Install FOG server
Before rushing into installing FOG you want to make sure you check the requirements
The installation instructions here assume that you have a freshly installed server available that only contains the minimal set of packages.
Updating fog is essentially the same process, just instead of creating a fresh clone of the repo, you do a git pull and run the installer again — or let bin/updatefog.sh do both steps for you.
Prerequisite
The preferred method of getting FOG is via Git.
Debian based
sudo -i
apt-get -y install git
RedHat based
sudo -i
dnf -y install git
Now that git is installed, you should be able to clone the FOG repository. Generally we recommend to put the repository inside of /root but if you’ve done this sort of thing before, put it wherever you want. Here’s how you clone the FOG repository/code to your local machine:
sudo -i
cd /root
git clone https://github.com/FOGProject/fogproject.git
cd fogproject
Choosing a FOG version
FOG has different versions available at any given time that are developed within branches of our git repository. The dev-branch ‘dev’ version is typically a stable option since much testing still occurs before changes are committed, but not as much testing as is done for the longer-term “stable” version in the stable branch.
Warning
Be aware that you should not consider switching back to the stable branch without thorough consideration. This is due to the database schema changes that are introduced over time. For example when FOG was installed using the stable branch you can move forward to newer dev-branch versions like 1.5.10.53 with no problem. But if you want to switch back to the stable branch, it’s possible that the schema changes will cause issues when you revert and you may need to wait until the next official release, i.e. 1.6.0, to revert to the stable branch version. Doing otherwise is at your own risk! (Though to be fair, these types of issues have been rare, this is just a disclaimer, there’s also a database change that can be made to force a revert of the schema, though there’s still some potential risk, we haven’t seen such issues, but there’s still risk)
Note
If you choose to upgrade to the working-1.6 branch to test out the beta (THANK YOU by the way! We hope you love it!), see tags > 1_6-changes for pages related to config changes that may be required in some instances. We are striving to catch everything in the installer universally, but as we find gotchas, even if they get fixed, we’re trying to notate those for all.
If you want the latest and greatest, would like to contribute to testing
new features, or were instructed to install the dev-branch version to
troubleshoot an issue you simply need to git checkout the
dev-branch like so (just ignore the comment lines starting with ’#’):
#cd into where you cloned the git repo, e.g. /root/fogproject
cd /root/fogproject
#update all branches
git fetch --all
#switch to dev-branch
git checkout dev-branch
#or switch to working branch for latest features
#git checkout working-1.6
#if updating run make sure to pull the latest changes
git pull
Then you can run the installer to perform an upgrade or new install as shown in the next section.
You can switch back to the stable branch with:
cd /root/fogproject
git fetch --all
git checkout stable
You can see a list of current branches here: https://github.com/FOGProject/fogproject/branches
Tip
If you have issues with
git pullsaying you have pending changes, usegit reset --hard origin/{branchName}to undo file changes within your repo folder that sometimes occur during the install then rungit pullagain to ensure your on the latest.
Updating an existing install
The manual git fetch/git checkout/git pull steps above still work exactly
as described, and give you the most control — useful if you want to inspect
changes before pulling them, update to a specific commit or tag, or otherwise
customize the process.
If you’d rather not do that by hand every time, bin/updatefog.sh wraps the
same steps into one command:
cd /root/fogproject/bin
./updatefog.sh
It fetches and checks out the branch mapped from the update channel this
server is configured to track (stable, dev, or beta — mapping to the
stable, dev-branch, and working-1.6 branches respectively), backs up the
PXE background, kernel set, and rEFInd files that the installer’s asset sync
can overwrite, re-runs installfog.sh for you, and automatically reverts the
git checkout and those backed-up files (then re-installs) if anything fails
partway through.
Options:
./updatefog.sh --help
Usage: ./updatefog.sh [-h?y] [--channel stable|dev|beta] [--git-path </path>] [--no-revert]
-h -? --help Display this info
--channel Update channel to track: stable, dev, or beta
defaults to whatever this server already tracks
--git-path Override the git checkout path this server records
--no-revert On failure, leave the system as-is instead of
automatically reverting to the previous commit
-y --yes Skip the confirmation prompt (for cron/GUI use)
The channel you choose is remembered for next time, the same way .fogsettings
already remembers your other install choices — see
The .fogsettings file. It’s also mirrored into the
database as FOG_GIT_PATH/FOG_UPDATE_CHANNEL under the FOG Update
category on the Settings page in the web UI, so you can see which checkout and
channel a server is tracking without SSHing in. That copy is informational
only — editing it there has no effect on the next update; change the channel
with --channel instead.
Alternatives
If you have issues or good reasons for not using Git, you can just download the FOG installer bundle as ZIP or tar.gz archive.
Simply extract the archive and start the installer as described below.
