[K12OSN] server needs

[Lee Myrick]

We're are in the planning stages of setting up our K12ltsp project. 
We're probably going to end up building our thin clients from scratch, 
but my concern right now is the server (we'll either be building this 
ourselves or buying used). I want to get this purchase right the first 
time. We're a small public charter middle/high school with a performing 
arts focus--only 92 students this year, doubling next year, and topping 
out at 250 by year three with no growth in population after that.

We're moving into our permanent location this summer. The building has 
a quite open floor plan and the clients will be scattered throughout 
the building in open banks of 5 or so. We're going to start with 15 to 
20 clients for now, but want to be able to grow to 40-50 by the time we 
reach max population in year three. We'll be running Open Office and a 
web browser on the clients, but not much else.

So--I want to able to run all the clients off the same server (I 
think). My  main question is, what are the minimum specs I want for a 
server that will take us through year three in our plan and beyond? 
There are a lot of choices out there, both in used servers and new 
components. Any advice from anyone running a similar load on their ltsp 
server would be appreciated.

Lee Myrick
Information Services Administrator
Renaissance Arts Academy
lee at renarts.org
http://www.renarts.org

626-564-0902 home office
323-259-5700 school site