Do you have a few old computers lying around? Or do you want to set up a school network, home network or even a fully-fledged work environment on the cheap? Then a look at the Linux Terminal Server Project could be well worth your while.
As is typical of most open source projects, the LTSP is rapidly expanding with a number of new features being added to the project.
Alastair Otter, journalist, ITWeb
The Linux Terminal Server Project, or LTSP, is designed to simplify the process of setting up diskless workstations using Linux as an operating system. Essentially, a diskless workstation is a machine that boots after downloading its operating system from a central server over a local area network. In the case of the LTSP, the diskless workstation downloads a small kernel, the XFree86 server for the graphical display, as well a set of network tools and utilities to run the workstation.
Once running, the workstation has access to any of the applications installed on the server and can do just about anything a standalone computer can do. The only requirement on the workstation side is a boot ROM image specific to the network card installed. The boot ROM can be written onto a floppy disk which is then used to boot the workstation.
Minimum requirements
What makes the LTSP so attractive is the comparably low hardware requirements for a fully functional diskless workstation network. Obviously the server you use plays a large factor in the success of the project, but, even if resources are tight and you don`t have much of a choice of hardware, you only need to make sure you have access to a Pentium-class computer for the server portion. Officially, the minimum requirements for a LTSP network server is a Pentium PC with 64MB of memory and a 2GB hard drive, although a better configuration will do a lot to improve performance.
The other crucial area is the network infrastructure. Although 10Mb connectors are more than capable for a large, and primarily non-graphic, diskless setup, a 100Mb network is the best option if users expect to run remote X sessions and applications such as StarOffice or KOffice. Although a 100Mb network can handle most of the requirements of an X-based diskless setup, it is probably best not to use resource-hungry desktop environments such as KDE or Gnome for general use. A simple Blackbox or Windowmaker environment would be the best option.
On the workstation side, the requirements are surprisingly low and for everyday requirements, a 486-class computer with around 16MB of memory should do the job. If users plan on using an X environment, a minimum of a 1MB video card will be required.
The LTSP tools run on most of the popular Linux distributions, including RedHat, Mandrake, SuSE and Debian, with others being added to the list fairly quickly. The extensive documentation available on the www.ltsp.org site makes the process of installing the tools relatively simple, and downloads of the software are also available on the site in both RPM and TGZ format.
Rapidly expanding
There are very few other requirements to run LTSP but the server does need to have DHCP networking installed and running. Workstations connecting to the server will use IP addresses in the range 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.253.
As is typical of most open source projects, the LTSP is rapidly expanding with a number of new features being added to the project. Among these is support for LDAP and dynamic DNS, as well as new ports of the software to other distributions.
There are countless applications that come to mind for a diskless workstation environment, most particularly in the education sector in this country. And there are a number of organisations in SA that are already using the software locally for this purpose. Other applications such as low-cost SME networks, Internet caf'es and NGOs could just as well be structured along these lines, making the Linux Terminal Server Project a versatile and affordable system for practically any environment.
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