How to get FOG to capture while host is logged in?

[Benjamin_D]

Hello,

I’ve been informed that it is possible to have FOG capture an image from a host while somebody is logged into the host, but I cannot seem to find the documentation outlining it. I saw some things referring to the FOG client and FOG Tray, but neither appear to have that functionality.

[Junkhacker]

@Benjamin_D you have been misinformed. the client can be used to schedule the capture task, but the system needs to reboot to begin pulling the image.
FOG is not typically used to capture systems that have been in use by users, but rather used to deploy a standardized image to systems.

[george1421]

Its not possible to capture an image live like that. FOG uses a customized linux image that is deployed to the target computer over the network. You have to stop and properly close the image before it can be cloned. This is the same case for tools like clonezilla and to a lesser extent Symantec ghost. The target OS must be powered off.

[Wayne Workman]

@george1421 and @Junkhacker are correct.

[Quazz]

The only software I know of that can capture a live OS is Macrium Reflect, but I believe that’s Windows only iirc.

[Tom Elliott]

I don’t know of any “imaging” solution that can do what people are calling Live Imaging. Meaning, to put the disk/device back to what the “base” element is you need to restart, place the data on the hdd, and turn back on. This is because of how the image works around the disk being fully changed.

Now there are utilities like “DeepFreeze” which allow you to essentially do a “snapshot” of a device, and revert to that snapshot. I don’t know that I would call this an image though.

FOG is not a “backup” solution and will likely never be such a thing. This means, it’s not going to look at a “live” system and grab incremental data.

[Wayne Workman]

@Tom-Elliott said in How to get FOG to capture while host is logged in?:

Now there are utilities like “DeepFreeze” which allow you to essentially do a “snapshot” of a device, and revert to that snapshot. I don’t know that I would call this an image though.

At my job before my last job, we used a product called Centurion SmartShield that did HDD locking. Really, all they built was a fancy HDD driver that their software installs. But we locked systems before capturing them with Norton Ghost.

I wouldn’t advise locking anymore as it makes patching basically impossible to do, and every single little thing you might be asked to change is a huge P.I.T.A.