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Console Operator's Guide
Learn how to work with the BigFix Console.
The Dialogs
Messages tab
Ordinarily, the system applies actions in the background, without involving any users.

Console Operator's Guide
Learn how to work with the BigFix Console.
- Accessing the console
  The console is the visible face of BigFix, used by the operator to monitor and repair networked computers running the BigFix client.
- Fixlets and Tasks
- Actions
  Actions are scripts that run on selected targets. They are used to fix policy violation and security exposures and to run configuration steps. Fixlet, tasks, and baselines depend on actions to run their remediation mission.
- Sites
- Domains
- Roles
- Client Computers
- Computer Groups
- Analyses
- Baselines
- Relays and Servers
- Activating the license counting process
- Displays and Reports
- Menus
- The Dialogs
  - About the BigFix Console
    The About dialog displays the version of the BigFix Console. It also includes a URL for technical support.
  - Action: Computers
    The Computers tab of the Action document shows the number of computers affected by the specified action along with the current status of each action.
  - Action History Tab
    The Action History tab lists the deployment history of the actions associated with the selected Fixlet, Task or Baseline document.
  - Action List and Document
    This is the main panel about actions. It displays in the List Panel all the actions that were deployed in the content site and shows in the Work Area the Action document containing the details of the action highlighted in the list.
  - Action Parameter
    This dialog box makes a request for extra information required by certain Actions or group of Actions before execution.
  - Action Progress Report
    This dialog box shows the progress of an action as it is applied across the Fixlet network.
  - Action Script Tab
    In general, you are recommended to use the action script provided with the Fixlet or task, however, sometimes it might be useful to align the action script to your environment and business needs. The Action Script tab of the Take Action dialog allows you to modify the action script.
  - Action Settings
    The Action Settings dialog lets you apply lockable Action Settings to a new or customized Fixlet message, Task, or Baseline.
  - Action Site Signing Key
    This dialog allows you to manage the location of your private key (.pvk), or to change the password for your Action signing key.
  - Action: Summary
    The Summary tab of the Action document shows various attributes of the selected action. These settings were created when the action was initially specified.
  - Action: Target
    The Target tab of the Action document presents a read-only display of the computers targeted by the specified action.
  - Add Comment
    The Add Comment dialog lets you attach an explanatory comment to Fixlet messages, Tasks, Baselines, Actions, Computers, Computer Groups, and Analyses.
  - Add Custom Setting
    This dialog box lets you create a custom Name/Value setting that applies to the selected computer.
  - Add Files to Site
    This dialog lets you add files to any site that you can author. These can be anything from simple text files to functional dashboards.
  - Add LDAP User
    LDAP users can be added through the Console.
  - Add User
    Local users can be added through the Console with password protection.
  - Analysis List and Document
    A list of Analyses is displayed when you click Analyses, or any of its child nodes, from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Applicable Computers Tab
    The Applicable Computers tab displays all the networked computers that are affected by the currently selected Fixlet, Task, Analysis or Baseline object.
  - Applicability tab
    In the Applicability tab, you can specify the criteria to use to judge the relevance of a Fixlet action.
  - Assign User Management Rights
    The Computer Assignments dialog lets you choose which computers an operator can manage.
  - Baseline Component Applicability Tab
    The Baseline Component Applicability tab of the Computer document displays a list of Baseline Components that are applicable to the selected computer.
  - Baseline List and Document
    A list of Baselines is displayed when you click Baselines, or any of its child nodes, from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Change Password
    The BigFix Console allows you to change the password if you have the correct authorization.
  - Comments
    BigFix Console Operators can make comments on most of the BigFix objects, including Fixlets, Tasks, Actions, Computers, and so on.
  - Component Applicability Tab
    The Component Applicability tab of the Baseline document displays a list of how many computers have been targeted by the specific component.
  - Components Tab
    The Components tab of the Baseline document displays a list of all the component Fixlet messages and Tasks that have been grouped into this particular Baseline.
  - Computer: Action History
    The Action History tab provides a listing of all the actions that have been deployed on the specified computer.
  - Computer: Applicable Tasks
    The Applicable Tasks tab of the Computer document lists all the Tasks that are relevant to the selected computer.
  - Computer Group: Action History
    The Action History tab of the Computer Group document provides a historical listing of all the actions that target any member of the specified computer group.
  - Computer Group: Applicable Analyses
    The Applicable Analyses tab of the Computer Group document provides a listing of all the Analyses applicable to this group and allows you to filter them.
  - Computer Group: Relevant Baselines
    The Relevant Baselines tab of the Computer Group document provides a listing of all the Baselines that have been deployed on the specified Computer Group.
  - Computer Group: Computers
    The Computers tab of the Computer Group document provides a listing of all the computers that have been manually selected to be a part of the specified Computer Group.
