HELP! I need to deploy FOG Client to 800 computers at 11 different locations
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Server
- FOG Version: 1.4.4
- OS: UBUNTU
Client
- Service Version:
- OS:
Description. So I have a network at 11 different sites with approx 800 PC’s 60% are the exact same type of PC and the remaining 40% or so are perhaps 3 different kinds. I want to install a FOG server at each site and store perhaps 3 different HDD images. That way it is very easy and quick to get a PC back up and running if there is an issue. All of that is fine and will work great and I know how to do it.
The issues is I can not find a way to deploy silently the client application with the appropriate FQDN for the fog server at each location. Deploying silently is a piece of cake thanks to PDQ. Since each location shares the same DNS server (all one big AD) I can’t simply add an A record.
I REALLY do not want to install one by one at over 800 PC’s. We are a staff of TWO!
Any ideas?
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@m-fitzgerald said in HELP! I need to deploy FOG Client to 800 computers at 11 different locations:
The issues is I can not find a way to deploy silently the client application with the appropriate FQDN for the fog server at each location. Deploying silently is a piece of cake thanks to PDQ. Since each location shares the same DNS server (all one big AD) I can’t simply add an A record.
I REALLY do not want to install one by one at over 800 PC’s. We are a staff of TWO!You need to explain this bit a little more. Why do you need to name of the local fog server for either image or application deployment. I have a distributed model like yours and I don’t need this. There ARE things you can do for a distributed model like look up tables and such. Buts lets get a little better idea of your exact condition first.
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@m-fitzgerald said in HELP! I need to deploy FOG Client to 800 computers at 11 different locations:
Since each location shares the same DNS server (all one big AD) I can’t simply add an A record.
If each location shares the same DNS server, you can add an A record.
Group policy can deploy the MSI, piece of cake. You do not need pdq deploy for this.
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@wayne-workman Each location does share the same DNS server, but we connect via VPN to each site and and don’t want every site pulling or pushing 60gb files as needed. Local is much better for our environment.
Additionally I know I can deploy via GPO but I already have PDQ for other applications and I use it quite frequently already.
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@george1421 Well, perhaps i don’t if you have a way to differentiate a local fog server for each site. Since we connect VIA VPN at 50MB fiber to each location I do not want the off site (from main location) pulling down such large files via the VPN. The time it takes to download the 30-60GB image is too long. It is almost faster to drive to site and load while there.
Speed considerations are the only reason i want to separate.
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@m-fitzgerald Maybe I’ve had to much salsa and corona today, but I’m still not seeing a problem here. I understand your constraints but what is the problem?
I can not find a way to deploy silently the client application with the appropriate FQDN for the fog server at each location
This I think is the root of the problem. But I’m not sure of the client application interaction with the fog server?
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@george1421 Simply, I want to install the client app on 800+ computers as below.
Site “A” needs to point to fogserver1,
Site “B” needs to point to fogserver2,
Site “C” needs fogserver3.When i install the packaged MSI from the fogserver the server name is wrong since it is simply “FOGSERVER” I need the flexibility to change it to what each site needs so it hits the local server and not the server at the primary site, and i need to do it via an MSI file so I can send it to 800 PC.
Since all sites share the same DNS server I can’t simply create an “A” record.
Hope that helps.
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@m-fitzgerald I’m still missing the why here, but I think I can summarize all of your posts. Let me reask the question using my words. It may not be exactly what you are asking, but it should be close.
Q: I want to introduce fog imaging to my company. I have about 800 computers located at 11 sites. Each site will have their own independent FOG server. I need to installed the FOG client on each of these 800 preexisting computers and point the fog client to their local FOG server. I have pdq deploy setup already and can use that to deploy the fog client. Is there a way to install the fog client on each computer and configure it to point to each site’s local fog server without having to visit each computer?
A: There are at least 2 ways to go about this. One method is the brute force method and the other is a bit more elegant but requires programming skills.
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Brute force. Just create 11 PDQ deploy packages (one for each site). Each package will point to a single fog server in the invocation line of the MSI. Hopefully each of your 11 sites are in their own AD OU. You can then deploy (using PDQ Deploy) one of the packages to the correct AD OU. This has its advantages in that the computers in the OU belong to the same site and the same FOG server. If you have roaming computes they will get the right FOG server IP address no matter which site then happen to be at when the package is deployed. The setup can be done by anyone who knows PDQ Deploy. All you need is a fresh bottle of pepsi and about 30 minutes of quiet time.
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The bit more elegant approach is to create a powershell or vbscript to identify the computer by either IP address subnet or by target computer name and use that information to point to the proper local fog server. This method requires a little programming and a look up table (simple csv matrix file or done purely in code) to index your key value to the IP address of the fog server. When I refer to using the target computer name, this assumes you encode something site specific into the computer name like the site’s OU name and then the computes asset tag (i.e. NYC7D5JXQ1). In this example NYC is the OU and also the key value to the sites FOG server. A simple look up table would be something like this:
NYC, 192.168.1.16 ATL, 192.168.2.34 LAV, 192.168.3.22Now the other side is you could use the IP subnet of the target computer as the key value. This would be the subnet where the computer is when the install script was invoked. In this case your lookup table would look like this:
192.168.1, 192.168.1.16 192.168.2, 192.168.2.34 192.168.3, 192.168.3.22You can see an example of the subnet lookup table here using a linux bash script: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7740/the-magical-mystical-fog-post-download-script/6
There are several other approaches you can take. But the above are the most efficient. Since you only have 11 sites, I probably would go with the brute force approach because of the time involved with writing and testing the script. Sometimes its just easier to “Git r’ done” using a big hammer.
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@m-fitzgerald said in HELP! I need to deploy FOG Client to 800 computers at 11 different locations:
When i install the packaged MSI from the fogserver the server name is wrong since it is simply “FOGSERVER” I need the flexibility to change it to what each site needs so it hits the local server and not the server at the primary site, and i need to do it via an MSI file so I can send it to 800 PC.
The fog client has arguments for this: https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=FOG_Client#FOG_Client_0.10.0.2B_Installation_Options
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@wayne-workman Exactly what I needed. Thanks. I couldn’t find that anywhere!
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@m-fitzgerald Please let us know if you could make things work for you with the install options…
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Problem solved.
Was the part I needed. Thanks!
