specs for running 35 machines

[David Trask]

Will there be 35 concurrent users?  Or less than that, yet 35
terminals....although not all concurrent?  In any case....my suggestion:

Dual Xeon core duo processors (dual core or essentially 4 cores...I hear
AMD opterons work well too)
at least 4 gb RAM...more if it can be used
VERY fast SCSI hard drives (mine are 15k RPM Seagates)
gigabit ethernet from the server to switch

Another idea....

two same or slighly lesser servers running in dhcp failover/load balancing
mode.....thus the load splits evenly between the 2 servers.  Make them
identical and they will share the same DHCP range, but they will
automagically hand off one and then the other thus the terminals will boot
in a manner of A-B-A-B-A-B....etc.   If one server fails....no
biggie....the other will take over until it comes back online.

What I run at my school....

Two Dual Xeon servers with 4gb RAM and fast SCSI HD's (15k rpm) with
gigabit ethernet to gigabit switches.  These servers are running in the
dhcp failover/load balance mode I mentioned above.  They sit on the same
LAN as everything else and provide DHCP for the whole network.  Runs great!

David N. Trask
Technology Teacher/Director
Vassalboro Community School
dtrask at vcsvikings.org
(207)923-3100