How to Capture an Image with Fog

Jan 5, 2020

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CT uses an open-source network cloning and image management system to flatten Windows machines back to a known working image. The Fog server is hosted at CT and is available through the Imaging network. Devices are imaged by booting from the network, which loads Fog as a basic operating system on the device. An image can then be selected from a list and deployed onto the device

Logging in to Fog

Fog is controlled through an administration console available as a web page. On the CT Imaging network, this is available by opening a web browser and navigating to 192.168.4.10/fog

The “/fog” is important, otherwise you will find you have arrived at a Wiki page.

Creating a New Image

We recommend creating a new image every time a device/image is updated. This leaves the known-working image as a backup. Open the Image Management page from the icons at the top of the page.

From the Main Menu on the left hand side, select Create New Image.

Give your new image a name. Images for multiple devices such as control laptops should include the date. Images for specific devices should be named by barcode number. Select the operating system of the device from the dropdown menu. Leave all other settings as they are Click Add.

Capturing an Image from a Device

Open the Host Management page from the icons at the top of the page.

Find the device you want to capture the image from in the list.

If your device does not appear in the list it is not registered with Fog. Devices must be registered before an image can be captured. Devices do not need to be registered to have an image deployed to it. Please see the section below on how to register a device.

Click on the host to open the Host Management page.

From the host image dropdown menu, select the image you just created.

Click Update. From the Host Menu on the left, click Basic Tasks.

If you have not saved the Host Image selection in previous step, you will get a warning to say you cannot perform this task. Select a Host Image and click Update.

If the Host Image has been saved, click Capture.

No settings need to be changed on the Host Management screen, just click the Create Capture Task button.

Restart the target machine and boot from the network. Fog will now begin to capture the image.

Managing Images on Fog

Images can be hidden from the list displayed when a device boots from Fog. This is useful to save confusion over which image to use whilst still keeping a backup image in the system.

Open the Open Management page from the icons at the top of the page. Find the image you want to manage from the list, and click on it to open the management page. Uncheck the Image Enabled box to hide the image from the list.

Registering a Device on Fog

Images can only be captured from registered devices. Fog will allow you to manually add a device, however you need a lot of information to do this. It is easier to allow Fog to do this automatically.

Boot the target device from the network by pressing the boot interrupt key as the machine starts up.

Once booted into Fog, a red warning will appear at the top of the screen to say the device is not registered.

Select ‘Quick Registration and Inventory’ from the list of four options. Fog will now collect all the information it needs from the device, and add it to its device list.

The device will now appear in the Host Management page of Fog, named by its MAC address.

The host should be edited to give it a friendly name by clicking on the current name. The friendly name should be the barcode number but using a hyphen and not a forward slash.