Instructions last updated 29/07/2015

I’ve been attempting to install FOG in a Docker container. Mostly so I can learn about Docker, but also so I can zip FOG up into a neat little package and deploy it to some old laptops for quick imaging. My process is outlined below. Here’s some things to keep in mind:

• I haven’t created a Dockerfile yet, as I’m still learning about that, plus I don’t know if you can automate installfog.sh in a Dockerfile friendly way
• I may have messed up some steps along the way, or not done things correctly. I had to learn all about TFTPD, NFS and many other services, while overcoming hurdles such as various service [service name] start calls not working and days of research about running TFTP on boot2docker in Windows (long story short, doesn’t work. Prove me wrong though!)
• I’ve been able to image one machine so far (a Dell Latitude E5500 with a bare-bones Windows 7 image) and I haven’t tried anything else (e.g. deploying the FOG service) so you might need to do more to get everything else running.
  • The image I was using was copied over from our old FOG server, so I haven’t tried capturing an image yet.
• I may update this as time permits, or come back to answer questions, but now that I can image machines, my allocated time on this task is up.

Let’s begin!

Prerequisites

• A Linux machine running Ubuntu 15.04
  • Should work with older versions and would probably work with other distros
  • Might even work with boot2docker for Mac, but due to TFTP problems, won’t work on Windows. Put simply, I can’t get TFTP packets on port 69 to LEAVE the Windows host (they arrive in Windows, arrive in the container and leave the container, but that’s it)
• Docker installed
  • Run wget -qO- http://get.docker.com | sh
    • Don’t install it via apt-get, as it’s an older version

Installation

How to install FOG in Docker:

