[K12OSN] Which server would you prefer?

[Les Mikesell]

On 2/12/2010 9:10 AM, Joseph Bishay 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?

I'd try to configure the proliant to share out home directories with the 
P4 (and potentially others) as the login server.  I'm not sure if 
K12Linux handles that the same way that k12ltsp would, but lots of disks 
in a suitable RAID configuration is the important part for file service 
and a fast CPU is needed where the apps run, and these don't need to be 
the same machine.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com