How much money are we talking about? I don't mind taking some.
We run a hybrid thin/fat client that offloads CPU to the local client. Why does 3Ghz make it not a think client?
And yes, you can run 700 concurrent connection without problem (Linux server). In fact, a lot of the times there is extra CPU/RAM on the server so we also run proxy and content filtering on them as well. In fact, the limits that we have hit are not CPU based at all, but memory and network bandwidth. Which is why we run 2Gig backbones at each site now.
With our "OLD" system we run about 60 clients at a time (on average) per dual P3 server (4Gig RAM). The CPU rarely gets maxes out with even these machines, but the RAM is the limiting factor.
With the new systems, we offload CPU work to the local client. Hence, we have not hit a wall yet with 700 systems on one server. In fact the network is by far the biggest limit.
Heck, we do run tours for tech people once in a while (usually as a group) to demo our setup. We run this setup now at about 25 sites that range from 65-700 systems at each site. We are now into our 3rd year running our improved system, and almost 10 years running our original thin client setup.
I might point out that there is a lot of other bonus things that you get. Did I mention how easy it is to backup all these sites. The backup server runs nightly snapshots for over 500 of those,plus monthly archives.
As well, one machine dies, you just swap it out and get back to work. No more setup/config/waste of time. In fact we can have a site back up and running in under 2 hours from a complete and total failure -- what is YOUR recovery time. IE: we had a site broken into and every system stolen.
As for extending the life span -- absolutely -- small upgrade to the server can increase the CPU power/ram/drive space for every one, at much less cost. Even better, with sharing memory segments, a lot of software can run concurrent users with very little memory footprint. Firefox 3 is an great example of faster/smaller. Our 3 year old systems, are still running just fine with many, many software updates.
But of course, we are doing this without licensing any software at all -- so another bonus -- again what is your annual software cost?
So, rather than calling bullshit, why don't you take a look at the idea, before you get upset. Might I recommend looking in LTSP, as it really has some good ideas. Or you can get a hold of me, and take a closer look at what thin client can do!
First question : this setup replaces EVERY computer in the system. They are used for student computers, office computers, administrators, etc... These replace your normal windowsXP workstation.
Second question: Where do I start. Try this one on a windows network -- Install a new piece of software (say firefox) on EVERY computer in the system, here that is 7000 computers. Oh, and have it done by lunch. Heck, why don't you just update EVERY piece of software on EVERY computer, and have it still done by lunch.
Or how about the number of tech you require, here we have 1 tech per 2000 systems. Or, how about keeping the cost of the computers at under $150 each for software and hardware costs. And extend their life span to 7 years. Or, what about even turning off the computers after hours to save power, and turning them on again for the morning.
This is a list that goes on and on. And we are not talking about minimal systems here. This is a full 3D desktop, video editing, raytracing, drafting, word processing, and a thousand other applications. These are 3.0 Ghz machines with 1 Gig of ram, BTW.
Well, for starters we are NOT running MS software at all anymore-- This a debian server running a custom debian client. And we have passed on most of the processing off to the actual clients, making the server more of a network HDD than anything.
This allows us GREAT remote support abilities, and can install software district wide, with one command line.
As well, we have skype, various video conf software (distributed classrooms), and can run most web cams by just plugging it in.
We also happily share our setup with other districts (3 more district in this area are switching to a copy of our servers)
Of course the the idea of running a server and a bunch of lightweight clients is so much easier to tend to.
I work for a school district and we run our own version on thin/diskless clients. We have a few thousand running now, and change about a thousand a year more over every year. After 3 years of great improvements all around, we are never going back to individual stations.
I do find it comical that old ideas seem to keep coming back, and it just might be because they are good ideas.
Of course, we run fat/diskless for most of it, so that kills most of the downsides.
And yes, we run a little over 700 machines from one server.
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How much money are we talking about? I don't mind taking some.
We run a hybrid thin/fat client that offloads CPU to the local client. Why does 3Ghz make it not a think client?
And yes, you can run 700 concurrent connection without problem (Linux server). In fact, a lot of the times there is extra CPU/RAM on the server so we also run proxy and content filtering on them as well. In fact, the limits that we have hit are not CPU based at all, but memory and network bandwidth. Which is why we run 2Gig backbones at each site now.
With our "OLD" system we run about 60 clients at a time (on average) per dual P3 server (4Gig RAM). The CPU rarely gets maxes out with even these machines, but the RAM is the limiting factor.
With the new systems, we offload CPU work to the local client. Hence, we have not hit a wall yet with 700 systems on one server. In fact the network is by far the biggest limit.
Heck, we do run tours for tech people once in a while (usually as a group) to demo our setup.
We run this setup now at about 25 sites that range from 65-700 systems at each site. We are now into our 3rd year running our improved system, and almost 10 years running our original thin client setup.
I might point out that there is a lot of other bonus things that you get. Did I mention how easy it is to backup all these sites. The backup server runs nightly snapshots for over 500 of those,plus monthly archives.
As well, one machine dies, you just swap it out and get back to work. No more setup/config/waste of time. In fact we can have a site back up and running in under 2 hours from a complete and total failure -- what is YOUR recovery time. IE: we had a site broken into and every system stolen.
As for extending the life span -- absolutely -- small upgrade to the server can increase the CPU power/ram/drive space for every one, at much less cost. Even better, with sharing memory segments, a lot of software can run concurrent users with very little memory footprint. Firefox 3 is an great example of faster/smaller. Our 3 year old systems, are still running just fine with many, many software updates.
But of course, we are doing this without licensing any software at all -- so another bonus -- again what is your annual software cost?
So, rather than calling bullshit, why don't you take a look at the idea, before you get upset. Might I recommend looking in LTSP, as it really has some good ideas. Or you can get a hold of me, and take a closer look at what thin client can do!
First question : this setup replaces EVERY computer in the system. They are used for student computers, office computers, administrators, etc... These replace your normal windowsXP workstation. Second question: Where do I start. Try this one on a windows network -- Install a new piece of software (say firefox) on EVERY computer in the system, here that is 7000 computers. Oh, and have it done by lunch. Heck, why don't you just update EVERY piece of software on EVERY computer, and have it still done by lunch. Or how about the number of tech you require, here we have 1 tech per 2000 systems. Or, how about keeping the cost of the computers at under $150 each for software and hardware costs. And extend their life span to 7 years. Or, what about even turning off the computers after hours to save power, and turning them on again for the morning. This is a list that goes on and on. And we are not talking about minimal systems here. This is a full 3D desktop, video editing, raytracing, drafting, word processing, and a thousand other applications. These are 3.0 Ghz machines with 1 Gig of ram, BTW.
Well, for starters we are NOT running MS software at all anymore-- This a debian server running a custom debian client. And we have passed on most of the processing off to the actual clients, making the server more of a network HDD than anything. This allows us GREAT remote support abilities, and can install software district wide, with one command line. As well, we have skype, various video conf software (distributed classrooms), and can run most web cams by just plugging it in. We also happily share our setup with other districts (3 more district in this area are switching to a copy of our servers)
Of course the the idea of running a server and a bunch of lightweight clients is so much easier to tend to. I work for a school district and we run our own version on thin/diskless clients. We have a few thousand running now, and change about a thousand a year more over every year. After 3 years of great improvements all around, we are never going back to individual stations. I do find it comical that old ideas seem to keep coming back, and it just might be because they are good ideas. Of course, we run fat/diskless for most of it, so that kills most of the downsides. And yes, we run a little over 700 machines from one server.