Is 1 server enough? Or should I employ a 2 server system?

Question

*Brief Backgound:*
I have 60 LDAP directory bound clients (PPC eMacs and Intel iMacs) to one Dual G5 PowerMac server - such that students login on any client in one of the 3 computer labs and mount their own home directory.
*The Issue:*
It seems to me that the student login process takes way too long to mount their home directories - they often, but not always, have to sit there and wait - and occasionally the authentication process hangs, requiring a forced reboot of the client. And it's worth noting that performance is not always quicker when only a few clients are in use.
*My question:*
Do I need a second server to speed up the login process? Or, am I nowhere near needing a second server, and should I instead concentrate my efforts on other issues to figure out the slow login issue?
*The Details:*
Clients are student eMacs and iMacs running 10.4.10, the slowest of which is 1GHz PPC with 384MB RAM and the newest is 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo with 512MB RAM. All have a dedicated 100mbs wired network connection - that is, each computer has it's own CAT5 cable direct into a 3COM switch which is then connected via gigabit to the backbone switch that the server is tied into. Generally, kids use Safari, MS Office 2004, iLife apps, etc. I have a login hook to make Office look to the client not the server for fonts, etc. Any video work is done on a local user account, not over the network.
The Server is a connected to one of 2 backbone gigabit switches with gigabit (very nice Cisco). It's also running 10.4.10 Server. It's a 2.0GHz Dual G5 PowerMac with 2GB RAM and 2 hard drives. I use Workgroup Manager to manange client preferences. When I monitor the server, neither the processor nor the memory ever get taxed, and there's plenty of free disc space. I plan to replace it with a new 2.6GHz Intel Mac Pro this month, but should I replace it with 2 Mac Pros instead of 1?
Concerns:
I find it a bit daunting to divide the current setup into a 2 server system, but if the results will have a very noticable impact on performance, then I'm willing to go that route.
*Many thanks in advance for your helpful advice!!!*

Answer 1

With your current setup, and just a few clients logging in, you should see pretty decent performance. If all 60 clients logged in at about the same time, you'd be pushing it.
Things to consider:
A replica server with roughly half of the user homes to spread the load.
You mention two HD's, but how do you use them. If a new server is out of the question, you may consider an eSata RAID. You could take the two HD's you have, install the System on them and stripe them for faster performance. Even though you have some files stored locally, there's still a lot of little files flying around when clients log in. A striped system HD may make r/w access a lot faster. Put the network homes on the eSata in a RAID 5 for speed and redundancy. Assuming that the System doesn't change that much, keep a backup of the internal HD's as often as you need, and ditto for the external RAID.
Check out
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304106
and here
http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=20060329213629494&query=afp%2Btuning
I'm not sure if 10.4.8 and later take care of this stuff, but I can say that these articles have improved performance on our network greatly.
hth
Jeff