Setting up your environment

This guide explains how IBM BigFix Asset Discovery works.

IBM BigFix Asset Discovery has some key uses in enterprise environments:

• Identification of network assets - including devices such as routers, printers, switches, wireless access points, or anything with an IP address.
• Identification of unmanaged and rogue computers including computers that have had theIBM BigFix agent disabled or rogue computers that are not managed by the company.

With this information, important license inventory questions can be answered regarding what kind of device it is, when it was installed and where it is located. Additionally, security questions and concerns can be answered regarding unauthorized employee computers, wireless units or rogue devices on the network.

TheIBM BigFix Asset Discovery solution is unique because the scanning is done by other agents of nearby computers. This is known as distributed scanning. This approach has several key benefits:

• Conserves WAN bandwidth
• Scanning can be done in parallel for much faster results, in minutes instead of weeks
• Can be easily customized to work in complex network configurations, including isolated subnets
• Individual subnets can run customized scan types