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Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
Installing on Windows systems
Now that you understand the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to get authorized and install the programs.
Installing the components
You have now created a private key, requested and received a certificate, used the certificate to create a masthead, and then generated the various installation components, including the BigFix Installation Guide.
Installing the Windows primary server
The BigFix server is the heart of the system. It runs on a server-class computer on your network, which must have direct Internet access as well as direct access to all the client computers in your network.
Installing a server with remote database
Before installing a BigFix server with a remote database, ensure that:
Running the BigFix Diagnostics tool
The BigFix Diagnostics tool verifies that the server components are working correctly.

Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
- Introduction
  BigFix aims to solve the increasingly complex problem of keeping your critical systems updated, compatible, and free of security issues. It uses patented Fixlet technology to identify vulnerable computers in your enterprise. With just a few mouse-clicks you can remediate them across your entire network from a central console.
- BigFix Platform Unicode Support Overview
  BigFix Platform V9.5 gathers data from BigFix clients deployed with different code pages and languages, encode the data into UTF-8 format, and report it back to the BigFix server.
- Sample deployment scenarios
  The following deployment scenarios illustrate some basic configurations taken from actual case studies. Your organization might look similar to one of the examples below, depending on the size of your network, the various bandwidth restrictions between clusters and the number of relays and servers. The main constraint is not CPU power, but bandwidth.
- Requirements and assumptions
  BigFix runs efficiently using minimal server, network, and client resources.
- Types of installation
  Before you install the product, decide if you want to do an evaluation or production installation.
- Managing licenses
  You must obtain a license key before you can install and use BigFix.
- Before installing
  Before running the installation make sure that you read the following topics and run the requested activities if needed.
- Installing on Windows systems
  Now that you understand the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to get authorized and install the programs.
  - Step 1 - Downloading BigFix
    Download BigFix from the HCL License & Delivery Portal (Flexnet).
  - Performing an evaluation installation
    When performing a fresh installation of BigFix Server Version 9.5 Patch 7 or later, you can either perform an evaluation installation or a production installation.
  - Step 2 - Requesting a license and creating the masthead
    Before you perform the steps below, you must have purchased a license and obtained a BigFix license authorization file (*.BESLicenseAuthorization) using your License Key Center account or, in the case of a Proof-of-Concept evaluation, that was provided to you by your HCL Technical Sales Representative.
  - Installing the components
    You have now created a private key, requested and received a certificate, used the certificate to create a masthead, and then generated the various installation components, including the BigFix Installation Guide.
    - Managing the Server ID limit
      The Server ID is the identifier of the BigFix server.
    - Installing the Windows primary server
      The BigFix server is the heart of the system. It runs on a server-class computer on your network, which must have direct Internet access as well as direct access to all the client computers in your network.
      - Installing a server with local database
        When performing a fresh installation of BigFix Server Version 9.5 Patch 7, you can either perform an evaluation installation or a production installation.
      - Troubleshooting the server installation
        When performing a production installation of BigFix Server Version 9.5 Patch 7 with a local database, you might receive the following error message:
      - Installing a server with remote database
        Before installing a BigFix server with a remote database, ensure that:
        Creating a new database user
        After creating a database instance on the machine where the Microsoft SQL Server is installed, if you do not want to use the SA user for the database connection, you must create a new user with the sysadmin server role.
        Starting the SQL Server Browser
        On the computer where the Microsoft SQL Server is installed, ensure that the SQL Server Browser is running by performing the following steps:
        Enabling the SQL Server Authentication Mode
        On the computer where the Microsoft SQL Server is installed, ensure that the SQL Server Authentication Mode is enabled by performing the following steps:
        Installing a server with remote database SQL authentication
        To install a BigFix server with a remote database, perform the following steps:
        Running the BigFix Diagnostics tool
        The BigFix Diagnostics tool verifies that the server components are working correctly.
    - Installing the Client on Windows
    - Installing the console
      The BigFix console lets the operator monitor and fix problems on all managed computers across the network.
    - Installing a stand-alone Web Reports server
      By default, the Web Reports component is installed along with the BigFix server.
    - Installing the WebUI
      Use this procedure to install the WebUI on BigFix Version 9.5.11 or later.
  - Removing the Product Components on Windows systems
    You can have one or more BigFix components installed on a local system and you can decide to remove one or all of them at the same time.
  - DSA on Windows
- Installing on Linux systems
  After understanding the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to actually get authorized and install the programs.
- Installing the clients
  Install the BigFix client on every computer in your network that you want to administer, including the computer that is running the console.
- BigFix Administration Tool
  The BigFix Administration Tool, also called BESAdmin, is the tool we use to perform configuration changes and maintenance operations.
- Post-installation configuration steps
  After having run the installation, make sure that you read the following topics and run the requested activities if needed.
- Managing relays
  Relays can significantly improve the performance of your installation.
- Introduction to Tiny Core Linux - BigFix Virtual Relay
  Follow the step-by-step sequence of operations needed to build the virtual machine, from the downloading of the ISO image to the complete setup and configuration of the BigFix Virtual Relay.
- Setting up a proxy connection
  If your enterprise uses a proxy to access the Internet, your BigFix environment can use that communication path to gather content from sites.
- Running backup and restore
  You can schedule periodic backups (typically nightly) of the BigFix server and database files, to reduce the risk of losing productivity or data when a problem occurs by restoring the latest backup.
- Upgrading on Windows systems
- Upgrading on Linux systems
- Known limitations and workarounds
  This section describes the known limitations and possible workarounds.
- Logging
  This section describes the log files associated with the BigFix components.
- Uninstalling the BigFix client

Running the BigFix Diagnostics tool

The BigFix Diagnostics tool verifies that the server components are working correctly.

It identifies components that are incorrectly configured or non-functional and displays the results. To run the diagnostics, follow these steps:

If you have just installed the Server, the Diagnostics Tool should already be running. Otherwise, log on to the Server as an administrator and launch the program.
Start > Programs > BigFix > BigFix Diagnostics Tool.
The program analyzes the server components and creates a report.
For more in-depth information, click the Full Interface . The BigFix Diagnostic control panel is displayed. This window has tabs corresponding to the categories of server diagnostics, including Services and Web Reports.

Note: If the message Verifying that the BESGather service can reach the Internet is displayed after a fresh install and you have a proxy, ensure that you configured it as described in Setting up a proxy connection.
If you have not yet installed the client, a warning light is shown. It becomes green as soon as you install the client.
In the Services tab check if the database and gathering services are correctly installed and running.

If a red light is glowing next to an item, it indicates a failure of that component. You must address the stated problem before you can be sure that the Server is functioning correctly. Similarly, there is a tab to diagnose the Web Reports server.
To find out more information, click the question mark button to the right of any item. These buttons link to knowledge-base articles at the BigFix Support Site.
If all the buttons are glowing green, click Close to exit the Diagnostic.

Note: If the Server computer is a member of a domain, but you are logged in as a local user, the Diagnostics Tool will sometimes erroneously report that permissions are incorrect. If you see that your permissions tests are incorrectly failing, you can safely ignore the diagnostics warnings.