RFI Ministry of Natural Resources Builds Independent IT Infrastructure

2023: Astra Linux Special Edition and ALD Pro Rollout

On November 7, 2023, Astra Group announced the introduction of its software products in the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Russian Fund for Information on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia" ("RF Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia").

Due to the departure of foreign IT companies from the domestic market, RFI Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia has a number of difficulties: the termination of technical support and the lack of the ability to acquire and renew licenses. These factors prompted the institution to search for Russian analogues of the software products used in order to build an importo-independent information infrastructure with their help and ensure its trouble-free operation.

During the selection of the operating system, specialized specialists of the RF Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia considered and tested several options. The key selection criteria were compatibility with the equipment installed in the institution, the presence of a convenient and familiar interface for users, as well as functionality that will allow you to perform service tasks as efficiently as possible.

As a result, the protected Astra Linux Special Edition OS was chosen. The decisive arguments were access to operational technical support, a developed ecosystem of compatible software and hardware, as well as the ability to centrally manage computers of domain users using another vendor product - ALD Pro, for which the customer purchased licenses along with the operating system.

IT specialists of the RFI of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia independently performed work related to migration. The greatest difficulties arose when searching for Linux versions of software used earlier by employees to solve specific service tasks. For applications that worked only for Windows, suitable analogues were selected, while the vendor's technical support staff provided comprehensive assistance.

As of November 7, 2023, about 95% of jobs in the RF Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia were transferred to the Astra Linux operating system, and the tools for managing MS AD user groups were completely replaced by ALD Pro. The plan to migrate to Astra Group solutions of the customer's entire IT infrastructure, including virtualization system and backup tools, is expected to be implemented soon. The vendor's ecosystem of products allows you to use proven solutions to close key tasks and needs of organizations.

Migration to domestic software and interaction with Russian manufacturers significantly increases the reliability and stability of companies' IT systems. We are glad that we were able to provide RFI of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia with a software stack that includes Astra Linux and ALD Pro. We are ready to continue to gradually help the customer rebuild and modernize the infrastructure based on our solutions, - said Zakhar Golovaryan, Director of the Sales Development Department of Astra Group.