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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.
Host management tasks
Refreshing the ISO images
Using the VMware ISO Image Refresh Task, you can refresh the list of ISO images in the VMware datastore and update the list in the BigFix console. You can work with your ISO images in BigFix console faster than having to wait for an automatic refresh which occurs every 24 hours.

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.
    - 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
      - Creating a VM from ISO
        Using the VMware Create Virtual Machine from ISO Task, you can create VMware virtual machines from within the BigFix console.
      - Modifying a VMware virtual machine
        Using the VMware Modify Virtual Machine Task, you can modify the disk size, memory size, and number of processors of existing virtual machines from the BigFix console.
      - Deleting a VMware virtual machine
        Using the VMware Delete Virtual Machine Task, you can delete VMware virtual machines from within the BigFix console.
      - Creating a Windows VM from template
        Using the VMware Create Windows Virtual Machine from Template Task, you can create VMware virtual machines from a VMware template from within the BigFix console.
      - Creating a Linux VM from template
        Using the VMware Create Linux Virtual Machine from Template Task, you can create a new Linux virtual machine using a VMware template within the BigFix console.
      - Refreshing the ISO images
        Using the VMware ISO Image Refresh Task, you can refresh the list of ISO images in the VMware datastore and update the list in the BigFix console. You can work with your ISO images in BigFix console faster than having to wait for an automatic refresh which occurs every 24 hours.
      - Converting a VMware virtual machine to a template
        Using the VMware Convert Virtual Machine to Template Task, you can convert a VMware virtual machine to a template from the BigFix console.
      - Cloning a VMware virtual machine to a template
        Using the VMware Clone Virtual Machine to Template Task, you can clone a VMware virtual machine to a template from within the BigFix console.
    - 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.

Refreshing the ISO images

Using the VMware ISO Image Refresh Task, you can refresh the list of ISO images in the VMware datastore and update the list in the BigFix console. You can work with your ISO images in BigFix console faster than having to wait for an automatic refresh which occurs every 24 hours.

Before you begin

You must ensure that the analysis Host Overview is active. If this analysis is not activated, a warning message is displayed in the VMware ISO Image Refresh Task. You cannot proceed without activating the analysis Host Overview. After you activate the analysis, it can take a few minutes to gather. To check the status of the analysis, from the navigation tree in the Domain Panel, click Virtualization > Setup and Maintenance > Activate Analyses. In the Activate Analysis list, ensure that the Status changes from Not Activated to Activated Globally. From the Activate Analysis list, select the Host Overview analysis. In the Analysis: VMware Host Overview window, click the Results tab. When the Results window is populated with one or more computer names, the analysis is activated. If any of the computer names displays the message "not reported", the analysis is not gathered.

This Task refreshes the ISO images list from a single datastore. You must run this Task on every datastore that has ISO images that you want to view.

For non-English users: VMware vCenter supports only Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German and French. You can use this Task only if the console language that you selected in BigFix console is identical to the console language selected in VMware.

About this task

Complete the following steps to refresh ISO images in a datastore.

Procedure

Open the Server Automation domain.
From the navigation tree in the Server Automation domain, click Virtualization > Host Management > Host Configuration.
From the Host Configuration list, select the VMware ISO Image Refresh Task.
In the Task: VMware ISO Images Refresh window, select the Host and Datastore name that contains the list of ISO files that you want to refresh is stored and click Take Action.
In the Take Action dialog box, target the host on which your ISO images are stored and click OK.

Results

When the list of ISO images is refreshed and the updated list of ISO images is available in the BigFix console, the Status changes to Complete in the Action: VMware ISO Images Refresh window.