Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi Catholic College is an inner city secondary school with about 800 pupils aged between 11 and 16. In 2000 the school had two IT suites filled with Acorn computers, a handful of Acorns and PCs dotted around the school, and a Windows NT 4 server providing student file storage, and also running MS Proxy server which provided internet access via a 28K dialup. The Acorn machines local hard disks for application storage, and a well locked down configuration to ensure that the software remained in working order. Demands on the network were light – document sizes were small, and access to the internet was throttled by the small incoming bandwidth, and the poor performance of Acorn's browser.Then a gradual process of introducing Windows PCs to the network began (initially all NT4 Workstations, but later Windows 2000 Pro). Starting with a single IT suite, and building gradually to about 200 machines, it wasn't long before the original NT server ran out of steam. Loading on the system at the start of lessons meant that logins were often slow and profiles were not served up correctly. The ongoing financial burden of client access, and Office licences was also beginning to bite.A radical solution was required, but on the slimmest of budgets.

It was clear that the school would get the 'most bang for its buck' by moving to GNU/Linux for its server environment. A modest server machine was built from components – a desktop motherboard with onboard IDE RAID, a 1.3GHz AMD processor, 1Gb of DDR RAM, a rackmount case and 4 100GB IDE Drives configured as two mirrored pairs, giving a total of 200GB of storage (total cost just under £1500).

SuSE 7.3 (then current) was installed along with Samba so that the machine could impersonate an NT primary domain controller. User accounts were created using the scripts FROM the Linux for Schools Project (which also look after Samba user creation) and the user DATA was copied over FROM the old server. About a week before the new server was scheduled for deployment, the NT server had a catastrophic failure (fried motherboard), so the new server was quickly brought online and worked without problem for about a year when a plastic tab on the processor socket sheared and allowed the heatsink and fan to fall onto and short circuit the motherboard. This caused about three hours downtime whilst a new motherboard and processor were obtained and fitted.

The installation of this machine almost removed the requirements for Windows Client Access Licences, however a second NT server had been installed to service an 'RM SuccessMaker' suite. On examination, it was clear that this machine was only providing a couple of shares, so the SuccessMaker shares were moved to the main file server, and the system has continued to work as before.

The network connection INTO the school was upgraded to a 2Mb DSL, with the local authority acting as ISP and providing filtered web access. Sadly the filtering was designed to work on a per user basis, with each user logging in via a web interface and receiving a filtering level appropriate to their age. This system, of necessity, bypassed the local proxy server, and in spite of a massive increase in incoming bandwidth, a decrease in performance over the old dialup connection was observed. Performance was restored by the installation of a a proxy server (an old Sun Netra running SuSE 7.3 and Squid) and fooling the filtering system INTO thinking that the proxy server was a year 11 pupil permanently logged in.

The school was donated over one hundred computers by a bank. The machines were very small (Unisys Aquantas) with 200Mhz processors, 32MB of SIMM RAM (all slots fully occupied), on board ethernet and 3GB hard drives. The machines did not have enough memory to make a good job of running either Windows (NT WS or 2000) or a GNU/Linux desktop, and cost of upgrading the memory would have been prohibitive.

With help FROM the Computer Science department at Leeds Metropolitan University, the machines have been set up as thin clients using the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP). The hard disks have been removed or disconnected, and the machines boot via the network (EPROMs retrieved FROM scrap computer equipment had to be programmed and fitted to each machine). The machines boot a minimal operating system which is able to display a desktop which is generated on a server machine. Originally an ordinary P4 desktop machine was used as the server, but this could only drive about 10 terminals comfortably and about 20 at a stretch). This machine was replaced by a dual processor P3 server class machine (cost £4000), capable of driving all the thin client boxes.

From switch on, it takes a client about 20 seconds to display a login screen, so booting is much quicker than on any of the Windows machines in the school. The desktop environment used is IceWM, chosen because it is lightweight (minimising demand on the server), very easy to lock down (configuration is via text files which cannot be changed by ordinary users) and, with the downloadable 'XP' theme, has an almost identical look and feel to the Windows machines the pupils are used to.

Some custom scripts were developed to ensure that when users run applications, the applications start up with a known good configuration – for example, the web browser (Galeon) uses the correct proxy server, and so on. The scripts copy known good configuration files FROM a 'golden' user, and then edit them for use with the current user. If a user messes up the configuration of an application, they only need to run it again to REPAIR the problem.

The thin client machines are used throughout the school for web access (Galeon), office productivity (OpenOffice.org) and graphics work (Gimp).

Although the school had been using Microsoft Office for some while (widely regarded in the school as a retrograde step FROM Impression on the old Acorn machines), a lack of available funds for Office licences, coupled with the fact that the thin client machines could not run MS Office, led the school to install OpenOffice.org on all its computers and to use that as the standard office suite within the school. The changeover has not quite been universal as the maths department run some software which relies on using Excel via a COM interface, and which will not work with OOo. The school has produced CDs to give to staff and pupils to enable them to install OOo at home.

Running costs for printers throughout the school had become an issue. With no auditing system in place, many draft documents would be printed unnecessarily and would often remain uncollected in the printer trays.

To remedy this, a number of donated old computers (200Mhz Pentium, 32Mb RAM, 3Gb hard drive) were installed with SuSE 8.1 and the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS). CUPS was configured to hold all incoming jobs in a queue until released via a web interface. Only members of the staff user GROUP have the ability to release jobs, and this user information is made available from the main file server to the print servers using NIS.

The changeover to GNU/Linux for back end systems has been an unqualified success. Vastly reduced licensing fees coupled with a big increase in reliability and versatility has allowed only modest expenditures in this department to keep pace with an explosion in the number of client machines funded by the recently awarded Technology College status.

The thin client machines are being well received in the school, providing both single and clusters of machines to departments who would otherwise have had none. Even with the cost of the server required, these machines have only cost £40 each to deploy modern desktops around the school.

The changeover to OpenOffice.org has been as smooth as we could expect, however whilst file compatibility is good, there are occasional problems with transferal of documents produced in MS Office on home machines and on the remaining MS systems in school. There has been strong resistance to change FROM some members of staff (particularly those with weak IT skills), but the pupils have had no difficulty moving between MS and OOo.

The support staff have access to remote administration of the servers FROM every machine in the school via SSH, and careful configuration of the system has meant that changes which affect large groups of users can be easily implemented, usually by editing a single file.

Although it is fair to say that an idiot could set up a Windows network badly, that same idiot would probably not be able to set up a GNU/Linux network at all. Setting up either type of network well requires a high level of skill, experience and expertise. With the local Linux User group, and the UK schools Linux mailing list hosted by SuSE, expert help is always