Hot Seating

[grimdestripador]

long time no post/response. You could install a beefy network and not store any files on your local profile. Linux allows NFS to mount as partitions. Perhaps then backups would be centralized. Don't use workstations to share their HDs, someone is going to get swamped.

[grimdestripador]

Don't feel bad. I'd rather have Linux Mint as a stepping stone to some other linux, rather than telling your to stick to Active Directory or some sort of Roaming Profile... I've had too many lost files at my university... We all just use USB drives.

[DrHu]

Depends on the user requirements for the systems and the capacity of your networking, but I always say, thin-client workstations do all the tricks most users need
--instead of fat clients: regular PCs loaded with software..

Using a central resource and thin clients prevents most spyware, viruses, even if the thin-client was a windows like machine

An item worth looking into coreboot (formally linuxbios)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splashtop
mainboard/motherboard support..

Thin client workstations..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_client
http://www.thinstation.org/
http://openthinclient.org/home
--green alternatives..isn't everybody green these days..

Some models..(thin clients)
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/art ... nal_server
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux ... ent-cloud/
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux ... computing/
--cloud computing, a new term for think clients over the Internet

[ranyardm]

To avoid the nfs mount problem, you could look at one of the distributed filesystems, such as Intermezzo, Coda or Starfish. There's even ms-dfs that samba supports but I have no idea if it is any good for what you're looking for.

The ones I've mentioned make things like local caching automatic, so you only need to fetch server-side stuff you haven't already asked for once.

--
Martyn

[grimdestripador]

Suhana, I would like to subscribe to your rsync informed newsletter. Please advise.

I'm considering testing the workings of rsync, as I like to have a working copy of data and a time dated backup. Thus I have two servers, One with daily modifications, and one with a monthly snapshot.

From what I remember in the past, rsync really chews through processor as much as it does disk usage. It is highly optimized for secure and fast mirroring with minimal network utilization.

If I were to implement "hot seating with rsync" (this would make a good metal song). I would set a lock file to where only one workstation is logged into at one time. I would set a login and logout script to rsync. I'm assuming this would work similar to "Roaming Profiles", as your first login will be a long time.