• Install Docker
  • boot2docker can be used, but the final container won’t work on Windows, due to port 69 (TFTP) not being accessible, even with the firewall being turned off / ports added. Investigation continues
  • If you’re using boot2docker on Windows (and maybe Mac), you’ll need to allow port 80 through. To do this:
    • Open VirtualBox, click on boot2docker-vm, click on Settings, go to Network, then Port Forwarding.
    • Click on the + in the top-right corner. Name will be http, protocol will be TCP, host IP will be blank, host port will be 80, guest IP will be blank, guest port will be 80. Click OK, then OK when done
    • If you wish to try TFTP on boot2docker, do the same with port 69. You might also need to repeat these steps for every port you specify with the -p flag when running your Docker
• On your HOST (* not * inside your container), run modprobe nfs && modprobe nfsd. NFS depends on host kernel support, and the kernel modules don’t start at boot. If using boot2docker, you don’t need to do this, as it has all the NFS stuff built in, I believe.
• Run docker pull ubuntu:12.04
  • Install fails on ubuntu:latest for some reason (fails around the start of TFTP), so 12.04 preferred
• Run a container with docker run -it -p 212:212/udp -p 9098:9098 -p 21:21 -p 80:80 -p 69:69/udp -p 8099:8099 -p 2049:2049 -p 2049:2049/udp -p 111:111/udp -p 4045:4045/udp -p 4045:4045 -p 111:111 -p 34463:34463/udp -p 34463:34463 --privileged -e WEB_HOST_PORT=80 -v ~/fog/www:/transfer ubuntu:12.04
  • Replace //c/Users/graydav1/Desktop/fog/www with another folder from your PC. This is used to pass files between the container and your computer (optional, good for importing existing FOG images, config file changes, easy editing of files etc.)
  • 111 is portmap, 80 is HTTP (Apache), 69 is TFTP, 2049 is NFS, 34463 is mountd (part of NFS)
  • I may have opened too many (or not enough) ports, but my goal was to getting this all working for my use at work, so if there’s time, I might play around with port settings
• Run apt-get update
• Run apt-get install wget net-tools nano
  • net-tools required for IP address detection during FOG setup, nano for editing of /etc/bash.bashrc and wget to download the FOG archive
• Run wget -P /tmp http://liquidtelecom.dl.sourceforge.net/project/freeghost/FOG/fog_1.2.0/fog_1.2.0.tar.gz to download the FOG archive
• Run tar -C /tmp/ -xzvf /tmp/fog_1.2.0.tar.gz to untar the archive to /tmp
• Run cd /tmp/fog_1.2.0/bin/ && bash ./installfog.sh to start the installation
• Run through the installation and wait for it to finish
  • Change the IP address of the FOG server line to match the host (e.g. if the container reports 172.17.0.1 but the computer’s IP address is 10.15.0.63, set the FOG address to 10.15.0.63)
  • Defaults for the rest should be fine, as Docker uses a bridge to contact the outside world. Chances are your organisation already has DHCP set up, so say no to that
  • You can set a MySQL password if you like, but if you’re running the container on-demand, you could probably get away with not having one
  • You won’t be able to do the schema update yet, because MySQL hasn’t started properly, so just press Enter and finish the install
• Delete the install directory and archive if you wish
• Run nano /etc/bash.bashrc
  • Go to the very bottom and add these lines:
    • service apache2 start to start Apache
    • mysqld & To run MySQL (as it won’t start via service for some reason)
    • in.tftpd --listen --address 0.0.0.0:69 -s /tftpboot (for the same reason as above)
    • /usr/bin/freshclam -d --quiet for antivirus (if you use it)
    • rpcbind (for NFS support)
    • service nfs-kernel-server start (for NFS support)
  • Press Ctrl+X to quit, then Y to save
• Run nano /etc/services
  • Go to the very bottom and add these lines:
    • mountd 34463/tcp (use the tab key to line up the entries, same as the other entries in the file)
    • mountd 34463/udp
    • We add these to make mountd use a static port. Otherwise it uses a dynamic port, making it hard for us to let the port through Docker
  • Press Ctrl+X to quit, then Y to save
• Run nano /tftpboot/default.ipxe
  • Change the final line (that starts with chain http://...) so that the IP address matches your host IP (e.g. chain http://10.15.0.63/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php##params)
  • Press Ctrl+X to quit, then Y to save
  • default.ipxe is created with the reported IP address (e.g. 172.17.0.1) and not the IP address we specified in the startup (?)
• Type exit to exit from the container. This will shut it down
• Run docker ps -l and look for the ID of the container you just exited from. Remember, that’s a lowercase L and NOT the number one
• Run docker start <container ID>
  • This is like a restart. Anything in /etc/bash.bashrc will run when the container starts again
  • You’ll be sent back to the command prompt (i.e. not inside the container)
  • Run docker ps to confirm that the container has started
• Go to http://localhost/fog/management on the host PC and update the schema
• Run docker commit <container ID> grayda/fog (replace grayda/fog with your own image name)
  • This saves our changes to an image file, ready for packaging
• (Optional). If you need to move the image to another machine (e.g. you created this on Windows, but want to run it on Ubuntu), run docker save -o fog.tar.gz grayda/fog to save your image as a file. Again, replace grayda/fog with your image name
  • Copy the file to your destination machine, then run docker load -i fog.tar.gz on there to load the image
  • When you’ve loaded the image to the destination machine, log in to the FOG management UI, go to FOG Configuration and change the necessary IP addresses in there. Also change /tftpboot/default.ipxe accordingly
• Set your DHCP scope options (e.g. 066 and 067) as normal. Use the IP address of the host (e.g. 10.15.0.63), NOT the IP address that the container reports. Docker’s bridge interface will take care of getting the traffic to the right spots

When you’ve made significant changes (e.g. uploaded a new image, added a client to the list etc.), then do a docker commit <container ID> grayda/fog:vX (where X is a number, for example, v1, v2, v3 etc.)

Some other neat things you can try are:

• Use the -v switch in docker run to map your /images directory to your host, so you can easily back up your images or effortlessly load them from a secondary drive
• Map the /var/fog/www/services/ipxe to a htdocs folder on your local machine so you can do dynamic boot menus that read from your own inventory system, or authenticate against your network or whatever you like
• Shove everything on a USB stick or Raspberry Pi to have a portable FOG system (which is what I plan to do, actually. Simple FOG on a stick!)

