Installing the Client on Solaris 11
As a prerequisite, all Solaris agents must have the SUNWlibC package installed.
If you install the BigFix client on Solaris 10 follow the procedure described in the topic Installing the Client on Solaris 10.
- BigFix Version 9.5.12 or older
- Install using the procedure described in Installing the Client on Solaris 10
- BigFix Version 9.5.13 or later
- You can decide if you want to install the client using the procedure described in Installing the Client on Solaris 10 or install the client using the .p5p format using the procedure described in this topic.
Starting from BigFix Version 9.5.13, you can install the Solaris 11 client using a .p5p client package format by performing the following steps:
- Download the corresponding BigFix client package file to the Solaris computer.
- Copy your actionsite masthead to the Solaris BigFix client computer (the masthead contains
configuration, license, and security information). The action site masthead
(
actionsite.afxm
) can be found in your BigFix Installation folders (by default they are placed underC:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Installers\Client
on Windows and/var/opt/BESInstallers/Client/
on Linux). If the masthead is not namedactionsite.afxm
, rename it toactionsite.afxm
and place it on the computer at the following location:/etc/opt/BESClient/actionsite.afxm
. The masthead file for any BigFix server can also be downloaded athttp://servername:port/masthead/masthead.afxm
(example:http://bes.BigFix.com:52311/masthead/masthead.afxm
).Note: You might need to create the directory/etc/opt/BESClient/
if it does not already exist. - Before installing the .p5p client package, as upgrading from the old SVR4 packages is not
supported, ensure that no previous agent is already installed by running the command:
If necessary, remove the old BigFix agent before installing the new one with the command:pkginfo BESagent
pkgrm BESagent
- If the computer is not a global zone or is a global zone without children,
you can directly install the new agent (.p5p client package) by running the
command:
pkg install -g <path to package file>/BESAgent-<...>.p5p BESagent
- Otherwise, if the computer is a global zone with children, you must create a permanent
repository and set the publisher, for example by running the
command:
Then, you can install with the command:pkgrepo create /var/opt/BESClient_solaris_repo pkgrecv -s <path to package file>/BESAgent-<...>.p5p -d /var/opt/BESClient_solaris_repo BESagent pkg set-publisher --search-first -p /var/opt/BESClient_solaris_repo
pkg install BESagent
The --search-first option is needed to avoid that other, not available, publishers might cause issues.
The created repository is also available for the children. Therefore, there is no need to create it on the non-global zones.Note: You can install on the children using the -r option. For details about the -r option and other command options, see https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E36784_01/html/E36870/pkg-1.html
Uninstalling the client
pkg uninstall BESagent
Upgrading the client
Upgrading manually from a client installed using the old SVR4 package to a new client with the .p5p client package is not supported.
You can upgrade the Solaris 11 client by running the Fixlet named Updated Solaris Client - BigFix version 9.5.X Now Available!
Troubleshooting the upgrade
When upgrading the BigFix Client on an Oracle Solaris 11 local zone using the IPS package, the action might fail, with the /tmp/BESClientUpgradeFixlet.log file on the local zone showing the following error message:
Cannot enable or disable a system publisher
The error might be due to a corruption of the BigFix publisher in the Oracle Solaris zone environment.
The pkg publisher command executed on the global zone does not show any BigFix publisher, while executed on the local zones shows the status disabled,syspub.
As a workaround to solve this issue, try one of the following options:
- If not already done, submit the Updated Solaris Client - BigFix version
9.5.14 Now Available! Fixlet to the global zone. Wait for the action to
complete.
Only when the action completes, submit the same Fixlet to the local zone(s).
- On the global zone, run the command:
pkg set-publisher --enable BigFix
Check the publisher on the local zone(s) to verify if the "disabled" status is no longer shown.
Try upgrading the local zone(s) again.
- Uninstall and reinstall the client on the local zone(s).
Troubleshooting the uninstallation
After running the pkg uninstall BESagent command, you might receive the following error message:
DESC: A service failed - a method is failing in a retryable manner but too often.
AUTO-RESPONSE: The service has been placed into the maintenance state.
IMPACT: svc:/BESClient:default is unavailable.
Despite the error message, the client is correctly uninstalled. You can ignore it.
Known limitations
Limitation 1
pkg: Requested operation failed for package pkg://software.bigfix.com/BESagent@.........
Cannot install '.....'; parent directory ...... is a link to ........
To continue, move the directory to its original location and try again.
Limitation 2
Uninstalling the IPS package moves the files added after the installation under $IMAGE_META/lost+found
Where the default value for IMAGE_META is /var/pkg
As a side effect, a subsequent installation of the agent will result as a new one (different ID, lost cache), unless you manually restore the files from $IMAGE_META/lost+found to /var/opt/BESClient before you perform the new installation.