Determining which system types are appropriate for your environment can be done by comparing each type based on the following characteristics:
Centralized Administration
Can the system be treated as a field replaceable unit (FRU)? This means that a broken system can be quickly replaced with a new system without any lengthy backup/restore operations and no loss of system data.
Does the system need to be backed up? Large costs in terms of time and resources can be associated with backing up a large number of desktop systems.
Can the system's data be modified from a central server?
Can the system be installed from a centralized server, quickly and easily without handling the client system's hardware?
Performance
Does this configuration perform well in desktop usage?
Does the addition of systems on a network affect the performance of other systems already on the network?
Disk Usage
How much disk space is required to effectively deploy this configuration?
Table 3-2 describes how each system type scores in terms of each of these categories. A ranking of 1 is most efficient; a ranking of 4 is least efficient.
Table 3-2 Comparison of System Types
System Type |
Centralized Administration |
Performance |
Disk Usage |
---|---|---|---|
Standalone System |
4 |
1 |
4 |
Diskless Client |
1 |
4 |
1 |
AutoClient System |
1 |
2 |
2 |
JavaStation Client |
1 |
1 |
1 |