OLE Nepal:Schoolserver

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Schoolserver

The schoolserver provides many services in support of the XO laptops.

Schoolserver Hardware

The schoolserver is a desktop with a minimum 1gb of memory and a minimum of 160gb hard drive capacity. Specifically, the server should provide 2gb of disk space for each supported XO. It must have support usb including the ability to boot from usb. If the server cannot boot from usb or the boot sequence does not have usb ahead of the hard drive, it must have a cd reader. It must have two NIC interfaces. Normally, one of these is provided on the motherboard. The second is normally an added pci card. Server installation and administration does not require a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. In addition to the server, the second NIC is connected to an Access Point (e.g Lontech WL54G-BR). The Access Point must be configurable via an http address.

NEXS

NEXS is the software installed on the server. It is derived from an OLPC XS release.

  • NEXS 1.0 derived from OLPC XS-163 is installed currently at the pilot schools.
  • NEXS 2.0 derived from OLPC_XS-0.4 is currently in test and is planned for installation in December 2008.
  • NEXS 3.0 to be derived from OLPC_XS-0.5 or OLCP_XS-0.6 is planned for installation in schools in academic year 2009-10.

NEXS build

  1. NEXS 2.0 is built by a bash script "build.sh":http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXS. This script produces the NEXS iso image.
  2. The iso image and other necessary files are copied to a usb drive using livecd-iso-to-disk HowTo
  3. Additional content files are placed on the usb drive to be copied to /library on the schoolserver. HowTo
  4. The "install.sh":http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXS and "netsetup.sh":http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXS scripts are copied to the usb drive for use in the postinstallation procedure.

NEXS installation

The usb drive is used to install the schoolserver. There is also a "boot cd":http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXS which is used when the server is not able to boot from usb or usb is not higher priority in the boot sequence than the hard drive. The boot cd provides a 'boot' loader for the usb drive.

The installation procedure provides for a 'headĺess' server. The usb drive is inserted in the server. The server is started. At the completion of the install, the cd tray is ejected to signal that the server is rebooting. The usb drive is removed and the server reset (in case it had started the reboot process from the usb drive). When the boot is believed to be complete, the install team reinserts the usb drive and logs in from an XO via ssh to run the netsetup script to complete the configuration process.

Services

The schoolserver provides the following services:

  • protected access to the internet for the associated laptops via DansGuardian
  • backup storage for the XO's datastore
  • access to Pustakalaya, a library of educational materials maintained on the server
  • access to educational activities via Moodle
  • access to additional activities which the user of an XO can install or update via the XO control panel
  • provides a higher capacity mesh network through the attached AP using ejabberd, a jabber server
  • provides automatic authentication for XO users so that the conventional username and password login is unnecessary.
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