Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies

[AlexPDX]

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the effort made in this Project, which is getting better and better with each update. You will achieve perfection with the help of both users and programmers
I am using FOG for almost 8 months and now i want to expand it to other locations.

Can someone explain me what is the actual meaning of a STORAGE GROUP and STORAGE NODE ?
In my understanding … an Group is like…an Town…and an Node is like a shop in that Town.So you could have 4 or 6 shops in 3 towns…i hope i understand the meaning and working of Storage Group and Storage Node corectly first of all.
The comapny that i work for has 1 HeadQuarter (New York for example) and 2 other locations in other Towns (one in LA and another in San Francisco).
The conection is done by VPN from each location (LA and SF) directly to NY HQ, HQ handels the DHCP and DNS and everything.
So i guess will have to set up FOG 1.5.7 like this :
I prefered to use CentOS 7 minimal instalation on everything…so :
Normal FOG instal in the HQ (NY) with Storage Group Default and Storage Node Default (lets name it like this because here is where all my images are stored)
Then i will have to instal Fog Storage Node in each location ( LA and SF ), provide the HQ STORAGENODE MYSQLPASS from the HQ and add them to in Fog Storage Node meniu.
Then create other 2 Storage Groups (beaside DEFAULT of course) named LA and SF and asign the Storage Node (LA and SF) to the desired Locations ( from the Location Plugin ) and asign the Storage Node to the Storage Group(lest short Storage Group an Storage Node to SN and SG) so, SN LA to SG LA and SN SF to SG SF.
The idea is that , when i deploy/capture an image , depending on the Location , the task wil be done from that location.

Other things i dont understand exactly are :

1 How to replicate images and snapins from HQ to the other 2 locations , groups , nodes…is it done automaticly or can i do it a force task. If i have to modify images from HQ , how do i make the changes on the other 2 locations , nodes (i’v tested one time in the same LAN with Normal instal and a Storage Node , but the loging stoped working after 2 days even if the replication box is checked on the Master FOG HQ ) ?

[root@fognode ~]# tail -f /var/log/fog/fogreplicator.log
[02-18-20 7:47:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 7:57:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 8:07:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 8:17:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 8:27:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 8:37:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 8:47:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 8:57:42 am] * | This is not the master node
[02-18-20 9:07:43 am] * * Image replication is globally disabled
[02-18-20 9:17:43 am] * * Image replication is globally disabled

2 Can i use just the Default Group and add only 2 Storage Nodes …and if i want to image one host from LA, that image will go from LA Fog Storage Node , not the HQ , because they are in the same Group ?

…i know im asking like a lot of questions , but i love the FOG , i just dont know , exactly , how it works … and i think there are others how search questions for dummies
And the las thing , excuse my misspells Me not actualy American me is from Romania

[Sebastian Roth]

@AlexPDX said:

Then create other 2 Storage Groups (beaside DEFAULT of course) named LA and SF and asign the Storage Node (LA and SF) to the desired Locations

If you want to have the same images on all your three FOG nodes (one master and two storage nodes) then they need to be in the same storage group. So I would think in your setup just having the Default storage group should suite you.

The idea is that , when i deploy/capture an image , depending on the Location , the task wil be done from that location.

Be aware that capture never goes to a storage node! So if you really want to capture images in LA and SF you’d need a totally different setup with three more or less independent master nodes.

How to replicate images and snapins from HQ to the other 2 locations

This happens automatically, done by the FOG replication services on the master node. So the master syncs the images and snapins to the storages.

Can i use just the Default Group and add only 2 Storage Nodes …and if i want to image one host from LA, that image will go from LA Fog Storage Node , not the HQ , because they are in the same Group ?

Nope, see my comment above on where captures go.

[AlexPDX]

@Sebastian-Roth 10x dude …im on it now …i think i will reinstal the Master Node from scratch (don’t know why but the replication and logging has stuped on the master node)
Clean CentOS and Clean FOG Normal Instal with 2 celan Fog nodes.
I guess i should make a backup of /images , export the images first and hope they will work after importing them to the clean instal…

[Sebastian Roth]

@AlexPDX If you want to do a complete reinstall anyway you should wait a few more hours as we will release FOG 1.5.8 with a lot of fixed bugs and stuff very soon!

[AlexPDX]

@Sebastian-Roth okydoky …till then il just backup all my snapins and images

[AlexPDX]

@Sebastian-Roth said in Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies:

@AlexPDX If you want to do a complete reinstall anyway you should wait a few more hours as we will release FOG 1.5.8 with a lot of fixed bugs and stuff very soon!

…can we just update the 1.5.6 or 7 instalation ? Will it keep the setings like Hosts, Storage Nodes, Snapins and Images ?

[george1421]

@AlexPDX said in Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies:

can we just update the 1.5.6 or 7 instalation ? Will it keep the setings like Hosts, Storage Nodes, Snapins and Images ?

Upgrading keeps the data in the database so you can go from one version to the next without data loss.

[AlexPDX]

@george1421 said in Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies:

@AlexPDX said in Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies:

can we just update the 1.5.6 or 7 instalation ? Will it keep the setings like Hosts, Storage Nodes, Snapins and Images ?

Upgrading keeps the data in the database so you can go from one version to the next without data loss.

10x …and one more thing … will the 1.5.8 keep remembering the Windows Keys in the Host ?
I have faced this problem several times. I added a new host and after clicking on the update … when i went back to that host, he no longer had the windows key

[AlexPDX]

Alsow … i hope it fixed the Windows Export Keys …and wouldn’t it be great to make a “connection” between Windows Keys Plugin and each Host ?

[Sebastian Roth]

@AlexPDX said in Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies:

will the 1.5.8 keep remembering the Windows Keys in the Host
Alsow … i hope it fixed the Windows Export Keys

Did you report those problems at some point? We depend on people telling us what’s wrong so we can fix those things.

[george1421]

@AlexPDX said in Storage Group and Storage Node explained for dummies:

1.5.8 keep remembering the Windows Keys in the Host

Yes that info is stored in the database. With that said, the upgrade should not erase keys. If it does then there is a bug in the upgrade script. AFAIK nothing is ever deleted from the database during an upgrade. A schema change will add or remove fields but not data.