Advice on getting a computer lab server

[Ian Mackenzie]

Joe wrote:

Here's a few final questions if you don't mind.

In my current lab if I try to run more than about 7 thin clients they 
freeze up just playing flash games or running tuxtyping. Like I said, I 
have 4GB of Dual Channel DDR RAM so is the bottleneck with my 10/100 
switch or my P4 CPU? Until now I've thought it was the CPU because when 
I look at the system monitor the CPU maxes out pretty quick. (maybe I 
should bring my c2d in from home and try it out to see how it holds up)

If I want to use the above programs and keep my current curriculum will 
a single server with 2 dual core xeons and 8 GB RAM be fast or just 
adequate? I want the lab to be fast. (obviously I'm just asking your 
opinion here)

Finally, what kind of switch should I get? Should I go all gigabit or is 
it enough to just be gigabit to the server and 10/100 to the clients? I 
do a lot of flash based reading games and stuff with the lower grades 
like starfall.com <http://starfall.com> and so I absolutely must have 
these activities perform well.

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(From the Edubuntu web site) "If you have more than 10 users, it is 
recommended to use gigabit ethernet for your LTSP servers. Although 
normal usage ranges from 0.5 to 2mbit, clients can peak quite high 
(70mbit), especially when watching multimedia content. "



So, gigabit from server -> switch and 100M from switch to client PCs 
sounds about right. I"m about to build a core2Quad to serve the computer 
lab, and see how it runs, and if there is room for expansion.

Ian Mackenzie
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