Really new, having trouble installing Fog

[Alan Baker]

I am more of a hardware guy, and haven’t used Linux since Red hat 9, so I am having issues. I am trying to set up a stand-alone imaging configuration to support around 70 windows 7 laptops for my training department. I want to keep it off the network.
I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on a spare dell desktop on the approved hardware list. Following the instructions, I uninstalled the network manager, and set a static IP of 192.168.1.100. This no longer gives me an internet connection, and when I try to install Fog, it seems to need an internet connection or it will fail. I thought maybe if I could restore a DHCP connection, I could get back internet access and at least install Fog, but I can’t seem to do this since network manager is removed.
If anyone could give me some direction, it would be greatly appreciated. I hope I am not in over my head…

Alan

[Bobfrid]

Hi Alan,

I’ve got a similar setup to yours. From my experience, Fog does require an internet connection during the install.

I left my network adapter on DHCP and connected to the Internet during the install part of Fog. Just configure the installation as you’d like. For the standalone, you’d need to setup Fog to be the DHCP server and pick an IP for Fog. I think any class C will work, I used 192.168.1.1

After the installation is complete, disconnect the Fog server from your network, change the network adapter to static and use 192.168.1.1 (or whatever you’ve selected). Now, when booting the Fog server, you’ll need to have the network adapter connected to another device, either a hub, switch, router, or another network adapter. Otherwise, the DHCP server service starts and quits immediately. Even then, I sometimes have to manually start the DHCP server. For Ubuntu 9.04, I think you want

sudo service dhcp3-server start

to start the service from a command line. You can substitute “status” for “start” to see if the DHCP service is running or not.

Hope this gets you going. Let us know how it goes!

[Alan Baker]

Bob,

Thanks so much for the reply! I got my fogserver set back up to DHCP, and was able to download the latest version of Fog to the /opt folder and begin installation, but it failed at the apache2 installation. I wonder if my company firewall could be blocking the apache2 installation segment if it is trying to download something… although it allowed the Fog download. I guess I could try and ping the apache2 location, but I don’t know where to find the target information. I copied the install log:

###########################################

FOG

Free Computer Imaging Solution

Created by:

SyperiorSoft

[url]http://www.SyperiorSoft.com[/url]

Developers:

Chuck Syperski

Jian Zhang

GNU GPL Version 3

###########################################

Version: 0.32 Installer/Updater

What version of Linux would you like to run the installtion for?

      1) Redhat Based Linux (Fedora, CentOS)
      2) Ubuntu Based Linux (Kubuntu, Edubuntu)

Choice: [2]

Starting Ubuntu Installtion.

FOG Server installation modes:
* Normal Server: (Choice N)
This is the typical installation type and
will install all FOG components for you on this
machine. Pick this option if you are unsure what to pick.

  * Storage Node: (Choice S)
      This install mode will only install the software required
      to make this server act as a node in a storage group

More information:
[url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=InstallationModes[/url]

What type of installation would you like to do? [N]

What is the IP address to be used by this FOG Server? [10.106.16.81]192.168.1.100

Would you like to setup a router address for the DHCP server? [Y/n] y
What is the IP address to be used for the router on the DHCP server? [10.106.16.1]192.168.1.1

Would you like to setup a DNS address for the DHCP server and client boot image? [Y/n] y
What is the IP address to be used for DNS on the DHCP server and client boot image? [10.106.10.10] 192.168.1.2

Would you like to change the default network interface from eth0?
If you are not sure, select No. [y/N]n

Would you like to use the FOG server for dhcp service? [Y/n] y

This version of FOG has internationalization support, would
you like to install the additional language packs? [Y/n] n

#####################################################################

FOG now has everything it needs to setup your server, but please
understand that this script will overwrite any setting you may
have setup for services like DHCP, apache, pxe, tftp, and NFS.

It is not recommended that you install this on a production system
as this script modifies many of your system settings.

This script should be run by the root user on Fedora, or with sudo on Ubuntu.

Here are the settings FOG will use:
Distro: Ubuntu
Installation Type: Normal Server
Server IP Address: 192.168.1.100
DHCP router Address: 192.168.1.1
DHCP DNS Address: 192.168.1.2
Interface: eth0
Using FOG DHCP: 1
Internationalization: 0

Are you sure you wish to continue (Y/N) y

Installation Started…

Installing required packages, if this fails
make sure you have an active internet connection.

• Preparing apt-get

• Installing package: apache2

• Installing package: php5

• Installing package: php5-gd

• Installing package: php5-cli

• Installing package: php5-mysql

• Installing package: php5-curl

• Installing package: mysql-server

  We are about to install MySQL Server on
  this server, if MySQL isn’t installed already
  you will be prompted for a root password. If
  you don’t leave it blank you will need to change
  it in the config.php file located at:

  /var/www/fog/commons/config.php

  Press enter to acknowledge this message.

Reading package lists…
Building dependency tree…
Reading state information…
E: Couldn’t find package mysql-server

• Installing package: mysql-client
• Installing package: isc-dhcp-server
• Installing package: tftpd-hpa
• Installing package: tftp-hpa
• Installing package: nfs-kernel-server
• Installing package: vsftpd
• Installing package: net-tools
• Installing package: wget
• Installing package: xinetd
• Installing package: sysv-rc-conf
• Installing package: tar
• Installing package: gzip
• Installing package: build-essential
• Installing package: cpp
• Installing package: gcc
• Installing package: g++
• Installing package: m4
• Installing package: htmldoc
• Installing package: perl
• Installing package: libcrypt-passwdmd5-perl
• Installing package: lftp
• Installing package: openssh-server
• Installing package: php-gettext
• Installing package: clamav-freshclam

Confirming package installation.

