Ubuntu diskless workstations

[Lester_Burnham]

Hi,

Found this page on Ubuntu diskless workstations too.
http://developer.novell.com/wiki/ind...tu_to_Diskless

PS: some posts seem to be going missing.

Lester

[arkay]

Lucky for me I still had the post from yesterday up on my screen at work when I got here today.

Here tis:

Surfing the other day I found an interesting thread regarding Linux Terminal Services.

Schools are using it quite extensively around the world. In essence you run a linux server (front end machine), then use any old dumb PC as a terminal to connect to the server.

The terminal boots via the network directly from the server (in about 20 seconds), you log in as normal and are presented with a fully functional Linux desktop. I've done this at home with Suse 10.1 and it's extremely quick.

The benefit here is that:

1. You only need to adminster the server. Software updates are made in one place and are immediately available to all connected terminals.
2. The terminal can be any old discarded (unable to run a current version of windows) PC as long as it has network boot capability.
3. The PC does not require any moving parts. HDD's, cdroms, floppy's can all be removed. All that's needed is a small amount of ram, a cpu , motherboard and NIC.
4. All activity happens on the server, downloaded files, created documents etc all reside in the users home directory on the server so when you back up the server you capture everything.
5. In the case of schools you can set this up very cheaply. I can buy from a PC warehouse discarded PC's for $15 each that are more than enough for this, you can build a suitable server for under $1000. Assuming you also need to buy old CRT displays for $20 each you could deck out a 30 PC classroom for:

30x$15=$450 (discarded PC's, now usable instead of being landfill)
30x$20=$600 (monitors)
1x$1000=$1000 (server)
1x$500=$500 (network switch).
1x$200=$200 (network cabling)

$2750 for a 30 seat PC based classroom with NO software cost. Additionally because everything moving (barring the HSF and power supply fan), is removed hardware failure is kept to a minimum.

Additional to that the teacher can be set up to be able to connect to and watch/interact with any one of the terminal sessions. This provides the teacher the ability to monitor students progress, offer suggestions, show them how to do something or plain just make sure they're behaving.

Testing this at home took 30 minutes of setup to get the first client running. Adding new clients now is a matter of plugging them into the network. I then used my wifes PC via network boot and BANG, in 20 seconds I was logging into a fully enabled Suse desktop. Speed wise it was excellent, fast enough in fact to playback avi files in real time over 100MB network with no frame drops. I'll be very interested to try live tv (when I get time). All internet access was happening via the server (and can therefore be administered, protected etc from the server for the kids etc).

I have gigabit ethernet at home so I can run 10x100MB/sec terminals simultaneously before requiring a second NIC in my machine (and that's assuming full utilisation)

With a little extra configuration it is possible to configure the server to pass audio to the internal audio card on the terminal so you can get sound on the terminal. It is also possible to use the local devices on the terminal (floppy, usb sticks etc).

You can configure dhcp based on the Mac address of the client NIC so that one "client" for instance might boot a fully functional mythtv frontend where others are set up to be workstations or any other custom image you like. Each workstation can be configured individually for desktop resolution, mouse type etc etc..

It's absolutely amazing to see this in action.

On top of that I have vmware installed on the server with an instance of XP installed. I need this for Quicken (which doesn't run under linux). The beauty is that my wife can use quicken from her client desktop, or I can use it from mine, but it's always the same instance of quicken so there's no multiple licences required, printers, scanners etc are all available directly on the server so there's no complicated device sharing required and I don't have to back up her important files on her machine at all cause now they live on the server.

In a classroom or office environment you can use citrix on win2k or server 2003 to supply access to any windows application that's required. Users can then access any of those apps directly on their terminals.

There are articles on the net where entire call centers have been set up this way with each terminal having a VOIP headset attached so calls can be made/received.

The potential for this is huge when you sit down and think about it.

At present my home server is capable of:

1. Running all my desktop access throughout the entire house.
2. Recording all my tv and supplying that to other devices around the house (no, I'm not doing this....yet).
3. Acting as a firewall and NetNanny type device for all internet access.
4. Is all centrally managed and backed up.
5. Handle Voip trafic to/from any connected terminal (not doing this yet either).
6. Supply what windows apps I need to any connected terminal.
7. Supplying all media to any device in the house. (again all central storage and management).

