• Recent
    • Unsolved
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Snapin Questions

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved
    General
    6
    13
    9.1k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • K
      Kiweegie @LJedi
      last edited by

      @LJedi Hi there, snapins will make your life a lot easier. Once you get the hang of them (and they’re really not that hard) you’ll wonder how you managed without them. The pure joy to be had from deploying a new application to a group of 10’s or 100’s of machines in a couple of clicks and then just getting on with your day is pretty awesome 🙂

      I tend to forget things so I’ve created myself an idiots guide to most things I come across in FOG-land, snapins being no exception. I’ll outline the bits and pieces I’ve picked up, some of which you may already know.Jbobs answer was pretty succinct. I’m just going to dumb it down a little.

      While Jbobs description of snapins as files which get executed remotely is spot on, the real benefit of using snapins is in conjunction with silent switches so the installation happens without your users seeing anything going on. This avoids them having to call the Helpdesk because “some weird screen just popped up on my 'puter!”

      First off default FOG installation has a limit set on the size of snapins which can be uploaded to the server. This is configured in the php config file which in CentOS can be found at /etc/php.ini. You want to edit this file and locate these 3 sections and amend from 128M or 100M to 1900M

      memory_limit = 1900M
      post_max_size=1900M 
      upload_max_filesize=1900M
      

      Save the file and restart httpd service to have the changes kick in

      service httpd restart
      

      As far as actually creating snapins - the 2 biggest gotchas I found are:

      • snapin names can’t have spaces
      • uploaded files must be unique

      When naming the snapin in the UI either use CamelCase or throw in an underscore to split words up.

      The actual executable eg setup.exe is uploaded to FOG server in /opt/fog/snapins directory, not the name you give it in the web UI. The server won’t permit files of the same name in one directory. So if you have multiple versions of an installer for instance or need to create an uninstall snapin, make sure to rename the executable or MSI file so it’s unique. I add a version number or append _install, _uninstall depending on the situation.

      I have had greatest success with MSI files. To create a snapin from an MSI file you need to add in the following details.

      Snapin name - No spaces
      Snapin run with - c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe
      Snapin run with argument use either /i or /x
      /i = install
      /x = uninstall
      Snapin file - upload in .MSI format. If doing an uninstaller as well, amend the file name prior to upload so its different on server.
      Snapin arguments - /qn - this is the the “no UI” switch for the MSI installer

      Some EXE files which come with well documented silent install switches also work well but you sometimes have to hunt high and low to find the switches or use a bit of trial and error,

      We use screenpresso screen capture tool at work and that has decently documented switches. Screenshot of this here. Note that screenpresso downloads always show as just screenpresso.exe - due to dupe file name mentioned earlier I rename this based on version before uploading to FOG.

      0_1452207146643_2016-01-07_22h51_16.png

      I’ve never had much joy with deploying .bat or .cmd files via FOG snapin but will be giving that a go again shortly based on Jbobs comment earlier. What I’ve used instead is create the .bat as normal then use BatToExe converter to convert to exe then just add a name and upload the .exe to FOG - all silent switches go in the .bat file so nothing needs added to FOG.

      TeraTerm is one such application I’ve deployed in this manner using this code. We have preconfigured keyboard, window and font settings using the keyboard.cnf and teraterm.ini files.

      @echo off
      
      :: script to copy teraterm.exe and config files to temp folder and install from there
      :: the /y switch tells xcopy to overwrite file at destination if it already exists.
      
      xcopy /y "\\server-share\TeraTerm\teraterm-4.89.exe" %TEMP%
      xcopy /y "\\server-share\TeraTerm\KEYBOARD.CNF" %TEMP%
      xcopy /y "\\server-share\TeraTerm\TERATERM.ini" %TEMP%
      
      :: install teraterm using the keyboard.cnf and teraterm.ini files specified
      %TEMP%\teraterm-4.89.exe /VERYSILENT
      
      :: lastly move the copied teraterm.ini and keyboard.cnf files into program files directory
      xcopy /y %TEMP%\KEYBOARD.CNF "C:\Program Files (x86)\TeraTerm\"
      xcopy /y %TEMP%\TERATERM.ini "C:\Program Files (x86)\TeraTerm\"
      

      Save as a bat file, run through BatToExe to output as .exe and upload to FOG and bam - done. Though you may not even need to save as a .exe. I shall test that myself tomorrow.

      Give it a go on a test machine and see how you get on - any questions feel free to ask.

      Other much more learned and savvy folks will no doubt chime in with even better suggestions or pointers should you need them.

      cheers, Kiweegie.

