Hi, everyone.

Since my last post was a hot topic of discussion.
I figured I’d throw some of the scripts I’ve cobbled together into a github with some other items I’ve found scattered in my random bookmarks, please feel free to share anything useful in the forum. One of the more useful ones was deploying applications via Fog with WinGet from the WinGet source.

Note: I am not a PowerShell guru, so feel free to correct anything I’ve put up.
I’m not sure how actively the Snapin client is used within the community, I don’t have any access to SCCM or other deployment methods so FOG it is.

https://github.com/mediocreatmybest/FOG-O-Matic/tree/main/FOG-Snapins

I’m not sure if this has been posted before but I have found it quite useful.

Pretty much this is the contents of Fog Configuration --> iPXE Boot Menu --> Advanced Configuration Options.

:start

###################### Advanced FOG Main Menu ######################

menu iPXE Advanced boot Menu for FOG
item --gap --					=================  Live Operating Systems  =================
item
item --key f fedora22 			Boot Live Fedora 22 (F)
item --key s sysrescue			Boot SysRescue CD (S)
item --key i sysrescue-intel		Boot SysRescue Cd Intel (I)
item
item --gap --					====================  Tools & Utilities  ===================
item
item --key t menu-tools			Boot Live Recovery & Testing Tools (T)
item --key d menu-diag			Diagnostics Menu (D)
item
item --gap --             		====================  Advanced Options  ====================
item
item --key c config       		Configure settings
item shell               		Drop to iPXE shell
item reboot               		Reboot computer
item --key x exit         		Exit iPXE and continue BIOS boot
item return						Return to Main FOG Menu
choose --timeout ${menu-timeout} --default ${menu-default} selected
set menu-timeout 0
set submenu-timeout 0
set menu-default return
goto ${selected}


:fedora22
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/fedora22/initrd0.img
chain http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/fedora22/vmlinuz0 initrd=initrd0.img root=live:http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/fedora22/squashfs.img rootflags="loop" rootfstype=auto ro rd.live.image quiet rhgb rd.luks=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0
goto start

:sysrescue
echo Starting Sys RescueCD (32bit) with default options
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/sysrescue/initram.igz
chain http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/sysrescue/rescue.32 cdroot docache dodhcp setkmap=us netboot=http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/sysrescue/sysrcd.dat
prompt
goto start

:sysrescue-intel
echo Starting Sys RescueCD (32bit) with default options
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/sysrescue/initram.igz
chain http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/sysrescue/rescue-intel.32 cdroot docache dodhcp setkmap=us netboot=http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/sysrescue/sysrcd.dat
prompt
goto start

:reboot
reboot

:shell
echo Type 'exit' to get the back to the menu
shell
set menu-timeout 0
goto start

:exit
exit

:config
config
goto start

:return
chain http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac}&arch=${arch} ||
prompt
goto start

###################### Tools & Utilities Menu ######################

:menu-tools
menu Tools & Utilities
item --gap --				========================  Utilities  =======================
item
item --key g gparted		Gparted Live
item --key d dban	  	Darik's Boot and Nuke
item
item --key 0x08 back Back to top menu...
iseq ${menu-default} menu-tools && goto menu-diag-timed ||
choose selected && goto ${selected} || goto start
:menu-diag-timed
choose --timeout ${submenu-timeout} --default gparted selected && goto ${selected} || goto start

:gparted
kernel http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/gparted/vmlinuz
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/gparted/initrd.img
imgargs vmlinuz boot=live config components union=overlay username=user noswap noeject ip= vga=788 fetch=http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/gparted/filesystem.squashfs
boot || goto start

:dban
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/dban-2.3.0_i586.iso
chain memdisk iso raw ||
goto start



###################### DIAGNOSTICS MENU #############################

:menu-diag
menu Diagnostic tools
item --gap --				===============  Diagnostics  =============
item
item hdt           			Hardware Detection Tool
item breakin      			Breakin 3.71
item seatools				Seagate Tools
item
item --key 0x08 back Back to top menu...
iseq ${menu-default} menu-diag && goto menu-diag-timed ||
choose selected && goto ${selected} || goto start
:menu-diag-timed
choose --timeout ${submenu-timeout} --default hdt selected && goto ${selected} || goto start

