Welcome
Configuring
After you install BigFix Inventory, configure the application. Create accounts for the users who need access to the application and set up scans to collect software and hardware inventory data from your environment.
Setting up scans to discover software and hardware inventory
The scanner is an independent, well-defined component that is used by BigFix Inventory. It is installed and managed through the BigFix client, and it enables the software and capacity scans. Software and capacity scans collect data that is later on displayed on the BigFix Inventory reports. For environments with up to a few thousand computers, you can enable the default scan configuration. In this case, the analyses are activated and software and capacity scans as well as uploads of their results are scheduled automatically on the computers that are subscribed to the BigFix Inventory site. For larger environments, it is advisable to divide the computers into groups and manually configure a separate scan schedule for each group to avoid performance issues.
Discovering software and hardware on IBM i
Available from 9.2.5. You can discover software and hardware inventory on IBM i systems by using disconnected scans that do not require direct connection between the scanned computers and BigFix server. Scripts that are provided in the disconnected scanner package initiate software and capacity scans, and prepare scan results that you later on upload to BigFix Inventory.
Importing scan results to BigFix Inventory
Available from 9.2.5. To import new scan results to BigFix Inventory, copy the package to the disconnected scans directory that you added as a data source.

BigFix Documentation Homepage
BigFix 11 Inventory Documentation
Welcome to the BigFix Inventory documentation, where you can find information about how to install and configure BigFix Inventory. The application provides you with information about your inventory and license metrics. You can manage your software assets, gather information about your hardware, and ensure license compliance for your enterprise using BigFix Inventory.
BigFix Platform
Overview
Become familiar with key concepts that are necessary to understand how BigFix Inventory works and learn about features and functions that are introduced in every version of the application.
Installing
Learn about the requirements and available installation scenarios to ensure that the deployment of BigFix Inventory goes smoothly in your environment.
Configuring
After you install BigFix Inventory, configure the application. Create accounts for the users who need access to the application and set up scans to collect software and hardware inventory data from your environment.
- Creating users and groups
  Each user who has access to BigFix Inventory must be assigned a role and a computer group. The role defines which reports and panels the user can view. The computer group narrows down the scope of these reports and panels to computers that meet certain criteria.
- Setting up scans to discover software and hardware inventory
  The scanner is an independent, well-defined component that is used by BigFix Inventory. It is installed and managed through the BigFix client, and it enables the software and capacity scans. Software and capacity scans collect data that is later on displayed on the BigFix Inventory reports. For environments with up to a few thousand computers, you can enable the default scan configuration. In this case, the analyses are activated and software and capacity scans as well as uploads of their results are scheduled automatically on the computers that are subscribed to the BigFix Inventory site. For larger environments, it is advisable to divide the computers into groups and manually configure a separate scan schedule for each group to avoid performance issues.
  - Frequency of scans and uploads of data
    By default, software and capacity scans are scheduled with a frequency that meets auditing requirements. If you want to change the default frequency, ensure that the new setup fulfills the minimal requirements and all considerations.
  - Default scan configuration
    Default scan configuration is advised for environments with up to a few thousand computers. It ensures that the required analyses are activated and software and capacity scans as well as uploads of their results are scheduled automatically. These actions are necessary to collect data from the computers in your infrastructure and to display it on the BigFix Inventory reports. You can enable the default scan configuration during the configuration of BigFix Inventory connections to the databases or when adding another data source.
  - Manual scan configuration
    Manual scan configuration is advised for environments with more than a few thousand computers. It requires that analyses are activated and software and capacity scans as well as uploads of their results are scheduled manually after the installation. These actions are necessary to collect data from the computers in your infrastructure and display in on the BigFix Inventory reports. Flexibility of the manual scan configuration allows for avoiding performance issues that might occur when you scan too many computers at the same time.
  - Advanced scan configuration
    After you successfully schedule software and capacity scans and the scan data is displayed on the BigFix Inventory reports, you can further customize the scans. For example, you can exclude directories from software scans or scan remote shared file systems.
  - Discovering software and hardware on IBM i
    Available from 9.2.5. You can discover software and hardware inventory on IBM i systems by using disconnected scans that do not require direct connection between the scanned computers and BigFix server. Scripts that are provided in the disconnected scanner package initiate software and capacity scans, and prepare scan results that you later on upload to BigFix Inventory.
    - Disconnected scanner requirements
      The list of disk space requirements, the supported IBM i version compatible with the disconnected scanner and other relevant requirements.
    - Adding a new data source for disconnected scans
      Available from 9.2.5. All scan results are imported to BigFix Inventory from a directory dedicated to disconnected scans. You must add this directory as a data source to allow BigFix Inventory to check its content and import all packages that are stored within. The packages are imported during each data import.
    - Preparing installation files for disconnected scans
      Available from 9.2.5. After you add the data source, prepare the installation package and distribute it to IBM i endpoints. The package should contain the disconnected scanner and configuration files used to initiate the scans. These files are downloaded from the BigFix console.
    - Installing the scanner and gathering initial data
      Available from 9.2.5. After you distribute the disconnected scanner package to the computers in your infrastructure, install the scanner and run the initial scans.
    - Running software scans and gathering scan results on IBM i systems
      Available from 9.2.5. The script that is responsible for the software scan collects the results of the catalog-based, package data, and software ID tags scan as well as retrieves results of the capacity scan and the computer.yml file. All these results are combined and compressed into a common ZIP package that can be imported to BigFix Inventory.
    - Importing scan results to BigFix Inventory
      Available from 9.2.5. To import new scan results to BigFix Inventory, copy the package to the disconnected scans directory that you added as a data source.
    - Disconnected scanner maintenance and troubleshooting
      Available from 9.2.5. You can use the maintenance and troubleshooting tasks related to the disconnected scanner to monitor the scan progress, optimize the processor usage during the scan, understand and fix the most common issues, or learn more about the log files.
    - (Optional) Manually installing the scanner and running the scans
      Available from 9.2.5. scripts that automate the scans are not appropriate for your environment, and you need to customize the execution of scans without changing the required scan frequency, refer to this appendix. The appendix describes how to run each scan, how to collect the results, and finally how to create the final package that can be uploaded to BigFix Inventory manually. The automated scripts, however, remain a recommended way of discovering on IBM i systems.
- Performing optional configuration
  You can perform optional configuration tasks to further customize the application.
- Classifying the BigFix client used by multiple BigFix products
Upgrading
A new version of BigFix Inventory is released periodically, typically at the end of each calendar quarter. Upgrade to the new version regularly to take full advantage of new features and application fixes.
Catalog Overview
This section provides information about catalog updates available with every release.
Managing the infrastructure
After you complete the initial configuration of BigFix Inventory, learn how to manage components of its infrastructure: VM managers, server, database, and data sources.
Software inventory and license utilization
You can classify the discovered software so that reports in BigFix Inventory reflect your entitlements and properly show utilization of license metrics by particular products.
Managing security threats
Learn how to use BigFix Inventory to manage security threats in your environment. You can view whether any of the installed components is prone to any Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE).
Tutorials
Tutorials help you understand how to use BigFix Inventory. They consist of modules that focus on broad goals. Modules consist of tasks that show how to configure specific settings step-by-step.
Security
Configure different security features to adequately protect business assets and resources in the data model when using BigFix Inventory.
Troubleshooting and support
Learn about solutions to common problems that might arise when you use BigFix Inventory BigFix Inventory and how to find logs and trace files that help you troubleshoot those problems.
Tuning performance
Learn how to plan the infrastructure of BigFix Inventory and to configure the application server to achieve optimal performance. The following guidelines are applicable in big data environments as well as in smaller environments that are running on low-performance hardware.
Integrating with REST API
External systems integration is one of the key features of BigFix Inventory. Business logic is enabled for integration and interfaces are provided for common integration points.
Glossary
Guide in PDF format
DataFlow ServiceNow Integration

