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Installing
Learn about the requirements and available installation scenarios to ensure that the deployment of BigFix Inventory goes smoothly in your environment.
Installing on Linux
A complete deployment of BigFix Inventory on Linux requires the installation of three components: the BigFix platform, the BigFix Inventory server, and DB2 database. Additionally, a BigFix client must be installed on every computer from which you want to collect software inventory data. Depending on the environment size, you can install all components on a single computer, or distribute them among multiple computers.
Installing BigFix Inventory
Before you start the installation of BigFix Inventory on Linux, ensure that DB2 is installed in your infrastructure. Then, enable a dedicated fixlet site in the BigFix console and download the BigFix Inventory installer. Next, run the installation in interactive or silent mode.
Step 2: Enabling the fixlet site
A fixlet site is a collection of fixlets, tasks, and analyses that are related to a particular BigFix application. To get access to the content that is specific to BigFix Inventory, enable the application fixlet site. The procedure differs depending on whether the computer where the BigFix server is installed has the Internet access or not.
Enabling the fixlet site with Internet access
If the BigFix server can access the Internet, enable the BigFix Inventory site from the BigFix console. Then, subscribe computers that you want to monitor to this site so that its content becomes applicable on these computers.

Installing
Learn about the requirements and available installation scenarios to ensure that the deployment of BigFix Inventory goes smoothly in your environment.
- Planning the installation
  Before you start the installation, review information about hardware and software requirements and other considerations to ensure that the installation completes successfully.
- Detailed System requirements
  The tables in this section provide detailed information about the system requirements for BigFix Inventory 10.
- Software requirements
  Ensure that all prerequisite software is installed on the computers in your infrastructure.
- Hardware requirements
  Before deploying BigFix Inventory review hardware specifications required to serve your environment.
- Port requirements
  When planning the infrastructure, ensure that port numbers used by BigFix Inventory, BigFix, and the database are free to enable communication between those components.
- Firewall exceptions
  Some of the fixlets require that the BigFix server connects to the Internet and downloads necessary files and updates. To ensure that they can be downloaded, relevant web addresses must be accessible from the computer where the server is installed. Add those addresses as firewall exceptions and ensure that they are accessible to the proxy server if you are using it.
- Proxy exceptions
  If the BigFix server uses a proxy for Internet connection to access fixlet sites or prefetch downloads, the BigFix Inventory server must be added to an exception list to ensure that the catalog propagation works properly.
- Installation accounts
  You can install all the infrastructure components as the administrative user. You can also install some components as a non-administrative user but some limitations apply.
- Coexistence scenarios
  This topic describes supported scenarios for the coexistence of BigFix Inventory and License Metric Tool.
- Installing on Windows
  A complete deployment of BigFix Inventory on Windows requires the installation of three components: the BigFix platform, the BigFix Inventory server, and an MS SQL database. Additionally, a BigFix client must be installed on every computer from which you want to collect software inventory data. You can install all components from scratch or add the BigFix Inventory server to the existing BigFix infrastructure. Depending on the environment size, you can install all components on a single computer, or distribute them among multiple computers.
- Installing on Linux
  A complete deployment of BigFix Inventory on Linux requires the installation of three components: the BigFix platform, the BigFix Inventory server, and DB2 database. Additionally, a BigFix client must be installed on every computer from which you want to collect software inventory data. Depending on the environment size, you can install all components on a single computer, or distribute them among multiple computers.
  - Step-by-step installation guide
    Use the step-by-step installation guide to ensure that you complete all steps necessary to successfully install BigFix Inventory on Linux.
  - Installing the BigFix platform
    The BigFix platform is the core of the BigFix Inventory infrastructure. It consists of a server that coordinates the flow of data to and from the monitored computers, an administrative console, and clients that collect data from the computers in your infrastructure. Before you can install BigFix Inventory, install all components of the BigFix platform.
  - Installing BigFix Inventory
    Before you start the installation of BigFix Inventory on Linux, ensure that DB2 is installed in your infrastructure. Then, enable a dedicated fixlet site in the BigFix console and download the BigFix Inventory installer. Next, run the installation in interactive or silent mode.
    - Step 1: Installing DB2
      BigFix Inventory that is installed on Linux requires DB2 database. You can install the database on the same computer as the BigFix Inventory server or on a separate one. You can also reuse the instance of DB2 that you installed for the BigFix platform. DB2 installation package is delivered together with BigFix Inventory.
    - Step 2: Enabling the fixlet site
      A fixlet site is a collection of fixlets, tasks, and analyses that are related to a particular BigFix application. To get access to the content that is specific to BigFix Inventory, enable the application fixlet site. The procedure differs depending on whether the computer where the BigFix server is installed has the Internet access or not.
      - Enabling the fixlet site with Internet access
        If the BigFix server can access the Internet, enable the BigFix Inventory site from the BigFix console. Then, subscribe computers that you want to monitor to this site so that its content becomes applicable on these computers.
      - Enabling the fixlet site without Internet access
        If the BigFix server cannot access the Internet, use the Airgap tool to enable the fixlet site. When the site is enabled and the content loaded, use the BES Download Cacher to download and cache the files on the BigFix server.
    - Step 3: Installing the server
      After you enable the fixlet site, download the BigFix Inventory installer, and proceed with the installation. You can install the server in interactive or silent mode.
    - Step 4: Performing initial configuration
      During the initial configuration, you create a BigFix Inventory database and the application administrator. You also set up a connection to the BigFix server and database. Optionally, you can configure a connection to the Web Reports database to give the Web Reports users access to BigFix Inventory.
  - Uninstalling
    To remove BigFix Inventory from your infrastructure, stop the application-specific actions and analyses that are running on the computers and uninstall the scanner. Then, remove the VM Manager tool. Finally, uninstall the BigFix Inventory server. You can also remove the related database.
- Configuring secure communication
  To ensure secure communication, BigFix Inventory uses public key cryptography, which is based on algorithms that use two separate keys, a private key and a public key. This key pair is used to encrypt and decrypt communication
- Installation-related tasks
  If you encounter problems during the installation, you can check details related to the problem, fix it, and then resume the installation. If the BigFix and BigFix Inventory servers are in separated networks, you can disable the automatic address lookup to avoid problems with initial configuration. Learn how to check the current application and catalog version to make sure that your installation and initial configuration were successful.

Enabling the fixlet site with Internet access

If the BigFix server can access the Internet, enable the BigFix Inventory site from the BigFix console. Then, subscribe computers that you want to monitor to this site so that its content becomes applicable on these computers.

Procedure

Log in to the BigFix console.
In the bottom-left corner of the console, click BigFix Management.
In the left navigation panel, click License Overview.
In the pane on the right, locate the entry called Inventory, and accept the license agreement.
From the list of available sites, enable the BigFix Inventory v10 site.
The content of the site is downloaded to the BigFix server.

Tip: If there is no site called Inventory, select the site called IBM Endpoint Manager for Software Use Analysis v9.
Subscribe all computers that you want to monitor to the fixlet site so that its content becomes applicable to these computers.
1. In the bottom-left corner of the console, click All Content.
2. In the left navigation panel, expand Sites > External Sites, and open the BigFix Inventory v10 site.
3. In the pane on the right, open the Computer Subscriptions tab, select computers that you want to monitor. If you want to monitor the entire infrastructure, select All Computers. Otherwise, specify appropriate filtering criteria.
  
  Tip: If the option is not active, click Gather to download the content of the fixlet site.
4. Click Save Changes.

Results

You enabled the BigFix Inventory site and subscribed computers that you want to monitor to this site.

What to do next

Download the BigFix Inventory installer to a selected computer and start the installation.