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I am busy with a project to deploy 216 Thin client desktops for and education center. The client need the desktops to be loaded with the latest version of Ubuntu for their software to work.

Question 1

What is the best way to deploy Ubuntu to all of the desktops in the smartest way possible to cut down on setup costs?

Question 2

Does Ubuntu have centralized management software that can be loaded onto all of them to manage the updates and user restrictions?

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2 Answers2

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If you don't want to go with a thin-client/server model then you need some sort of a framework that first provisions (installs Ubuntu on) the machines and then monitors them.

For provisioning you can use the network boot option and install OS using Preboot Execution Environment(PXE).

For ubuntu the best solution out there would be Cobbler. Another powerful tool is Razor which can be used with puppet to make your life as an admin real easy (except the time when you are setting all this up). There is also a way to setup your own custom PXE server which you can use to provision all your machine.

Bilal Baqar
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I think the most effective way to deploy Ubuntu to a big number of desktop computers is to use something like LTSP (http://www.ltsp.org/), which offers you a thin-client/server model (as you ask it) and comes with a centralized management software. Though, you will need a quite big server to manage all 216 desktops, above all if you plan to make them work simultaneously.

As every computer connecting to your server opens a user session on it, every software you install will be available to all others, so no need to worry for this.

Hope it helped and sorry for the few mistakes in the writing that might have gotten beyond my eye :)

cocosushi
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