FOG Project - Network Imaging and Cloning Server

This is a repackaged open source software product wherein additional charges apply for cloudimg support services.

## Overview

FOG Project is a popular free and open source network computer imaging and cloning platform. It captures a golden disk image from a reference machine and deploys it to many machines over the network. Machines network-boot into the FOG client by PXE, and FOG captures or deploys their disks, manages an inventory of hosts, organises images and drives the whole workflow from a browser-based management console and a REST API. This image delivers a complete single-node FOG server, fully installed and hardened, so an imaging server is operational within minutes of launch.

## Why This Image vs a Manual Install

FOG's own installer is interactive by default and driving it correctly and unattended is the hardest part of packaging it; a subtly wrong answer produces a server that appears installed but is configured wrong. This image completes that install non-interactively at build time and then proves real function: the database schema is present, the web console answers, TFTP genuinely serves the iPXE bootloaders, and the NFS image store is exported. It also removes FOG's well known default web login and rotates every install-time secret. You launch the instance, read your unique credential, and start managing images.

## Application Stack

A single-node FOG server: Apache and PHP serve the web management console and REST API, MariaDB holds the FOG database bound to loopback only, tftpd-hpa serves the iPXE network bootloaders, the NFS server exports the image store, and vsftpd handles image file management. The FOG scheduler, image replicator and multicast manager services run under systemd. The image store lives on a dedicated, independently resizable data volume separate from the OS disk.

## Security Hardening

This image follows a defence-in-depth approach with the following hardening measures applied:

• No default or shared credentials: FOG's well known default web login is removed; a cryptographically random administrator password and fresh REST API tokens are generated on each instance's first boot and written only to a root-only file
• No DHCP server: FOG can run its own DHCP server, which would race your VPC's DHCP and disrupt networking; this appliance deliberately ships and asserts no DHCP server
• Database isolation: MariaDB is bound to the loopback interface and is never exposed to the network
• Scoped image store: the NFS export is scoped to the instance's own subnet on first boot rather than exported to every host, and can be widened deliberately
• Dedicated data volume: the image library lives on its own disk, so captured images survive OS-disk changes and can be resized independently
• Corresponding source included: the complete GPL source for the FOG version shipped is present on the image

Buyers requiring formal compliance documentation should contact cloudimg to discuss specific requirements.

## How Network Imaging Works On AWS

FOG images machines that network-boot by PXE, an on-premises workflow: a client machine reaches this server over a routed network and is directed to it by DHCP options 66 and 67 set on your existing DHCP server. On AWS this server is typically reached from a routed imaging subnet over a VPN or Direct Connect link into your VPC. A VPC subnet does not carry broadcast or multicast, so FOG's multicast deployment and proxyDHCP modes do not operate on a cloud subnet; standard unicast capture and deploy to a routed subnet work normally. The user guide documents the supported topology in full.

## Ready to Use

Read your credential from the root-only file, open the web management console in your browser, sign in, and start registering hosts, defining images and driving captures. Point DHCP option 66 (next-server) at this server and option 67 (filename) at the FOG bootloader on your existing DHCP server to network-boot your client machines.

## AWS Integration

Deploy on any EC2 instance type. Reach the imaging subnet over a Site-to-Site VPN or Direct Connect. Back up the FOG database and image library with EBS snapshots or AWS Backup.

## Use Cases

• A self-hosted network imaging and cloning server to capture a golden disk image and deploy it to many machines over the network
• Centralised host inventory and image management for a fleet of workstations, labs or point-of-sale machines, driven from a browser
• A cloud-hosted FOG control plane reached from a routed on-premises imaging subnet over VPN or Direct Connect

## cloudimg Support

24/7 technical support by email and chat. Help with deployment, connecting a routed imaging subnet over VPN or Direct Connect, configuring DHCP options on your existing server, the FOG web console and API, and backup planning for your image library.

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