Q: Should I have swap?

[Tommy Trussell]

On 6/9/06, Daniel Carrera <daniel.carrera at zmsl.com> wrote:
> Jack Wasey wrote:
> > Daniel Carrera wrote:
> >> Jails look interesting. I just have one question (I hope someone can
> >> answer): If I have 10 clients running Gnome+OpenOffice+Firefox will
> >> the RAM in the server have 10 redundant copies of those applications?
> >
> > No, that's what your server's swap is for. (Also see swap over network
> > for LTSP. Alternative or complementary?)
>
> I don't really understand what you are trying to say. I'm concerned that
> if I use jails there will be multiple redundant copies of common
> programs like Gnome, all stored in virtual memory. So the virtual memory
> requirement would go out the roof and we'd miss most of the benefit of
> thin clients.

Is it possible you are getting too hung up on the technical details?
How about going to one of the ltsp.org lists or looking on their FAQ
and asking:

"I need to support X number of users with typical home-related uses
(web browsers, word processors, email clients) over a wired network.
How much RAM, drive space, and how much processor speed do I need to
put on the server to support them? How much extra should I budget for
overhead?"

It sounds to me you are trying to second-guess lots of things, and it
might be easier to work backward from "real-world" experiences people
have had actually using LTSP.

Of course, most "real-world" LTSP setups are probably in a classroom
or computer lab setting, so you may run into issues they haven't
anticipated regarding home usage.

Good luck -- sounds like an interesting project!