Run the installer
To start the installation process, follow the steps below. Running the installer must be done as root.
sudo -i
cd /root/fogproject/bin
./installfog.sh
Tip
The installer also has various switches for running silently and more, see Fog installer command line options
Before all the components are installed, you are asked several questions to make sure the setup suits your situation and is ready to use right after the installer finishes:
Installer Prompts
| Prompt | Description |
|---|---|
| SELinux | this only applies to RedHat based installs FOG supports SELinux enforcing, and leaving it on is now the default. The installer labels its own directories, ships a small policy module for the ports the web tier needs, and has been tested capturing, deploying and replicating under enforcing. You are still asked, and can still choose permissive, but you no longer need to. Older versions of FOG recommended permissive and switched to it automatically under -y; that is no longer the case. |
| Local Firewall | The installer now configures your firewall rather than asking you to switch it off. It opens only the ports your install actually uses, on firewalld and ufw, and prints the exact commands for raw iptables (which it deliberately does not modify — see below). You can still choose to disable the firewall, or to leave it alone and configure it yourself. Note older versions did nothing at all here under -y, leaving the firewall in whatever state the machine happened to be in. For the port list, the manual steps for all three backends, and how to restrict FOG to one subnet, see Firewall configuration for a FOG server. |
| OS Selection | The installer tries to guess the distribution you’re running. Just confirm the selection if it’s correct, otherwise choose the apropriate option. |
| Installation mode | With the same installer you can install a normal FOG server (called master node) or a FOG storage node. A storage node uses this same installer — you would answer Y here to install one instead of a full server. For what a storage node is and how to manage one, see Storage Node Management. As we’re installing a full FOG server here, choose N here. |
| Default Network interface | The installer needs to know which network interface will be used for hosting PXE booting as well as sending images via unicast and multicast. If the installer guessed the right interface, then choose n(o) to proceed, using the pre-selected network interface. Otherwise, choose y(es) and type in the name of the network interface (like eth0, ens192). |
| DHCP Service | You have the option to run a DHCP service on the FOG server itself or, if you already have a DHCP server in your network, then you can answer n(o) to the following three questions. For more information on configuring an existing DHCP server to work with FOG, see DHCP Server Settings. The questions on DHCP are in reverse order; the settings first, and finally if you really want to enable DHCP on your FOG server. This order might be changed in future versions of the installer. |
| DHCP Router address | If you’re going to run a DHCP server on this FOG server, then type y(es) and type in the router (or default gateway) address that the DHCP server will advertise. If you have an existing DHCP server on your network, choose N here. (This question is irrelevant if you choose to use or set up your own DHCP server and will be hidden in future versions when DHCP is de-selected.) |
| DHCP handle DNS | If you’re going to run a DHCP server on this FOG server, then type y(es) to advertise DNS server IPs to the clients and type in the IP address of the local DNS server. If you have an existing DHCP server on your network, choose n(o) here. (This question is also irrelevant if you choose to use or set up your own DHCP server and will be hidden in future versions when DHCP is de-selected.) |
| Activate DHCP | If you want to run a DHCP server on this FOG server, then choose y(es). Otherwise choose n(o). |
| Internationalization support | If you want the FOG web UI to provide additional languages, choose y(es) here. |
| HTTPS Support | You can choose to set up FOG with encrypted communication. With FOG providing several different services (e.g. web UI for configuration, web API, PXE booting, client management using the network-and-firewall-requirements > FOG Client to FOG Server communications ) choosing HTTPS support has consequences: 1. A self-signed certificate is being generated for you. 2. The Apache webserver is also set up to host the web UI through HTTPS. 3. iPXE on-the-fly compilation happens to include that certificate into the PXE binaries provided by your new FOG server Usually this works out of the box and doesn’t take manual intervention. But if you are unsure, you might still choose n(o) to reduce the risk of issues. Even without HTTPS support, the communication between fog-client and the FOG server uses a secured encrypted channel. |
| Hostname | This host name is used in the FOG web UI. Review the auto-detected hostname; choose n(o) to accept the suggested hostname, or y(es) to enter the correct hostname. |
| Summary | The installer prints out all options as chosen. If you are sure everything is correct, choose y(es) to proceed installing. Choosing n(o) will terminate the installer, and you will need to restart the process, answering all the questions again. |
Installation questions
If the installer detects a mysql database server with an empty ‘root’ password, you are required to enter one to be set. In case the Linux account ‘fogproject’ has been used on this server, the installer will complain and provide information and instructions on how to mitigate the situation.
Database setup
While most of the installation runs without intervention, there is one step you need to do manually. The installer will prepare the database for you and then ask you to open your web browser and visit the FOG web UI to build the initial database schema or promote an existing database with new schema updates. Make sure you follow this step and only proceed with the installer (hit ENTER) after the schema update/setup has finished, or the installer will fail.
Final steps
If everything worked as expected, the installer end will with the following information:
* Setup complete
You can now login to the FOG Management Portal using
the information listed below. The login information
is only if this is the first install.
This can be done by opening a web browser and going to:
https://x.x.x.x/fog/management
Default User Information
Username: fog
Password: password
Now your FOG Server is ready to use! Go ahead, login to the web UI and start using FOG and have fun. A good first step is to capture an image from a model machine, then deploy it to your other computers.
Fog installation settings
All your choices during the installation are saved in the file
/opt/fog/.fogsettings.
The next time you start the installer, it will skip all questions (except for a prompt to check for schema updates in the web ui, unless you specify -Y) and continue at the ‘Summary’ step.
In this way you can easily re-install or update a Fog server.
For an overview of all settings in the .fogsettings file, see The .fogsettings file
Install errors
If the installer fails or something doesn’t look right, the full output of the
run is captured in error_logs/foginstall.log, and more detailed errors are
written to error_logs/fog_error_<version>.log. Both live in the directory you
ran the installer from (the bin/ directory of the cloned repo).
When asking for help on the FOG forums, include the relevant portion of those logs — it’s the fastest way to get a useful answer.