[K12OSN] flash update adds needed feature

[James P. Kinney III]

On Tue, 2007-12-04 at 10:24 -0600, Kemp, Levi wrote:
> A bit off topic for the update about flash, but I had a question about
> memory and system performance. My server has 2 dual core 2GHz Zeon
> processors, 4gig of ram, 5 32gb 1500rpm SAS drives hardware raid, and
> I'm running K12LTSP V6 32bit. Obviously I'm only registering 3.2gig of
> ram, but at this current configuration how many clients should I be able
> to handle? It seems with about 30 users logged in my RAM is already
> close to peak. No one is complaining but I thought I'd be able to expand
> this lab out without much effort, but I'm worried that I'd spread it too
> thin. As far at network goes I've only got 1gig to lan and 1gig to the
> clients, each of them are 100mb. Any suggestions welcome, and if it
> helps are biggest uses of the lab are OO.o and firefox w/ flash. It's a
> Middle school so they don't use gcompris, etc. too much. Thanks.

That box should carry about the load you have (I would say max at 25)
but don't try adding more. The limiting part is the RAM. In order to
really go beyond what you have now, you will need more RAM, a 64-bit OS
and another 1Gbit NIC to provide downstream data to the clients. 
8GB RAM will just barely cover 100 clients with minimal flash uses and
don't even try streaming video for more than 2-5 students. The 4GB you
have will happily work out with 30-50 clients (if you have the full 4GB)
under similar loading issues. OOo is very usable (good threading) and
flash has been scary. I hope to be fully testing the new flash plugin
today.
> 
> Levi Kemp
> Technology Specialist
> Bolivar R-1 Schools
> 417-328-8943
> lnkemp at bolivar.k12.mo.us
> 
> "The only secure computer is one that's unplugged, locked in a safe, and
> buried 20 feet under the ground in a secret location... and I'm not even
> too sure about that one"  
> 
>         --Dennis Hughes, FBI
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: k12osn-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:k12osn-bounces at redhat.com] On
> Behalf Of James P. Kinney III
> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 9:09 AM
> To: Support list for open source software in schools.
> Subject: [K12OSN] flash update adds needed feature
> 
> For those who are running large-scale implementations of K12LTSP I'm
> sure you have seen the system load spikes caused by flash. One cause for
> this is flash has little to no support for multi-threading. So each
> little flash item on a web page opens a _NEW_ instance of flash.
> 
> What a system hog!
> 
> Good news! Adobe has released an updated version that now supports
> multi-core and multithreads. This should ease the loading problems of
> hard working servers. Maybe BrainPop can now be viewed without bringing
> the servers to their knees!
> 
> If you have the adobe-yum repo setup, it's ready for a yum update
> flash-plugin
> -- 
> James P. Kinney III          
> CEO & Director of Engineering 
> Local Net Solutions,LLC        
> 770-493-8244                    
> http://www.localnetsolutions.com
> 
> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
> 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III          
CEO & Director of Engineering 
Local Net Solutions,LLC        
770-493-8244                    
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
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