FOG Active Directory information (simple hopefully)

[lquinnuk]

Hello,

 

The fog server set up by the guy I've taken over is running fine but the server is getting noisy and I'm fearing hardware failure.

 

Due to this I've built and imaged a new FOG server and it's running fine.

 

The issue comes when I add a 'new host' on the old fog server I could click the check box "Join Domain after image task:" and the details would auto populate.

 

On the fog server I have created I have to enter this manually every time I add a new host.

 

Does anyone know why, or how to make this information auto-populate?

 

Cheers in advance.

[bladedanny]

Hi,

 

Under 'Other Information' > 'Fog Settings' there is an Active Directory Defaults section. If you fill that in and save, each time you tick the Join box on a host it will autofill the fields.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited November 29, 2012 by bladedanny

[lquinnuk]

Damn, that was embarassingly easy.....I dismissed 'other information' as a useless option.

 

Cheers, Magic.

[lquinnuk]

OK, another snag if anyone would be so kind.

 

After the image has deployed and completed (XP Pro) the machine cannot log in using a domain user account although the log in screen show the correct domains are there to be logged on to, it says my domain controller is unavailable.

 

If I log in as local admin, remove the machine from the domain put it in a workgroup (reboot) When I log back in now FOG tells me the machine needs to join the domain and reboots itself, once it does this everything works fine.

 

 

TLDR - domain accounts can only be used if I remove and re-add my PC to the domian manually.

[bladedanny]

Couple of Qs,

 

Is the AD password in fog console encrypted and have the necessary files been copied over to the fog client?

 

--and--

 

Is fog set to put the computers into an OU or has that box been left blank?

[lquinnuk]

The AD password is encrypted...

"have the necessary files been copied over to the fog client"...unsure what that means

"Is fog set to put the computers into an OU or has that box been left blank?" the OU box is blank.

 

Essentially I used my old fog server (which everything worked fine on) imaged a client, I then used that same client to upload the same working image to my new fog server, now the new image is on my new fog server I have tried deploying it to a few clients, which is workign fine apart from this strange domain problem.

 

It's odd because once I remove the machine from the domain and put it in a work group and reboot, FOG has no problems adding the machine by itself once I've logged back in as local admin, the FOG box appears in the right hand corner and 30 seconds later everything is groovy and all works well, its just ideally i'd like to avoid having to add machines to a work group first before FOG adds them to the domain, expecially when my old man FOG server images and joins in one automatic swoop.

 

cheer5s

[localzuk]

With your XP Image, is this one that has been created fresh or has it been captured from a machine that existed previously? I only had issues with old 'images' being reused on Fog, where it exhibited the behaviour you mention.

[bladedanny]

"...have the necessary files been copied over to the fog client"...unsure what that means...

 

IIRC for auto AD joining you have to edit a .dll file to reflect the encryption key which was used to encrypt the admin password. If it's an old image that used to work I'd presume this was done.

 

After deploying the image from the old fog server was the XP client syspreped before it was uploaded to the new fog server?

 

--edit--

 

Just had another thought, was the image already joined to the domain before it was uploaded to the new fog server? I've always made sure it was in a workgroup before taking the image. If you syspreped I would have thought it would disjoin it from any domain in the process, but it may be worth a try. (presuming you've not already tried the above).

Edited November 29, 2012 by bladedanny

[lquinnuk]

I thought I'd replied much earlier, evidently not....

 

Just had another thought, was the image already joined to the domain before it was uploaded to the new fog server? I've always made sure it was in a workgroup before taking the image. If you syspreped I would have thought it would disjoin it from any domain in the process, but it may be worth a try. (presuming you've not already tried the above).

 

That was exactly my thinking as I was leaving, so today I decided to remove the image from the domain and then upl;oad it to the server, initially I got a load of errors and had to defreg the client, after defragging I got a TFTPD error and had to restart the service, but finally the image was uploaded.

 

I am literally right now deploying the image to a machine chosen at random, fingers crossed it will go smoothly.

 

Cheers for all the help.

[localzuk]

I thought I'd replied much earlier, evidently not....

 

 

 

That was exactly my thinking as I was leaving, so today I decided to remove the image from the domain and then upl;oad it to the server, initially I got a load of errors and had to defreg the client, after defragging I got a TFTPD error and had to restart the service, but finally the image was uploaded.

 

I am literally right now deploying the image to a machine chosen at random, fingers crossed it will go smoothly.

 

Cheers for all the help.

 

Just a tip on the image defrag - I recommend using jkdefrag (JkDefrag v) before capturing any image anyway. Windows defrag is not as efficient. Your image will be smaller afterwards.

[lquinnuk]

Just a tip on the image defrag - I recommend using jkdefrag (JkDefrag v) before capturing any image anyway. Windows defrag is not as efficient. Your image will be smaller afterwards.

 

I used one called defraggler, hopefully it strands up along side jkdefrag as it has a much cooler name.

[lquinnuk]

Mother Fudger, no joy with using an image that was part of a work group....its the strangest thing the domains are there to select on the log in screen so obviously the machine has been added to the domain automatically, but it will just not log in until I've put it back into a workgroup and rebooted.

 

I'm tempted to try sysprepping the image, but I know the guy before me never sysprepped the images and they work fine....

 

ARGGHH answers on a post card...

[localzuk]

Mother Fudger, no joy with using an image that was part of a work group....its the strangest thing the domains are there to select on the log in screen so obviously the machine has been added to the domain automatically, but it will just not log in until I've put it back into a workgroup and rebooted.

 

I'm tempted to try sysprepping the image, but I know the guy before me never sysprepped the images and they work fine....

 

ARGGHH answers on a post card...

 

You need to sysprep really IMO.

 

Also, another thing that got me once was a typo in the AD joining info. ie. is the machine in an OU in the domain but the OU in the record in Fog slightly different?

[bladedanny]

I think syspreping is going to solve the problem as there's probably already an entry in AD with the client SID and it's throwing it out. Sysprep will reset the SIDS so AD sees it as a different machine.

 

I think that's how it works, anyone feel free to correct or explain better.

[lquinnuk]

I'll try a sysprepped one next, in terms of AD I make a point of deleting the machine I'm a bout to reimage first.

 

For example I've just re-imaged machine 5 in our ICT room, so I deleted the computer from AD before setting the image off,

 

I'll sysprep my test machine and upload it's image....let's do this thing.