What's new in this update release
This release of BigFix Patch for SUSE Linux™ Enterprise provides extended support to include SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 on IBM PowerPC 64-bit Little Endian (LE).
| Enhancement or Feature | Description | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) Version 15 SP6 (x86_64) support |
The content for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) Version 15 SP6 (x86_64) are now available/published in Patches for SLE 15 site. These Fixlets are based on the supported packages that are available in the following SUSE repositories:
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| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 PPC64LE support |
The content for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 on IBM PowerPC 64-bit Little Endian (LE) is published in the Patches for SLE 12 PPC64LE site. This site is SLE's default package manager, and contains content from the following channels for SLES 12 PPC64LE systems:
Ensure that you update the SCC download plug-in from the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard. |
Previous updates
| Enhancement or Feature | Description | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 PPC64BE support | The content for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 on IBM PowerPC 64-bit
Big Endian (BE) is published in the Patches for SLE 12 PPC64BE site.
This site is SLE's default package manager, and contains content from the following channels
for SLES 11 PPC64BE systems:
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| SCC download plug-in enhancements |
The SCC Download Plug-in now has the ability to use packages that are cached by the SCC
Download Cacher’s download_dir (referred to as localCache in the
Previously, the SCC Download Plug-in was used in BigFix server that was in either of the
following scenarios:
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Configuring the advanced SCC download plug-in settings Using the SCC download cacher for air-gapped environments |
| SCC download cacher enhancements |
The SCC Download Cacher contains the following enhancements:
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| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 SP3 content support |
The content for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 SP3 is published in the Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools site. Ensure that you update the SCC download plug-in from the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard. |
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| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 on System z content support |
The content for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 on System z is published in the Patches for SLE 12 on System z site. Ensure that you update the SCC download plug-in from the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard. |
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| Enhancement or Feature | Description | Resources |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 on System z native tools support |
The SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (s390x) content is published in a new site called Patches for SLE 11 on System z Native Tools. This site uses zypper to reduce dependency issues and improve performance and reliable when installing patches. By using SUSE's default package manager, it simplifies the process of installing, uninstalling, updating, and querying software packages. In addition, the native tools support allows you to use the SCC download plug-in and SCC download cacher to download and cache SUSE s390x patches from a vendor's website to the BigFix server. You can now leverage your custom repositories to manage patches, as well as the use the Multiple-Package Baseline Installation solution to reduce the execution time of a baseline with multiple packages. |
Supported platforms and updates |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 SP2 content support |
The content for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 SP2 is published in the Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools site. Ensure that you update the SCC download plug-in from the Manage Download Plug-ins dashboard. |
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| SCC download plug-in |
BigFix Patch released an enhanced version of the download plug-in for SUSE that uses the SUSE Customer Center (SCC) to download and cache patches from a vendor's website to the BigFix server. The SCC download plug-in uses native tools for dependency resolution and provides a user extensible repository list to customize available repositories. The Fixlets from the Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools and Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools sites were updated to support the SCC download plug-in. To ensure continuous access to the latest content, especially if you are using baselines, use the Baseline Synchronization Dashboard to sync your baseline components with the source Fixlets. You must register the SCC download plug-in in the Manage Download Plug-ins Dashboard from the Patching Support site. |
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| SCC download cacher | An enhanced version of the download cacher, which includes the basic
functionalities of the SCC download plug-in, is available for air-gapped environments.
This solution is available to Fixlets from the Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools and Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools sites. |
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| Multiple-package baseline installation | BigFix Patch offers a solution that can combine the installation of
updates for the packages in a baseline into a single task, effectively reducing the
execution time of the baseline. This solution is available to Fixlets from the Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools and Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools sites. |
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation |
| Enhanced logging and error handling | Redesigned error logs and debug outputs to provide clearer error
reporting to help reduce the time spent troubleshooting and debugging issues. This enhancement is applicable to Fixlets from the Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools and Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools sites. |
Troubleshooting |
| Audit Fixlets for troubleshooting |
BigFix provides audit Fixlets to help determine whether any of the required packages, such as zypper, gzip, or bc, are missing and must be installed on the endpoints to deploy BigFix content. Ensuring that the prerequisites are installed on the endpoints before you deploy Fixlets can save you time from troubleshooting when issues occur. The prerequisite packages must be installed on the endpoints to use content from the Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools and Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools sites. |
Troubleshooting |
| SUSE Linux™ Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 SP1 content support | The content for SUSE Linux™
Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 SP1 is published in the Patches for SLE 12
Native Tools site. Ensure that you update the SUSE download plug-in. |
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| SUSE Linux™ Enterprise Desktop and Server 12 content support | The SUSE Linux™ Enterprise
Desktop and Server 12 (x86_64) content is published in a new site called Patches
for SLE 12 Native Tools. This release supports the package manager native command-line interface, Zypper, which allows you to patch SLE 12 systems. Zypper reduces dependency issues, improves performance, and is more reliable in terms of installing security patches. |
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| Package installation task |
Custom repositories can give you the flexibility to control what you can deploy on the endpoints in your environment. For example, you can deploy custom software that you are hosting in your custom repositories. Use the Install packages by using zypper task to install software that is in your custom repositories. This task is enhanced to allow you to update all the packages on the endpoint and to install packages based on CVE number. It also allows you to install all the packages that were issued until the date that you specify. The Install packages by using zypper task is available on the Patching Support site. |
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| SLE Btrfs Snapshot Management |
Manage Btrfs filesystem snapshots for endpoints that are using SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 11 SP2 and later. BigFix provides the SLE Btrfs Snapshot Management dashboard to allow you to manage root snapshots with the rollback feature to restore to a previous system state. The SLE Btrfs Snapshot Management dashboard is available on the Patching Support site. |
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| SLE Custom Repository Management dashboard enhancements |
The repository registration feature in the SLE Custom Repository Management dashboard now allows you to enable autorefresh and URI checks. |
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| Installed package list |
Use the Installed RPM Package List - SuSE Linux Enterprise analysis to view the list of RPM packages that are installed on the endpoints that are using SUSE Linux Enterprise versions 12 and earlier. This analysis is available on the Linux RPM Patching site. |
Retrieving installed RPM package information |
| SLE Custom Repository Management dashboard enhancements |
The repository registration feature in the SLE Custom Repository Management dashboard now allows you to enable autorefresh and URI checks. |
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| Custom repository support |
BigFix now supports custom repositories and the Subscription Management Tool (SMT) for patching SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 11 endpoints. Support for custom repositories for patch management uses existing local repository mirrors and extended support channels to download patches. This solution can also be used to deliver custom software through BigFix. For more information, see Custom repositories management. |
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| Package manager native command-line interface support |
Zypper, which is the default package manager for SLE, replaces the Endpoint Dependency Resolver (EDR) utilities that Patch Management for SLE previously used. Zypper gives you more flexibility in terms of patch deployment and provides results that are in parallel with SLE solutions. Use the Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools site to patch SLE 11 systems because Zypper reduces dependency issues, improves performance, and is more reliable in terms of installing security patches. For more information, see Patching method. |