Hi, On Thu, 19.03.2009 at 10:23:18 +0100, Julian Leyh <jul...@vgai.de> wrote: > Pehr Svderman schrieb: >> Let me put it this way: I don't mind creating 60 virtual instances to >> give each student in a course a server to mess around with. I can wipe >> them and reinstall them in a matter of minutes if a student messes up >> a server. I would love those servers to be OpenBSD. >> >> Installing 60 physical servers to give the students something to play >> with is not fun :( > > You could do it just as easy, using netboot. wiping/reinstalling would > have to take place only on one server, probably not much more as > restoring the exported filesystems or boot images from a previous backup.
but it still increases the cost considerably: With virtualization, it suffices to give a thin client to each student, or maybe even less if not all 60 students are expected to work simultanously. With physical machines, this still creates much more hassle, and cost. Also, if one of the students decides to work somewhere else (eg. at home), he could, in theory, simply copy the VM to his computer and carry it away. I highly doubt that someone wants to manage lending out physical machines... Kind regards, --Toni++
