Ubuntu and Linux Terminal Server Project

Ubuntu and Linux Terminal Server Project
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Information Systems Department
College of Business
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA 94132 USA
Ubuntu Community Day, LinuxWorld 2008

About
teach: information systems strategy and governance
research: diffusion and adoption (open source, mobility)
fun: ubuntu, olpc, mythtv, etc.
Me SF State University
Open Source at SF State http://opensource.sfsu.edu
OLPC-SF list http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf
One of the largest live environments of Moodle
Software Freedom Day 2006, 2007 (and 2008)

Courses I Teach
Managing Open Source
Information Systems elective
Free and Open Source Software in general
Collaborative software development
Licensing
Business models
Software maturity models
Multimedia App Development
Information Systems elective
Use of multimedia applications
Graphics, Animation, Desktop Publishing, Audio, Video, Web
Content creation and licensing
Business models

Managing Open Source
Introduction to FOSS on Windows
The Open CD/The Open Disc
Introduction to Ubuntu
Live CDs + voluntary installs
Linux Lab with Ubuntu
Introduction to the Open Source “community”
Field study: Attend a LUG meeting
Guest Speakers

Multimedia Business Application Development
The experiment
Software needed for the class: Approx. $200
Will a student at a public university spend $200 on software for a semester?
Can FOSS tools adequately fill the need?
Important constraint
Choice of tool should be based on the curriculum and not the other way around.

Applications
GIMP – Bitmapped graphics
Blender – 3D rendering
Inkscape – Scalable Vector Graphics
Audacity – Audio editing and manipulation
Scribus – Desktop Publishing
Tux paint – Fun for kids...and grown ups!
Kino – Non-linear Digital Video Editor
Drupal * – Web 2.0 CMS
*Server-side

Examples
Elephant's Dream
CG animation made entirely with FOSS

Assignment
ccmixter.org
Audio assignment based on ccmixter.org samples and loops
Students download vocals, drum loops, effects, etc. and use Audacity to mix and recreate tracks.
Learn audio tools and legal aspects via Creative Commons licenses

Our “Linux” Lab
Communication and Advanced Computing Lab
Limited/specialty software lab
Dual-boot Windows XP and Linux
Windows XP
Simulation
Statistical Analysis
Linux
GIMP
Inkscape
Audacity
...

Lab
Dual boot Ubuntu Dapper and Edgy and Windows XP.
Installation and upgrades are labor-intensive.
Actively explored LTSP on Edubuntu platform (Feisty and Gutsy)
Multiboot environment: PXE boot for Linux with Windows XP on local disk

Medusa Project

Thank you!
Bo Kim – taking up the challenge
Jack Tse and Don Strickler – loaning us a switch
Tony Chan and Karl Schackne (BUS computing) – for letting us use the lab.
Edubuntu team – making an excellent LTSP distro!

What is LTSP?
Linux Terminal Server Project
Allows “thin” clients to connect to a Linux Terminal Server.
All programs run on the server
Clients run a thin Linux base with network and X session capabilities.
LTSP allows for a single point of configuration and control
Great for lab environments
LTSP until 4.x
LTSP 5

A “thin” client performs a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) boot and retrieves an IP from the LTSP server via DHCP.
/etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf points to a bootable img file
Note location of the dhcpd.conf file
DHCP response PXE DHCP request How it works

How it works
A small footprint Linux image is sent to the thin client computer via TFTP.
The client loads the Linux image and starts the X window system via secure shell (ssh)
client images and server have ssh keys
X session forwarded over ssh DHCP response + TFTP Linux image

How it works
All programs execute in a X session on the server, but are forwarded via ssh and displayed on the thin client.
Feedback from the user (keyboard & mouse) are sent back to the server over ssh as well.
X session forwarded over ssh mouse+keyboard

What Does it Look Like? 192.168.0.0/24 eth1 eth0 firewall SFSU 130.212.14.0/24

Hardware Requirements
Server
CPU should be powerful enough to run multiple simultaneous X sessions.
Intel Xeon processor(s).
75-150MB of RAM per client.
2 Network Interface Cards
Private interface preferably Gigabit

Hardware Requirements
Client
Minimum
Pentium II with 64 MB RAM and a 2MB display card.
Recommended
Pentium II and above with 64MB RAM and 4MB display card.
Identical hardware for each client preferred

Networking Requirements
Network
Avoid
Hubs
10-BaseT cards
Preferred:
100 Mbps switch
100-BaseT cards
Ideal:
Gigabit switch.
100 Mbps switch with 1 Gbps uplink to the LTSP server.

Software Requirements
A Linux distribution with or without LTSP included.
LTSP (if not installed natively)
OR
LTSP 5
LTSP 5 is significantly different
Builds thin-client environment off of the server environment.
sudo apt-get install... sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386/ sudo apt-get update...

Software Requirements
Four services running on the LTSP server:
DHCP for IP address leases
TFTP for initial netboot kernel
NBD for filesystems
SSH for all communication on the LAN
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 { range 192.168.0.20 192.168.0.250; option domain-name "sfsu.edu"; option domain-name-servers 130.212.10.163; option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255; option routers 192.168.0.254; option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0; if substring( option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9 ) = "PXEClient" { filename "/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.0"; } else{ filename "/ltsp/i386/nbi.img"; } option root-path "/opt/ltsp/i386"; } /etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf

Advantages
Diskless clients
Highly centralized
patches
firewalling
Cost effective
Customized profiles
LDAP auth
Change lab footprint as needs grow
Invest in powerful server
Need a fast network
Documentation is weak
Many references to LTSP 4.x
Latency sensitive apps will not work well, especially multimedia
Disadvantages

Thin Client Scenario Client Server Pentium II 128 MB RAM Pentium 4 4 GB RAM Distribution of “crunch”

Fat Client Scenario Client Server Pentium III 512 MB RAM Pentium III 512 MB RAM Distribution of “crunch” Individual installs

Lowfat Client Scenario Client Server Pentium 4 2 GB RAM Pentium III 1 GB RAM Distribution of “crunch” PXE Boot images LDAP + NFS
Authentication
Storage
Configuration
Backup

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)
Alternate CD
At boot screen, hit F4 and select LTSP server
If your server has two NICs, the installation is seamless
You will be ready to boot into a thin client after the install

LTSP 5
Many more options for building images
Default image is a thin client based on what's running on the server
Custom images (lowfat, kiosk, mythbuntu...)
sudo ltsp-build-client --workstation --Kubuntu sudo ltsp-build-client --workstation --Ubuntu sudo ltsp-build-client --kiosk sudo ltsp-build-client --mythbuntu ...

LTSP and Sugar sudo apt-get install sugar*

Ten steps for fun and profit!
Get the alternate CD http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/8.04/
Get a machine (PIII will do) with two NICs
Boot from CD
Hit F4 at the boot screen
Select LTSP Server
Install
Plug in a crossover CAT5 into eth1
Plug in a PXE Bootable client into the other end
Boot
Profit!

Links to check out
http://ltsp.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Terminal_Server_Project
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPQuickInstall
http://edubuntu.org/Documentation
http://doc.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/edubuntu/handbook/C/customizing-thin-client.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPFatClients

Contact

http://ubuntu.hamdi.web.id	1015
http://opensource.sfsu.edu	26
http://www.slideshare.net	20
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	10
http://www.prn.bc.ca	8
http://209.85.129.132	1

Ubuntu and Linux Terminal Server Project

by Sameer Verma

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