Image Capture Issue
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@george1421 The Xserve has a lot of space on it so I would like to get more use out of it than just for FOG. If I have multiple nodes wouldn’t that make imaging faster by taking the load off of one distribution point? I have a lot of computers that I want to use FOG for.
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@datastream said in Image Capture Issue:
If I have multiple nodes wouldn’t that make imaging faster by taking the load off of one distribution point
I’ve asked one of the developers for clarity on this. But my guess is that you will get no benefit from having multiple storage nodes on the same subnet. Just from a CPU performance perspective FOG itself doesn’t need a real powerful system since all of the heavy lifting is done by the target computers. The FOG server manages the imaging process and replicates to storage nodes. If you have a lot of target computers using the FOG client then the Master FOG server also manages and talks to the FOG clients.
As for using the xserve for other activities I can understand that.
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https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Managing_FOG#Storage_Management
This page might help a bit with understanding the purpose of nodes and such.
It is my understanding that storage groups are designed for different physical locations and nodes for scalability and redundancy. I could be wrong of course.
Based on that premise, it should be possible, provided you set it up correctly.
edit: I feel the need to clarify that while it’s technically possible, it wouldn’t necessarily give much benefit since the bottlenecks are likely to be elsewhere, primarily network connection and target clients
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@george1421 Are you meaning leave OS X on the Xserve and set it up as a storage node?
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@datastream Can it supply the required services to make it a storage node? While we haven’t done that before (on the surface) OSX could function as a FOG storage node.
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@george1421 I’m not going to attempt it. Apple has quit supporting the Xserve so the OS can’t be upgraded anymore. That is why I am getting ready to do something else with them after I get stuff set up elsewhere. I have 3 of them. I haven’t used this one for a while so I am installing Ubuntu now to create the NAS.
I also use Casper Imaging for our Apple laptops. That is on another Xserve. I have configured another VM with Ubuntu to run Casper. Ubuntu can’t run the imaging portion of the suite though so I am going to work on getting the imaging of my Apple laptops working with FOG and hopefully package distribution later. Then I can get rid of Casper for FOG completely and not have the licensing bill that comes with Casper. That will get rid of that Xserve.
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@datastream said in Image Capture Issue:
If I have multiple nodes wouldn’t that make imaging faster by taking the load off of one distribution point?
OK I received some clarity and a bit of education on this issue too. If you have 2 or more FOG servers (master or storage node) in the same storage group and you are not using the location plugin, the Master FOG server will switch the target computers between all nodes in the storage group. So you will achieve a unicast deployment benefit from having more than one “fog” server on a single subnet.
I would still debate the (no) value in having more than one fog server on a single subnet. If you are deployment more than 5 unicast images at a time, I would propose you use multicasting (assuming your network is capable) to avoid consuming your entire network bandwidth with unicast images.
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@datastream said in Image Capture Issue:
I am installing Ubuntu now to create the NAS
This is fine, then once you get ubuntu setup, install FOG on it as a storage node. Once that is done you can use it for anything else too. I was just concerned that you were going to use one of those “off the shelf” nas’s like freenas. That would limit your ability to do “other” things.
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@datastream For Macs, please be aware of the current issue concerning iPXE boot capabilities
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10261/macos-update-broke-ipxe
Basically, some of the newer OS X updates will update the firmware which might break current compatibility with the iPXE binaries.
Devs are looking into it, but it might be a while before a solution can be found.
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@Quazz I am using the Ubuntu VM as my FOG server. I don’t want to use the whole server with ESXi for storage also, just for the server portion. That is why the old Xserve is getting Ubuntu installed and set up as the NAS. I can then use it as a storage node as well as storage for files for things like computer backup and storage for files from our art department. Since the Xserve is just going to be a NAS the IPXE thing shouldn’t matter.
