User personal data
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Hi guys, silly question here.
Once the host deploy the image and the user download files and install applications into it, is it possible to update the image of this host on fog and create a task that in every boot this host deploy the updated image on fog server? -
FOG is not a backup tool. FOG is an imaging tool, for example one image to 100 computers. I know some people will and do use it as a backup tool. There are much better choices out there.
On the technical side fog is a block level image solution. Meaning, if you need to restore a file its all or nothing. You must restore the entire disk to your latest backup instead of just restoring the lost file.
FOG is an off-line backup/restore system. Meaning you can’t use the target computer while a back is being made. Depending on your image size it could take up to 30 minutes to make a complete backup and become usable by the user.
What I would recommend that you use FOG for imaging and another tool for personal data backup and restore.
I can make a recommendation on this front too. Look into Veeam Endpoint Backup and Restore (free). It is a very excellent (free) backup solution for physical machines. You can create a DR boot disk in case your hard drive is lost. The files can be kept locally. And the backup is incremental forever to save on storage space. It is really an excellent product.
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@george1421 Ahh
I was just doing some research about the FOG, I thought it would be useful to my startup.
We aim to “stream” the OS to the client, up to now we only know CCBoot that can do the trick, but it’s a paid solution and in large scale it will become very expensive.
I thought FOG would do it when I successfully upload the image to the client but I perceive that the image was written on the disk, not the RAM like this tech usually do.
I realize then that there is no writeback to the disk hosted on FOG server. -
@guilherme.lima said in User personal data:
CCBoot
Oh I get it now, you are trying to create a VDI environment. What OS are you streaming to the client?
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@george1421 Windows and Linux
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@guilherme.lima Linux is possible for free, windows is a bit more complicated because of the windows VDI tax (not related to streaming the OS).
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@george1421 You mean is possible to do it by FOG or another imaging server like CCBoot?
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It’s possible with many different VDI tools. Fog is not a VDI tool. CCBoot is.
For Linux, using LTSP would work easily to stream the OS to the users, and have their data on a central NFS setup or the like.
For Windows, using something like RDP is the easiest, but you have to deal with user cals and the like becuase of this. There are third parties, like Citrix and such, as well, but you still need to deal with licenses.
Maybe you should start with what is your goal. Stream the oS from a boot environment? to cheap chromebooks? what.
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@guilherme.lima As Bob said, FOG is an imaging tool, you need/want a vdi (virtual desktop interface) environment.
You can diskless boot linux. That has been available for years. You just connect the user’s home drive to a server so all of their profiles info is saves between diskless boots. Its more trouble diskless booting MS Windows.
Instead of VDI, have you ever considered using a terminal server (both windows and linux)? Maybe explaining why you are trying to do this or what goal do you hope to achieve, can give me an idea how to answer you better.
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@Bob-Henderson I am really sorry for this delay on my reply.
Well, my goal its stream the OS to cheap end users devices, not only chromebooks. To do that we will use iPXE but there is a thing that we are stuck on it. iPXE send a http request to a IP number and the server answer with some scripts wich say where is the SO image that he needs to load. We dont know wich scripts is necessary to make this whole thing work neither if iPXE is able to load a .vhd file.
Could you guys give us some hand and help this ecofriendly startup to finally put the prototype in the air? Please… -
This will come off as dickish, but I don’t care. It needs to be said.
A: Fog is NOT a vdi/remote desktop solution. It is an imaging solution, designed for use on the local lan or a distributed networking environment, not over the public internet. It will not work the way you are asking it to, nor is it designed to. You’re being given a screw driver and trying to use it to hammer nails.
B: Streaming a VHD over HTTP sounds like an ultimate fail to me, due to things like latency and bandwidth involved. If you’re dealing with cheap end user devices already, this is gonna be a nightmare. Take a look at things like LTSP and the like, see how they get around this, and the limitations they have on a LOCAL network, and go from there.
Look at systems like the Guacamole Project on Apache to figure how they’re doing HTML5 gui streaming via VNC/RDP/etc and see if you can build on that. Note, the info there is simply being displayed, not streamed over the internet, and there is still latency involved.
Putting out a request for someone to basically help you develop the entire project you’re trying to build an ‘eco-friendly startup’ on rubs me the wrong way, since so far you’ve offered nothing back to the group nor seem to be in a place, financially or technically, to do so. -
@Bob-Henderson Thanks for the tip, I am sorry to have nothing to offer but we are a startup wich means that every single penny comes out of our pocket and things are going bad down here in Brazil so… I appealed to the “ecofriendly” therm because it’s the very core of our startup and how FOG is a linux-based project I thought it would be in the same ecosystem where people are used to help each other for some cause or sympathize for the idea and etcetera, explore your technichal habilities was not my intention.
I will take a look on theese other projects, thank you again.
