Working with student laptops we hardly ever get the same group of laptops together when re-imaging them, and creating a group to multicast them is a bit of a chore. (We create the group members - start the task, and then empty the group members.) Could a new item on the PXE menu be added:

• Add to multicast group

You may have to say “Add to group” since some may not be multicasting, yet using groups. Have it work like the image / OS choice when you are registering a client. It can provide you with a list of groups, or if you know the number you just enter it. If it also had a way to monitor the number of members in the group and give you a warning when it hit 10 (or any number you set) so you don’t overload the group when you go to image. After the member is put into the group it powers down the unit and waits for a Wake on Lan from a deploy task. Once you have filled up your group you simply launch the deploy from the FOG console. (OR maybe a Y/N after the client is added to image all clients in this group now). After the job has started you can empty the group members and get ready for another set. (If it would empty the group members after the deploy - that would be helpful as well for us - but not for others using it for lab deployments etc.)

There may be a better way to do this already - but this would work for us. (Now we just have to get multicasting to work well!)

Would it be possible to export out the MAC addresses of a client(s) info into an export file that can be read into a DHCP server?

In our situation we are putting in DHCP reservations for 500+ laptops into our DHCP server so we KNOW what IP each student is using. (Simplifies things, especially when trying to track down who had what IP when something was done.)

While I am asking for the moon - is there a way to have FOG find the MAC of a wireless NIC on a laptop with a wired and a wireless nic? As far as I know you have to connect to FOG for it to grab the nic - and the only way to do that on the laptops we have is via a wired connection.

Thanks in advance.

As you get more clients that will get worse, especially when you get clients that are not active. I suggest you look into disabling the PING unless you have a reason to have it active. (Can’t remember how to do that right now, but I am pretty sure it is something you have to dig into the config files to change). When we were at about 250 clients it got too time consuming. Now that we are at 700+ I can not imagine what it would be like.
I guess my suggestion would be to have a simple on/off on the ping.