Flow of data

There are several different interactions that occur between the components of the BigFix Inventory infrastructure and between the user and tool.


Diagram illustrating the flow of data within BigFix Inventory

BigFix Inventory domain

This table describes the flow of data for the BigFix Inventory domain. There are four columns and two rows. Each row is divided in to two rows from column three.
Interaction Type Connection Description
A Web browser data traffic Port By default, the web browser connects to the BigFix Inventory server using port 9081 (HTTPS). You can disable the SSL/TLS connection tunneling.
Origination The web browser connects to the BigFix Inventory server.
B REST API data traffic Port By default, the web browser connects to the BigFix Inventory server using port 9081 (HTTPS). You can disable secure connection.
Origination A client that uses REST API connections.

BigFix domain

This table describes the flow of data for the BigFix domain.
Interaction Type Connection Description
C BigFix Console data traffic Port Consoles connect to root server using HTTPS 52311 for all interactions
Origination The BigFix console connects to the RootServer service.
Network controls: There is a "refresh rate" for each BigFix console user (default 15 seconds)
D Gather, post, download Port Port 52311 is configurable by the BigFix administrator at installation time.
Origination The BigFix client initiates the request to the BigFix relay or server.
Network controls:
  • Configurable bandwidth throttling to BigFix relay or clients
  • Configurable gather interval. The default is 1 per day per fixlet site.
  • Configurable minimum time to wait between posts. The default is 15 seconds.
  • Configurable temporal distribution (spread out downloads over time) per action
  • The ability to set "policy" to prevent computers from downloading files if they are not pointed at the proper BigFix relay
E UDP new information message Port Port 52311 is configurable by the BigFix administrator at installation time.
Origination The UDP messages are sent from the BigFix clients' immediate parent, which can be either a BigFix relay or server.
Network controls:
  • Configurable limit of the number of UDP messages sent at one time from a BigFix relay
  • Configurable limit of the amount of time to wait after sending UDP messages from a BigFix relay
F Relay selection Port The ICMP protocol does not use a port.
Origination Each BigFix client sends progressive rounds of ICMP packets to each relay with increasing TTLs until a BigFix relay responds. For example, in a network of 2 relays, one 1 hop away and one 2 hops away, the BigFix client sends an ICMP message to both with TTL 1 and receives 2 time exceeded messages from the local router. The BigFix client then sends an ICMP message to both relays with TTL 2 and receives one time exceeded message and one reply message. The BigFix client then chooses the relay that is one hop away.
Network controls
  • Relay auto-selection can be disabled.
  • Configurable interval for when the BigFix clients perform auto-selection
  • Configurable limit on the maximum number of ICMP packets to send out in a time interval
  • Configurable limit on the maximum number of rounds to send out during relay auto-selection
G New data download from external BigFix fixlet servers Port 80 (typically); possibly 21, 443
Origination The BigFix server connects to the BigFix fixlet servers
Network controls There is a configurable interval that the BigFix server checks for new fixlet messages.
The following database protocols are used:
  • ODBC
  • JDBC