Digital Rebar Provision vs FOG Project
Digital Rebar Provision
rackn.com
FOG Project
fogproject.orgSide by side
| Figure | Digital Rebar Provision | FOG Project |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 2 |
| Spec score · Bare Metal Provisioning Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.8 (#2) |
| API | The API-first system exposes workflows, machine states, parameters, and logs, with websocket events, PATCH support, and a Swagger definition. | The REST API exposes host, task, multicast-session, image and system-information routes. |
| Documentation | The documentation set covers installation, environment, features, server operation, workflows, deployment, high availability, integrations, operating-system support, CLI, API and developer contribution. | Official documentation covers installation, management, knowledge-base troubleshooting, integrations and development. |
| Installation | The documented universal install uses curl to run get.rebar.digital/stable and installs an endpoint locally. | Installation is performed by cloning or downloading the repository and running installfog.sh as root. |
| License | The Digital Rebar server is proprietary compiled software; clients and many catalog components are Apache License 2.0. | The main project and its public repositories use GNU GPL version 3.0. |
| Multi-site | Multi-Site Manager coordinates automation across geographically distributed sites while allowing each site to operate independently. | The official site highlights hardware-independent images, remote computer management and multi-site installations. |
| Security | Security features include SAML and LDAP single sign-on, Active Directory integration, API-layer role-based access control, access logs, and Secure Boot workflows. | The FOG Client documentation says client-server communications use public-key infrastructure and AES-256 encryption after an RSA-4096 key exchange. |
| Security controls | RackN lists role-based access control, secrets management, SSO, auditing, secure boot and air-gap support as security capabilities. | FOG documents CSP and security headers, input escaping, CSRF protection, bcrypt passwords, encrypted client traffic and token-protected APIs. |
| Self-hosting | Digital Rebar runs inside the customer’s infrastructure and its control plane does not depend on RackN being online. | FOG is installed on a Linux server that administrators operate themselves. |
| Support | Every paid edition includes 8×5 support, while 24×7 premium support with architecture reviews is an upgrade. | Support is provided through a public forum, documentation, Discord and community resources. |
| System requirements | The quick-start guide specifies at least one CPU core, 4 GB RAM and 20 GB storage for an endpoint, with 60 GB recommended. | Documented server operating systems include Ubuntu 16+, Debian 8+, CentOS 7+, RHEL 6+, Fedora 22+ and Arch Linux. |
| What it does | Digital Rebar is RackN’s enterprise bare-metal automation platform covering Day 0, Day 1 and Day 2 infrastructure operations. | FOG is a free, open-source network imaging, cloning, rescue and computer-management system. |
Plans
Digital Rebar Provision
- Digital Rebar EnterprisePrice not published
- Digital Rebar PlatformPrice not published
In their own words
Digital Rebar Provision
Digital Rebar Provision has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
FOG Project
FOG Project is a free, open-source system for cloning and managing networked computers. It captures and deploys Windows, Mac OSX and Linux distributions, including hardware-independent images that can be used across different computer models. The project also lists multi-site installations and remote management, provided the FOG server is publicly reachable. That server must run on Linux; recommended options include server-oriented LTS distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux. FOG recommends configuring client machines to PXE boot first so imaging tasks can be sent without visiting each computer. The FOG Client supports host registration, hostname changes, scheduled power management, snapin installation and user tracking, with client installation described for Windows, Linux and OSX. Client-server communications use public-key infrastructure and AES-256 encryption after an RSA-4096 key exchange. The security guide recommends firewall rules and protecting the MySQL database and captured image directory. Community support is available through forums, a wiki and IRC. The Linux client lacks the FOG Tray, Active Directory joining and PrinterManager. FOG Project is free for commercial use; community support is free.