Imaging systems in remote offices
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I am new to Fog so this question may have already been covered, so my apologies. Basically we need to re-image XP systems to W7 or W8. I have set up a Ubuntu Fog server ad managed to create an image and deploy it to a another local system. But all the systems we need deploy images to are in remote offices. From what can see each system needs to be booted via PXE and registered with the fog server. Then the upload queued up on the fog server. Then the systems booted via PXE to receive the image.
My problem is the systems in the remote offices are not set to PXE as the first boot. Probably don’t even have PXE set up in BIOS. So how can I boot them and then register them with the Fog server if I con’t have physical access to them?
Maybe Fog can’t do that and I need a different solution? Or perhaps I am just not fully understanding the process?
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if your desktops aren’t PXE booting then FOG isn’t getting to them… set them to pxeboot or have someone manually do it.
when I push images to remote sites on my test setup I need a local storage node in their location (usually a VM) and a local server to deliver the PXE files. (pushing multiple GB over WAN isn’t always great)
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We have Fog-servers in all of our 150 branch offices spread all over germany, which are connected
to our main office via ipsec tunnels so we can access them from our main office.
images are put on an central ftp server and downloaded over night. -
As VincentJ suggests, all systems should be set to first boot to the network interface. Even if this isn’t specified in the BIOS, as long as WOL is enabled, if you send a task it should wake the hosts. However, as you’re running (I’m just guessing) across VPN or IPSEC tunnels, chances are this wouldn’t work anyway. Initially this may make more work for you, but ultimately if you take the time to set this up, it will save you tons of time down the road.
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Depending on the systems manufacturer, there may be a utility that you can run on the machines to change the BIOS boot settings from within windows.