Server operation problems

Server operation problems in BigFix Inventory might include general issues that you might encounter when you use the application and its functions. However, you can easily recover from these problems.

Scan configuration displays the status: Server unavailable
The scan schedule cannot be displayed and set because the BigFix server or the Web Reports service is not responding. To fix the problem:
  1. Go to Management > Data Sources.
  2. Check the connection parameters for the BigFix server.
  3. Go to a browser on BigFix Inventory computer and test the following URL: 
    https://bigfix-server-address:52311/api/query?relevance=id%20of%20bes%20computers%20whose%20(root%20server%20flag%20of%20it=true)
  4. When prompted, log in providing the connection parameters for the BigFix server, that you verified in step 2.
The expected result is:
<BESAPI xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="BESAPI.xsd">
      <Query Resource="id of bes computers whose (root server flag of it=true)">
      <Result>
      <Answer type="integer">number value</Answer>
      </Result>
      <Evaluation>
      <Time>0.202ms</Time>
      <Plurality>Singular</Plurality>
      </Evaluation>
      </Query>
      </BESAPI>
The following message indicates that Web Reports service is started but the required information is not collected yet. Wait a couple of minutes and retry the query. 
<BESAPI xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="BESAPI.xsd">
      <Query Resource="id of bes computers whose (root server flag of it=true)">
      <Result/>
      <Error>Singular expression refers to nonexistent object.</Error>
      </Query>
      </BESAPI>
You can receive one of the following error messages:
  • HTTP 401: Unauthorized
    It indicates that you provided invalid credentials or the authorization step was canceled.
  • Cannot perform relevance query evaluation at this time because there is no reachable Web Reports instance collecting data from this Server.

    It indicates that Web Reports service is down or there is an issue with network connection, for example: proxy or firewall blocks access to Web Reports. Contact your network administrator for assistance to enable the communication between the BigFix server and Web Reports.

The RPM scanner fixlet fails on AIX® 6.1
The scanner fails and the RPM installation package returns undefined during the software scan. To remedy this problem, upgrade your BigFix server, console, and clients to version 8.2.1175.
Version 8.0 and 8.1 BigFix® Enterprise Server Clients cannot subscribe to the BigFix Inventory server.
The solution is to unsubscribe all computers from the current site or remove the site, and then subscribe the clients back.
A report was created correctly but it could not be sent as a PDF attachment to an email.
The PDF report could not be sent because the mail server in your company does not accept large email attachments. To fix the problem:
  1. Determine the size of large reports that are generated by BigFix Inventory: generate a sample PDF by clicking the PDF icon in the BigFix Inventory web user interface.
  2. Contact your mail server administrator and request a higher size limit for email attachments in both the outgoing and incoming mail server configuration.
Data that is gathered by an analysis property is incorrect.
The same analysis property can exist in multiple external sites. In such a situation, the data that is gathered by the analysis might come from any of the sites, not necessarily the intended one. If some unexpected data is gathered by an analysis property, ensure that the analysis that you defined comes from the correct site. Go to the following URLs:
  • https://<bfi_host>:<port>/management/sam/unix_package_properties
  • https://<bfi_host>:<port>/management/sam/package_properties
  • https://<bfi_host>:<port>/management/sam/app_usage_properties
Click the name of the property, and in the Data Source Property list, check whether the site is correct. The name of the site is displayed below the name of the property. If the site is incorrect, change it.
BigFix Inventory does not start after rebooting the server.

The problem often occurs in environments where BigFix Inventory and DB2® are installed on the same server. After rebooting the server, the DB2® instance is not started which also blocks BigFix Inventory from starting.

To fix the problem, ensure that your DB2® instance is running and then start BigFix Inventory:
  1. Log in as the DB2® instance owner and start the instance: 
    su db2inst1
db2start
  2. Start the BigFix Inventory server: 
    /etc/init.d/SUAserver start
'We're sorry, but something went wrong.'
For more information about the error, check the server log file tema.log in the installation_directory/wlp/usr/servers/server1/logs/ directory.
Software that is deployed under a tmp directory is not discovered.
Temporary directories (tmp) contain large amounts of irrelevant data. Thus, they are not scanned by default. However, some applications are installed under tmp directories. As a result, they are not discovered by software scans. To solve the problem, include all tmp directories except for the main temporary directory of the operating system into software scans. It ensures that applications that are installed under tmp directories are correctly discovered but the main temporary directory of the operating system is not unnecessarily scanned.
On the computer where the software is installed, go to the BESClient/LMT/CIT/ directory and open the exclude_path.txt file. It lists all directories that are excluded from software scans.
  • For UNIX operating systems
    1. Remove the */tmp/* directory from the list.
    2. Add the following directories and save the file.
      /tmp/*
/var/tmp/*
*/usr/tmp/*
  • For Windows
    1. Remove the */tmp/* directory from the list and save the file.
Return code 9 or 29 is displayed in the results of the Software Scan Status analysis.
The return code indicates that the scanner timed out. To solve the problem, perform the following tasks:
  • Increase the scan timeout in the Configure Scan Timeout task.
  • Increase the amount of CPU that can be consumed by the scanner by increasing CPU threshold in the Initiate Software Scan task.
  • Exclude directories with backups from software scans.
  • Decrease the scanner trace level in the Edit Scanner Trace Settings task.
If all other options fail, reinstall the scanner.
An error occurs while importing contracts through REST API.
When using a curl command to import contracts through REST API, the following error is displayed: 
curl: (18) transfer closed with outstanding read data remaining

To solve the problem, upgrade curl to a later version:

Linux Curl must use the NSS library 3.14, or later. Run curl --version. The version of NSS is displayed in the output. Upgrade curl if the NSS version is earlier than 3.14.
curl 7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.14.0.0 
zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2

Windows Upgrade to curl 7.27.0, or later.

When you make an API call, the call fails and the following message is written in the log: The connection is closed.
The problem occurs when you make an API during the import. To solve the problem, wait until the import finishes and ensure that the BigFix Inventory server is running. Then, repeat the API call.
The tema.log file contains the following error: E CWWKF0002E: A bundle could not be found for com.ibm.ws.javaee.servlet.3.0/[1.0.0,1.0.100).
The error occurs after you enable single sign-on. There are no other problems except for the errors in the log. To solve the problem, perform the following steps:
  1. Go to the BigFix Inventory installation directory and open the wlpstart.bat file.
    • Linux: /opt/ibm/BFI/wlp/bin/wlpstart.bat
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\ibm\BFI\wlp\bin\wlpstart.bat
  2. Add the --clean parameter to the last line in the file.
     call "%WLP_PATH%\bin\server.bat" start server1 --clean
  3. Stop the server.
  4. Start the server.
  5. Verify that the errors no longer appear in the log and remove the --clean parameter from the wlpstart.bat file.
Emails with scheduled reports are not sent via email after the BigFix Inventory server was upgraded.
To fix this problem, restart the BigFix Inventory server.