Welcome
Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
Installing the clients
Install the BigFix client on every computer in your network that you want to administer, including the computer that is running the console.
Using the Client Deploy Tool
You can use the Client Deploy Tool (CDT) to install Windows, UNIX and Mac target computers.

BigFix Documentation Homepage
BigFix 11 Platform Documentation
Welcome to the BigFix Platform documentation, where you can find information about how to install, maintain, and use BigFix.
Detailed system requirements
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Platform guides in PDF format
Following is a list of links to the BigFix Platform user guides in PDF format:
Common Criteria Certification
BigFix 10.0.1.41 complies with the requirements of the standard ISO/IEC 15408 (Common Criteria) v. 3.1 for the assurance level: EAL2
Getting Started
Use this section to become familiar with BigFix infrastructure and key concepts necessary to understand how it works.
HTTPS across BigFix applications
This topic describes how the SSL/HTTPS communication works in BigFix applications and links the tasks on how to configure it.
Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
- Introduction
  BigFix aims to solve the increasingly complex problem of keeping your critical systems updated, compatible, and free of security issues. It uses patented Fixlet technology to identify vulnerable computers in your enterprise. With just a few mouse-clicks you can remediate them across your entire network from a central console.
- BigFix Platform Unicode Support Overview
  BigFix Platform V11 gathers data from BigFix clients deployed with different code pages and languages. It encodes all data into UTF-8 format, and reports it back to the BigFix server.
- Sample deployment scenarios
  The following deployment scenarios illustrate some basic configurations taken from actual case studies.
- Requirements and assumptions
  BigFix runs efficiently using minimal server, network, and client resources.
- Types of installation
  Before you install the product, decide if you want to do an evaluation or production installation.
- Managing licenses
  You must obtain a license key before you can install and use BigFix.
- Before installing
  Before running the installation make sure that you read the following topics and run the requested activities if needed.
- Installing on Windows systems
  Now that you understand the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to get authorized and install the programs.
- Installing on Linux systems
  After understanding the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to actually get authorized and install the programs.
- Installing the clients
  Install the BigFix client on every computer in your network that you want to administer, including the computer that is running the console.
  - Using the Client Deploy Tool
    You can use the Client Deploy Tool (CDT) to install Windows, UNIX and Mac target computers.
    - Target prerequisites
      To successfully deploy target computers from the Client Deploy Tool, ensure that you satisfy the following prerequisites, depending on the target operating system.
    - Client Deploy Tool wizard
      The Client Deploy Tool wizard was introduced with BigFix Version 9.5 Patch 7.
    - Client Deploy Tool Fixlet
      The Client Deploy Tool Fixlets were introduced with BigFix Version 9.5 Patch 5.
    - Client Deploy Tool standalone
    - Troubleshooting the client deployment
      After running a Fixlet to deploy target computers using the Client Deploy Tool, if some target computers were not deployed correctly, you can verify some Client Deploy Tool directories and their contents.
    - Log files
      Each time the Client Deploy Tool starts, a log file is created.
    - Uploading the target logs to the server
      Procedure to upload the Client Deploy Tool target log files to the BigFix server.
    - Limitations
      The Client Deploy Tool allows you to deploy BigFix clients on all the platforms supported by BigFix Version 9.5.5. In addition, you can also use the Client Deploy Tool to deploy older BigFix client versions, 9.1 and 9.2.
  - Installing the Client on AIX
    How to install the client on AIX.
  - Installing the Client on Linux
    The BigFix client can always be installed by manually running the client installer on each computer.
  - Installing the Client on Mac
    How to install the Mac client.
  - Installing the Client on Solaris 11
    As a prerequisite, all Solaris agents must have the SUNWlibC package installed.
  - Installing the Client on Windows
    You can install the BigFix client manually by running the Client installer on each computer.
  - Embedding in a Common Build
    If your organization employs a specific build image or common operating environment (COE) on a CD or image that is used to prepare new computers, you can include the Client in this build.
  - Avoiding duplicates when a Client is restored
    When the BigFix client is rolled back or restored from a snapshot, the next time it registers itself with the BigFix server, it receives a new Computer ID. The BigFix client with the old Computer ID becomes inactive because it does not report with the same Computer ID. As a result, the BigFix console shows duplicated entries for the same computer. Additionally, the affected computer loses all information: action history, discovery, and so on.
  - Enabling encryption on Clients
    When installed, you can set up your Clients to encrypt all outgoing reports to protect data such as credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information.
- BigFix Administration Tool
  The BigFix Administration Tool, also called BESAdmin, is the tool we use to perform configuration changes and maintenance operations.
- Post-installation configuration steps
  After having run the installation, make sure that you read the following topics and run the requested activities if needed.
- Managing relays
  Relays can significantly improve the performance of your installation.
- Introduction to Tiny Core Linux - BigFix Virtual Relay
  Follow the step-by-step sequence of operations needed to build the virtual machine, from the downloading of the ISO image to the complete setup and configuration of the BigFix Virtual Relay.
- Setting up a proxy connection
  If your enterprise uses a proxy to access the Internet, your BigFix environment can use that communication path to gather content from sites.
- Running backup and restore
  You can schedule periodic backups (typically nightly) of the BigFix server and database files, to reduce the risk of losing productivity or data when a problem occurs by restoring the latest backup.
- Upgrading
  The steps to upgrade the BigFix Platform.
- SQL Server parallelism optimization
  The performance of an SQL Server database instance can often be improved by small tweaks. Performance might also be hindered by simple oversights. In fact, some SQL Server parallelism settings have suboptimal default values. Moreover, they have to be re-tuned after an hardware upgrade. Other issues might arise from inadvertent hardware configurations, especially when SQL Server is hosted on a virtual machine (VM).
- Known limitations and workarounds
  This section describes the known limitations and possible workarounds.
- Logging
  This section describes the log files associated with the BigFix components.
- Uninstalling the BigFix client
  To uninstall the BigFix client installed on the various operating systems, see the following sections.
Configuration Guide
Learn how to configure BigFix according to your needs.
Console Operator's Guide
Learn how to work with the BigFix Console.
Asset Discovery User's Guide
Learn how BigFix Asset Discovery works.
Web Reports Guide
Learn how the Web Reports feature extends the power of BigFix.
BigFix Explorer Guide
Learn how the BigFix Explorer feature extends the power of BigFix.
WebUI User's Guide
Read this guide for an introduction to the WebUI tools, concepts, and terminology.
WebUI Administration Guide
Read this guide for information about installing and administering the WebUI.
Glossary
This glossary provides terms and definitions for the Modern Client Management for BigFix software and products.

Using the Client Deploy Tool

You can use the Client Deploy Tool (CDT) to install Windows, UNIX and Mac target computers.

The Client Deploy Tool helps you roll out targets in an easy way, but there are some requirements and conditions:

Depending on whether you are using the Client Deploy Tool on a Windows or on a Linux system, you can use the tool to install different platforms:

CDT on Windows

Installs Windows, UNIX and Mac target computers.

CDT on Linux

Installs UNIX and Mac target computers.