Instructions last updated 29/07/2015

I’ve been attempting to install FOG in a Docker container. Mostly so I can learn about Docker, but also so I can zip FOG up into a neat little package and deploy it to some old laptops for quick imaging. My process is outlined below. Here’s some things to keep in mind:

• I haven’t created a Dockerfile yet, as I’m still learning about that, plus I don’t know if you can automate installfog.sh in a Dockerfile friendly way
• I may have messed up some steps along the way, or not done things correctly. I had to learn all about TFTPD, NFS and many other services, while overcoming hurdles such as various service [service name] start calls not working and days of research about running TFTP on boot2docker in Windows (long story short, doesn’t work. Prove me wrong though!)
• I’ve been able to image one machine so far (a Dell Latitude E5500 with a bare-bones Windows 7 image) and I haven’t tried anything else (e.g. deploying the FOG service) so you might need to do more to get everything else running.
  • The image I was using was copied over from our old FOG server, so I haven’t tried capturing an image yet.
• I may update this as time permits, or come back to answer questions, but now that I can image machines, my allocated time on this task is up.

Let’s begin!

Prerequisites

• A Linux machine running Ubuntu 15.04
  • Should work with older versions and would probably work with other distros
  • Might even work with boot2docker for Mac, but due to TFTP problems, won’t work on Windows. Put simply, I can’t get TFTP packets on port 69 to LEAVE the Windows host (they arrive in Windows, arrive in the container and leave the container, but that’s it)
• Docker installed
  • Run wget -qO- http://get.docker.com | sh
    • Don’t install it via apt-get, as it’s an older version

Installation

How to install FOG in Docker:

