[K12OSN] Which server would you prefer?

[Eric Brown]

IMHO, I don't think you're going to gain much if anything going from a
P4 down to a dual P3.  I would highly recommend searching for a used
server, Poweredge or Proliant.  You can get something pretty powerful
for not a lot, particularly when you consider that a new LTSP server
essentially means a new lab.  My first LTSP server was a quad p3 800
MHz PowerEdge I had purchased myself for under $500 off EBay, and I
ran 20 clients off of ok.  When that died, my district let me purchase
a quad p4 2Ghz that was only $1200 and it was like getting 20 new high
powered machines.

I think if you hunt around, you can find a server class machine with
MEGA power for well under $1000.  If you're doing this for a school, I
bet someone in the community has a server they've recently
decommissioned that would be better than what you're using now.

I do believe more processors can do LTSP better.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 9:10 AM, Joseph Bishay <joseph.bishay at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I hope you are all doing very well.
>
> For several years now I've been using a custom-built server for our
> K12LTSP (now K12Linux) setup.  It's been supporting around 15 clients
> and has been chugging along faithfully.  It does not have a very high
> load on it but when you do push it, it does show some weakness.  The
> specifics for this machine are:
>
> Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz with Hyperthreading
> ASUS P4P800 Motherboard
> 3 GB RAM (max 4)
> 2 x 37 GB SCSI drives in RAID 1 configuration
> 2 x Intel Gigabit NIC
>
> Recently I received a Proliant ML370 with the following specifications:
>
> Pentium III - 1 Ghz (Has an empty slot for a second processor)
> Max 4 GB RAM
> 2 x 18 GB hot-swappable SCSI drives (can hold up to 6 drives)
> 1 onboard 10/100 NIC
>
> (Detailed specs here
> http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10493_div/10493_div.html)
>
> I guess the only thing that makes me consider the Proliant as a
> possible LTSP server is the fact it can handle 2 processors and so
> should be able to scale better. I'd like to start pushing that the
> school uses the computers more, but I'm worried that the current
> server can't handle such an increased load and will cause problems.
> Am I correct in my thinking or is the current one better than the
> Proliant, or some other option?
>
> Thanks,
> Joseph
>
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