Introducing Relevance
To quickly and non-invasively inspect various aspects of a computer, the Relevance Language was created.
This human-readable language is at the heart of the program and allows Fixlet authors to target actions to just those computers that need the fix -- and no others. You can be confident that only broken machines are being fixed.
The Relevance Language can query an exhaustive set of computer properties, and do it quickly. Most Console operators rely on other users to write Fixlet messages, and so their exposure to the Relevance Language is not critical to operating the Console. However, as a power user, you can customize the Console with short lines of code from the Relevance Language (called Relevance Expressions) which grant you an unprecedented amount of control over the BigFix Client computers on the network.
A typical Relevance Expression might be:
vendor name of processor
This expression returns the name of the manufacturer of the CPU (Intel or AMD, for example), which can then be used to determine relevance.
You can use Relevance Expressions to create retrieved properties, which you can then use to organize and filter the Clients in the network. For example, here are some possible properties that might be useful to know about your BigFix Client computers:
| Property name | Relevance Expression | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Pentium | family name of main processor contains "Pentium" | True if the processor is a Pentium. |
| Small drive | Total space of drive "c:" < 2000000000 | True if the drive is smaller than 2GB. |
| Bad clock | absolute value (now - apparent registration server time) > 1 hour | True if the clock is off by more than one hour. |
| IE Version | file version of application "iexplore.exe" of the registry | Version number of Internet Explorer on a Windows computer. |
| Mailto App | application of key "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto" of the registry | On a Windows computer, the name of the app that handles mailto requests from a browser. |
| Running Word | exists running application whose (name of it as lowercase is "winword.exe") | True if Word is running on a Windows BigFix Client computer. |
| Bios date | date of Bios | BIOS date on a Windows computer, if it exists. |
| Processors | number of processors | The total number of processors in the BigFix Client computer. |
Use the Manage Properties dialog to see how these custom properties work. Click the Add New button, supply the property name, and type in the Relevance Expression in the text box.
There are thousands of useful Retrieved Properties - far too many to list here. For a more extensive list of retrieved properties, check the Support Website. For an in-depth discussion of Relevance, see the Relevance Language Reference.