Change Host IP / Join AD without Sysprep / Fog Services
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Hey there,
basically it’s about the question in the title? Is it possible to change a host’s IP address and join an AD without the use of Sysprep or Fog Services (like it is possible to change the hostname without these tools)?
I can not find an definite answer and was not able to find a solution during my current tests. So is there really no way to perform these tasks or am I just missing something?
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hostname change is possible without the service because it’s just a quick stationary registry edit. network IP configurations can move around a bit and would be much more difficult to do from offline registry editing, it’s also something that i don’t anticipate there is a lot of demand for. joining AD requires network connected communication with the AD server, and so needs to be done from a loaded system. there is no way to join AD automatically without the service.
TL;DR version: changing a host’s IP (by way of a snapin) and joining the domain automatically require the fog service.
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Yes, I’m aware that my use case is not the most common.
I’m just still comparing to commercial solutions and Ghost / Acronis are able to change the IP during deployment process.
I also found out that since Win2k8 / Win7 you are abe to join an AD offline by providing a prepared file and the djoin.exe tool. Is there a way to trigger the execution of a remote batch file after deployment without using snapins?
What I am currently trying with Ghost and would like to to is:
- Deploy Image
- Change Hostname (already works)
- Change IP (no solution yet)
- Load djoin files from network share
5 run scripts to join ad offline
What I would need is just a way to trigger a command execution without any preparation on the image. But I guess there is no way to do this with fog yet
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[quote=“emkey, post: 36292, member: 24933”]Yes, I’m aware that my use case is not the most common.
I’m just still comparing to commercial solutions and Ghost / Acronis are able to change the IP during deployment process.
I also found out that since Win2k8 / Win7 you are abe to join an AD offline by providing a prepared file and the djoin.exe tool. Is there a way to trigger the execution of a remote batch file after deployment without using snapins?
What I am currently trying with Ghost and would like to to is:
- Deploy Image
- Change Hostname (already works)
- Change IP (no solution yet)
- Load djoin files from network share
5 run scripts to join ad offline
What I would need is just a way to trigger a command execution without any preparation on the image. But I guess there is no way to do this with fog yet :-/[/quote]
First, and foremost, you must remember that we aren’t a “commercial” solution. Please let’s not try to compare apples to oranges. I mean no disrespect by this statement, but I don’t have Ghost, KACE, or Acronis, or any other tool of such nature, nor do I have access to their source code. So I don’t anticipate a point in time where I’m going to be including such tools to the exact, or similar liking of their capabilities. We’re a development team of less than 15 people.
That said, I do work pretty hard to try including things that are ultimately going to make things better for all people. All of us on the Dev team strive for suggestions and capabilities that are sort of similar to how other tools work, please the requests of others that may be more than what other commercial products can even provide.
In response to the numbered list:
- Deploy Image, [b]this already works too?[/b]
- Change Hostname (already works), [b]Already works, and works in two ways. Primary method is if you have enabled Hostname_early option in FOG Settings. Second method is if you install the fog service. (Both of these options work.)[/b]
- Change IP (no solution yet), [b]How do you mean no solution yet? With FOG 1.2.0, there’s a functionality of postdownloadscripts. You can mount the related partition and make the related registry changes before the system reboots after a deploy task has finished imaging. Is this not suitable for your needs? Is this what you’re asking maybe? Your IP systems are setup statically I take it?[/b]
- Load djoin files from network share, [b]I guess I don’t understand. Is this supposed to be after the system reboots? Maybe setup a samba share on your FOG Server and place the files you need in there?[/b]
- run scripts to join ad offline, [b]I guess I don’t understand again, is this related to item number 4? This is something that would need the system booted up to Windows in order for it to work right? Do you sysprep your images? Why couldn’t you use C:\Windows\Scripts\setupcomplete.cmd (assuming you use Sysprep to prepare your images of course)?[/b]
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Hey Tom,
I didn’t want to offend you at all and I’m well aware how much work you put into this project and that it’s not comparable to a huge company’s commercial product. My point of view is just taht I have some very strict requirements and I try to find a way to manage this task with an open solution, especially as I think the design of fog is way better than acronis or ghost.
The aim of my question was just whether there is such a freature or if someone has an idea how to make it work with currently implemented possibilites. So thank you for your answer.
Again about the list:
- Deployment works fine, and a lot faster than all the commercial products I’ve been testing
- I am using the hostname early function with small changes I have stated in another post in the forum (as there seemed to be a bug in terms of multi partition disks)
- This sounds like something I could make use of. I am already running 1.2.0 but I can’t find any information (in the softawre as on your website) where to define these scripts. Any hint?
- / 5. Sorry, I made this a little confusing. DJOIN.exe is a windows tool you can use to join an Windows Active Directory without being connected. You need to create a file on a directory server and put it on a client. Then you can run a command to join the AD while being offline (or in my case in another network):
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[quote=“emkey, post: 36297, member: 24933”]
3. This sounds like something I could make use of. I am already running 1.2.0 but I can’t find any information (in the softawre as on your website) where to define these scripts. Any hint?
[/quote]I realize there’s no documentation of this yet. However, how it works. There is a folder called postdownloadscripts in your /images/ directory. This folder simply stores scripts. So you can add any number of scripts and dynamically edit them from the FOG Server. These scripts will then run after the download task completes. The scripts simply need to be placed into the file fog.postdownloadscripts file and there are some hints.
Documentation is scarce, somewhat, for a reason though.
Really the only documentation that’s needed is within the script that’s stored there you need to call your other scripts in the order you need them. As well as all that, you should NOT call them as subshells (e.g. $(<scripthere>) or
<scripthere)) but rather as sourced files. (e.g.-> . <scriptnamehere>)The reason for this is so you can access the rest of the variables within the FOG calls as you normally would. For example, calling the $win7sys variable within your own personal scripts to mount that partition.
They’re script files. This means beyond the info I just gave you, it’s up to you to write your own scripts. The nice part is they are scripts that, potentially, can be used in a kind of “modular” state. This is where you can mount the partition (ntfs-3g -o rw,force $win7sys /ntfs) and perform actions on the newly deployed system. You could even use these scripts to inject the djoin.exe file to the root of the drive (e.g. c:\djoin.exe) and insert scripts on the fly.
Hopefully this helps clarify the post download stuff. I know it wasn’t highly advertised, but believe me, it’s exciting to me.
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Thank you, that really helps a lot!