:hdt
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/hdt-0.5.2.img
chain memdisk
goto start

:breakin
initrd http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/breakin-4.26.iso
chain memdisk iso raw ||
goto start

:seatools
sanboot http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/boot/seatools.iso
goto start

This allows you to have several sub menus inside of the advanced Fog Menu, so you can break things down into sections.
Not all of the options maybe be 100% correct but they work for me so far

I based it from the iPXE documentation and https://gist.github.com/robinsmidsrod/2234639

Hopefully it helps a few people out.

@Wayne-Workman Yep seemed to work. Just finished installing/configuring. I’ll add this to the fog and see how it goes
Thanks guys.

Yep, looks like the problem clients have updated themselves. All working it seems.

Cheers.

No worries.
Just FYI I can’t get the sub-menu function in iPXE working in the iPXE New Menu Entry section on Fog, So far I only having it working in the Fog Advanced Menu, I am assuming this is to due to system variables that fog passes to the menu before the script is run.

Pretty much all I did was follow on the advanced menus and examples from https://gist.github.com/robinsmidsrod/2234639
I did simplify this on mine just so I can follow it easier as I’m no expert in iPXE.

The easiest way to follow this is the copy and paste the iPXE script into a text document and read through it.
My example is broken down into three menus the default menu that pops up first and two others sub menus that don’t show up until you select them. I have also included the option to hit a key and jump straight to the corresponding menu item. e.g T for tools, D for Diagnostics menu etc.

After editing the ipxe script in notepad or metapad. Copy and paste the iPXE script into the Advanced Configuration Options (Fog Configuration --> iPXE Boot Menu). I generally have the login required to password protect the menu because of a few destructive tools, this can be done by ticking the box for Advanced Menu Login under the section --> Fog Configuration --> iPXE Boot Menu.

I hope I am making sense as I’m not exactly the best at typing out documentation.
Is this what you were after?

Would be quite handy to have some other example of good Fog Menu configurations up on the Wiki as well, as I love reading through other examples on what works and what doesn’t

Cheers,

Ahh my bad, the description was just blank as I was just testing the Menu.
I copied every other field but the description from my previous server. All good now cheers.
Sorry about that.

Yep, while it isn’t complex if you have done it a few times, it can seem a little daunting, (and frustrating behind a corporate proxy that uses SSL inspection and other proxy shenanigans.)

As george1421 mentioned, the Rom-O-Matic site was shutdown, mainly due to resources on the iPXE community and the will power to fund it, I suspect. I just personally liked this method, as it was a fast and easy way to generate images. Alas. Manually compiling is the way forward.

When creating the image as mentioned above, (using the fog method linked by george1421) you take the image and add it to a USB key, depending if you wanted UEFI USB key or Legacy method, will depend on which image you use. (Some old devices crap out with UEFI, so I only mention this due to old devices, so results may vary.) The method above uses the UEFI images.

Anyway hopefully I haven’t made it more confusing.

We have something similar, we are unable to get DHCP proxy working, I’m unsure why.
They made a change and it broke any ability to proxy from what I’ve been able to test.

We get around this by creating a PXE client on the USB key pointed at our FOG server.

