[K12OSN] Multiple server setup

[Martin Woolley]

On Wednesday 03 May 2006 16:25, Krsnendu Dasa wrote:
> I would like advice how best to set up my multiple servers to run
> different applications.
> At present I have a low end IPCOP machine running Dansguardian.
> I also have 2 identical AMD 2500XP machines GB Lan. One of them is
> running K12LTSP 4.2.1 (about to be upgraded to the latest v5.0.0)
> The other one was used as a Windows Xp machine for multimedia/design.
> I have 3 identical hard drives 120 GB SATA: One has got WinXP on it. One
> has got K12LTSP 4.2.1 on it. The other one is free.
>
> Options:
> I was thinking of keeping one as K12LTSP and the otherone as backuppc
> server on Ubuntu.
>
> I also want to use asterisk,Koha library software and a bell automation
> software. Should these also go on the K12LTSP server, or will it hit the
> performance of LTSP?
>
> I was also thinking of install VMserver and running asterisk and
> backuppc as virtual machines any advice?
>
> Also would putting /home nfs mounted on another server improve the
> performance of K12LTSP?
> I am considering getting a bigger HD for backup (also have a few WINXP
> laptops to backup)
> I am also considering another server if necessary.

We run a bunch of LTSP servers.  One part of the school runs 6 servers with 
120 clients connecting to them.  We have another LTSP setup with 2 servers 
and 30 clients.  We have plenty of room to grow.  All of the users home 
directories live on a separate server, which has RAID 5 disks. This is nfs 
mounted on all the other servers.  This server also handles authentication 
via NIS.   The performance hit due to this arrangement is not noticable, ie 
logons and home dir access doesn't seem any slower than when we had one box 
doing everything (with less users obviously).

We have a backup server, also with RAID 5, in a different part of the school 
to the home directory server.  Nightly the home dirs are copied to this via 
rsync and then this box is backed up to tape.  In theory, if the home dir box 
died, we could use this backup box to service the home dirs.   We run Koha on 
a separate server which lives in the library.  This is also backup nightly 
via rsync to the backup box.

We leave the backup of the teachers XP laptops to the teachers themselves and 
if they don't back it up and we have to reinstall it (which we do sometimes), 
then that is their problem not ours.  We do, of course, try to get the files 
off before we re-install the laptop, but if we can't then too bad.

-- 
Regards
Martin Woolley
ICT Support
Handsworth Grammar School
Isis Astarte Diana Hecate Demeter Kali Inanna


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