Host Management (1.5)

This page describes FOG 1.5.

See the 1.6 version of this page for FOG 1.6.

Hosts

• A host in FOG is typically a computer, but it can be any network device.
• Hosts are used to identify a computer on the network and are used to manage the device.

Adding a new host

Method 1: Full registration

The preferred method, and maybe the easiest for getting a host into the FOG database, but it requires you to visit the host.

• When at the client computer, during the boot up process when you see the PXE/iPXE boot menu select Perform Full Host Registration and Inventory.
• You will be prompted for information about the host like hostname, operating system, image, groups, product key, and other information.
• If you enter a valid operating system and image id, you will be asked to Image Now.
• After the requested information is entered, FOG pulls a quick hardware inventory from the client — MAC address (primary wired only), serial number (if available in BIOS), make/model, and other hardware information.

Method 2: Quick Registration

Like full registration, but with no prompts and no option to image directly from the registration screen. The host is named with its primary MAC address. This is disabled by default — enable it under FOG Configuration → FOG Settings → FOG Quick Registration, where you also set the image and OS to assign, a naming pattern, and a starting number.

Method 3: Manually Adding

• Adding a new host can be done in the hosts section of FOG, by clicking Add New Host on the left-hand menu.
• At least a hostname and a MAC address must be entered.

Required fields

• Hostname — the Windows hostname of the client, under 15 characters.
• MAC address — colon-separated, 00:11:22:33:44:55.

Optional fields

• Description — for your own reference.
• Image Association — a drop-down of images created in Images.
• Operating System — the primary OS running on the host.
• Kernel — overrides the default kernel used for FOG, specified as fog/kernel/mybzImage.
• Kernel Arguments — additional kernel arguments for booting (e.g. vga=6, irqpoll).
• Primary Disk — forces a device to use during imaging if FOG fails to detect the correct one.

Method 4: Importing Host Information

FOG can import host information from a CSV file, which is much faster than adding hosts one at a time when you already have a spreadsheet of them.

The CSV format

The import is strictly positional — there is no header row, and no autodetection of which column is which. Every row must carry exactly the same columns, in exactly this order:

macs, name, description, ip, imageID, building, createdTime, deployed,
createdBy, useAD, ADDomain, ADOU, ADUser, ADPass, ADPassLegacy, productKey,
printerLevel, kernelArgs, kernel, kernelDevice, init, pending, pub_key,
sec_tok, prev_sec_tok, sec_time, pingstatus, biosexit, efiexit, enforce,
token, tokenlock

That is every field FOG stores against a host except its internal ID — the import exposes internal fields like pub_key, sec_tok and token as plain CSV columns, because it maps columns straight onto the host’s field list by position rather than by name.

• Multiple MAC addresses go in the first column only, separated by a pipe (|) — aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff|11:22:33:44:55:66. No other field supports multiple values; there is no way to represent group, snapin or printer associations in a 1.5 host CSV at all.
• Quoting and escaping follow ordinary CSV rules — enclose a field in double quotes if it contains a comma.
• A row with too many columns aborts the whole file, not just that row. A row with too few is not checked and can silently read garbage into the fields that are missing.
• Matching is by MAC address or by hostname — if either already exists, the import throws “already exists” for that row. There is no update-by-CSV path; import only ever inserts new hosts.

Exporting and re-importing your own file can shift columns

FOG’s own CSV export for hosts omits both the internal ID and the pingstatus column (29 columns). Its import only omits the ID (30 columns expected). Feeding an exported file straight back into import therefore shifts every column after pingstatus — biosexit, efiexit, enforce, token, tokenlock — one position to the left. Build your import file from scratch against the column list above rather than trusting a round trip through export.

Importing the file

1. Log into the FOG Management Portal.
2. Click on the Hosts icon.
3. On the left-hand menu, click Import Hosts.
4. Browse for your file, then click Upload CSV.

Managing Hosts

General

• Once hosts have been added you can modify or delete them. List all hosts with List All Hosts, or search — click New Search and enter * or % to match everything. Search covers the host’s name, description, IP and MAC address.
• Open a host by clicking its name or the edit button to see snapin, printer, Active Directory, service, hardware, virus history and login information alongside the fields shown at creation.
• Remove a host entirely from the delete option at the bottom of the host menu.

Multiple MAC Address Support

• FOG registers a host’s first connected Ethernet cable as its primary MAC address. Once the FOG Client is installed and reporting, it may register additional MAC addresses (wireless, other wired connections). You can also add one directly under the host.
• New MAC addresses need approval before FOG uses them: Host Management → [Selected Host] → Additional MAC, then FOG Configuration → MAC Address List → Approve Pending Addresses.
• FOG Configuration → MAC Address List also lets you Update Current Listings to refresh manufacturer information against each MAC.

Host Status

The Ping Status column on the host list shows whether the last check from the ping-hosts service reached the machine.

It is not an ICMP ping

The check opens a TCP connection to a single port — port 445 by default — and reports whether it succeeded. A host that answers ping at the command line but does not listen on that port is reported unreachable, and that is working as designed. Linux hosts, Windows hosts with file and printer sharing off, and anything behind a host firewall are all affected.

• Hosts are looked up by name, so you need an internal DNS server tied in with your DHCP server, so that when a DHCP address is handed out the DNS server is notified of the new IP. Confirm the FOG server can resolve a host with:

  getent hosts somehostname
  

• If that fails, the check cannot succeed whatever port you pick, and the host always shows unreachable.

Creating Host Groups

• FOG allows you to create groups of hosts, which then allows you to take action on a whole grouping of hosts.
• Select the hosts you want in the group from List All Hosts or a search result — check them individually, or use the check-all button in the title row.
• Scroll to the bottom, enter a name in the create-group box (or select an existing group), then click Process Group Changes.