      J Wayne WorkmanW 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 5
      • G
        gwhitfield @Joe Schmitt
        last edited by gwhitfield

        @Joe-Schmitt Having trouble getting this to work to install Adobe Reader DC with a transform file. The plain Adobe reader executable installs fine as a normal snapin but doesn’t download or use the transform. If I create an SFX .exe with the installer and .mst file and set up a snapin pack, it downloads but doesn’t extract saying “cannot find central directory” and fails. Any advice/updated process based on the newest 1.3RC4? I can start a new thread but this still seemed likely to come up in most searches.

        Edit: @Tom-Elliott @Wayne-Workman - Still fine to wait for RC5 but the problem with replacing “.” with “_” in my “Need snapin assistance” thread isn’t happening in my RC1 server so I thought I’d keep working on learning the process which resulted in this different question. Not trying to confuse with multiple threads on same problem.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • J
          Joe Schmitt Senior Developer
          last edited by Joe Schmitt

          @gwhitfield I’ll keep it short for now and then work with Wayne on a wiki article for snapin packs
          Basically you created a SFX exe. So you are executing a single file, not multiple, from the clients perspective. Therefore it would be a normal snapin.

          A snapin pack is where you upload just a zip file and tell the client what files inside of that zip to run.

          Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG! Get in contact with me (chat bubble in the top right corner) if you want to join in.

          G 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • G
            gwhitfield @Joe Schmitt
            last edited by

            @Joe-Schmitt Alrighty then, I’ll work with that. Thanks!

            Wayne WorkmanW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • G
              gwhitfield @Joe Schmitt
              last edited by

              @Joe-Schmitt It all seems straightforward enough but when the zip file gets to the tmp directory, fog.log says its extracting the file but it doesn’t extract and fails saying it can’t find specified file. Is there anything special about how the zip file is created? I just zipped up my 3 files using 7-zip.

              Wayne WorkmanW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Wayne WorkmanW
                Wayne Workman @gwhitfield
                last edited by

                @gwhitfield Can you give us the fog.log ? It’s basically the first and only way of troubleshooting the fog client.

                Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!
                Daily Clean Installation Results:
                https://fogtesting.fogproject.us/
                FOG Reporting:
                https://fog-external-reporting-results.fogproject.us/

                G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • G
                  gwhitfield @Wayne Workman
                  last edited by

                  @Wayne-Workman Sure will, probably take me an hour to dig out from other tasks but I’ll upload asap. THANK YOU!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • J
                    Joe Gill @Kiweegie
                    last edited by

                    @Kiweegie

                    Very enlightening! I’ve been banging my noggin on the wall for weeks trying to figure snappins out. Thanks for posting! I’m so glad I found this thread!

                    +1 for adding to wiki!!

                    Cheers,

                    Joe

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Wayne WorkmanW
                      Wayne Workman @gwhitfield
                      last edited by

                      @gwhitfield said in Snapin Questions:

                      @Joe-Schmitt Alrighty then, I’ll work with that. Thanks!

                      It’s not perfect yet, but here is what we have so far:
                      https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=SnapinPacks

                      Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!
                      Daily Clean Installation Results:
                      https://fogtesting.fogproject.us/
                      FOG Reporting:
                      https://fog-external-reporting-results.fogproject.us/

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • Wayne WorkmanW
                        Wayne Workman @Kiweegie
                        last edited by Wayne Workman

                        @Kiweegie said in Snapin Questions:

                        While Jbobs description of snapins as files which get executed remotely is spot on, the real benefit of using snapins is in conjunction with silent switches so the installation happens without your users seeing anything going on. This avoids them having to call the Helpdesk because “some weird screen just popped up on my 'puter!”

                        I wanted to say that if you’re using the new FOG Client, there will never be a display from a snapin - ever. At least not directly. This is because all snapins with the new FOG Client run as the SYSTEM user, which is prohibited from displaying anything to the user at all in Windows. This is by design of Windows itself. If your snapin isn’t silent, or properly configured to run silently, your snapin will infinitely hang. Hanging is a sure sign of a snapin waiting for input that will never come.

                        Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!
                        Daily Clean Installation Results:
                        https://fogtesting.fogproject.us/
                        FOG Reporting:
                        https://fog-external-reporting-results.fogproject.us/

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • 1 / 1
                        • First post
                          Last post

                        186

                        Online

                        12.0k

                        Users

                        17.3k

                        Topics

                        155.2k

                        Posts
                        Copyright © 2012-2024 FOG Project