Software requirements

Ensure that all prerequisite software is installed on the computers in your infrastructure.

Server requirements

For information about operating systems on which BigFix, DB2® and SQL Server are supported, see: System requirements.

Table 1. Requirements for the BigFix Inventory serverThe table consists of four rows and three columns.
Version Description
BigFix
  • 9.5
  • 9.2
 For information about the requirements, see:
Note: Earlier versions of BigFix are no longer supported and thus cannot be used.
DB2®
  • DB2® 10.1 with Fix Pack 5 or higher
  • DB2® 10.5 with Fix Pack 6 or higher (Workgroup Server Edition, Enterprise Server Edition, or Advanced Enterprise Server Edition)
To use DB2® as a database, BigFix Inventory must be installed on Linux™.
DB2® requirements
For information about the database requirements, see:
DB2® edition
DB2® Workgroup Server Edition is sufficient to work with BigFix Inventory regardless of the number of endpoints. You can use DB2® Enterprise Server Edition, or Advanced Enterprise Server Edition to have access to advanced features of DB2®.
DB2 settings
Use a DB2 instance with default settings. Other required database settings are configured by BigFix Inventory installer.
Restriction: If you specify non-default DB2 settings, BigFix Inventory might not work properly.
Download DB2® software
For more information, see: Downloading and installing DB2®.
SQL Server
  • 2008, 2008 R2
  • 2012
  • 2014
  • 9.2.13 2016
To use SQL Server as a database, BigFix Inventory must be installed on Windows™.
SQL Server version

9.2.13 Starting from application update 9.2.13, you can use MS SQL 2016 as the database.

If you used MS SQL 2016 with earlier versions of BigFix Inventory, your environment was non-compliant from IBM perspective because data that was stored in the database might have been corrupted. Problems with historical data cannot be fixed. However, data collected after the upgrade to BigFix Inventory 9.2.13 is valid and compliant from IBM perspective.

SQL Server edition
Restriction:
  • MS SQL 2008 and 2008 R2 does not support the Software Summary (Preview) report. The required MS SQL Server version for Software Summary (Preview) report is MS SQL 2012 and higher.
  • The BigFix installer allows for the installation of an evaluation version of MS SQL Server. However, such version expires after 180 days and should not be used in a production environment.
SQL Server settings
Ensure that snapshot isolation is enabled in the SQL Server. For information about the requirements, see the Microsoft™ SQL Server documentation.
The support for AlwaysOn solution has not been tested.
Important: If you use SQL Server 2012, install cumulative update 5 for SQL Server 2012 SP2 to prevent possible corruption of the database.
Permissions and roles
  • Ensure that the MS SQL Server user has the following permissions. These permissions apply only if the databases were installed with default settings and all customizations and hardening configurations were consulted with BigFix support.
    • For the BigFix database (BFEnterprise): CREATE FUNCTION, CREATE SCHEMA, CREATE TABLE, CREATE VIEW, EXECUTE, SELECT
    • For the Web Reports database (BESReporting): SELECT
  • Ensure that the MS SQL Server user has the appropriate role to create the BigFix Inventory database.
    • If you create a new database during initial configuration in BigFix Inventory, the user must have the sysadmin role in MS SQL Server.
    • If you create an MS SQL database manually before the configuration, make sure that the database is empty and use the SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS collation. The user for such database must have the db_owner role in MS SQL Server.
    • If you are using MS SQL Server 2012 and you chose Local System account as the service owner during the installation, give the dbcreator or sysadmin role to the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM user in MS SQL Server.
Linux icon X server
  • X11R7.x
 The X server is required if you want to install or uninstall the BigFix Inventory server in interactive mode on Red Hat Enterprise Linux™. It is also required if you want to complete the server configuration by using a browser that is available on the computer where the BigFix Inventory server is installed.
Restriction: XMing X Server for Windows™ is not supported.

Other software requirements

Table 2. Other software requirements for BigFix InventoryThe table consists of three rows and two columns.
Required software Required versions Comments
Web Reports A component of the BigFix platform that is required by BigFix Inventory to configure VM managers. Web Reports can be installed during the installation of BigFix, and must reside on the same server.
Browser
  • BigFix Inventory is tested in Internet Explorer version 11. Most panels are also displayed correctly in Internet Explorer 10, however you can face some minor issues. It is recommended to use the newest version of Internet Explorer to ensure that all security updates and patches are applied.
    Note: Internet Explorer must have TLS 1.2 enabled if you want to use TLS 1.2 for secure communication with SSL. You can also use TLS 1.0 for secure communication with SSL.
  • Firefox 17 Extended Support Release (ESR) or higher ESR editions
    Note: To use TLS 1.2, check whether your version of the browser supports it and whether it is enabled. Otherwise, use TLS 1.0 for secure communication with SSL.
  • Chrome 35 or higher

  • 9.2.14 Microsoft Edge
    Restriction:
    • Reports cannot be exported to PDF when multiple columns are selected. Export the data to CSV file instead.
    • In reports where IP Address column is enabled, the IP address is a link that is activated by an external plug-in, such as Skype. To remove the link, disable the plug-in.
Requirements
  • JavaScript™ must be enabled in the browser.
  • Minimal supported screen resolution is 1360x768 pixels.
  • Recommended screen resolution is 1920x1080 pixels.

Proxies

Proxies are supported and depend on the server configuration. With the default configuration, use SSL proxies. If you disabled SSL on the server, then use HTTP proxies. In big environments, the connections might time out with time-consuming operations (downloading extensive reports). In such a case, increase the timeout limit for communication between the proxy and BigFix Inventory.
Linux icon KornShell

Original ksh package can be obtained from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux™ installation disc. Open source alternatives, such as pdksh and mksh, are not supported.
National language pack for PDF reader To display PDF reports in a native language, a language pack that displays the native language fonts might be required.

Red Hat packages

The following packages are required if you install the components on Red Hat Enterprise Linux™.

Table 3. Red Hat packages that are required for the installation
Component Required packages
BigFix
  • cyrus-sasl-lib.x86_64
  • krb5-libs.x86_64
  • libpng12.x86_64 (for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x)
  • libstdc++.i686
  • libstdc++.x86_64 and all dependencies
  • libXext.x86_64 (Web Reports only)
  • libXrender.x86_64 (Web Reports only)
  • zlib.x86_64 (Web Reports only)
BigFix Inventory server
  • ksh
DB2®
  • libstdc++.so.6.0.8
  • Red Hat binutils