Thin Client Setup?

[James7342]

Our current setup:
3 Office PCs (XP Pro) – These are used for Office 2010 Professional, Simply Accounting, Internet, etc

1 Recording PC (XP Pro) – This is what we use to record the sermons on Sunday, only runs Audacity

1 Projector PC (Windows 7 Pro) – PowerPoint 2010 and EasyWorship

I’ve been putting together an upgrade plan for the next five years and it got me thinking about implementing a thin client system, from what I’ve read it’s cheaper and less hassle in the long run.

I like the idea of centralizing user accounts for simplified management and the scalability of such a setup. We don’t have a huge staff (~10 people who need computer access), but there are a few of them that have accounts on multiple computers.

I’d prefer to continue to run the recording and projector’s programs locally, I’m more interested in doing this for the office computers.

My questions are:
1. Does this make sense for such a small network?
2. What Hardware, OS, etc, would be best for this?
3. Any good resources that you know of on the subject (I have a lot to learn!)


Thanks

[James7342]

I'll just add this, currently Printing/NAS access/Backup are all setup and work fine with no hassle. So the two main advantages that I see are:

1. User files would be available at any terminal (although, there are easy ways to sync files)
2. It ends up being cheaper and saves time

So I guess that leads me to this, how much would it cost to implement a server that would be capable of hosting basic office apps and that would also scale well?

[blonborg]

Since you'd like to keep the projector and recording pc's working as they are now, I wouldn't bother with a thin client setup.

Since you already have the "pro" versions of the operating system, XP and Win7, buy a copy of Server 2008 R2 and 5 CAL's. Create a domain and get your computers and user's into Active Directory. Consider moving your files and printing to the new server and possibly use the NAS to backup the server.

While you're at it, configure the server for WSUS and use it to deliver the Microsoft updates to the pc's. Download once, distribute many times.

[cw4u]

The only time I could see a thin client setup working in a church would be for like a payment terminal, child check-in setup, and maybe guest access computers.

[VoltNHalf]

I agree with Blonborg & cw4u. A small rack-mount server may cost $2-3K with UPS & drives (towers can be obtained for much less). If you want scaling for the future, you may want to consider a virtualization environment. These are available from major vendors such as HP or Dell; you might want to just browse on over to one of their sites & price a system.

We've never been able to make thin client work out...

[James7342]

Originally Posted by blonborg

Since you'd like to keep the projector and recording pc's working as they are now, I wouldn't bother with a thin client setup.

Since you already have the "pro" versions of the operating system, XP and Win7, buy a copy of Server 2008 R2 and 5 CAL's. Create a domain and get your computers and user's into Active Directory. Consider moving your files and printing to the new server and possibly use the NAS to backup the server.

While you're at it, configure the server for WSUS and use it to deliver the Microsoft updates to the pc's. Download once, distribute many times.

So by setting up a domain and using Server 2008 R2, it would allow for centralization of user's files and account settings on the server and thus users could log in from any computer in the domain and access their files, but then programs would still run locally?

Because that's essentially what I want to do.

Based on Microsoft's suggested specs, I guess you don't NEED a super powerful system, but what would you suggest hardware wise?

(Thanks everyone, this is seeming way more simple than I thought it would be)

[Gracetech]

If you have a small setup then you may want to go the Small-Business Server route. Just throwing that out there

It's worth a look to check out Microsoft Multi-Point server. Multi-Point would work well for your thin client applications.

As others have said. You probably want a dedicated computer for recording and you definitely want a dedicated computer for Projection.

crt

[blonborg]

Yes, that's correct.

Originally Posted by James7342

So by setting up a domain and using Server 2008 R2, it would allow for centralization of user's files and account settings on the server and thus users could log in from any computer in the domain and access their files, but then programs would still run locally?

I bought Server 2008R2 Standard/CAL licenses for my church about 10 months ago, cost was $102 for the server, $7/each for the CAL's. These are MS's Charity licensing costs - if you're not on the program, this is an ideal time to get on the plan, since you need an initial purchase of 5 or more items.

For server hardware, I'd go with either HP or Dell. Put 4Gb of RAM in it and however much hard disk. Consider a RAID array with 2 or more hard disks.

- bill

[tedanderson]

The cost of licensing is probably the only prohibitive thing that I can think of in regards to running a small thin network. It's been a while since I've had to buy licenses but the last time I set something up like that, I had to purchase client licenses for each machine that was on the network and then I had to buy a server license based on the number of concurrent connections that I had.

It's very cost effective when you have 30 or more workstations. But I'm not so sure about 3 or 4.

[Roy Wooten]

I volunteer at my church and in one of my previous paying jobs as a mechanical engineer, Corporate IT decided they would save money by "upgrading our system to a Thin Client System. From the beginning it was slow, glitchy(if that is even a word) and prone to locking up. The grand experiment lasted about 6-9 months at which point they purchased new desktop computers for every one and did away with the Thin Clients.

One of the IT persons who was tasked with keeping the systems up and running claimed he spent more money in overtime hours at the plant keeping the Thin Clients running than it cost to buy the new computers to replace them. That was the financial justification for buying about 125 desktop computers.

This is just what I have seen and it was 3-4 years ago, Maybe they have improved with the new technology.

Roy

[James7342]

Originally Posted by blonborg

Yes, that's correct.



I bought Server 2008R2 Standard/CAL licenses for my church about 10 months ago, cost was $102 for the server, $7/each for the CAL's. These are MS's Charity licensing costs - if you're not on the program, this is an ideal time to get on the plan, since you need an initial purchase of 5 or more items.

For server hardware, I'd go with either HP or Dell. Put 4Gb of RAM in it and however much hard disk. Consider a RAID array with 2 or more hard disks.

- bill

Awesome.

What CPU are you running in your server?

[rkresge]

I waited to see what other people might say about this, but now I'll say that MS Small Business Server 2008 (R2) is probably a far better bet for this environment than any thin client arrangement. IMHO, thin client is not practical until you start getting into many, many potential client systems. OTOH, an MS Server with AD in the environment you described might also make a lot of sense. Small Business Server probably needs more horsepower than plain ordinary Server 2008, because the SBS potentially will run Exchange and IIS, plus it has to be a domain controller. If you don't need the extras like Exchange, Server 2008 R2 Standard might be the best buy. Both MS Servers will do what you're asking very nicely.

Hardware? 3 GHz processor (dual core), 4 GB of RAM, and RAID 1 hard drives should be more than sufficient for a small environment. If it's Server 2008 R2, it *must* be 64-bit as well. There's no 32-bit version of R2.

Roger