[K12OSN] rolling your own

[Petre Scheie]

I would argue your proposed machine is overkill for only 25 clients.  I think for 25 
clients one dual-core processor with 4GB, one gigabit NIC, and a RAID of 10K RPM SCSI 
disks would be plenty. Such a configuration could probably support 30-40 clients, 
depending on the apps being used.  I just went out to Dell and configured a dual-core 
2.8ghz Pentium, 4GB RAM, two 15KRPM 73GB disks in RAID1, and two gigabit NICs for less 
than $2000.  And that includes a three year warranty.  If you've got a $5000 budget, you 
could put the remaining funds toward servers & clients for other classrooms.

Petre

Eric Brown wrote:
> My existing k12ltsp server isn't quite doing the job it used to.  It's
> a quad P3 550 MHz, with 3gb ram purchased off ebay 2 years ago.  When
> 20 kids open firefox and OO, things slow down quite a bit, and firefox
> may hang on several kids.  I started searching for a new server on
> E-Bay, where I found a quad 2ghz machine with 8gb ram for $5k.  My
> principal was reluctant to spend that much money on something used
> with no warranty.  He said he'd prefer to have me purchase parts and
> use the assembly of the server as a teaching opportunity (something
> I've done with workstations in the past).
> 
> My question for the group is, has anyone done this and encountered
> problems with some aspect of the machine in an LTSP environment?
> 
> I'm looking at a Tyan board that will take 4 Opteron dual-core
> processors, probably 8 gb RAM, 2 gb nics onboard.  I'm not too worried
> about disk space.  I've only got 4 9gb drives in a raid5 right now,
> and only 44% is in use for about 60 students.  I'm planning on
> something like 4 74gb 10,000 rpm drives with 8mb cache.  Since the
> board is an extended atx, nearly any case that will take it is usually
> a server case with room for all the drives.
> 
> Preliminary costs look to be $5k-$6k, which is the ball park I've been 
> given.
> 
> Anything I'm missing?  Is this a bad thing to do?  Shouldn't this run
> 20-25 clients very well for some time?  Is it too much (I'm often
> accused of over-engineering anything I build)?  Any comments welcome.
> 
> Thanks,
> Eric Brown
> 
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