Caching packages on the sha1 folder

You can use the CentOS Download Cacher R2 to cache packages directly on an internet-enabled BigFix server's sha1 folder to improve performance during the Fixlet deployment.

Before you begin

Ensure you have access to the BigFix supported Alma Linux base repositories and sub-repositories. To check, run the subcommand check-allrepos.
Ensure you have enough space to download the repository metadata and packages. To check for the required storage space, run the subcommand check-storagereq.
Increase the BigFix server's sha1 folder size limit by doing the following steps:
1. From the BigFix console, right-click the computer and select Edit Computer Setting.
2. Increase the _BESGather_Download_CacheLimitMB size.
  The suggested size is the current BigFix server’s sha1 folder size plus the size of sha1_download_dir.
  If the size of the sha1_download_dir cannot be determined beforehand the suggested size of the sha1_download_dir is a minimum of 20GB per repository. Note that the minimum size of 20GB might increase over time.

About this task

This task enables the BigFix Server to leverage the internet to ensure that the necessary files, such as the repository metadata and packages, are available during Fixlet deployment.

Procedure

Use the buildRepo subcommand with the CentOSR2DownloadCacher.exe file to download packages from a repository to the BigFix server's sha1 folder. For example:
```
CentOSR2DownloadCacher.exe --download_dir C:\downloads --sha1_download_dir 
C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Server\wwwrootbes\bfmirror\downloads\sha1
buildRepo --key almalinux-9-x64
```
In this example, the download cacher tool downloads the packages directly to the BigFix server's sha1 folder.
Open the configuration file of the CentOS Download Cacher R2 called plugin.ini. Configure the plugin.ini file with the following settings to set the BigFix Server to retrieve the packages from its sha1 folder.
```
localCache = 
localCacheOnly = no
```
Do not specify a value for the localCache setting if the BigFix server is internet-enabled and the packages are saved directly in the BigFix server's sha1 folder.

Results

The BigFix server will first check if the necessary files are in the download plug-in's cache and sha1 folders before retrieving them from the internet. If the repository metadata in the download plug-in's cache folder has expired, a new repository metadata is downloaded online. If the required packages do not exist in the BigFix server's sha1 folder, the packages are downloaded from the internet.