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I've edited your message when quoting it in order to meet my agenda. |
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|
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On 28 Oct 2009, at 00:28, James wrote: |
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> .... |
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> PS, if one of you really smart guys figures out mass/parallel |
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> upgrades, then I'd use that, even set up my own server |
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> to keep it efficient. I'm not smart enough (not enough time |
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> at current mental aptitude) to set all of that up, unless |
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> somebody else does the foundational work..... |
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> |
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> But I very much like the concept. Upgrade a master system. |
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> Test it. Then push your own binaries/files to the other systems |
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> you manage. |
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|
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There are already a number of ways of managing multiple machines. How |
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do you think universities, corporations and public bodies with |
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hundreds or thousands of desktops manage? I think I would be looking |
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at something like having the machines PXE boot a single image or NFS |
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mounting various directories, if I were in your situation. I've never |
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actually done this, but I'm sure a little research would produce a |
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less labour intensive solution. |
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|
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> ... |
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> Interesting, but not what I'm looking for. I do not mind |
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> upgrading the systems one at a time. I just do 1 per day, |
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> while I do other work. What has me "hacked" is that every time |
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> I do an upgrade to kde4, it seems to be a different set |
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> of problems, even though the upgrades are a few days apart. |
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> Multiply across a dozen workstations, and it's a time sink. |
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|
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It seems to me, from your description, that your dozen machines are at |
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the limit of your ability to maintain this way. No one would ever |
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consider upgrading sites with 100 machines one by one each day, and it |
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would be crazy to try and run a beefy thin-client server just to serve |
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one or two desktops. |
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|
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So the network has grown from a couple of machines to a dozen, and |
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you're still doing things the same way - the question is, will you be |
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able to continue doing things the same way if you were to double the |
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number of PCs by next year? |
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|
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I think that alternative methods of approaching system administration |
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are sure to bring their own problems and require an investment of time |
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to implement, but I don't see how upgrading machines one by one is |
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sustainable. Honestly, it would be driving me crazy to be in your |
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position, and I think some other alternative might well show time and |
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hassle saved once it's up and running. |
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|
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Stroller. |