FOG Server and Kernels

[marsdenprimary]

Hey ho!

 

I'm just getting into using FOG. I tried booting via LAN one of our new Fizzbooks but alas- it isn't compatible with FOG. My guess is i need to update the Kernels on our Ubuntu machine for FOG but have no idea how to do it.

 

I booted from another PC into FOG and everything went fine.

 

Any help makes me happy!!

 

J

x

[maniac]

What does it do when you boot it into fog? I've yet to find a wholey incompatible machine, but I have had to add some arguements to the Kernel before to get one or two to boot correctly.

 

Updating the kernel can be done through fog its self. Can't remember which menu now, might be the fog settings one and look for 'kernel updates' on the left - should be quite self explanatory from there on in.

[marsdenprimary]

What does it do when you boot it into fog? I've yet to find a wholey incompatible machine, but I have had to add some arguements to the Kernel before to get one or two to boot correctly.

 

Updating the kernel can be done through fog its self. Can't remember which menu now, might be the fog settings one and look for 'kernel updates' on the left - should be quite self explanatory from there on in.

 

Thanks for that- I've booted into the Fog management console, clicked on Kernel updates but nothing happens... This is all it says:

 

"This section allows you to update the Linux kernel which is used to boot the client computers. In FOG, this kernel holds all the drivers for the client computer, so if you are unable to boot a client you may wish to update to a newer kernel which may have more drivers built in. This installation process may take a few minutes, as FOG will attempt to go out to the internet to get the requested Kernel, so if it seems like the process is hanging please be patient."

 

If I could update the Kernel or tweak it (with clear instructions) then maybe it will start working...!

 

Jay

xxx

[morganw]

Souns like you are running behind a proxy but haven't entered the proxy details into the FOG settings. Once this is done that page show a range of kernels which you click to download.

[kevbaz]

or manually download the latest kitchen sink kernel and transfer it to your fog machine, then update your fizzbooks host info with the kernel name and location

[marsdenprimary]

Souns like you are running behind a proxy but haven't entered the proxy details into the FOG settings. Once this is done that page show a range of kernels which you click to download.

 

You beauty!! That worked x x

[marsdenprimary]

I've just got the problem now after downloading and installing the latest kitchensink- the laptop still won't transfer an image over to fog. The laptop is a FIZZBOOK if that's any help...anyone come across a problem with imaging these before?

 

J

x

[marsdenprimary]

DONE IT! The solution was to download the Kernel-2.6.35.7.PS and place it into the TFTPBOOT > FOG > KERNEL folder and rename it to bzImage (case-sensitive). VOILA!

[morganw]

If you want to switch kernels you can do this at a host level by setting 'Host Kernel:' to "fog/kernel/KernelName". The quick image option will always use the default kernel though so potentially you might have to actually setup a deployment task in the web interface for some computers which will use the 'Host Kernel' setting. I find it works best to use an older kernel as the default, then make per host exceptions to a newer one, but that's probably as most of our computers are a little old.

[marsdenprimary]

Cool stuff All I need to do now is try and get the host to join the domain automatically after imaging...after registering- is it wise to just leave the registered name as it is and then let FOG rename the host? Can FOG rename the host?? And then join it to our domain??

[morganw]

If you've got the FOG service installed as part of the image then it will rename on the first boot and join the domain on the second. Yes it's easier to let FOG handle all of the hostnames rather than manually try to set them. If you need to rename a workstation just change it's name in FOG and then create a new deployment task, overkill just to change a name but doesn't require manual fiddling.

[marsdenprimary]

I tried this...it does rename it but doesn't join it to the Active Directory domain. Is there something I'm missing? I've put all the details in except the OU- think this could be preventing it from working?

[morganw]

You can check the log file (normally C:\fog.log) is see what is going on. If it doesn't attempt to join then check that you've got the Active Directory settings and the 'join' checkbox set for the host, if it is attempting and failing it's usually a bug causing the format of the username to be wrong or the account used to join the domain doesn't have permission to create or modify computer objects.

 

Most of the issues are covered here.

[marsdenprimary]

Hey folks!!

