[fog] Server Uptime

[Batman]

We upgraded the disks in our Fog server this week.

 

Uptime 258 days 19 hours 39 minutes.

 

We were very sad to have to take it down

[CyberNerd]

We upgraded the disks in our Fog server this week.

 

Uptime 258 days 19 hours 39 minutes.

 

We were very sad to have to take it down

 

Don't feel too sad, it could probably do with a kernel patch by now...

[Batman]

Actually, we were still on version 0.26 so we sorted that while we were at it as well

 

It's the best uptime of any server in our racks... the CC3 servers get rebooted on a very regular basis because they're awful!

[matt40k]

What's your switch uptime? Sucks went you have to reboot stuff with a such a good uptime. At least it wasn't 11 years!!

[dgsmith]

Just be lucky you haven't had 5 powercuts since the start of 2010! Getting a bit daft now, and we only have 1 UPS which can only cover our essential servers. Oh, and guess who's fault the powercuts are?

[featured_spectre]

My server uptime is just over 193 days, but mind you i did get it in august. Best server uptime is my ISA server, been up near 4 years now, never been turned off/restarted.

[fred81]

My first post.. Sorry to go off topic.

Could I ask a few questions?

A: Is Fog worth using as a practical deployment tool?

B: How easy is it to make an image and serve?

C: Will it replace the stupid floppy disks I have to use?

D: Will it save my sanity from build errors with RM? (Drivers/Time outs/Software errors/ Over bloated installations)

E: How easy is it to integrate into RM CC3 network?

 

I can see the benefits are very beneficial, but I am worried that my Network manager will not like it. He's an RM Man and won't budge on anything remotely different..

 

Could you please point me to a guide on the subject, as I have been following the FOG webpage and just set it up on a old Dell server. I just set-up last night and got to to boot a memory test. Just would like a heads up on is it worth it and how do you customise your images?

 

Thanks in advance, especially all the newbie questions

[powdarrmonkey]

Sorry to go off topic.

 

So don't, start a new thread.

[maniac]

My first post.. Sorry to go off topic.

Could I ask a few questions?

 

Should really start a new thread, but I'll answer your questions anyway as I'm a big fan of FOG.

 

A: Is Fog worth using as a practical deployment tool?

 

Yes. It's also rather good at a few other things as well.

 

B: How easy is it to make an image and serve?

 

Very easy if you're already familiar with preparing images and using sysprep on them.

 

C: Will it replace the stupid floppy disks I have to use?

 

Yes - it PXE network boots.

 

D: Will it save my sanity from build errors with RM? (Drivers/Time outs/Software errors/ Over bloated installations)

 

Yes - it pulls the whole image down in minutes

 

 

E: How easy is it to integrate into RM CC3 network?

 

That's your stumbling block. You can use it to deploy your basic Windows XP image to your clients, but you still have the run the 'makeRM' workstation tool to complete the build. We used to do this on CC3 and it worked like a charm - much easier than doing the build the RM way from scratch, but it still took ages for the rest of the RM process to complete.

 

 

I can see the benefits are very beneficial, but I am worried that my Network manager will not like it. He's an RM Man and won't budge on anything remotely different..

 

Could you please point me to a guide on the subject, as I have been following the FOG webpage and just set it up on a old Dell server. I just set-up last night and got to to boot a memory test. Just would like a heads up on is it worth it and how do you customise your images?

 

Thanks in advance, especially all the newbie questions

 

Well it's an opensource product, so there's no harm in trying it - you won't break anything by having a go.

 

The Fog Wiki is a great place to start, there's a very comprehensive user guide on there, but if you've already got it loaded and working then the hard part's done - the rest is working out the most effective way to use it in your school.

 

With CC3 we used to use it to roll out a basic XP build with SP2 on, then let RM take over at this point. The image was set to automatically log in and run the makeCC3 program so all we had to do was fill in the boxes and away it went. You can't take an image of a fully built RM station, as if you change the name of a workstation once RM has it in it's grip, it messes up a lot of things - shame.

 

On my new 'vanilla' network it does a lot for me; image distribution including automatically re-naming the workstation and adding it to AD, user tracking, shutting all my machines down at night, keeping screen resolutions in check and logging students off after 30mins of in-activity. It also has the ability to manage printers and do software distribution but I've never looked into these features as I have working processes n place for both.

 

Mike.

Edited February 18, 2010 by maniac

[mullet_man]

Just checked, and our ISA server is currently at 344 days uptime.

 

Not bad!!!

[FN-GM]

My server uptime is just over 193 days, but mind you i did get it in august. Best server uptime is my ISA server, been up near 4 years now, never been turned off/restarted.

 

Just checked, and our ISA server is currently at 344 days uptime.

 

Not bad!!!

 

Do you not apply Windows updates or something? If not you should, especially on something like ISA.

[powdarrmonkey]

I once knew a server with uptime in excess of 750 days, and it only lost that because we moved office.

 

Salad days...

[cookie_monster]

Do you not apply Windows updates or something? If not you should, especially on something like ISA.

 

 

 

I was just wondering the same thing. I suppose if you review the updates and non are remotely exploitable through the ISA firewall then you don't need to, it's not like you're going to browse the internet using an unpatched IE from your ISA box

[Batman]

I can see the benefits are very beneficial, but I am worried that my Network manager will not like it. He's an RM Man and won't budge on anything remotely different..

 

I see that Maniac has already answered most of your questions, and I agree with what he's said. As far as your NM is concerned, IMO RM systems are more trouble than they're worth (my boss would agree - we're moving away from RM). I think RM systems are ok for schools that have no/limited technical staff because of the support available but I wouldn't wish them on anybody.

 

CC3 is getting pretty old now... at some point you're going to have to upgrade and if you're lucky someone may consider the cost and performance benefits of not running an RM system. If you check out current RM solutions for school systems and compare with what you'd get from an ordinary corporate supplier, RM are more expensive and their hardware and software is inferior.

 

If you've got as far as setting FOG up then that's a good start. Hopefully you can impress him with it. If not, well then you have my sympathy

[Cools]

i had a BSD server going.. only a basic internet proxy.. it did 4 yeas then the HDD failed.

my best ever server... she did me good.

[fred81]

Thanks for the information, gave me a lot to think about. I will observe the rules and start a new thread next time. By the way our server up time has just been reset I just had to apply 9 months of updates to all the servers. Bang goes my Half term

[mullet_man]

Do you not apply Windows updates or something? If not you should, especially on something like ISA.

 

I was just wondering the same thing. I suppose if you review the updates and non are remotely exploitable through the ISA firewall then you don't need to, it's not like you're going to browse the internet using an unpatched IE from your ISA box

 

Clearly I haven't done a Windows update in a while, as its our ISA server it just sits there doing its job, you forget about it.

 

Indeed we don't do any internet browsing on the ISA server.

 

I'll do a update soon, make it a yearly thing