[X-Servers] 700 Users all hitting the server at the same time!

[Lou Boncek]

We have a unique situation.  In one building, for the next 13 weeks, 3 
days a week, for a two hour time slot, we have about 700 users all 
hitting the server within minutes of each other.

Because of class scheduling, we can not change this.

We do NOT have a one-to-one deployment.  A student does NOT sit at the 
same computer every day.

Our set up is, iBooks (most wireless) and eMacs (100mb wired), which 
authenticate against an LDAP server (that part works without a glitch), 
but then, we have Networked Home Directories.

At this point - because so many people are hitting the server at the 
same time, we get the spinning beach ball of death and time-outs.  This 
is a G4 Xserve, with 2Gig RAM.

We dedicated  the OS on Drive one, and Storage on Drive two.  Which 
works for us fine all other times.

We know one solution would be to add another server and divide the 
load.  We also know in mid-year this is extra work, for a unique 
situation that will be over in 13 weeks.

If we had a one-to-one deployment, then we could cache locally, etc.  
But again, this is not an option.  Same problem would happen creating 
managed Mobile accounts on some of them.  The students might not 
transfer their documents from the local to the networked home, etc.

Does anyone have a thought or solutions?  Thanks....

Lou Boncek
Computer Support
Liverpool Central School District
Liverpool, NY  13090
Lou_Boncek at liverpool.k12.ny.us