BigFix subcapacity regions
Available from 9.2.2. BigFix subcapacity
licensing rules define three regions. To properly calculate subcapacity values for products that are
installed in multiple regions, generate the audit snapshot for each region. Then, for every product,
sum up the subcapacity values from all regions. The value that you obtain is the overall subcapacity
usage for the particular product.
BigFix subcapacity regions
Regions that are defined by BigFix subcapacity licensing rules include:
- Region 1: North America and South America
- Region 2: Europe and Africa
- Region 3: Asia and Australia
Steps to calculate subcapacity values
To properly calculate subcapacity values in an environment that spans over
multiple BigFix subcapacity regions, perform the following steps:
- Divide the computers in your infrastructure into groups that reflect BigFix subcapacity regions. Ensure that each group contains only computers that are located in one region. Do not create computer groups that overlap as it might distort the obtained results.
- Optional: If software in each region is managed by a different person, create dedicated BigFix Inventory users, each with access only to computers in one region.
- Import part numbers for each computer group and bundle software within each region.
- Generate audit snapshots for each region. Ensure that the snapshots cover the same or approximately the same period.
- For every product, sum up the subcapacity values from all regions. The value that you obtain is
the overall subcapacity usage for the particular product.Important: If you generate the audit snapshot for the All Computers group, the PVU usage might differ from the value that you obtain by summing up PVU values from snapshots generated for each region. PVU usage for the All Computers group is measured at the time when the sum of PVU values from all regions is the highest. However, this value might not reflect the highest PVU usage in each region. To comply with the subcapacity licensing rules, you must know what is the highest PVU usage in each region, and then sum up these values to obtain the overall PVU usage for a product. To better understand the logic, see the example below.
Example
A large international company has offices in Australia, Europe, and North America. To fulfill the
subcapacity licensing requirements, computers in this company are divided into three groups. The
computer group hierarchy looks as follows.
- All Computers
- Region 1: North America
- Region 2: Europe
- Region 3: Australia
According to the generated snapshots, the highest PVU values are:
- 140 PVUs in Region 1
- 200 PVUs in Region 2
- 140 PVUs in Region 3
- 140 + 200 + 140 = 480 PVUs
Possible setup of the BigFix infrastructure
To
facilitate infrastructure management and the creation of computer
groups, you can set up the BigFix infrastructure
in one of the following ways.
Important: These setups are
provided as examples only. You can set up the BigFix infrastructure
in any way that suits your needs.
One BigFix server with three relays
In this case, one BigFix server monitors
all computers in your infrastructure. You set up three relays, each
dedicated to handling the traffic from computers in one BigFix subcapacity
region. Then, in the BigFix console,
you create computer groups that reflect the BigFix subcapacity regions.
You can later on use these groups to easily create computer groups
in BigFix Inventory.
Note: Computer groups created
in the BigFix console
are used to manage the infrastructure, and run Fixlets against selected
computers. They are not automatically copied to BigFix Inventory.
However, they can be used as the basis for creating computer groups
that define the scope of reports in BigFix Inventory.
Three BigFix servers
In this case, you set up an infrastructure with three BigFix servers. Each server is dedicated to one BigFix subcapacity region and collects data only from the computers in that region. Data from all BigFix servers is imported to one instance of BigFix Inventory in which you create three computer groups. Each computer group reflects one BigFix server.
