[K12OSN] Size of Server

[Terrell Prude', Jr.]

The real answer is, "it depends."

I run K12LTSP on a twin 1.47GHz Athlon system w/ 4GB DRAM, and it 
handles 25 users with ease.  All my folks are running either KDE or 
GNOME, and according to what I see, my server could handle 40, maybe 50, 
such sessions without swapping.

Note that my users are using a "heavyweight" desktop environment.  Were 
you to put your users on something more lightweight like XFce, IceWM, or 
Blackbox, you'd probably be able to get away with yet more users (I've 
heard of folks running 80 users concurrently this way).  Personally, I 
like XFce and use it on my laptop.  :-)

Server DRAM is the key to running anything like LTSP.  As for CPU oomph, 
personally, I would recommend a dual-processor box for your amount of 
users.  They can be built for less than $2K and will also be scalable, 
i. e. they'll last a while.  A PIII-900 could do it (Largo, FL did so w/ 
150 users running KDE 2.2 on dual P-900 servers), but you'd probably 
need an app server helping it out (this is how Largo, FL actually does 
do it).

--TP

J Lundberg wrote:

> I am looking at implementing K12LTSP for a lab of 25 computers. I was 
> wondering how big the server should be to handle the load. Also, if 
> built big enough, could one server handle 40-50 users. Right now I 
> have a PIII 900 with 2 GB RAM, upgradable to 4 GB RAM rather 
> inexpensively. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks ahead of time.
>
> Justin Lundberg
> Network Technician, Interstate Communications
>
>
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