Preboot Execution Environment(PXE)

In computing, the preboot execution environment (PxE, sometimes describes a standardized client-server environment as mentioned in the Poixee specification, which boots the software assembly from a network on a PXE-capable client. On the client side it is only a PXE-enabled network interface controller (NIC), and industry-standard network protocols such as DHCP and a small group of TFTP users.

Step on PXE boot process

1. Load to PXE ROM.

2. Searsch for IP in network by DHCP server.

3. Searsch for TFTP server in network.

4. Laod OS in RAM.

5. Load OS in HHD.

Introduction to FOG

FOG is a Linux-based, free and open source computer imaging solution for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Linux (limited), which connects some open source devices together with a PHP-based web interface is. FOG does not use any boot disk or CD; Everything is done through TFTP and PXE, your PC boots through PXE and automatically downloads a small Linux client. From there you can select many activities on the PC, which includes hard drive imaging. Apart from this, many network drivers with FOG have been built in the Linux client's kernel, so you do not really have to worry about NIC drivers (unless it has kernel support yet). FOG also supports putting an image that came with a 40 GB hard drive on the machine with 80 GB of partition, until the data is less than 40 GB. FOG supports multicasting, which means that you can do many PC images with the same stream. So it should be fast whether you are doing 1 PC or 20 PCS imaging.
 

Features on FOG server

FOG is more than just an imaging solution, FOG has developed into imaging / cloning and network management solutions. FOG now works like establishing and managing printers, tracking user access to computers, installing remote applications through snap-ins on idle timelines, automatic user logoff and computer shutdown.

Content of FOG server

FOG is a LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server based, so the main server is a Linux. The rest of the components: Apache, MySQL, PHP, and several other services, the FOG installation script automatically downloaded and installed.

Full Listing of Ports used by FOG server and client

MySQL - 3306
FTP – tcp 20,21
SSH – tcp 22
TFTP – udp 69
HTTP(s) – tcp 80,443
Portmap – tcp/udp 111
NFS – tcp/udp 2049
Transfer ports – tcp/udp 1024 – 65535

Basic Imaging Tasks on FOG server:

Capturing an image
Deploying an image
Multicasting

Describes tasks other than imaging on FOG server:

Debug
Capture - Unicast (Debug)
Send - Unicast (Debug)
Send - Unicast (Without Snapins)
Deploy All Snapins
Deploy Single Snapin
Memory Test
Wake Up
Fast Wipe
Normal Wipe
Full Wipe
Disk Surface Test
File Recovery
Virus Scan
Hardware Inventory
Donate
Torrent-Cast

Installation og FOG server

1.Go to /opt directory

cd /opt

2.Create directory fog inside /opt

sudo mkdik fog/

3.Download the latest satable version for the offical link in the fog directory

cd fog/

sudo wget https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/freeghost/FOG/fog_1.4.4/fog_1.4.4.tar.gz?r=https%3A%2F%2Ffogproject.org%2F&ts=1505037628&use_mirror=nchc

4.Extract the zip file in same directory /opt/fog

tar xzf fog*

5.Go to bin folder

cd fog*/bin

6.Run the installation scripit

sudo ./installfog.sh

7.Provide the required information in the running script like server IP, DHCP server and other information & it will done after installing all software
 

Here is the server which we have installed in Virtual box-

 * Here are the settings FOG will use:
 * Base Linux: Debian
 * Detected Linux Distribution: Ubuntu
 * Server IP Address: 192.168.100.14
 * Server Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
 * Interface: enp0s3
 * Installation Type: Normal Server
 * Internationalization: 1
 * Image Storage Location: /images
 * Using FOG DHCP: Yes
 * DHCP router Address: 192.168.100.1

now we can visit the webpage for FOG server

http://192.168.100.14/fog/management (my server)