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BigFix Digital Employee Experience (DEX)
Administrating DEX
DEX Installation
This topic provides a detailed sequence of steps required to install all BigFix DEX components. The installation must follow this order: Data services (MSSQL, ClickHouse, NATS JetStream: any order) > DEX Server > (DEX FillDB + Root Server DEX Plugin: any order) > Configure DEX in BFUI → Scanner DEX Plugin on endpoints.
Installation process
The below sections describe each installation step in detail.
Installing DEX FillDB
The DEX FillDB is responsible for collecting data from BigFix-managed endpoints and pushing them into the database.

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  - Using DEX
    Welcome to the BigFix DEX documentation, where you can find information about how to install and configure BigFix DEX (Digital Employee Experience). DEX is a endpoint experience management application that provides simplified view of your IT environment and make well-informed decisions to increase the productivity of employees.
  - Administrating DEX
    - DEX Installation
      This topic provides a detailed sequence of steps required to install all BigFix DEX components. The installation must follow this order: Data services (MSSQL, ClickHouse, NATS JetStream: any order) > DEX Server > (DEX FillDB + Root Server DEX Plugin: any order) > Configure DEX in BFUI → Scanner DEX Plugin on endpoints.
      - Prerequisites
        Before installing DEX, the following set of prerequisites must be met.
      - System support and requirements
        This topic provides information about the system requirements for DEX.
      - Firewalls configuration
        This section provide info on the Firewall rules needed to consent DEX data flow.
      - Capacity Plan
        Capacity Planning is the proactive practice of checking your IT environments' current endpoint usage and forecast when they will run out of resources. The main objective is to prevent performance drops or system crashes before they happen.
      - Installation process
        The below sections describe each installation step in detail.
        Installing MS SQL
        BigFix DEX relies on an enterprise database backend to aggregate, process, and retain metrics. For this purpose, the architecture requires Microsoft SQL Server to be installed to manage and store logs and scores.
        Installing ClickHouse
        The ClickHouse DB installation sets specialized database built to handle large amounts of data in BigFix DEX.
        Installing NATS JetStream
        NATS JetStream is a messaging system that stores, queues, and delivers data across BigFix DEX components.
        Installing DEX Server
        This is the central component responsible for orchestrating data ingestion and communication between MSSQL, ClickHouse, and NATS JetStream. It must be deployed only once per DEX environment.
        Installing DEX FillDB
        The DEX FillDB is responsible for collecting data from BigFix-managed endpoints and pushing them into the database.
        Installing Root Server DEX Plugin
        This plugin integrates the BigFix Root Server with DEX components for data forwarding and management.
        Configure DEX in BFUI
        To configure the BigFix UI to show the DEX application to the users with 'DEX dashboard' privileges, use the BigFix UI command line to configure DEX.
        Installing Scanner DEX Plugin
        This is an endpoint component. This is a plugin for the BigFix Scanner that enables all DEX use cases. Therefore, it is critical that the BigFix Scanner is already deployed on all endpoints that are intended to be DEX-enabled, as the plugin depends on the scanner’s presence to work correctly.
      - Fixlets
        In this section all the install fixlets details are showed.
      - Analyses
        In this section all the analyses details are showed.
      - BigFix Self-Service Application
        The BigFix Self-Service Application (SSA) is a client-side interface that empowers endpoint users to install software, accept administrative actions, and review deployments without requiring local administrator privileges.
    - Configuration
      BigFix DEX provides four configuration Fixlets, one for each DEX component, to support post-installation configuration and reconfiguration.
    - Upgrade
      The upgrade Fixlets are available for each of the four DEX components, which internally refers to the same directory path where the installation was previously performed.
  - Integrations available with DEX
    The Service Now, Remote Control and Historical data integration are available using the APIs. For information on the respective areas, refer to their documentations.
  - Troubleshooting DEX Application Issues
    This section provides information about the types of issues and the ways to solve it.
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Installing DEX FillDB

The DEX FillDB is responsible for collecting data from BigFix-managed endpoints and pushing them into the database.

Install the DEX FillDB using the #31-Install DEX FillDB (WIN) Fixlet.

Input parameters required during the installation

In BigFix Console, go to Fixlet and Tasks and provide the following details:

TLS Mode Values (NATS JetStream / ClickHouse / MSSQL):

0 – disabled (No encryption)
1 – permissive (TLS enabled, skips certificate validation)
2 – strict (TLS with system certificate store validation)
The same applies to all other components.

MSSQL Auth Type Values:

Mode 0 (SQL Authentication): Connects to the SQL Server instance using a dedicated SQL login with username and password stored in the DEX configuration; credentials are managed and rotated independently of the Windows environment.
Mode 1 (Windows Authentication): Connects to the SQL Server instance using the Windows service account identity via SSPI/Kerberos; no SQL credentials are stored — authentication is delegated to Active Directory.

Installation Directory: Default: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\BigFix Enterprise\\DEXServer
NATS JetStream Configuration: Host IP, port (Default: 4222), TLS Mode (Default: 0), user credentials (Default: dex_user)
ClickHouse Configuration: Hostname, Port, Database Name, Runtime User credentials and TLS Mode
MSSQL Configuration: Hostname, Port, Database Name, Authentication Type, Runtime User credentials or Service Account User credentials, TLS Mode

Note: ClickHouse and MSSQL Configuration info must match those defined during the DEX Server installation.