  - Computer Group: Description
    The Description tab of the Computer Group document provides information about a selected Computer Group.
  - Computer Group: Relevant Fixlet Messages
    The Relevant Fixlets tab of the Computer Group document provides a listing of all the Fixlet messages that have been targeted to the specified Computer Group.
  - Computer Group List and Document
    A list of Computer Groups is displayed when you click Computer Groups, or any of its child nodes, from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Computer Group: Reporting Computers
    The Reporting Computers tab of the Computer Group document provides a listing of all the computers that have been automatically chosen to be a part of the specified Computer Group because of their property values.
  - Computer Group: Applicable Tasks
    The Applicable Tasks tab of the Computer Group document provides a listing of all the Tasks that are applicable to one or more computers in the specified Computer Group.
  - Computer List and Document
    A list of Computers is displayed when you click Computers, or any of its child nodes, from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Computer: Management Rights
    The Management Rights tab of the Computer dialog lists the operators who are currently granted management rights to apply actions to the specified computer.
  - Computer: Relevant Baselines
    The Relevant Baselines tab of the Computer document lists all the Baselines that are applicable to the selected computer.
  - Computer: Relevant Fixlet Messages
    The Relevant Fixlet Messages tab of the Computer document lists all the Fixlet messages that are relevant to the selected computer.
  - Computer Subscriptions Tab
    The Computer Subscriptions tab of the Sites document lets you establish criteria for subscribing Clients to the specified site.
  - Computer: Summary
    The Computer Summary tab lists several items of interest, including Properties, Relay status, Grouping, Custom Sites, Settings, and more.
  - Connect to Database
    The Connect to Database dialog opens when you start the BigFix Console.
  - Console Operator: Assigned Roles Tab
    The Assigned Roles tab of the Operators window allows you to associate roles with the specified Console operator.
  - Console Operator: Details Tab
    The Details tab of the Operators window lets you define the permissions for each operator.
  - Create Role
    This dialog allows you to add Roles to the Console that can then be shared by other Operators.
  - Help for the BigFix Console
    Shows the help files for the BigFix Console.
  - Console Operator: Administered Computers
    The Administered Computers tab of the Console Operator document displays a filter/list of all the computers administered by the selected operator.
  - Console Operator: Issued Actions
    The Issued Actions tab of the Console Operator document displays a filter/list of all the Actions that have been deployed by the selected operator.
  - Console Operator List and Document
    A list of Operators is displayed when you click Console Operators, or any of its child nodes, from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Create Analysis
    The Create Analysis dialog lets you deploy your own custom Analyses to monitor and audit properties across your managed network.
  - Create Analysis Description Tab
    The Description tab of the Create Analysis dialog lets you define the HTML page for your custom Analysis.
  - Create Analysis Properties Tab
    The Properties tab of the Create Analysis dialog lets you define the properties you want to analyze.
  - Create Analysis Relevance Tab
    The Relevance tab of the Create Analysis dialog lets you define a relevance clause to determine the applicability of your custom Analysis to specific computers.
  - Create Automatic Computer Group
    This dialog allows you to create rules that automatically enlist specific computers in a group.
  - Create Custom Site
    This dialog lets you name your own Custom Site.
  - Create Fixlet or Task
    The Create Fixlet and Create Task dialogs are similar and allow you to create or customize a Fixlet or Task.
  - Description Tab
    The Description tab provides an English-language description of the selected Fixlet, Task, Analysis or Baseline.
  - Details Tab
    The Details tab shows you the mechanics behind the selected Fixlet, Task, Analysis or Baseline object.
  - Edit Actions Tab
    The Actions tab of the Creation/Edit dialogs lets you create Actions for your new or customized Fixlet or Task object.
  - Edit Baseline
    The Edit Baseline dialog.
  - Edit Components Tab
    The Components tab of the Edit Baseline dialog lets you specify a group of Fixlet messages and Tasks that you want to add to your Baseline.
  - Edit Computer Settings
    The Edit Computer Settings dialog allows BigFix Console operators to change certain computer attributes on a single or specified set of computers, including locking, making the client a Relay, pointing to Relays, and creating custom settings.
  - Edit Description Tab
    The Description tab of the Creation/Edit dialogs lets you describe your new or customized Fixlet, Task, Analysis or Baseline object.
  - Edit Fixlet Message
    The Edit Fixlet Message dialog allows you to create your own custom Fixlet messages.
  - Edit Processing Instruction
    The Edit Processing Instruction dialog lets you write a Relevance Expression that can be embedded into the text portion of a Fixlet, Task, Analysis, or Baseline.
  - Edit Properties Tab
    The Properties tab of the Creation/Edit dialogs lets you assign certain important properties to your new or customized Fixlet, Task, or Baseline objects.
  - Edit Relevance Tab
    The Relevance tab of the Creation/Edit dialogs lets you create a relevance expression to fine-tune the deployment of your custom Fixlet, Task, Analysis, or Baseline objects.
  - Edit Script Element
    The Edit Script Element dialog lets you create a small script to accompany a new or custom Fixlet, Task, Baseline, or Analysis.
