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On 29 October 2005 20:14, Bob Sanders wrote: |
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> Since I'm rambling now, guess I should do the rest of the memory |
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> download... |
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Let me join you in rumbling. ;-) |
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Before I start just a little background: I do quite some consulting for |
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SchoolNet Namibia (http://www.schoolnet.na) which has hooked up about 250 |
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schools all over the country. All of them (well, almost all - some externally |
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sponsored ones run Windows) running linux thin clients connecting to a linux |
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server running the South African linux distribution OpenLab |
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(http://www.getopenlab.com) and LTSP. |
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Typical server configuration: |
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P4 2.8 GHz |
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2GB ram |
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2 x 80GB normal IDE harddrive |
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Typical client: |
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refurbished x86 box |
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currently PII or PIII |
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32MB ram |
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> |
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> One of the big problems with Linux diskless is it really doesn't scale |
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> well, it doesn't allow for clients to run multiple versions of the os, |
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Why would you want to do that? |
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> nor |
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> for different arch types to co-exist off one server of a different arch |
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> type. |
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That's possible, of course. The boot prom on the NIC in the client can boot |
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any kernel/X server under /tftpboot on the server. |
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> |
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> Additionally, a typical diskless setup exports /usr as a read only file |
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> system (which by most definitions, it is supposed to be). |
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A typical LTSP server doesn't export /usr at all. There is no need for it. The |
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client runs a kernel and an X server. If you want local devices to work, it |
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also needs to run some other small daemons. All *applications* run on the |
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server. |
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[ snip ] |
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> Another not so well thought out diskless problem with Linux is all the |
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> setups use one kernel under /tftpboot or, at least the Gentoo Diskless |
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> guide uses /diskless, which makes it a bit movable, but then falls into |
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> showing the path as - /diskless/xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (an IP number) instead of |
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> using the node name. The other problem, is they all assume only one kernel |
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> vs. a kernel for each host. |
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Not necessarily. The boot prom on the client's NIC decides what to load from |
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under /tftpboot on the server. |
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My experiences with LTSP so far show: With a server like mentioned at the |
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begin and fast ethernet, up to 20 clients are working well if you don't allow |
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too graphics-intensive apps like movie players or that type of games. For |
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more clients (up to 40), you need more ram on the server and a Gb connection |
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between the server and the switch (clients can remain on 100Mb ethernet, of |
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course). |
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For small businesses, I prefer a different solution that involved solid state |
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clients that boot from non-volatile ram. In that case, the client is |
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completely independent of the server. All they talk to each other is X. |
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Cheers from the beginning southern African summer |
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Uwe |
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(It's starting to rain outside, and I am feeling *good*!) |
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-- |
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95% of all programmers rate themselves among the top 5% of all software |
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developers. - Linus Torvalds |
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http://www.uwix.iway.na (last updated: 20.06.2004) |
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-- |
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