Integrating Clonezilla Live into FOG’s PXE Menu

I came across a number of potential solutions while looking into some way of backing up my FOG server but what I’ve settled with is using Clonezilla to clone the Ubuntu box itself to safeguard the entire FOG server for disaster recovery purposes (the FOG server is installed on Ubuntu).

I’ve been experimenting with it a couple of times and I like it so much I decided to add it to FOG’s PXE menu just for fun.

I understand that with this setup I cant use Clonezilla from the FOG PXE menu to backup the same machine running FOG but I think I can live with using the live CD for that. In fact I’ve left the disk in the drive so I don’t have to scramble for it when I need it.

That’s enough background information. Let’s get on with the actual instructions which is what this post is supposed to be about…

Launch terminal and type the following command

sudo chown emeneye /tftpboot

This changes the owner of the /tftpboot directory to emeneye. Replace ‘emeneye’ with the your own username

Mounting Windows Shares in Ubuntu

Having an Ubuntu box running the FOG server gives me the opportunity to learn about Linux along the way while I carry on with my trial of the imaging server. I didn’t plan it this way but I am going to make the most of this prime opportunity.

There’s a lot I can do in Windows with my eyes closed but I’d have no idea how to do the same in Linux (without the help of Google of course). So what I want to do is document anything and everything I learn about Linux, however big or small. This also bodes well with my decision to take practical steps towards career progression – having Linux skills will do me good on my CV.

I’ve been tinkering with the FOG PXE menu and found myself wanting to share some files between Ubuntu and Windows 7 which gave birth to this post. These instructions do not cover how to create shared folders in Windows 7, instead I’m concentrating on the Linux side of things – how to mount an existing Windows 7 shared folder in Ubuntu 10.04.

A couple of steps here can be done outside the Terminal but there’s something about using the Terminal thats I find more satisfying than using the GUI.

OK, so here goes.

Launch the Terminal from the Applications | Accessories menu and follow these instructions:

sudo apt-get install smbfs

enter password

Enter y to continue

mkdir ~/Windows-Share-on-HP1

Note: this creates a folder in your home directory called “Windows-Share-on-HP1”. I named it as such to make it easier for me to identify where the shared folder is. You can change the name of this folder to suit your liking.

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

This will launch a text document in edit mode. Add the following line at the bottom of the file. Replace everything in capitals with your own details.

//WINDOWS_ IP/NAME_OF_SHARED_FOLDER /home/EMENEYE/WINDOWS-SHARE-ON-HP1 cifs uid=UBUNTU_USERNAME,user=WINDOWS_USERNAME,password=WINDOWS_PASSWORD 0 0

Save and close the document.

The folder should be mounted on your Desktop after a restart. To mount without having to restart launch Terminal and type “sudo mount –a”

Setting up a Remote Desktop Connection from Windows to Ubuntu

The Ubuntu box running my FOG server is connected to my router with no KVM as I didn’t want a separate keyboard and mouse for it. I didn’t want to buy a hardware KVM and I didn’t have a separate monitor so using a cross-platform KVM software (Synergy?) was out of the question.