is that of a domain controller and file server. Therefore, they enabled the Domain & Directory and File Sharing modules. They are also using other secondary features provided by the Antivirus, Firewall, DNS, IDS/IPS and Logs modules.
Computers were joined to the Zentyal domain gradually. Within a month and half they had all the users fully operational in the domain. Currently the Zentyal system has 42 active users, organised into 10 groups.
Aside from being able to configure permissions and rules per user and per group, the file sharing module was also essential. It allows each department have their own shared folder and is very useful as it avoids file sharing through email and USB sticks. Thanks to the Antivirus module, they also make sure that the data they use and store is free of virus.
On the other hand, with the IDS/IPS module the City Council can detect and prevent certain attacks or misuses, although it is mainly used to monitor certain fundamental aspects that are not controlled by their main firewall. The DNS module is also very useful: it is configured as a redirector for other DNS that they use both in a large provincial network offered by the Provincial Council and in public DNS of large internet service providers.
The experience
The City Council of Fregenal de la Sierra is very satisfied with the solution. “Thanks to the domain policies, all the City Council computers are well organised and structured now. Everything is centralised, from backups to user data and all kinds of logs.” Generally speaking, the City Council considers that Zentyal covers all their needs and has helped them to overcome the major shortcomings.
About City Council of Fregenal de la Sierra
Fregenal de la Sierra is a municipality located to the south of the Badajoz province (Extremadura, Spain). It is considered as one of the most important emerging tourist destinations in the province. The city has been the cradle of distinguished Extremadurans such as the humanist Benito Arias Montano, the politician Juan Bravo Murillo and the painter Eugenio Hermoso.
The municipality has four officially declared cultural heritage assets: the city center that is considered as historical and artistic complex (1992), the archaeological site of Nertóbriga (2013), the Dancers of the Virgin of Health (2016) and the Menhirs of Ardila (2020). Other points of interest include the “Festival Internacional de la Sierra” that has been declared as an Event of National Tourist Interest, Ciprés Calvo de las Mimbres – a unique tree from Extremadura, Astronomical Tourism Complex “Entre Encinas y Estrellas” with Starlight certification and a local network of hiking trails.