Desktop PCs with Linux

GSI IT offers desktop installations with Debian Linux.

• central authentication
• Central home directories and other shared FileSystems
• A wide range of Debian packages in our standard SoftwareEnvironment
• Scientific software via CVMFS

To have our Debian Linux system installed on your computer please bring it to the UserHelpDesk.

The setup is mostly identical to lx-pool.gsi.de

Netboot (nfsroot) desktops

The majority of our desktops boot from the network. This has advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

• Upgrades to newer Debian versions only require some server configuration changes and a reboot. Downgrades are as simple as upgrades.
• The system is read-only and cannot be infected by malware.
• System images receive (security) updates even while the desktops are turned off.
• Management of many computers is significantly easier.

Disadvantages:

• No system software can be installed locally.
• Systems may hang or crash when the network is shaky.
  However, "stand-alone" systems are also embedded in the central infrastructure, heavily relying on network services (Authentication, central filesystems, mail, ...). Thus, standalone desktops are not more useful in case of a network outage.

Standalone installation

For special purposes eg. data acquisition front-ends, development boxes etc. we alternatively offer standalone installations. From the administrators view these installations are much more time consuming. Therefore we can only offer a more limited support.

• Upgrades to newer Debian versions are much more time consuming and labor-intensive.
  Given the limited man power of the Linux group we may not be able support upgrades at all but only re-installations.
• Downgrades are not possible.
• Systems are more easily infected with malware.

-- Christo – 2016-2021