[K12OSN] I need opinions....backup idea for when Terminal server down and I'm not around

[Jim McQuillan]

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005, Christopher K. Johnson wrote:

> David Trask wrote:
>
> > I worry about what happens if the Terminal Server fails while
> > I'm far away (like at Linux World).  Until now they could boot into
> > Windows and still have the class go on (remember I'm a computer teacher as
> > well as the tech director and have a full slate of classes...grades K-8
> > over the course of a week....I see about 450-600 kids)  When I go to
> > dedicated thin-clients...K12LTSP server goes down...they're dead in the
> > water.  So....
> >
> You have other points of failure that would be of equal impact, and different
> client machines would not protect against any of them failing:
>
>    * Your ethernet switch in the closet.
>    * Your Internet Firewall (also a Linux box)
>    * Your dns server for the private network (I think that's on the
>      Firewall in your case)
>    * Your Internet service router (probably a Cisco)
>
> If it were me - I would spend the money on redundant hardware in the LTSP
> server, and make other configuration changes for higher availability of the
> server:
>
>    * The most likely server failure is a disk drive - use software raid
>      disk and hot-plug disk drives if possible
>    * The next most likely server failure is a power supply - servers
>      with dual redundant power supplies are nice, or at least with a
>      hot-pluggable power supply if not redundant.

Hmm,  hot-pluggable, but not redundant?  /me wonders what's the point.
if a non-redundant power supply fails, everything goes cold  :)

But, you make excellent points, and I agree completely.

Jim McQuillan
jam at Ltsp.org