[fog] Unable to Upload Image of Netbook

[mwbutler]

I have just setup a FOG Server following these instructions here. I also moved the /images/ folder onto a different bigger hard drive as per some instructions I cannot find at the moment.

 

When I try to take an image of a Toshiba NB200 Netbook, it PXE boots into FOG and tries to upload the 50gb single partition image but freezes after 30 seconds or so. Anyone come across this problem before? Are there any log files stored somewhere which could reveal the problem?

 

I didn't find any minimum requirements, but our FOG "Server" has a AMD Sempron 2800 processor, 1gb ram, 500gb+ free hard drive space and is running Ubuntu 11.10. I know the specs are far from ideal but it's all we have and I don't feel like installing Windows 7 manuaally on 112 Netbooks! Could the sub-standard hardware be a part of the problem?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[Michael]

It could be network drivers or lack of causing the problem.

 

I don't use FOG myself, but can't you connect the hard drive to a caddy and upload the image to the server directly? It's going to be considerably quicker.

[3s-gtech]

Try a newer kernel if possible - SFTP onto your fog server, change the bzimage kernel for PXE boot to be named bzimage1, and use the FOG GUI to update to a newer kernel. Always worth a shot with these issues.

[mats]

It could be network drivers or lack of causing the problem.

 

I don't use FOG myself, but can't you connect the hard drive to a caddy and upload the image to the server directly? It's going to be considerably quicker.

 

Won't work with fog due to the file formats used.

 

Original poster - Where in the upload is it failing? Have you tried putting acpi=off noirq in the Host Kernel Arguments? I think with win7 you will need to specify the image as a multiple partition image.

[mwbutler]

Try a newer kernel if possible - SFTP onto your fog server, change the bzimage kernel for PXE boot to be named bzimage1, and use the FOG GUI to update to a newer kernel. Always worth a shot with these issues.

 

I tried this and it unfortunately didn't fix the problem. Thanks anyway.

 

Won't work with fog due to the file formats used.

 

Original poster - Where in the upload is it failing? Have you tried putting acpi=off noirq in the Host Kernel Arguments? I think with win7 you will need to specify the image as a multiple partition image.

 

It is failing when FOG is trying to "Save partition to image file." All that happens is that it gets to 4% done then freezes. I've left it for an hour this morning and it didn't resume. I'll try the few suggestions you have. Thanks.

[mats]

It is failing when FOG is trying to "Save partition to image file." All that happens is that it gets to 4% done then freezes. I've left it for an hour this morning and it didn't resume. I'll try the few suggestions you have. Thanks.

 

Sounds like file permissions on the remote machine. I *think* you can upload in debug mode and go through it step by step and see where it fails. Start a debug upload and type 'fog' when the prompt appears.

 

Also, from the debug prompt, if you can figure out the path to the image host I'd try to something like 'touch /images/testfile' and see if you can write to it.

[localzuk]

I had something similar - did you try a different image type previously, then change it after you created it in FOG?

 

If so, you may need to go into the images directory on the fog server and delete any reference to it, then re-run the upload.

[mwbutler]

Problem fixed! I changed:

 

- updated to a newer kernel

- acpi=off noirq in the Host Kernel Arguments

- win7 you will need to specify the image as a multiple partition image

- you may need to go into the images directory on the fog server and delete any reference to it, then re-run the upload

- was also missing the .mntcheck files in /images/ and /images/dev/ so I couldn't deploy any images. Running these commands fixed the issue

touch /images/.mntcheck

touch /images/dev/.mntcheck

 

Thanks for your help guys

 

Matt

Edited March 21, 2012 by mwbutler

[3s-gtech]

Yeah sorry should have mentioned - I have deployed all of my Windows 7 images as 'Multiple Partition Image (Not Resizeable)', just wouldn't work otherwise (Due to the 100MB System Reserved partition) . Means that all PCs to take that image must have the same size or bigger HDDs, but this hasn't been an issue.

[mwbutler]

Yeah sorry should have mentioned - I have deployed all of my Windows 7 images as 'Multiple Partition Image (Not Resizeable)', just wouldn't work otherwise (Due to the 100MB System Reserved partition) . Means that all PCs to take that image must have the same size or bigger HDDs, but this hasn't been an issue.

 

Oh yes good point I totally forgot about that partition.

 

I assume I am overlooking the obvious, but is there any way to get FOG to backup an entire partition rather than just the data? For example, I've created a 15gb partition on a Windows 7 Netbook, uploaded the snapshot, test deployed it, but it has only taken an image of all data rather than the entire partition. This leaves us no room to install any more programs if we have the need to.

 

*goes back to do more research*

[mwbutler]

I assume I am overlooking the obvious, but is there any way to get FOG to backup an entire partition rather than just the data? For example, I've created a 15gb partition on a Windows 7 Netbook, uploaded the snapshot, test deployed it, but it has only taken an image of all data rather than the entire partition. This leaves us no room to install any more programs if we have the need to.

 

*goes back to do more research*

 

To answer my own question, I used GParted Live (great tool!) to resize the partition, deleted the original smaller image on the fog server, reuploaded the new bigger image and now when I deploy the image, the partition is 15gb