Previously we used ROM-O-Matic but that has fallen over and hasn’t been picked up again. I assume it was a niche service.
On our iPXE USB we use the iPXE script like this:

#!ipxe
prompt --key 0x02 --timeout 1000 Press Ctrl-B for the iPXE command line... && shell ||
dhcp
cpuid --ext 29 && set arch x86_64 || set arch i386
params
param mac ${net0/mac}
param arch ${arch}
chain http://x.x.x.x/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php##params

No doubt there are other ways to achieve the same result.
Anything I’ve found useful for FOG/iPXE or managing systems I usually keep in my github.

https://github.com/mediocreatmybest/FOG-O-Matic/tree/main/iPXE

I’ve got the ROM-O-Matic settings I used for iPXE as well, no doubt needs updating but last time I built the key I didn’t have any issues with it.

https://github.com/mediocreatmybest/FOG-O-Matic/tree/main/iPXE/iPXE-Scripts

Copy and pasted for the Chocolatey wrapper ChocolatePy
Pretty much same same. Just Chocolatey won’t neccessarily give an error on the exit code on failure if a program is already installed.

https://github.com/mediocreatmybest/FOG-O-Matic/blob/main/FOG-Snapins/ChocolatePy.py

Hi, everyone.

Hopefully this is useful for a few people.

I’ve written a wrapper around with Python to be able to run the WinGet command from the Snap-In tasks with some commands forced (accepting agreement, source, ect. when installing.
I’ve created this due to WinGet changing its location based on its version, no doubt there was an easier way to do this, but figured I’d try learning something different with Python.

It is fairly easy to use, and you would need to convert the script into an executable with a program such as Auto-Py-to-Exe so it doesn’t have any Python requirements on the host device.

After the script is converted into a binary, you can either re-name it, use it in a snap-in pack and call it like you would regular Winget commands.
The only additional argument is the logging to a file. If calling the script without logging it is just outputted to the standard output.
Otherwise installing and logging to the fog.log for example.

PyWinGet.exe --log c:\fog.log install notepad++ -s winget

When logging, it needs to be set before the WinGet commands.

Anyway, it can be found in my Fog Snap in folder on GitHub.

https://github.com/mediocreatmybest/FOG-O-Matic/blob/main/FOG-Snapins/PyWinGet.py

FYI, Winget isn’t the best program to pipe into a text file due to its usage of progress bars that you can’t switch off, but it is still readable.

Hi, everyone.

Since my last post was a hot topic of discussion.
I figured I’d throw some of the scripts I’ve cobbled together into a github with some other items I’ve found scattered in my random bookmarks, please feel free to share anything useful in the forum. One of the more useful ones was deploying applications via Fog with WinGet from the WinGet source.

Note: I am not a PowerShell guru, so feel free to correct anything I’ve put up.
I’m not sure how actively the Snapin client is used within the community, I don’t have any access to SCCM or other deployment methods so FOG it is.

https://github.com/mediocreatmybest/FOG-O-Matic/tree/main/FOG-Snapins

iPXE itself is pretty powerful when it comes to menus and booting options, obviously your results may vary from distro to distro or application to application etc. etc.

This example is using the Advanced menu, with subcategories etc.
I haven’t had much need for this in a while due to my work changing the way the boot system here works breaking things out of my control, but this is a post from a few years back that should still work but you would need you to look up specific settings per distro based on what you are trying to do.

https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7329/sub-menu-within-fog-advanced-menu

This guy has some impressive examples: https://gist.github.com/robinsmidsrod/2234639

Additional information DHCP Options:
https://gist.github.com/robinsmidsrod/4008017

Example for Sysrescue:
https://gist.github.com/robinsmidsrod/1c7bbd4a058f0e6892df

Results may vary. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@sebastian-roth Perfect.
I’ll look at getting a test version up and running and see how it goes.
My work has made internet more clunky to get proxies working so I’ll have to test that as well.

Hi, everyone.

Just curious if anyone knows if there are snap-in shares or wiki entry with snap-ins people have used or scripts etc?

I’ve got a list at work that I’ve been adding to just curious what people do etc.

Thanks.

@sebastian-roth

Honestly thanks to everyone doing work on this, I’ve loved using FOG for years at this point.

Is there documentation on installing the future version at all? I’m happy to throw it up on the server at work and test. We re-image devices every few days, so happy to have it sitting next to the other version.

Or is this just sitting in dev branch on github and is the same process as previous?

Thanks again.

Perfect all looking normal now
One place I didn’t think to look was on the Wiki

Thanks!
Cheers,