A computer classroom based on THIN CLIENTS

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A computer classroom based on THIN CLIENTS

• Benny Keshet
• David de Leeuw
• Medical Computing Unit
• Ben Gurion University of the Negev

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The Problem

• Establishing a new (third) computer classroom in
  the Faculty of Health Sciences
• With minimal budget
• With no funding for manpower

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The solution

• Usage of a terminal server and thin clients

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The concept

• Have a strong server capable of running sessions
  for at least 30 users at a time.
• Install all programs on the server only
• Use old PCs as thin clients terminals to
  access the server

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Step I

• Get a strong terminal server
• CPU 2 2.8 GHz Xeon
• RAM 2 GB (expanded to 3 GB now)
• Windows Server 2003
• IBM Pizza 335 system

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Step II

• Get old PCs
• We had 30 Compaq EY systems (from 1999)

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Step III

• Convert PCs to thin clients.
• Here we tried a number of methods

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Step III-a

• Have the computers running Windows XP with
  automatic login and login script connecting to
  terminal server
• Advantages
• It works
• Disadvantages
• Slow
• Heavy
• Easily hacked
• Still need antivirus protection, Windows updates,
  etc.

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Step III-b

• Same idea as III-a, but connect to server in
  startup script (before login)
• Advantages
• Much faster
• Difficult to hack
• Disadvantages
• No mapping of local devices (floppy, cd,
  disk-on-key)

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Step III-C

• Search for real thin clients
• Tried several, all based on Linux
• but all had problems, till we found

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PXESCONFIG
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PXES
PXES Universal Linux Thin Client PXES is the
micro Linux distribution allowing you to build
thin clients or diskless workstations.Hardware
not suitable for other uses like current desktop
OS can be recycled and converted into a thin
client. . Made by one person Diego Torres
Milano

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Our use of PXES

• To set up, build a PXES Thin Client
• station you need a Linux computer.
• But for operation we can run this in a Windows
  only environment.

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How does it work

• We create a small image for the thin station
  including all the features we need
• This image in stored on a TFTPBOOT (RIS) server
• With the help of a network card we bring the
  image to the workstation and boot a small Linux
  operating system
• The operating system starts remote desktop
  software to access the server.

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Server environmentAll Windows 2003

• Terminal server
• DHCP Server
• TFTPSERVER RIS Windows
• Active directory for prestaging

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Client environment

• PC with Pentium II/III processor
• 64 MB RAM
• INTEL Pro network card
• Compatible VGA card
• NO hard disk

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Demo

• In the Deichman building, room 002

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Status

• Works
• No more images, ghosts, antivirus, hackers,
  broken disks on workstations
• Mapping of Floppy, CD, disk-on-key work

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Other possible applications in Faculty and/or BGU

• Public stations in library
• Administrative computers
• Kiosks
• Web browser stations
• Stations for access of Linux Servers (VNC)

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Advantages

• Environmental
• Economical
• Manpower

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More information

• Technical writeup, including bugs we found and
  solved.
• Not easy stuff
• http//medic.bgu.ac.il/comp/thinclient/howto-pxebo
  ot.pdf