Re: looking for net image success stories
On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 07:52:58AM -0600, Richard Nelson wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 7:21 PM, Rob Owens <rowens@ptd.net> wrote:
> > I'd like to hear how folks on this list are using net images of Debian
> > Live.
> >
>
> I use Debian Live to netboot a few hundred Linux _thick_ clients. The
> users get a full desktop session. I have been using this model for
> almost 5 years.
>
> > I'm a longtime user of LTSP, which boots thin clients over the network
> > which then run applications remotely on the LTSP server. This is great
> > for low power clients, but for newer clients I'd like to move some of
> > that processing power off of the central server and onto the client.
> >
>
> I was once a user of LTSP for a few hundred clients, but there were
> some limitations that were found to be clumsy to work around. I found
> that shipping out a full Debian desktop to each client was the easiest
> way to go.
>
What specific problems did you have? I know that flash video seems to
be one of the weak points of LTSP. Flash is a CPU hog, and having every
user run it on the same server isn't so great. These days a lot of
people are starting to run Firefox as a local app to combat that
problem.
> > The options I've come up with so far are LTSP "fat client mode" (still
> > researching this one), DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux), and Debian
> > Live net images.
> >
>
> I use stock netboot with plainfs so the image can be chrooted to and
> tuned in for quick fixes for the fleet. I would never go back to LTSP
> if my clients had sufficient processing and ram.
>
Thanks, I didn't even know that was an option. Do you know what the
difference is between "plain" and "ext2" or "ext3" for the
--chroot-filesystem?
> > Does anyone out there use persistence with a net image? How about NFS
> > mounting /home? I'll be using LDAP for authentication. Any tips for
> > adding LDAP users to local groups (audio, plugdev, etc)?
>
> What was done at the site is netboot right to the live user desktop
> and any user can use the station and save work to jump drive or
> external media, but no printing or home directories (and you could
> also exclude internet access) until user is authenticated and we map
> in a cups server and mount the users home folder to a folder on their
> desktop. This model ensures that when we do a support call that every
> user has the identical setup and no overhead of trying to kiosk or
> policy down the operations.
>
> As for back end authentication and storage you can use what you want,
> the site is a mixed environment with Windows clients also so we just
> use Samba+Cups for back end authentication, storage and printer
> access.
>
> All I can say is Debian Live has been a work horse at many locations for me.
Out of curiosity, what sort of environment are you using this in?
School, recreation center, etc?
> >
> > I'd appreciate any advice, anecdotes, warnings, etc.
>
> Proper planing with sufficient testing never hurts.
>
I guess it's time for me to start tinkering. Thanks for the info.
Anybody else on this list have stories to share?
-Rob
Reply to: