Los Alamos Puppet Case Study
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Los Alamos National Laboratory uses Puppet to gain visibility into their deployed Mac OS X environment and meet NIST standards. Prior to using Puppet, managing over 1700 Macs was challenging due to a lack of visibility. Puppet has provided visibility into the number and configurations of Macs and helped ensure compliance with security requirements for configuration management and enforcing least privileges.
Los Alamos Puppet Case Study
- 1. CASe STudy LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LAbORATORy Los ALAmos uses PuPPet to gAin “Prior to using Puppet, visibiLity into their dePLoyed mAc managing the Mac OS X systems in our net work was a challenge. os X environment And meet There was a real lack of visibility nist stAndArds into b oth the numb er of Mac s on Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the world’s the network and their configuration. premier research organizations and is engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security. Los Pu p p e t h as m a d e a real di f f e re n ce Alamos’ networks not only employ a wide variety of to our administrators who were devices and operating systems, they are also held previously having to walk to each Mac to strict security guidelines for the configuration and and service it individually.” security software on all of their systems, including systems running Mac OS X. Puppet helps support hundreds of —Allan Marcus, Solutions Architect, Macs, gains visibility into the devices on their networks and Los Alamos National Laboratory ensures that they meet security standards for those systems stArting environment • Over 1700 Mac desktops, that checked in on a regular basis, were being managed. That number continues to grow. • There was a complete lack of visibility into the actual number of Macs on the network. There were over 3,400 Macs registered but many of these systems were no longer active. • Requirements for least privilege on desktops caused problems because of the need to update software and antivirus. The need to update software was often given as a reason to grant Reductive Labs administrative rights to individual users. www.reductivelabs.com • Prior to using Puppet they weren’t using any institutional tel: 503.805.9065 administrative tools to manage Macs. It was highly manual and a twitter: @reductivelabs time intensive process.
- 2. CASe STudy Key objectives for PuPPet dePLoyment • gain visibility – They needed to understand the number of Macs on their network, their configuration, and whether they met security requirements. • Configuration Management – Los Alamos is governed by NIST Special Publication 800-53 which has requirements for configuration management controls of all desktop assets. • enforcement of Least Privilege – NIST Special Publication 800-53 has requirements for enforcing the most restrictive set of rights needed by users. without Puppet, users often requested “we have strong and required administrative privileges in order to regularly update requirements for their Symantec security software on their Macs. implementing a benefits obtAined secure network. • enhanced visibility – After deploying Puppet, they were able to Not only did see information about the Macs connected to the network. Puppet help • Improved efficiency – The use of Puppet has dramatically us meet NIST improved their ability to administer and update their Macs on their requirements network, a previously manual process. for configuration • Adherence to Compliance Standards – Puppet allowed Los Alamos to meet NIST standards for both configuration management and management and least privileges guidelines. least privilege, • Accelerated Troubleshooting – with the enhanced visibility has the Puppet come the benefit of accelerated troubleshooting. field technicians architetcure itself now have the configuration information available to them to proved to be remotely identify problems and prioritize updates. extremely secure.” Why PuPPet? —Allan Marcus, Solutions • Cross Platform Support – Los Alamos started using Puppet to Architect, Los Alamos support their Mac OS X environment, but Puppet’s cross platform National Lab support for other versions of unix was important in their decision. They are currently exploring expanding their use of Puppet to include their Linux systems, as well. • Open Source Solution – Cost was important in their choice of Puppet, as it provided the most cost effective solution to both meet their key objectives without a capital budgeting process. In addition, Los Alamos has found the open source community helpful in addressing any issues that surface. • Highly secure architecture – before they moved forward with Puppet, Los Alamos had their security experts test the software for adherence to their rigorous security standards. Their security Reductive Labs experts were impressed with how secure Puppet was. www.reductivelabs.com tel: 503.805.9065 twitter: @reductivelabs LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LAbORATORy • LOS ALAMOS, NM • www.LANL.gOv