DRAC Normandie

About the DRAC

The Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) of Normandy is responsible for the implementation of State policies in the various fields of culture, such as heritage and architecture, or artistic creation and education, throughout the region. Our interlocutor, Wilfried Hamain, is responsible for ISS within the DRAC Normandie. Together with his colleague, they are responsible for managing a computer park operated by the 150 agents of the DRAC Normandie. Together, they share a broad scope of intervention ranging from network server management to telephony, user assistance and troubleshooting. Because of these many missions, Wilfried Hamain and his colleague are regularly led to delegate some of their prerogatives to providers such as téïcée.

The meeting with téïcée

As Wilfried Hamain explains, the meeting with téïcée it was done in a classic way, by simple commercial canvassing and it was the geographical proximity that was, in his eyes, decisive " We're almost neighbors with téïcée and it's rather interesting to work at the local level… What is interesting is the response time, the fast processing of really urgent things… and then also I can easily contact téïcée. »

Chance doing things right, the commercial approach of téïcée It came precisely when Wilfried Hamain was looking for a service provider able to install the environment to host a photo library, the photo manager Phraseanet, designed by the company Alchemy “ initially i was looking for a provider who could set up the Docker because our photo library application uses this system ».

Economical, ecological and evolutionary”: the watchwords

But the commissioning of the tool itself quickly raised many questions related to the hosting, backup and installation of an optimal and well thought-out device. The recommendations of téïcée have gone in the direction of an economic, ecological and evolutionary architecture.

To do this téïcée has, on the one hand, provided and installed a server powerful enough to ensure the operation of the library and, on the other hand, a backup server for storage. For the first, téïcée recommended new and recent equipment at the cutting edge in terms of power because the operation of a photo library requires a lot of resources. For the second, téïcée suggested refurbished equipment that, in addition to being environmentally friendly, will be largely capable of fulfilling its mission of safeguarding and restoring.

Solutions in line with the needs of the DRAC

It was also necessary to anticipate the storage needs of the photo library because the volumetries implemented can quickly lead to the saturation of the system, especially in the fields of culture where image and video occupy a central place. With this in mind, téïcée initially proposed the storage of backups on disks, which can subsequently be easily completed by a library. It was also necessary to anticipate practical aspects such as the processing of updates while keeping in mind economic and ecological requirements. téïcée opted for virtualization to simplify testing processes before new releases go into production.

Complete care by téïcée

During this mission, téïcée, as a multi-purpose service provider, has thus provided and implemented the equipment and tools that will allow the photo library to function well and long. In this architecture, we find the solution Bacula, the ultimate open source backup system, and Proxmox, son homolgue en virtualisation, qui permet de faire l’économie d’un serveur physique. Cette même virtualisation qui permettra, c’est le souhait de la DRAC Normandie, then implement a supervisory solution such as Centreon to monitor all deployed elements and other services provided by the IT team.

The Docker solution has enabled the independent installation of the Phraseanet photo library software. It is more precisely on this subject that Wilfried Hamain appreciated the total support of téïcée who has dealt directly with the software provider’ téïcée He approached Alchemy, who is in charge of the photo library application, to see with them the technical modalities of deployment. It was also nice to have that. ». Today Wilfried Hamain tells us “ […] no breakdown or nothing, my application runs. So here I am fully satisfied! ».

A cost-effective open source environment

This software which, thanks to the Docker configuration, can evolve and be updated completely independently from the rest of the device. Today there DRAC has a sustainable, scalable and flexible open source environment for its photo library. According to its needs the DRAC, thanks to the transparency of Free Software, will be able to count on téïcée to modify, adapt and improve its device. Open Source has many advantages such as being able to get rid of licenses, which are often expensive, or to make tailor-made products, which is why it also requires expertise such as téïcée whose DNA is open source.