Deployment Guide/School Server

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Revision as of 23:51, 29 November 2008 by Skierpage (talk | contribs) (6. School Server: link to School server, Category:SchoolServer)
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6. School Server

Part of our deployment model is to utilize school servers. A School server is designed to provide a gateway to the Internet, a local content repository, back-up, school management, etc. As important as all of these services, their most critical role is to scale the local-area network. Without a school server, the largest network that can be maintained is approximately 20 laptops. Each school server can maintain a network of approximately 120 laptops.

The reasons for this difference include:

  • By maintaining state information, the school server eliminates the need for much of the multicast traffic, which puts a heavy load in the network
  • The school server can unify up to three separate mesh channels.

We are working towards allowing a laptop to serve the role of the School Server for small schools; but that goal has not been reached yet and so it is not currently an option.

Note: the numbers of machines supported in each network configuration are in flux at the moment. Consult with the OLPC developer team [how?] for up-to-date information.

Please consider the table below when making your deployment plans.

<20 <40 <80 <120 >120
no server server + 1 access point server + 2 access points server + 3 access points server + many access points


A number of computers may act as a school server, but it must be a Fedora-capable computer. Recommended minimum specifications for a school server are as follows:

Server Laptops Supported Processor RAM Storage
Small <20-25 466 MHz 256 MB 40-60 GB
Large <150 1 GHz 1 GB 320-400 GB

Next Section: Teacher Preparation/Student Facilitation