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BigFix Patch provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console.
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.
Using the download cacher
The download cacher is a standalone command-line tool that is designed to download and cache files required for caching. The pre-cached files can be used by the download plug-in to patch the endpoints.
Caching packages on the local cache folder
You can use the SCC Download Cacher to cache packages on an internet-enabled BigFix server. You can configure the BigFix Server to use the repository metadata and packages from both the cache folder and the internet.

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.
- 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.
  - Overview
    The BigFix Patch solution, which includes deploying a multi-purpose, lightweight agent to all endpoint devices, supports a wide variety of device types ranging from workstations and servers to mobile and point-of-sale (POS) devices.
  - Using the download plug-in
    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.
  - Using the download cacher
    The download cacher is a standalone command-line tool that is designed to download and cache files required for caching. The pre-cached files can be used by the download plug-in to patch the endpoints.
    - SCC download cacher usage information
      Use the SUSE Customer Center (SCC) download cacher to download and cache SUSE patches in air-gapped environments. This tool supports the Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools, Patches for SLE 12 on System z, Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools, and Patches for SLE 11 on System z Native Tools sites.
    - Using the SCC download cacher for air-gapped environments
      You can use the SCC download cacher for air-gapped environments by using the buildRepo subcommand to download all patches for a repository to a specified directory.
    - Caching packages on the sha1 folder
      You can use the SCC Download Cacher to cache packages directly on an internet-enabled BigFix server's sha1 folder to improve performance during the Fixlet deployment.
    - Caching packages on the local cache folder
      You can use the SCC Download Cacher to cache packages on an internet-enabled BigFix server. You can configure the BigFix Server to use the repository metadata and packages from both the cache folder and the internet.
  - Using BigFix Patch for SUSE Linux Enterprise
    BigFix Patch provides a simplified patching process for downloading and installing patches that are relevant to a target endpoint. Use the Fixlets on the Patching Support and the various Patches for SUSE Linux Enterprise Fixlet sites to apply patches to your deployment.
  - 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.
  - Custom repositories management
    You can set up your custom repositories and Subscription Management Tool (SMT) to manage patches for SUSE Linux Enterprise version 11 and later. This solution allows for multiple repositories and SMTs on the entire deployment.
  - SLE Btrfs snapshot management
    View and manage SLE Btrfs snapshots from the BigFix console. Snapshot management uses Snapper's ability to roll back Btrfs file system snapshots. This feature works with SUSE Linux Enterprise version 11 SP2 and later.
  - Troubleshooting
    When problems occur, you can determine what went wrong by viewing messages in the appropriate log files that provide information about how to correct errors.
  - Frequently asked questions
    To better understand Patch Management for SUSE Linux™ Enterprise, read the following questions and answers.
- 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

Caching packages on the local cache folder

You can use the SCC Download Cacher to cache packages on an internet-enabled BigFix server. You can configure the BigFix Server to use the repository metadata and packages from both the cache folder and the internet.

Before you begin

Store packages in a separate folder instead of the BigFix server's sha1 folder in case the folder size inflates. Since the BigFix server only stores the latest download, the stored packages might be replaced by newer files if the BigFix server sha1 folder size limit is too small.

About this task

Storing the packages in the local cache allows the SCC Download Plug-in to use it instead of getting it from the internet.

Additional space may be required as the package will also be cached in the BigFix server's sha1 folder when the BigFix server requests the package from the local cache.

Procedure

Use the buildRepo subcommand with the SCCDownloadCacher.exe file to download packages from a repository to the BigFix server's sha1 folder. For example:
```
SCCDownloadCacher.exe --mirrorUser username  --mirrorPass base64_encoded_password
--download_dir C:\downloads buildRepo --key sles-12-x86_64-sp0, sles-11-x86-sp4
```
In this example, the download cacher tool downloads the packages to the specified download folder.
Open the configuration file of the SCC Download Cacher called plugin.ini. Configure the plugin.ini file with the following settings:
```
localCache = <location of the transferred download_dir>
localCacheOnly = no
```
With this setting, the BigFix server first checks the repository metadata in the download plug-in's cache folder. If it has not expired, the BigFix server will use that metadata. Otherwise, the BigFix server will get the repository metadata from the internet. As for the packages, the BigFix server initially checks if the packages exist in the sha1 folder, then proceeds to the localCache before it goes to the internet.