The Situation
The Department of Software Engineering and Programming Languages (Chair held by Prof. Reif) offers lectures in the areas "General Software Engineering," "Software Engineering for Electronic Commerce" and "Formal Methods of Developing Secure Systems." The Department currently has two professors and seven scientific assistants, and uses Red Hat 7.2 and some Red Hat 7.1 Linux operating systems for its clients. For the computer scientists, the reasons for using the Linux solution are obvious: the outstanding stability and free availability of Linux. However, they had problems when communicating with persons outside the Institute who use Microsoft Office files or applications that are not yet available for Linux. Therefore, the Augsburg computer scientists looked for a solution that would enable economical and easy access to Windows applications.
The Solution To reboot the Linux clients whenever Windows was needed, or fall back
on the only remaining Windows computer was, for reasons of time, out of
the question. To solve this problem, VMware or a server-based computing
solution with Windows Terminal Server were being considered. Arguments
against VMware were the longer start time and the more complicated,
time-consuming administration. For the Windows Terminal Server solution it
was now a matter of deciding between Citrix MetaFrame and HOBLink JWT.
Both can be used on non-Windows clients. After testing the products, the
computer scientists decided for HOBLink JWT. This software fulfilled all
the Institute’s requirements and was considerably less expensive than
the Citrix solution.
HOBLink JWT is a Java client that provides platform-independent access to the Microsoft Windows Terminal Servers and Services via the standard RDP protocol. Administrators install HOBLink JWT on any Web server. For the clients, a JVM is sufficient (for Linux, HOB recommends the Java 1.3 from IBM); other than this, nothing needs to be installed on the clients. As the applet is less than 160 KB, its loading time is minimal. Thanks to Smart Update, the client is present locally after the first download and is only reloaded from the Web server when newer versions become available.
For larger installations and server farms, the clients can be integrated into the Enterprise Access solution from HOB. With this solution, the administrators can configure and manage the clients from a single point-of-administration, or use an already existing, central directory service via the implemented LDAP interface. Load Balancing, Application Publishing and Local Drive Mapping provide even more convenience for working with server farms.
Christoph Duelli, with a degree in computer science, is employed by the Department of Software Engineering and has the following to say regarding the decision for the Windows Terminal Server solution with HOBLink JWT: "The most important argument for this solution was the time-savings as compared to a rebooting or the solution with VMware. The ease of administration and one-time-only installation of HOBLink JWT on the Linux file server, as well as of the Windows applications on the Terminal Server, were also very important for us. Initially, there were some problems with keyboard support and stability; it was mostly with animated content that the solution had problems. The migration to HOBLink JWT V. 2.2, however, has considerably improved the stability, so that we now have no problems working with the system."
Summary
With the solution described here, the Institute for Computer Science has obtained a performant, stabile and, above all, economical solution. The Windows 2000 Professional Server’s Terminal Services run on an 800-MHz computer with a 512-MB RAM. Faculty members mainly use Microsoft Office and tools such as Adobe Distiller or various browsers. This solution combines the advantages of Linux on the clients with the full availability of Windows applications: in addition to the lower licensing costs, the easier administration also adds to its total value.
About the Institute for Computer Science
In the year 2000, within the scope of the State of Bavaria’s "High-Tech-Offensive Bayern," the University of Augsburg set up Bavaria’s sixth and newest "full computer science department." Since October 2000, the University of Augsburg has been offering two courses in computer science: A Bachelor’s course, "Computer Science and Electronic Commerce" (culminating in the internationally recognized Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and Electronic Commerce) as well as a course in which the students can earn a state-recognized Diploma for Applied Computer Science.
The diploma course conveys a wide, crisis-proof core-competency in computer science. The Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Commerce is a specialized, accelerated course intersecting with economics, and is carried out in cooperation with the Economics Faculty. Thus the University of Augsburg is the first university in Germany with a course combining computer science with e-commerce. Another advantage of the Bachelor courses is that the graduates are available for the job market after a relatively short time. The popularity of this type of course is reflected in the very positive response to the opening of the Bachelor course in October, 2000.
In the 2001/2002 winter semester, a Bachelor/Master course, "Computer Science and Multimedia" was launched. Within this course, the University of Augsburg is offering three different courses with varying orientations. This way, students can specialize in their particular interests in computer science.
Further information:
HOB
Petra Körwer
Tel: +49 911-9666-284
E-mail: petra.koerwer@hob.de
webmaster@hobsoft.com, Last Updated: 28-Oct-09
