plainsschools
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Thin Client Server
Hey guys back with another question. Thin client implementation this time. The school district that I work for is preparing to go to a thin client environment in the computer lab to lower administrative overhead. We are going to use all of the old machines as thins and the servers will be running 2003. The apps that are going to be shared are the office 2003 suite, some smartboard software, the macromedia suite (if possible), Digital image suite/Photoshop. the macromedia suite and digital imaging programs my have to remain fat because of the intensiveness of the software. What is your opinions on distributing these apps over thin client and what kind of specs should we be looking for in our servers (we will probabily build them ourselves). Of course will all school districts are funding is limited so we are working under a budget - probably looking at $1000-$1500 per server. Any other thin client input would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks a million guys.
Kenny
NetAdmin/Tech
Kenny
NetAdmin/Tech
Good call in terms of what you're leaving on the client side. Citrix might be the right products for you, but I'm not sure if it's exactly going to fit into your budget.
http://www.citrix.com
http://www.citrix.com
ASKER
We looked into citrix and liked what the had to offer but it was just far to expensive for our budget, in an unlimited resources environment thats probably what we would do.
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Thanks Kruger,
Do you have any suggestions on RAM count?
Do you have any suggestions on RAM count?
Considering the apps you plan to run, I would say your RAM count should be high. I would look at 4 gigs of RAM on the server side. More if you can swing it. Photoshop itself can eat that up in a hurry; Running multiple instances from terminals will make it even worse. I run Televideo thin clients on my network and once everyone got on and started opening multiple MS-Office apps, RAM went away quick.
How many computers are going to be involved in your implementation? I've seen universities and private educational institutions use Citrix without any majors problems. And as you were looking into, with older machines.
Jacques - shoot, i forgot to flame you. :-)
Jacques - shoot, i forgot to flame you. :-)
I guess i am asking a question that may have been answered already...
What administrative overhead are you removing when:
still have a local OS admin and overhead, because you want to leave an app or 2 "Fat"
with Moving parts and specific configurations
Your licensing requirements doubled with just the mention of citrix
not to mention the change the users would see.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but, I just have plenty of Terminal Server implementations, all of which, the only way to really see the decrease of administration is to have the ENTIRE software suite pushed to the clients, and have truely thin clients, otherwise you have not eliminated anything, just made it deeper..
CW
What administrative overhead are you removing when:
still have a local OS admin and overhead, because you want to leave an app or 2 "Fat"
with Moving parts and specific configurations
Your licensing requirements doubled with just the mention of citrix
not to mention the change the users would see.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but, I just have plenty of Terminal Server implementations, all of which, the only way to really see the decrease of administration is to have the ENTIRE software suite pushed to the clients, and have truely thin clients, otherwise you have not eliminated anything, just made it deeper..
CW
ASKER
To answer a couple of questions... There will be 25 machines in this lab. Secondly, we will not be going citrix, we will be implementing terminal services hence the Win 2003. Regarding the fat clients, there will only be a couple of those machines for a photo editing class which never has much more than 5 or so kids, the other terminals will be dumbed down without hdd's. Hopefully this clarifies. Thanks
Hi,
RAM: As much as you can. If the board supports it, stick in four Gigs. The RAM upgrad'le be cheeper than the cost of additional machines.
Just a spanner in the works, save real money and check out the Ubuntu Linux terminal server. It's been run successfully in many school labs.
RAM: As much as you can. If the board supports it, stick in four Gigs. The RAM upgrad'le be cheeper than the cost of additional machines.
Just a spanner in the works, save real money and check out the Ubuntu Linux terminal server. It's been run successfully in many school labs.
Hi folks,
We are already running a terminal server environment.
Our users mainly uses the MS Office apps and an ERP app in Java.
We want to bring a group of graphic intensive users up on TS.
Is this advisable?
They are mainly running Photoshop, Illustrator in their day to day activities.
Has anyone any experience on graphic apps on TS?
Herman
We are already running a terminal server environment.
Our users mainly uses the MS Office apps and an ERP app in Java.
We want to bring a group of graphic intensive users up on TS.
Is this advisable?
They are mainly running Photoshop, Illustrator in their day to day activities.
Has anyone any experience on graphic apps on TS?
Herman
ASKER