Installing the scanner

The scanner collects hardware information as well as information about files, ISO Tags and other on the computers in your infrastructure.

Before you begin

Tip: Install the scanner on every computer on which you want to cover with the selected offering using Scanner like BigFix Inventory.

Before you install the scanner, note the following considerations.

  • Ensure that the BigFix client is installed and running and that the computers are subscribed to the BigFix Scanner site.
  • To install the scanner on a WPAR, you must install it on the LPAR first.
  • Ensure that on AIX the xlC.rte library version 13.1.0.0 or higher is installed on the target computer. For scanner versions 9.2.17 and 10.0.0, ensure that libnsl.so.1 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 is installed on the target computer.
  • Ensure that the libstdc++.so.6 library is installed on the target computer.
  • Scanner is not available for Mac OS X.

About this task

The scanner can be used by multiple applications. By default, the scanner that is delivered with BigFix Inventory is installed in the single user mode. It means that if it is used by other applications, it must be run by root (UNIX) or SYSTEM (Windows).
Note: All previous installations of scanner will be removed during scanner upgrade, unless the scanner instance was used by any non-HCL exploiter. There is a separate fixlet 'Cleanup Scanner Installations 11.0.0 (9.2.35) and older' that can be used to completely remove remaining scanner instances installed outside the BigFix Client installation folders if needed.

Perform the following steps to install the scanner:

Procedure

  1. Log in to the BigFix console.
  2. In the navigation bar, click Sites > External Sites > BigFix Scanner > Fixlets and Tasks.
  3. In the upper right panel, select Install or Upgrade Scanner fixlet to install BigFix Scanner Service and Wscan components or Install or Upgrade Scanner Wscan Only fixlet to install the Wscan component only.
  4. Click Take Action.
  5. Select the computers on which you want to install the scanner, and click OK.

Results

You installed the scanner on the computers in your infrastructure. To view information about the installed scanner, for example its version, activate the Scanner Information analysis, and open the Results tab.
The scanner will be installed in the following locations:
  • : <BigFix Enterprise>\BES Client\tools\scanner
  • : /opt/BESClient/tools/scanner

What to do next

After you install the scanner refer to product documentation like BigFix Inventory for next steps.

Support for noexec option on /var directory

Starting from BigFix Inventory 11.0.1 installation location changed. No longer Scanner executables are in the /var directory, thus Scanner 11.0.1 works also when noexec option is set on /var directory.

In BigFix Inventory version 11.0.0 and older, the Install or Upgrade Scanner fixlet uses an executable that by default runs directly from the /var directory, a partition on the endpoint. If you choose to install the scanner in another location, specifically under the BESClient directory in', and then add the 'noexec' restriction after the scanner installation, it can cause issues with scanning fixlets as well. The fixlets will not work when '' is set with the noexec option. Therefore, ensure that '/var' directory is not set with the noexec option.

Use Install or Upgrade Scanner (9.2.35.0) fixlet to install the Wscan component only.

No longer relevant if the Scanner has been installed with fixlet [103]

If /var is set to noexec, take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the noexec mount option.
  • Move /var/opt/BESClient to a different partition, which is not noexec, and create a symbolic link to it in its place.
Note: There is a fixlet available to move the BESClient and create symbolic links. To know more about the fixlet, refer to https://bigfix.me/fixlet/details/3637.