In a response to Jim a day or so ago, I gave reasons why localapps can't solve all our problems. To recap that, a brief example: The programs that generate our graphics can, for the large systems we treat, fill the 3-4 GB of RAM available on a client. While we could potentially move some things to our clients, that won't solve all our troubles. I used the video (youtube) example because it is something simple that most people do every day. We are actually pretty unconcerned about being able to view videos over the internet.
You mention network latency... I might not have the tools I need to properly assess things, but if I open atop on both client and server and run an extended part of one of our benchmarks (not a video), the ethernet load remains solidly below 10%. So, for our normal benchmark, best I can tell, ethernet is not an issue. Even if I stray from our usual benchmarking and give it a more serious workout (same software and system), the load only pushes 85%. In that situation, the client has one CPU running at 50% load, and the server reports the process as taking about 32% of a CPU. Other info from atop: packets from server to client: 710,000-720,000. From client back to server: 170,000-175,000. The speed between them is ~0.85 Gbps (hence, I presume, the 85% load). The default Ubuntu atop install doesn't come with a "kernel patch" for networking, so that's all I can get without a custom install. If I start a full-screen video on hulu (filling as much as it can of a wide format 24 inch monitor), then the ethernet load goes up to 90+%. I can accept that streaming video is more/different work than rendering molecular graphics. I just know we need something better than what we have. On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 8:01 AM, Richard Kweskin <rkwesk_l...@hellug.gr> wrote: > Quoting James McQuillan: > >> Lachele, >> >> I'll try and explain how the graphics works in a thin client environment. > > snip > >> I've been focusing most of my rather limited time on running things on the >> thin client. To me, everything is moving towards being web-based and the >> thin client is becoming a platform for running a web browser. Running the >> browser locally makes some things much better. Sound and video perform >> very well this way. But, it brings new challenges, like printing. If run >> the browser on the thin client, you need to also have a printing sub-system >> installed like CUPS. >> Also, where's the users home directory? Probably on the server, which >> means you need to use NFS or sshfs to have access to it. >> >> I should note that what I've just described in the last paragraph is really >> just a fat client. >> >> If you've got powerful enough thin clients, moving the processing down to >> the thin client can really boost the number of thin clients that a single >> server can support. basically, the server is just a boot server. A decent >> server should be able to handle hundreds of thin clients. >> >> I hope my rather long-winded explanation helps. >> >> Jim McQuillan > > What if these powerful clients ran the browsers locally (and indeed > any other app that is laboring under network latency.) That way the > client still remains thin and resources from the server are available > when needed, rather than running the clients whole hog fat. Of course > experimenting one way or another takes time. Perhaps start with just > two or three clients and experiment with altering just their > configurations. > > Richard > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Everyone hates slow websites. So do we. > Make your web apps faster with AppDynamics > Download AppDynamics Lite for free today: > http://p.sf.net/sfu/appdyn_d2d_feb > _____________________________________________________________________ > Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss > For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net -- :-) Lachele Lachele Foley CCRC/UGA Athens, GA USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everyone hates slow websites. So do we. Make your web apps faster with AppDynamics Download AppDynamics Lite for free today: http://p.sf.net/sfu/appdyn_d2d_feb _____________________________________________________________________ Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net
