Resource Examples

Some concrete examples.

Example 1

In this example, we want to collect all the files in the c:\log folder and all the .ini files in the c:\myapp folder once an hour. Send up only the differences and do not send the archive if it exceeds 1,000,000 bytes in size. To set this up, create the following settings in the BigFix Console:

_BESClient_ArchiveManager_FileSet-(Log) = c:\log 
_BESClient_ArchiveManager_FileSet-(Ini) = c:\myapp\*.ini 
_BESClient_ArchiveManager_OperatingMode = 1 
_BESClient_ArchiveManager_Interval_Seconds = 3600 
_BESClient_ArchiveManager_SendAll = 0 
_BESClient_ArchiveManager_MaxArchiveSize = 1000000 

Example 2

In this example, we want the same set of files as above, but we also want to collect some useful attributes (retrieved properties) from the client computer. A custom action can generate these attributes and trigger an archive when it completes. It uses the same settings as above, but sets the operating mode to 2 to enable the archive now action command:

_BESClient_ArchiveManager_OperatingMode = 2 

You can then create a custom action, specifying the attributes you want to collect. For example, to append the operating system, computer name, and DNS name to the log file, create a custom action like this:

appendfile {"System:" & name of operating system} 
appendfile {"Computer:" & computer name} 
appendfile {"DNS name:" & dns name} 
delete "c:\log\properties.log" 
copy __appendfile "c:\log\properties.log" 
archive now 

The appendfile command creates a temporary text file named __appendfile . Each time you invoke the command, it appends the text you specify to the end of this temporary file.

The delete and copy commands clear out the old log file (if any) and copy the __appendfile to the log. This has the effect of creating a new properties.log file. The archive now command immediately creates an archive, as long as the OperatingMode is set to 2.

You can then target this action to any subset of BigFix Clients, using whatever scheduling you choose. Using variations on this scheme, you could perform a full archive once a week, in addition to nightly differences.