  - Edit Settings for Computer
    The Edit Settings for Computer dialog allows the BigFix Console operator to alter the settings for a selected computer.
  - Edit Task
    The Edit / Create Task dialog allows you to create a Task from scratch or clone an existing Task and customize it.
  - Enter Private Key
    The Enter Private Key dialog requests a password.
  - Execution Tab
    The Execution tab can be found in various action dialogs. In this tab, you can set the schedule, time interval, and the recovery options that must be satisfied when deploying the action.
  - Find
    You can find information in any of the lists (Fixlets, Tasks, Actions, and so on) whenever the focus is on that list.
  - Fixlet and Task: List and Document
    A list is created whenever you click Fixlets and Tasks from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Fixlet List and Document
    A list is created whenever you click Fixlets and Tasks from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Import Content
    The Import dialog allows you to import .bes files that you exported or that were sent to you by another operator.
  - Launch Web Reports
    The Web Reports dialog provides access to network information, which is collected from the BigFix Servers and aggregated into a set of HTML reports.
  - Main Console Window
    The Main Console window has a panel on the left containing buttons and navigation trees called the Domain Panel. Choose an item from the Domain Panel to open the related List Panel on the right.
  - Manage Properties
    The Manage Properties dialog contains a list of computer properties that are retrieved on a regular schedule from each BigFix Client.
  - Manual Computer Groups
    This dialog allows you to manually group your computers to target them simultaneously.
  - Messages tab
    Ordinarily, the system applies actions in the background, without involving any users.
  - Modify Custom Site Subscriptions
    The Modify Custom Site Subscriptions dialog lets you subscribe or unsubscribe any specified group of computers to any of your ad-hoc enabled custom sites.
  - Offer tab
    In the Offer tab, you can advertise a list of actions (typically optional patches or updates) to the BigFix Client user.
  - Operator Permissions Tab
    The Operator Permissions tab of the Site document lets Master Operators specify site permissions for other operators.
  - Post-Action tab
    In the Post-Action tab, you can set to restart or shut down the client computer after the action has completed.
  - Post-Execution Action Script Tab
    In the Pre-Execution Action Script tab of the Take Multiple Actions dialog, you can create an action script that runs after the chosen set of actions is run.
  - Pre-Execution Action Script tab
    In the Pre-Execution Action Script tab of the Take Multiple Actions dialog you can create an action script that runs before the chosen set of actions is run.
  - Preferences
    The Preferences dialog lets you adjust certain system-wide parameters.
  - Recent Comments
    This dialog presents a list of comments that have been attached to Fixlet messages, Tasks, Baselines, Actions, and Computers.
  - Results Tab
    The Results tab of the Analysis document displays a list of targeted computers and the results of the analysis for each one.
  - Role Computer Assignments Tab
    The Computer Assignments tab of the Roles window allows you to add a set of computers to a role.
  - Role Details Tab
    Roles can be created and defined through the Console.
  - Role LDAP Groups Tab
    The LDAP Group tab of the Roles window allows you to associate an LDAP Group to the Role definition.
  - Role Operators Tab
    The Operators tab of the Roles window allows you to associate specific local or LDAP-defined users with the given role.
  - Role Sites Tab
    The Sites tab of the Roles window allows you to associate content sites with a given role.
  - Security Warning
    The Security Warning dialog alerts you about scripting or relevance statements embedded in text.
  - Settings Tab
    The Settings tab of the Edit Computer Settings dialog allows the administrator to apply certain settings to multiple targeted computers, including locking, relays, and custom variables.
  - Site Details Tab
    The Details tab of the Site document provides you with information about the site and the subscription criteria.
  - Site List and Document
    A list of Sites is displayed when you click Sites, or any of its child nodes, from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Site Properties
    The Site Properties dialog displays information about the selected Fixlet site, including the name of the Site publisher and the URL from which the content is gathered.
  - Success Criteria tab
    In the Success Criteria tab, you can define the conditions under which the action is considered to be successful.
  - Take action
    Use the Take Action dialog to run deploy a Fixlet, a task or a baseline.
  - Take multiple actions
    In the Take multiple actions dialog you specify the settings for deploying a set of Fixlets or tasks in a single grouping.
  - Target Tab
    The Target tab can be found in various Action dialogs.
  - Task List and Document
    A list is created whenever you click Fixlets and Tasks from the Domain Panel navigation tree.
  - Users Tab
    The Users tab can be found in various action dialogs. In this tab you can fine tune the delivery of actions based on the presence of users.
  - View action info
    This dialog is available from any open Action document.
  - Visualization Parameters: Colorization
    The Colorization tab of the Visualization Parameters dialog lets you customize the colors for a graphical representation of your network.
  - Visualization Parameters: Computers
    The Computers tab of the Visualization Parameters dialog lets you limit the number of computers to be graphed.
  - Visualization Parameters: General
    The General tab of the Visualization Parameters dialog helps you to customize a graphical representation of your network.