• Install Docker
  • boot2docker can be used, but the final container won’t work on Windows, due to port 69 (TFTP) not being accessible, even with the firewall being turned off / ports added. Investigation continues
  • If you’re using boot2docker on Windows (and maybe Mac), you’ll need to allow port 80 through. To do this:
    • Open VirtualBox, click on boot2docker-vm, click on Settings, go to Network, then Port Forwarding.
    • Click on the + in the top-right corner. Name will be http, protocol will be TCP, host IP will be blank, host port will be 80, guest IP will be blank, guest port will be 80. Click OK, then OK when done
    • If you wish to try TFTP on boot2docker, do the same with port 69. You might also need to repeat these steps for every port you specify with the -p flag when running your Docker
• On your HOST (* not * inside your container), run modprobe nfs && modprobe nfsd. NFS depends on host kernel support, and the kernel modules don’t start at boot. If using boot2docker, you don’t need to do this, as it has all the NFS stuff built in, I believe.
• Run docker pull ubuntu:12.04
  • Install fails on ubuntu:latest for some reason (fails around the start of TFTP), so 12.04 preferred
• Run a container with docker run -it -p 212:212/udp -p 9098:9098 -p 21:21 -p 80:80 -p 69:69/udp -p 8099:8099 -p 2049:2049 -p 2049:2049/udp -p 111:111/udp -p 4045:4045/udp -p 4045:4045 -p 111:111 -p 34463:34463/udp -p 34463:34463 --privileged -e WEB_HOST_PORT=80 -v ~/fog/www:/transfer ubuntu:12.04
  • Replace //c/Users/graydav1/Desktop/fog/www with another folder from your PC. This is used to pass files between the container and your computer (optional, good for importing existing FOG images, config file changes, easy editing of files etc.)
  • 111 is portmap, 80 is HTTP (Apache), 69 is TFTP, 2049 is NFS, 34463 is mountd (part of NFS)
  • I may have opened too many (or not enough) ports, but my goal was to getting this all working for my use at work, so if there’s time, I might play around with port settings
• Run apt-get update
• Run apt-get install wget net-tools nano
  • net-tools required for IP address detection during FOG setup, nano for editing of /etc/bash.bashrc and wget to download the FOG archive
• Run wget -P /tmp http://liquidtelecom.dl.sourceforge.net/project/freeghost/FOG/fog_1.2.0/fog_1.2.0.tar.gz to download the FOG archive
• Run tar -C /tmp/ -xzvf /tmp/fog_1.2.0.tar.gz to untar the archive to /tmp
• Run cd /tmp/fog_1.2.0/bin/ && bash ./installfog.sh to start the installation
• Run through the installation and wait for it to finish
  • Change the IP address of the FOG server line to match the host (e.g. if the container reports 172.17.0.1 but the computer’s IP address is 10.15.0.63, set the FOG address to 10.15.0.63)
  • Defaults for the rest should be fine, as Docker uses a bridge to contact the outside world. Chances are your organisation already has DHCP set up, so say no to that
  • You can set a MySQL password if you like, but if you’re running the container on-demand, you could probably get away with not having one
  • You won’t be able to do the schema update yet, because MySQL hasn’t started properly, so just press Enter and finish the install
• Delete the install directory and archive if you wish
• Run nano /etc/bash.bashrc
  • Go to the very bottom and add these lines:
    • service apache2 start to start Apache
    • mysqld & To run MySQL (as it won’t start via service for some reason)
    • in.tftpd --listen --address 0.0.0.0:69 -s /tftpboot (for the same reason as above)
    • /usr/bin/freshclam -d --quiet for antivirus (if you use it)
    • rpcbind (for NFS support)
    • service nfs-kernel-server start (for NFS support)
  • Press Ctrl+X to quit, then Y to save
• Run nano /etc/services
  • Go to the very bottom and add these lines:
    • mountd 34463/tcp (use the tab key to line up the entries, same as the other entries in the file)
    • mountd 34463/udp
    • We add these to make mountd use a static port. Otherwise it uses a dynamic port, making it hard for us to let the port through Docker
  • Press Ctrl+X to quit, then Y to save
• Run nano /tftpboot/default.ipxe
  • Change the final line (that starts with chain http://...) so that the IP address matches your host IP (e.g. chain http://10.15.0.63/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php##params)
  • Press Ctrl+X to quit, then Y to save
  • default.ipxe is created with the reported IP address (e.g. 172.17.0.1) and not the IP address we specified in the startup (?)
• Type exit to exit from the container. This will shut it down
• Run docker ps -l and look for the ID of the container you just exited from. Remember, that’s a lowercase L and NOT the number one
• Run docker start <container ID>
  • This is like a restart. Anything in /etc/bash.bashrc will run when the container starts again
  • You’ll be sent back to the command prompt (i.e. not inside the container)
  • Run docker ps to confirm that the container has started
• Go to http://localhost/fog/management on the host PC and update the schema
• Run docker commit <container ID> grayda/fog (replace grayda/fog with your own image name)
  • This saves our changes to an image file, ready for packaging
• (Optional). If you need to move the image to another machine (e.g. you created this on Windows, but want to run it on Ubuntu), run docker save -o fog.tar.gz grayda/fog to save your image as a file. Again, replace grayda/fog with your image name
  • Copy the file to your destination machine, then run docker load -i fog.tar.gz on there to load the image
  • When you’ve loaded the image to the destination machine, log in to the FOG management UI, go to FOG Configuration and change the necessary IP addresses in there. Also change /tftpboot/default.ipxe accordingly
• Set your DHCP scope options (e.g. 066 and 067) as normal. Use the IP address of the host (e.g. 10.15.0.63), NOT the IP address that the container reports. Docker’s bridge interface will take care of getting the traffic to the right spots

When you’ve made significant changes (e.g. uploaded a new image, added a client to the list etc.), then do a docker commit <container ID> grayda/fog:vX (where X is a number, for example, v1, v2, v3 etc.)

Some other neat things you can try are:

• Use the -v switch in docker run to map your /images directory to your host, so you can easily back up your images or effortlessly load them from a secondary drive
• Map the /var/fog/www/services/ipxe to a htdocs folder on your local machine so you can do dynamic boot menus that read from your own inventory system, or authenticate against your network or whatever you like
• Shove everything on a USB stick or Raspberry Pi to have a portable FOG system (which is what I plan to do, actually. Simple FOG on a stick!)

