Diskless Workstations Advantage and Disadvantages

A diskless workstation or PC on a local-area network (LAN) is a computer system that does not have its own disk. Instead, it stores files on a network file server.

This type of system uses network booting to load the operating system, but it does contain its own main components including the CPU, RAM, video, sound and network adapter (see "workstation" for a description of common components).

Diskless workstations can reduce the overall cost of a LAN because one large-capacity disk drive is usually less expensive than several low-capacity drives. In addition, diskless workstations can simplify backups and security because all files are in one place -- on the file server. Also, accessing data from a large remote file server is often faster than accessing data from a small local storage device. One disadvantage of diskless workstations, however, is that they are useless if the network fails.

Advantages of Diskless Setup

• Significantly reduce initial capital and implementation costs.
• Reduce power and cooling requirements.
• Accelerate deployments, upgrades, and server re purposing.
• Reduce complexity and risk.
• Improve critical system availability.
• Implement enhanced Disaster Recovery solutions.

Disadvantages of Diskless Set up

•  If the computer server fails, all the computer clients are useless. Clients cannot boot.
• All computer clients will fail if the centralized LAN (ethernet) cable has been damaged.
• For amateurs, initial investment might be expensive for creating the computer server.
• Computer components required in the server might be unavailable in some rural areas. LAN cards
• Diskless worstations might be good only if you have more than 10 computer clients. Computer server consumes a big amount of electricity. If you have less than 10 computer clients, electric consumption of that server might cost more than the total electric consumption of all the hard drives of the computer clients. Computer server is always turn on. So PISONET internet cafe with less than ten units might find it expensive to maintain a computer server.
• If you want to add a significant number of computer clients in a diskless set-up, you need to upgrade or buy a new computer server with higher specs.
• Diskless boot software has a price. Some requires you to pay in subscription basis depending on the number of computer clients. The more computer clients, the higher the price.
• You need to learn some technicalities of using the diskless boot software and a lot of troubleshooting guides for software-and-hardware-related issues of a diskless set-up.

If your computer server is infected by a virus, all computer clients might be affected also.

In order for some games and softwares to run properly on the computer clients, you need to fix some software-related issues in the server. You need to consult your diskless software provider regarding this.