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Re: [school-discuss] LTSP First Time - why not net-boot?
Daniel,
Why not try net-booting instead if local performance is a priority? It has
all the benefits of LTSP without the performance hit. We have two students
labs running net-booted linux and they have been marvelous.
The server requirements are modest - pretty much any machine with around
512MB RAM will do the job fine. All your network needs, for up to 25
client machines, is 100Mbit switched ethernet from the server to the
clients. No need to fuss with GB unless you already have it available.
The clients should have at least 256MB RAM with 512MB being nice but not
obligatory. The clients also do not need a hard drive - a big reliability
plus.
Most ethernet cards are now PXE capable which is how they contact the
net-boot server to initiate the boot process. In the first lab we did in
2001 the machines had the kernel on a compact flash card in place of the
HD. Since then we have migrated those machines to full net-booting with
PXE. We went straight to PXE net-booting in the second lab.
With a setup described above we have found the clients boot and run faster
in net-booted mode than if they were running off their local hard disk. We
have even tried booting the whole lab at once and found all machines up
and ready in about 5 minutes.
There are more details about the labs and our other OSS exploits here:
http://www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/it/article.html
and here
http://www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/lic/freedom/
Cheers,
Richard
--
Dr Richard Wraith rgw@trinity.unimelb.edu.au
Director of IT & T and the Trinity Learning Innovation Centre
Trinity College Royal Parade Parkville 3052 Victoria Australia
tel: +61-3-9348 7112 mobile: 0417 361 093 fax: +61-3-9348 7498
On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 daniel.hunt@iibbank.ie wrote:
> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 15:34:20 +0100
> From: daniel.hunt@iibbank.ie
> Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
> To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
> Subject: [school-discuss] LTSP First Time
>
> Hey there everyone,
>
> this is my first time on this list so go easy eh? :o)
>
> I'm basically trying to 'gently push' the school towards linux - as the LTSP
> (ltsp.org) project will make _everything_ alot easier to do :) the only
> problem is the fact that they need a new server! (Microsoft licensing fees
> are RIDICULOUS!)
>
> I'm opting for a dual xeon box with 2x gig lan connected to a 100LAN network
> ... theres two labs, each on their own subnet, so thats why i'm going to use
> two server lan cards.
>
> I've been quoted for roughly 3500Euro (down from retail price of 6500E) from
> Dell.
>
> One thing that I am concerned about is that the computers teacher doesnt
> mind the pupils playing network
> games (such as AvP (Aliens versus Predator) or Quake etc ...) - I know in
> linux you can still play some FPS
> games, but with LTSP I can see this being a problem! :) Has anyone got any
> comments on this?
>
> Thanks
> Daniel
>
>
>
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