• Checking package: apache2…Failed!
  alanb@FogServer:/opt/fog_0.32/bin$

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Alan

[Bobfrid]

Yeah, mine did that as well. There’s a couple things to try here:

First, see if there are any Ubuntu updates available, sometimes that will resolve a few problems.

Second, try installing things that fail during the fog setup manually using apt-get. So, for apache2:

sudo apt-get install apache2

This is tedious, but it works (or did for me). I would install the failed or missing package like that, run setup again and see where it had the problem that time and use apt-get again to install the package needed.

One problem I had with our network was they installed MS Forefront and blocked the http sources for Ubuntu software. I ended up changing

/etc/apt/sources.list

I just replaced http with ftp and it was able to get updates again. Sometimes I had to wait a bit and run it again after 5 or 10 minutes as it does a lot of anonymous ftp logins and it seems to stop you for awhile. If this becomes necessary, I highly recommend making a backup of the original sources.list should you need the original.

See how that goes and let us know again!

[Alan Baker]

I’m getting failure to download repository index’s, so I suspect I am being blocked. I will take it home and see if I have better luck on my home network. I will let you know how far I get.

Thanks!

Alan

[Alan Baker]

I did not have any better luck on my home network. I downloaded what I think is the right apache2 file to my /opt folder and extracted it. I now have a folder called “httpd-2.2.14” in my /opt folder. Now I can’t figure out which file to use with the sudo ./installxxx.sh command. There is a binbuild.sh file in the build folder, but I can’t get it to install. I’m sure I either have the wrong version of apache2 downoaded, or my command line syntax is incorrect. Is there no way to have ROOT access through the GUI?

Also, is it worthwhile to upgrade to 9.10?

Thanks in advance!

[Kiweegie]

Hi Alan

I’ve always found it easier to start with a basic LAMP stack (including Apache, MySQL etc already) from the base installation of Ubuntu. That way you get all the apps you need with all the dependencies already taken care of.

So you can either do a fresh install, or from a command prompt do:

$ sudo tasksel

pick LAMP instalation from the list (doing this from memory) and I’d also recommend putting in OpenSSH so you can use Putty or other SSH client of choice to access the terminal of the fogserver remotely - it will be a huge timesaver.

Once done update and upgrade Ubuntu to get latest versions of everything

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Then re-run your fog install if required.

You’re may best to just reinstall Ubuntu with LAMP etc from scratch rather than trying to sort everything out - the install is pretty quick. I’ve done an idiots guide to installing both Ubuntu and Fog I’d be happy to send you if needed. I once knew nothing about Linux or Fog server but the helpful folks here and elsewhere put me on the right track and have done the guide to help the others in my team at work hwo have little to no Linux experience.

Regards, Tom

[Alan Baker]

Hi Tom,

Yes! Please send me both. Is there a secure way to send you my email address, or can you post links to the guides?

Alan

[Kiweegie]

Hi Alan try these links from my public dropbox.

[URL=‘https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9458832/Ubuntu install guide.pdf’]Ubuntu guide[/URL]
[URL=‘https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9458832/Fog server set up and configuration.pdf’]Basic fog install guide[/URL]

Both are basic and may not cover everything you need. If you have questions post back and I’ll do what I can to help.

Regards, Tom

[Alan Baker]

Hi Tom,

Should I install Ubuntu server ver 10.10 like in the instructions or the latest version? These instructions are very helpful.

Thanks!

Alan

[Kiweegie]

Hi Alan up to you really but all the versions of Ubuntu server from 9.10 should be fine. We use 10.10 at work which is why the how to mentions that but you might want to try the latest version (12.04). Any of the .04 editions of Ubuntu are their Long Term Support (LTS) releases so should be most stable versions and obviously get updates and love from the devs for longer. Newer versions include the most recent security patches too but this is probably not as much of a concern if you’re only using it in a lab environment.

Hope all goes well. Post back if you have any problems. Regards, Tom

[Alan Baker]

Hi Tom,

So I got server 10.10 installed. It appears that there is no GUI for server, but I’m not scared! I got Fog .32 downloaded and extracted per your instructions, but can’t figure out how to start the install process. I’ve looked for a installfog.sh file, but can’t seem to find it. I think the how-to guide is missing this step, or I just missed it…

Thanks in advance,

Alan

[Kiweegie]

Hey Alan

yeah for a Windows or Mac oriented user the no GUI on linux servers by default can throw you. But its done that way for a reason - the GUI adds a significant performance hit on a server, which typically you want as streamlined as possible. Another reason I always recommend adding OpenSSH to a server so once you have that setup you can use PutTy or other client to SSH into the server. Allows you to copy and paste commands from forums like this if needed…

So initially you will have downloaded the installer in .gz format to somewhere on the server. I typically use /etc/opt but it could be anywhere within reason. For the sake of instructions here assume the above and alter as needed for your environment.

First you need to extract the archive.

[CODE]cd /etc/opt
tar -xvzf fog_0.32.tar.gz[/CODE]

Using the [I][B]ls[/B][/I] command you should now see the archive and extracted contents

[CODE]ls
fog_0.32 fog_0.32.tar.gz[/CODE]

cd into the extracted folder and then to the [I][B]bin[/B][/I] folder within that folder

[CODE]cd /fog_0.32/bin[/CODE]

Run the installer from there (using sudo to elevate privileges, assume you’re not running as root)

[CODE]sudo ./installfog.sh[/CODE]

rest of the instructions should keep you covered.

regards, Tom

[Kiweegie]

Also check out the tutorials link theres some good stuff in there including an instlalling fog in ubtuntu which you may also find useful.

Tom

[Alan Baker]

Hi Tom,

Well I finally got everything installed, and I can access the Fog management console. Now I will start trying to image my first machine, then work on sysprep and whatnot… Thanks for the help!

Alan