Setting up your environment

Learn how BigFix Asset Discovery works.

BigFix Asset Discovery has some key uses in enterprise environments:

  • Identification of network assets, including devices such as routers, printers, switches, wireless access points, or anything with an IP address.
  • Identification of unmanaged and rogue computers including computers that have had the BigFix agent disabled or rogue computers that are not managed by the company.

With this information, important license inventory questions can be answered regarding what kind of device it is, when it was installed and where it is located. Additionally, security questions and concerns can be answered regarding unauthorized employee computers, wireless units or rogue devices on the network.

The BigFix Asset Discovery solution is unique because the scanning is done by other agents of nearby computers. This is known as distributed scanning. This approach has several key benefits:

  • Conserves WAN bandwidth
  • Scanning can be done in parallel for much faster results, in minutes instead of weeks
  • Can be easily customized to work in complex network configurations, including isolated subnets
  • Individual subnets can run customized scan types
BigFix Asset Discovery works by using Fixlet and Tasks to deploy Scan Points to specified agents in your network. You can then use other Fixlets and Tasks to run Nmap scans at intervals of your choosing. Scan results are automatically sent to the BigFix server, which imports the data into the BigFix database. The scan information can then be viewed in the BigFix console using the Unmanaged Assets tab.
Note: On Linux platforms, you must install the BES Server Plugin Service to work with the Asset Discovery Fixlets. This plug-in is available for installation in the BigFix Support site.