I'm sure there's more I haven't even thought of yet.

and the best bit. There is no need to have to manage the OS's, software, security, networking etc for each individual box. If any of the boxes die, replace it with another $15 box and I'm only running 1 OS.

Because Linux is so efficient in terms of memory and CPU utilisation it takes a lot of terminals connected and working to actually use the resources in the server to full capacity. My P4 3.2 Ghz HT with 1gb ram would easily handle the day to day of 5 pc's in my house (probably 20 of them!).

Cheers,

Arkay.

[arkay]

and the remainder or the thread:

Originally Posted by Lester

Hi,

Thanks for sharing that arkay...
I can feel another experiment coming on
Is this using XDMCP once the machine has booted from the network?

I suppose this is pretty much the same as "Thin Client" sort of stuff. My mate is an accountant and they're heading in this direction with all their terminals.

Lester

Lester,

That's exactly what it is For myth it's a little different and you network boot an OS image rather than an XDMCP client.

Originally Posted by ExtremePC

Arkay, I've wanted to play with just that for a while now, in the words of some pollie, please explain!

Not entirely sure what more to explain that I didn't mention in the first post

What do you want to know? How it's done?

Haven't got time right now (want to go home for the day), but there is some light reading at http://www.ltsp.org/

For Suse linux there is a guide here.

Originally Posted by Birdie101

Did anyone else get a sense of passion in Arkay's last post?

Pretty impressive stuff.

(Mental note: must learn more about linux than just cut+paste howtos from the web...)

Hehe.. More stuff to play with... This is what happens when I get bored with Closed source progress....

Originally Posted by Bella

LOL. What I meant to say was that I am a bit through all the noob stuff like installing all the eye candy etc...You will know what I am talking about.

Yes, I do. Can only play with the pretties for so long before you want to see what it can really do.

As a side note I did my first ever install of linux for a family of non technical people yesterday (friend of ours). Their teenage sons (of of them a would be hacker), managed to break windows so regularly that the machine was un-usable to them without the intervention of someone like me on a regular basis.

No amount of virus protection, registry cleaning, adware removal and de-fragging can help a family with a destructive teenager in the house.

When I left they were very happy that they're machine was usable again (and fast). Will be interesting to see how it progresses but for their basic email, IM and internet uses I think it's going to work out much better for all of us

Cheers,

Arkay.

[bella]

Diskless workstations. Great.

Few questions though.

How is the server going to deal with the workload when you attach multiple workstations?

I suspect you would need a very fast cpu in the server like Dual core to deal with the increase in workload.

If I get it right: you could set up a giant server with 4 tuners, 1TB of storage, doing all the recording and watch it from any place in your house where you have basic workstations instead of spending loads of money on X360 and multiple MCE's ?

[arkay]

Bella,

Have a read of this thread regarding server sizing. You'll be surprised what a small server can handle. Most people don't utilise their hardware anywhere near full potential. It's bought because we're told we need to have x amount of ram, x speed CPU etc etc but those ratings are put together based on usage peaks. I also think it would be fair to say that the figures are inflated to benefit "the machine" and keep hardware sales ticking over.

It's also important to note the difference between the various types of diskless workstations.

The one we're talking about here is a true diskless workstation in terms of everything that happens on it is actually running on the server. Web browsing, email, etc.. Basic system use can be easily done this way and nothing is local to the machine you are working on and the local machines needs next to no hardware or grunt to be able to provide that function. That's why it is so well suited to schools and business applications.

For PVR use this method likely won't give you want you want. Instead you could set up a PC (with the right display hardware and CPU speed), to network boot a mythtv front end from the server. In this instance the software is still being booted from the server, but the application is running on the client machine, using it's CPU, Video and Soundcard in order to perform playback operations. Network communication and the way Myth is built still means that the media, tv tuners etc are on the backend server but in this model the client is not a "dumb terminal".

The beauty is that the server can be the server for the dumb terminals and also be the myth backend (and any other server function you like).

Cheers,

Arkay.