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Server Automation
Server Automation provides powerful automation. You can use it to sequence automation actions in steps across multiple endpoints.
Virtualization
Virtualization is a software technology that allows multiple operating systems to run on the same host computer at the same time. Additional uses of virtualization include the quick creation of new systems for testing, training, and demonstration. Using virtualized computers saves the cost of hardware, management, and administration of the server infrastructure.
VMware
You can deploy and configure a management extender plug-in for VMware. You can then manage VMware virtual machines from within BigFix the console.
Setup and maintenance for Management Extender
This section provides documentation about setup and maintenance tasks that you can complete for VMware virtualization.
Configuring management extenders
Before you can begin working with the different Virtualization features, you must configure a relay server or a root server to communicate with a specific VMware vCenter or ESX host. You can use ESX version 5.5 or lower.

Server Automation
Server Automation provides powerful automation. You can use it to sequence automation actions in steps across multiple endpoints.
- Overview
  BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation provides you with the capability to automate provisioning workflows. You can automate a sequence of Fixlets, Tasks, and Baselines across different endpoints, such as servers or computers. Server Automation exploits the agility and scalability of BigFix to deliver powerful functionality in a lean and efficient manner, with minimal impact on your network.
- Automation
  BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation provides you with technology to sequence actions, such as the deployment of Fixlets, across multiple endpoints. To sequence automation, you create an Automation Plan. Your Automation Plan contains all of the actions for your end-to-end automation sequence.
- Virtualization
  Virtualization is a software technology that allows multiple operating systems to run on the same host computer at the same time. Additional uses of virtualization include the quick creation of new systems for testing, training, and demonstration. Using virtualized computers saves the cost of hardware, management, and administration of the server infrastructure.
  - VMware
    You can deploy and configure a management extender plug-in for VMware. You can then manage VMware virtual machines from within BigFix the console.
    - Setup and maintenance for Management Extender
      This section provides documentation about setup and maintenance tasks that you can complete for VMware virtualization.
      - Installing the management extender
        Using the Deploy Management Extender for VMware vCenter Task, you can install a management extender plug-in on a BigFix relay.
      - Configuring management extenders
        Before you can begin working with the different Virtualization features, you must configure a relay server or a root server to communicate with a specific VMware vCenter or ESX host. You can use ESX version 5.5 or lower.
      - Upgrading the management extender plug-in
        Using the VMware Upgrade vCenter Plugin Task, you can upgrade the VMware vCenter plug-in component of the management extender for VMware vCenter.
      - Removing the management extender for VMware
        Using the Remove Management Extender for VMware vCenter Task, you can remove the management extender for VMware.
    - Virtual server overview
      The Virtual Server Overview dashboard lists the hosts and virtual machines reported by the management extender through the VMware API. You can use the Virtual Server Overview to view the attributes of each host and virtual machine. You can also filter the lists of hosts and virtual machines by their attributes. To view the Virtual Server Overview, in the Server Automation domain, select Virtualization > Virtual Server Overview.
    - Host management tasks
    - Snapshot management tasks
    - Power management tasks
      Using these tasks you can manage the power state of your VMware virtual machines. You you can power off, suspend, and restart your virtual machines in two different ways: soft and hard. When you perform a power operation on a virtual machine with VMware Tools that are installed on the virtual machine, it is referred to as soft. When you perform a power operation by immediately stopping the virtual machine, it is referred to as hard. You can perform both hard and soft power operations on VMware virtual machines from within the BigFix console.
  - AIX® NIM
    You can setup and configure management extender plug-in for AIX® NIM. You can then create and remove NIM Clients and Mksysb images on a NIM master server from within the BigFix console.
  - PowerVM®
    You can deploy and configure a management extender plug-in for PowerVM®. You can then manage PowerVM logical partitions (LPARs) from within the BigFix console.
  - Management Extender Log Viewer
    The Management Extender Log Viewer dashboard provides information about each Virtualization task that you run. In the dashboard, you can view a high-level overview of the action logs. Each log entry contains a link to where you can find the original action window. Each entry also contains a link to the log file.
  - Turning off validation in a task
    Some of the Virtualization Tasks within the Server Automation domain contain a Validation button which you can use to disable validation and enter your own data for some of the parameters.
- Configuring your system
  This section describes how the BigFix architecture is relevant for Server Automation. It also describes how Server Automation can affect BigFix performance.
- Sample Automation Plans
  Server Automation is shipped with a number of sample Automation Plans that you can run out of the box. To run these Automation Plans out of the box, ensure that the Fixlets contained in them are available. Typically, you would substitute some of the Fixlets contained in these samples with particular Fixlets that you want to run. Use the information in each of the following sections to find out more about each of the sample plans.
- Server Automation content
  Server Automation provides content that you can use to automate processes and software deployment.

Configuring management extenders

Before you can begin working with the different Virtualization features, you must configure a relay server or a root server to communicate with a specific VMware vCenter or ESX host. You can use ESX version 5.5 or lower.

Before you begin

Before you can configure the management extender, you must install the management extender for VMware. The VMware credentials that are used to log in must be part of the Administrator group in VMware. If you have Read Only permissions, you cannot correctly configure the management extender and cannot use any of the Virtualization capabilities.

Procedure

Open the Server Automation domain.
From the navigation tree in the Server Automation domain, click Virtualization > Setup and Configuration Wizard to open the Configure Management Extenders list.
In the Configure Management Extenders pane, select a relay server or a root server from the Deployed Extenders list and click Configure.
In the Configure Extender area, enter the Server name. You can enter either a complete URL or the server address. If you enter the server name, a URL https://<servername>:<port>/sdk/webservice/ is generated. This URL can cause problems if you want to manage a single ESX host virtual environment because a single ESX host requires a URL with an ending: https://<servername>:<port>/sdk/vimService. If you want to manage a single ESX host virtual environment, ensure that you tick the Enter vCenter's web service URL box in the Configure Extender window and enter the correct version of the URL.
In the Configure Extender area, enter the Admin user and Password of the specific VMware system that you want to configure with a relay server or a root server and click Configure VMware vCenter Management Extender...
In the Take Action dialog box, select a relay server or a root server that you want to target from the Computer Name list and click OK.

Results

When the management extender is completed, the Status changes to Completed in the Action: Configure VMware vCenter Management Extender window.