 

I've managed to get my FOG server sorted now and I have succesfully imaged a machine. However- if I try to deploy it to more than ONE machine I receive a UDP Checksum error... what's that??

 

Any advice would be great x x x

[morganw]

Would that be two unicasts or one multicast with two clients?

[marsdenprimary]

Would that be two unicasts or one multicast with two clients?

 

Yikes! I don't know... I set up one fog server. We also have a DHCP server that serves our network... any use?? Sorry i'm a bit of a newbie to this

[morganw]

Do you mean you are getting an error when imaging a second PC (and a first one is fine) or do you get an error while trying to image two PCs at once?

[marsdenprimary]

Two PC's at once...but they seem to be doing it now...I'm attempting 4 at once and they seem to be doing it. How odd. Do you think it could cause image problems?

 

One has finished, booted up to Windows and all seems well...

 

How weird...

[morganw]

Probably a switch problem if they are all the same model. I occasionally get a glitchy transfer but it's usally about 1 out of every 150 or so imaging tasks that needs to be redone. If they are different models of PC and you get the issue again then you could try a different kernel and see what happens. Also watch out for recovery partitions on PCs which normally need to be removed before imaging will work properly.

[stuwhittaker]

I have a similar problem in that I cannot see any options in the Kernel Update page in the FOG management.

 

I am not behind a proxy and using a virtual machine with bridged access to the network/internet so should not be an issue. Is there a reason or where can I look to get the kernels to show without manually downloading them and renaming them?

 

Is this where you get them all from... FOG - A Free Cloning Solution - Browse /Kernels at SourceForge.net

 

and how do you check what the current Kernel version you are using? I have not seen it anywhere yet..?

 

Cheers

-Stu

[morganw]

You'll see the kernel used during the boot process on a client, unless you've made any per host exceptions for the kernel file then it will always be the default that was included with whatever version of FOG you are using.

 

I think if you cannot use the interface to download extra ones then you have to resort to just putting them into the kernel folder. I've always replaced the included kernel with one from version 0.24 as most of our equipment is fairly old. If I have a problem then I make an exception to use the newer default one.

 

When you set which kernel to use you do so relative to the root of the tftpboot folder, so the value you set is "fog/kernel/kernelname".

[stuwhittaker]

Thanks for your reply morganw,

 

I have installed FOG version 0.29 and I see that the kernel gets downloads after the PXE boot. I don't see anywhere it display the version that it is included with the 0.29 version. I shall keep an eye out again for any numbers popping up.

 

I might try kernel version 0.24 as you suggest or another new version, I am currently having issues booting some new Netbooks (Samsung N145).

 

They PXE boot just fine, when they have pulled down the bootstrap images/kernel then it gives me some errors of...

 

found HQ with no IRQ check BIOS/PCI

init 0000:00:1d.7 fail, -19

 

a few times then...

 

IP-Config: No network devices available.

 

So from what I gather here, the network card isnt supported somewhere!

 

Cheers

-Stu

[stuwhittaker]

Plus it also then goes onto say 'hard disk not found!'

 

So not sure what to do there also! Possibly change some kernel arguments I read somewhere if you could spare a moment of knowledge there?

 

Cheers

-Stu

[morganw]

It shows the filename when it downloads it, so the default one is just called bzImage.

It might be worth you getting some kernels that have KS in the filename, these are 'kitchen sink' kernels that are built to contain pretty much everything going.

 

You could either rename bzImage to something else and then rename a KS kernel to bzImage, or set the host at the kernel level. If you do the latter you'll see the filename displayed as the kernel is downloaded (when the dots are running across the screen).

[rocknrollstar]

Plus it also then goes onto say 'hard disk not found!'

 

So not sure what to do there also! Possibly change some kernel arguments I read somewhere if you could spare a moment of knowledge there?

 

Cheers

-Stu

 

Hi, did you figure out how to image the samsung netbooks? I've got 32 to do, and they are not liking fog. They do pxe boot, but then it seems like the netbook doesn't communicate fully with the fog server, despite downloading the pxe boot image.

Thanks for your help!