Importing scan results from IBM i systems to BigFix Inventory

Available from 9.2.5. To import new scan results to BigFix Inventory, copy the package to the disconnected scans directory that you added as a data source.

About this task

For information about recommended frequency of importing scan results, see: Frequency of scans and uploads of data.
If you upload a package with older results, the current ones are overwritten.
Discovered software is reported with the import time, not the package time stamp.
Import only one package per endpoint. Otherwise, capacity results might be skipped.
Processed packages are not removed from your disconnected scans directory. The ones already imported are skipped.

Procedure

Go to the package output directory. The default directory is /cit. Verify that a ZIP package was created after running the software scan.
The package name is based on the following pattern: <YYYYMMDDHHMM>-<endpoint_ID>.zip, for example 201510191213-6552CFF-5.zip. It contains the following files:
```
capacity.zip 
catalog_scan.xml 
computer.yml 
isotag_scan.zip 
package_scan.xml 
source.zip
```
Copy the ZIP package into the disconnected scans directory that you added as a data source in BigFix Inventory.
To save disk space, remove the ZIP package from the IBM i endpoint.
Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 for all the IBM i endpoints in your infrastructure.
Wait for the scheduled import or run it manually.
Optional: If you want to save disk space on the computer where BigFix Inventory is installed, go to Advanced Server Setting panel and enable the delete_successfully_imported_scans parameter. For more information, see: Advanced server settings.

Results

During the data import, BigFix Inventory checks the directory that you added as a data source and imports scan packages that meet the requirements. Scan results are processed and displayed on the reports in the user interface.

Files from processed packages are saved in the installation_directory/wlp/usr/servers/server1/tmp/datasources/Datasource_ID directory.

What to do next

The processed packages are stored in the directory specified in the data source configuration. The packages are not automatically removed. It is recommended to create the audit snapshot once a quarter. Then, back up the packages in a different directory, and remove them from the directory specified in the data source configuration.