[quote=“Junkhacker, post: 35307, member: 21583”]at this time, modifying the first boot menu is not easy. which is why we created the advanced boot menu.
if you must modify the first menu, it is written in php and is a combination of /fog/service/ipxe/boot.php and /fog/lib/fog/BootMenu.class.php[/quote]

Thanks for the pointers, JunkHacker. Using that info, I’ve managed to create my own boot menu. For those of you playing along at home, do this:

[LIST=1]
[]Replace bootmenu.php with this: [url]http://pastebin.com/7rEXm7Ka[/url] (two extra lines, one line removed. calls new CustomBootMenu instead of BootMenu)
[]Make two new files in the /service/ipxe folder. One called CustomBootMenu.php (the contents is exactly the same as the BootMenu.class.php file, but replace the contents of the “printDefault” function with one that simply loads your custommenu.php) and a file called custommenu.php which contains your iPXE script (see [url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Boot_Menu_Configuration_options[/url] for a demo)
[/LIST]
This is a little more complete than my previous solution, which didn’t start tasks at all (hey, I was still learning :)) so now this menu option works for us – it allows us to set up our own menu in custommenu.php, AND lets us actually FOG machines!

[quote=“Junkhacker, post: 35214, member: 21583”]why would you need to run all of the installs one by one? you can upgrade directly from 0.32 to 1.2.0
we no longer use pxelinux.0 or the pxelinux.cfg folder. if you haven’t done so, you need to change your dhcp server to point to undionly.kpxe instead of pxelinux.0
the boot menu is generated dynamically when it is requested. if you want to add options to your boot menu, i recommend using the advanced boot menu in the boot settings
[url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Boot_Menu_Configuration_options[/url][/quote]

I tried going from 0.32 to 1.2.0, but when I went to update the schema, I got a LOT of database errors. So I tried updating to 1.0 then 1.2, but same deal, so in the end I had to go to 1.1.2 and go to 1.2. No biggie, but a bit frustrating. I’m thankful VMware has their snapshot feature!

EDIT: So I just looked at the advanced menu option, and that seems to do what I’m after, but is there a way I can make the advanced menu the default menu? There are some options we’d like students to have access to (e.g. a custom ISO that can do one-click backups of data) and it needs to be quick and simple to access.

Today I finally upgraded from v0.32 to v1.2.0 (I had to run all of the installs one by one!) and noticed that our boot menu has reverted. No big drama, but I can’t seem to find where to change it. There is no pxelinux.cfg folder any more, so I’m confused.

I was able to find the boot menu image in /var/www/fog/service/ipxe and change it, and that works fine, but I can’t find the rest. Where is this, and is it in the Wiki, because I wasn’t able to find anything.

Thanks guys. I’ve now got FOG imaging blank drives (just tried it on a freshly repaired Dell Latitude 2120 netbook, and a 2110 netbook).

My solution was to [I]re-upload[/I] my images, this time setting them as [B]Single Partition (NTFS, Resizeable)[/B]. According to some other posts on the FOG forum, this is acceptable, as FOG knows to expect a 100mb partition when you pick Windows 7 from the image list.

My OS association is still Windows 7, and I’m thinking all is solved here.

Good morning, we’ve been successfully imaging machines with FOG for a few weeks now, but have recently hit a snag with blank hard-drives.

We get our machines fixed with Dell, and they replace faulty HDDs with blank ones. When I go into FOG and start a task, FOG boots, but says the task is complete, not even bothering to create partitions or write anything to the disk.

According to [url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/fog-deployment-issues-to-blank-drives.4267/[/url] , I need to set my Host OS association to Vista in order to get things to image correctly, but it’s not working either. I’ve just gone in to the FOG web management, clicked on Host Management, clicked on my host and set the host’s OS association in FOG to Vista – do I need to re-upload the image from a machine that has had it’s OS assignment set to Vista, in order for future redeployments to treat the image as a Vista one and create the necessary partitions?

While on the subject of Windows 7, what is the preferred method of uploading Windows 7 images? Multi Partition - Single Disk? Multi Partition - All Disks?