Welcome
Patch User Guides
BigFix Patch provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console.
Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux User's Guide
BigFix Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Red Hat Enterprise Linux endpoints.
Using RHSM download plug-ins
The download plug-in is an executable program that downloads relevant packages directly from the patch vendor. Fixlets use an internal protocol to communicate with the download plug-in to download files. These Fixlets are based on updates made by the vendor.
Upgrading the RHSM download plug-in
Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to upgrade the RHSM download plug-in to the latest version available.

BigFix Documentation Homepage
BigFix V9.5 Patch Documentation
Welcome to the BigFix Patch documentation, where you can find information about how to install, maintain, and use the BigFix Patch.
Platform
Patch Overview
BigFix Patch provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console.
Patch User Guides
BigFix Patch provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console.
- Patch for Windows User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Windows™ provides Fixlets for Microsoft™ security and non-security patches. Dashboards, wizards, and reports aid you in managing updates for various endpoint devices.
- Patch for AIX User's Guide
  BigFix® for Patch for AIX® provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all AIX endpoints.
- Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Red Hat Enterprise Linux endpoints.
  - Special notice
  - Edition notice
  - Overview
    BigFix® Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux™ keeps your Linux clients current with the latest updates and service packs.
  - Setup
  - Using Patch Management for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  - Manage custom repositories
    Use the RHEL Custom Repository Management dashboard to register and manage standard repositories and satellite repositories.
  - Manage YUM transactions
  - Checking for YUM package updates
    You can identify YUM package updates that you must install in your deployment by using a task.
  - Using RHSM download plug-ins
    The download plug-in is an executable program that downloads relevant packages directly from the patch vendor. Fixlets use an internal protocol to communicate with the download plug-in to download files. These Fixlets are based on updates made by the vendor.
    - Setting up RHSM download plug-in
      You must create and download identification certificates through the Red Hat Subscription Management system to use the RHSM Download Plug-in.
    - Registering the RHSM download plug-in
      Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to register the RHSM download plug-in on the BigFix server or BigFix relay.
    - Registering the RHSM download plug-in for BigFix Relays
      Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to register the RHSM download plug-in on the BigFix Relays.
    - Creating the RHSM entitlement certificates
      You must create and download certificates through the Red Hat Subscription Management system. From the Red Hat portal, you must register a system then attach your subscriptions (entitlements) to that system.
    - Adding the RHSM entitlement certificates to the download plug-in
      To add certificates to the download plug-in, create a folder in <BES Server>\DownloadPlugins\RHSMProtocol\certs and copy the entitlement certificates and the system identity certificates in the created folder.
    - Verifying RHSM download plug-in certificate access to Red Hat repositories
      From the command line, you can use the --check-baserepos and the --check-allrepos commands to check that the entitlement certificates, which are in the 'certs' folder, have access to the supported Red Hat repositories.
    - Configuring the blacklist repository function to allow only entitled repositories
      The repository blacklist function blocks access to Red Hat repositories that are not needed for patching.
    - Configuring the basic RHSM download plug-in settings
      Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to configure the basic properties, such as proxy settings of the Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM) download plug-in.
    - Configuring the advanced RHSM download plug-in settings
      For advanced configurations, manually edit the RHSM download plug-in configuration file called plugin.ini.
    - Unregistering the RHSM download plug-in
      Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to unregister the RHSM download plug-in.
    - Upgrading the RHSM download plug-in
      Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to upgrade the RHSM download plug-in to the latest version available.
    - Extending the RHSM download plug-in (Optional)
      You can configure the RHSM download plug-in to download and cache packages from repositories that are not officially supported by BigFix.
  - Using the RHSM download cacher
    Use the RHSM download cacher to download and cache x86, x86_64, S390x, ppc64le, ppc64 Red Hat patches in air-gapped environments.
  - Multiple-Package Baseline Installation
    BigFix Patch provides a solution to combine the installation of updates for multiple packages in a baseline into a single task, which can reduce the execution time of the baseline.
  - Support
    Various resources are available for support of the product, including the Knowledge Center, BigFix Support Center, BigFix Support Portal, BigFix Developer, BigFix Wiki, and HCL BigFix Forum.
  - Frequently asked questions
    The questions and answers in the section can help you to better understand Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
  - Troubleshooting
    You can try several ways to troubleshoot Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This section also has references that are specific to the RHSM enhancements.
  - Notices
- Patch for CentOS Linux User's Guide
  BigFix® Patch for CentOS Linux™ provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all CentOs endpoints.
- Patch for SUSE Linux Enterprise User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for SUSE Linux Enterprise provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all SUSE Linux endpoints.
- Patch for Ubuntu User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Ubuntu provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Ubuntu endpoints.
- Patch for Oracle Linux User's Guide
  BigFix® Patches for Oracle Linux provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Oracle Linux endpoints.
- Patch for Solaris User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Solaris provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Solaris endpoints.
- Patch for HP-UX User's Guide
  BigFix® for Patch for HP-UX provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all HP-UX endpoints.
- Patch for Mac OS X User's Guide
  BigFix® for Patch for Mac OS X provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Mac OS X endpoints.
- Patch for Debian User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Debian provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Debian endpoints.
- Patch for VMware ESXi User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for VMware ESXi provides you unified, near real-time visibility to manage patches to all VMware ESXi endpoints from a single console.
- Patch for Raspbian User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Raspbian provides Fixlets that you use to manage the latest updates and service packs that Raspberry Pi releases. These Fixlets are available through the Patches for Raspbian sites.
- Virtual Endpoint Manager User's Guide
Patch guides in PDF format
Following is a list of links to the BigFix Patch user guides in PDF format:

Upgrading the RHSM download plug-in

Use the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard to upgrade the RHSM download plug-in to the latest version available.

Procedure

From the Patch Management domain, click All Patch Management > Dashboards > Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard.
From the Servers and Relays table, select the server or relay on which the download plug-in is to be upgraded.
From the Plug-ins table, select RHSM Plug-in.
Click Upgrade.
The Take Action dialog displays.
Select the target computer.
Click OK.

Note: It is mandatory to re-configure the Download Plug-ins.

Note: The latest versions of Download Plug-ins are enhanced to strengthen the security of storing Proxy Password and Vendor Password.

Results

You now have the latest version of the RHSM download plug-in installed.