Messages tab

Ordinarily, the system applies actions in the background, without involving any users.

In the Messages tab, you can select to alert the user with a specific message, and to offer certain interactive features on the message display, including the ability to see more information about the proposed action and to cancel the proposed action.

This window displays the Messages tab under the Take Action dialog. In the Messages tab you can select to alert the user with a specific message, and to offer certain interactive features on the message display, including the ability to see more information about the proposed action and to cancel the proposed action.

This tab is available from several different dialogs:

You can select to display a message to the users before running the action or while the action runs or both. The default is to show no message. If you click on Display message before running action, in addition to the title and the text of the message, you can specify the following behaviors:

Ask user to save work

Includes a prompt asking users to save their work before the action is invoked.

Allow user to view action script

Allows the user to look over the script before accepting the action.

Note: This option is disabled in the Take Multiple Action dialog.

Allow user to cancel action

Grants the user the right to cancel the action.

Set Deadline

Extends the user a grace period after the action becomes relevant. For example, this ability could be helpful to allow the user to prepare for an upgrade. Select:

time_period from time action is relevant: To grant the user a specified grace period starting when the action is going to be executed that is, for the user logged into the BESClient system, when the BES Client UI message is shown.
date at time client local time: To set the deadline to a specific date and time using the timezone specified in the Execution tab, which can be either the local client timezone or the Universal Time Zone.

At deadline

When the deadline arrives you can select to Run action automatically or to Keep message topmost until user accepts action to keep the message on top until the user clicks to accept the action.

Show confirmation message before running action

Displays a final confirmation message to the user before running the action.

On the client computer

For details about what an end user will see on the client computer, see Client UI main actions.