K 12 LTSP Linux Terminal Server Project for

K 12 LTSP Linux Terminal Server Project for K-12 schools Brought to you by: Eric Harrison, Multnomah Education Service District eharrison@mesd. k 12. or. us Paul Nelson, Riverdale School District pnelson@riverdale. k 12. or. us Special Thanks to: Linux Terminal Server Project Red Hat Ximian Intel Sun Microsystems

What is K 12 LTSP? � Integration of the Red Hat 7. 1, Linux Terminal Server Project, and Ximian GNOME. � The concept is to build a "terminal server appliance", a Linux distribution that was trivial to install and configure which would support booting low-maintaince, low-cost diskless terminals.

Goals and Objectives � Mitigate management headaches. It is a full time job maintaining a school computer lab � Improve reliability. Teachers will not incorporate technology into their curriculum unless it is dependable. � Lower costs. It is quite often costprohibitive to put new computers into schools.

Strengths � Centralized management, reliable, inexpensive � Fast! Terminals run at the speed of the server � Inherent remote administration capabilities � True color, no 8 bit color palate limitations � Relatively secure � Possible to run legacy apps � Runs almost all Linux applications

Weaknesses � Floppy, sound, and CD support are not perfected � Legacy app support can be expensive and/or resource intensive � Currently does not support hardware accelerated 3 D graphics � Peripheral support is tricky at best � Managing mixed clients can be a pain

Future Enhancements � Eliminate/mitigate current weaknesses Perfect floppy, sound, and CD support Implement web-based and/or LDAP administration Integrate v 2. 4. x kernel hot-pluggable device support � Improve support for non-standard configurations � Integrate into the core Red Hat distribution? � XFree 4. x support for terminals

K 12 LTSP boot process � PXE, download syslinux. pxe image � Client downloads kernel using TFTP � Client obtains configuration information via DHCP � Client NFS mounts the server's filesystem � Client generates configuration files on the fly � Client starts X, sends XDMCP query � User logs into server

Network Architecture � Default configuration expects two NICs, the terminals are isolated on their own private network � Private network for the terminals makes it very easy to deploy, the servers can all be identical � SSH & DHCP permitted by default, all other outside connections are firewalled off by default � All applications run on the server, but can be

Conclusions � Initial pilot projects have been very successful, all goals have been met and user feedback has been positive � Logs indicate strong interest with not only K 12 schools, but universities, corporations, and third-world countries as well