Thanks for the replies, @george1421 and @Junkhacker !

The teacher and student machines are on the same subnet by design and we don’t have any reason to restrict the images available to either so showing them the same list is ok.

@Junkhacker You are correct, FOG server could definitely replace part of the system without too much hassle. I’m intrigued by your claim that FOG can deploy that quickly over a the network. That is extremely impressive. I have to admit that I haven’t experimented with FOG yet so this gives me a very good reason to. Thank you!

I’ll get some hands on experience with FOG first and get back to you.

Hi,

Apologies if this post is in the wrong section.

I’m looking for a certain function and I’m wondering if FOG would be capable of doing it or even part of it OR if anyone is aware of an alternative solution.

I work for a university. We have ~100 computers on a separate subnet that require a unique functionality. When the computer boots the user should be shown a list of operating systems. The selected OS should then be deployed and booted.

We currently have a system that does this but it has been built in-house using various tools and scripts to get it working. I’m wondering if there is a better way.

This is the current process:

Build and Capture

1. Install an OS onto a computer and customise it as necessary
2. PXE boot into Debian to run Image for Linux (by Terrabyte) to capture the OS image. Image is saved to a server.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for additional OSs

Deploy Imaging Environment and OS Images

1. PXE boot the target computers and deploy a small Debian environment and a copy of all the OS images to the first SSD

Show OS selection screen and deploy

1. User turns on computer and the Debian environment is booted. The only thing the user sees is a menu listing the OS images located on the first SSD
2. User selects an OS and clicks “Deploy”. Image for Linux restores the requested OS to the second SSD using the image file located on the first SSD.
3. The GRUB config is modified to boot from the second SSD on next boot. The computer restarts and boots into the new OS. If the computer is restarted again, the OS selection screen is displayed.

The current system works well but it is difficult to maintain and is not well documented. A multi-boot system would not fit our requirements as the OS images are updated regularly and we don’t want persistence between reboots for security reasons. Students should have the ability to destroy the OS and then reimage it easily with a reboot. A VM approach also isn’t suitable because we need unrestricted access to network interfaces when using Kali, etc.

The primary goal is to allow students to select an OS and image their computer in the least amount of time, and allow administrators to easily capture new images. At the moment, deploying a 35GB Windows image takes about 2 - 3 minutes.

We are looking at either replacing the current system or rebuilding it. Is anyone aware of something capable of this? Or something that accomplishes part of it? Any comments or thoughts?

Thanks