[Bug 1087] New: swap on thin clients (LTSP) should be turned on as default
http://bugs.skolelinux.no/show_bug.cgi?id=1087
Summary: swap on thin clients (LTSP) should be turned on as
default
Product: Skolelinux
Version: sarge-release-2.0r0
Platform: Other
OS/Version: other
Status: NEW
Severity: critical
Priority: P2
Component: Installation system
AssignedTo: debian-edu@lists.debian.org
ReportedBy: knuty@skolelinux.no
A lot of schools that has upgraded from Skolelinux 1.0 to
Skolelinux/DebianEdu 2.0 and lost the support for thin clients on many
of their machines. This is on reused machines from 1996 with 32 MB RAM.
In the Municipality of Nittedal we talk about > 200 machines. The reason
for this is the disabling of swap in the new LTSP solution that comes
with Skolelinux/DebianEdu 2.0. In Skolelinux 1.0 the default was swap
on the thin clients over the network file system.
Some have suggested to upgrade the hardware to use 64 MB RAM. But for
Nittedal it's not an option to use 38.000 EURO extra baying 250 reused
PC's that replaces the machines that has 32 MB RAM. The Municipality
in Nittedal don't have the manpower to put in extra RAM. The persons
that maintain the machines at schools just have 1-2 hours a week to do
technical support on 50-100 clients. Because of the scarce resources
the "swap not turned on" problem gives really bad publicity for
DebianEdu when the schools "loses" a lot of clients.
There are three different solutions to handle the "swap not turned on"
problem, but just one that takes into account that Skolelinux 2.0
uses the next ltsp-solution (beta of version 5.0).
1. Downgrade to the LTSP to 4.1 or 4.2 with the SWAP over NFS solution
(To use Skolelinux 2.0 pr05 could be a solution)
2. Replace the LTSP beta 5.0 and use Lessdisks
3. Turn on the Network Block Device (NBD) in the configuration on LTSP
5.0.
http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/SwapNbd#Configuring_Swap_over_NBD_in_LTS
When it comes to diskless workstations schools has experienced the
application freezes the whole desktop. e.g by using the spell-checker
that underlines misspelled words with a reed line. The problem
evaporates when turning swap on the diskless workstations. So also the
diskless workstations should have the swap turned on as default.
It's also important that the maintenance person at every schools don't
get any trouble or hassle when configuring swap. It should work out of
the box.
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