Introduction to Cloud Plugins

Starting from Version 10, BigFix provides a set of Cloud Plugins that can be attached to a Plugin Portal, in order to manage the Cloud environments of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and VMware. Each plugin has a set of similar capabilities but each of them differs in the support of some features, due to the nature of the correspondent Cloud Provider.

AWS Asset Discovery Plugin

The AWS Asset Discovery Plugin is able to discover and report data about Amazon Web Services EC2 instances. On top of that, the plugin is also able to deploy the BigFix Agent on the whole AWS cloud environment.

Configuration

As of now, the AWS Asset Discovery Plugin supports IAM Users and Roles in its configuration. Single and cross-account scenarios are supported, in line with AWS best practices.

For more information, see Installing cloud plugins and Action commands for configuring the BES Plugin Portal plugins.

BigFix Agent Installation

Starting from Version 10 Patch 2, the AWS Plugin supports the deployment of the BigFix Agent through native APIs.

For more information, see BigFix Agent installation on cloud resources.

Inspectors

The AWS Plugin reports several properties of the EC2 instances it discovers. Starting from Patch 2, several other AWS System Manager properties are available upon further configuration . It is also possible to discern which set of credentials reported the information, since each instance also reports a credentials label.

For more information, see AWS Asset Discovery Plugin Inspectors.

Analyses

Analyses are available for each plugin. See Activating cloud analyses for more information.

Data concerning resources is described in The cloud analyses data.

Azure Asset Discovery Plugin

The Azure Asset Discovery Plugin is able to discover and report data about Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines. On top of that, the plugin is also able to deploy the BigFix Agent on the whole Azure cloud environment.

Configuration

The Azure Asset Discovery Plugin requires Client ID, Password, Subscription ID and Tenant ID to be configured.

For more information, see Installing cloud plugins and Action commands for configuring the BES Plugin Portal plugins.

BigFix Agent Installation

Starting from Version 10 Patch 2, the Azure Plugin supports the deployment of the BigFix Agent through native APIs.

For more information, see BigFix Agent installation on cloud resources.

Inspectors

The Azure Plugin reports several properties of the instances it discovers. It is also possible to discern which set of credentials reported the information, since each instance also reports a credentials label.

For more information, see Azure Asset Discovery Plugin Inspectors.

Analyses

Analyses are available for each plugin. See Activating cloud analyses for more information.

Data concerning resources is described in The cloud analyses data.

GCP Asset Discovery Plugin

Starting from Version 10 Patch 2, the GCP Asset Discovery Plugin is available for installation. The plugin is able to discover and report data about GCP Compute Engine instances.

Configuration

The GCP Asset Discovery Plugin requires a credentials JSON to be configured.

Starting from Version 10 Patch 4, multi-project discovery is also available.

For more information, see Installing cloud plugins and Action commands for configuring the BES Plugin Portal plugins.

Inspectors

The GCP Plugin reports several properties of the instances it discovers. It is also possible to discern which set of credentials reported the information, since each instance also reports a credentials label.

For more information, see GCP Asset Discovery Plugin Inspectors.

Analyses

Analyses are available for each plugin. See Activating cloud analyses for more information.

Data concerning resources is described in The cloud analyses data.

VMware Asset Discovery Plugin

The VMware Asset Discovery is able to discover and report data about VMware Guest Virtual Machines.

Starting from Version 11 Patch 2, VMware Hosts will be available for discovery as well. Furthermore, the VMware Plugin will report a greater number of inspectors and properties for both Guests and Hosts while also allowing the user to take advantage of several action commands. The capabilities of the VMware Plugin will match the ones of the old ESXi management extender.

Configuration

The VMware Asset Discovery Plugin requires a User name and password, along with the vCenter Server URL, to be configured.

For more information, see Installing cloud plugins, Configuring cloud plugins and Action commands for configuring the BES Plugin Portal plugins.

Action Commands

It is recommended to rely on the Patch for VMware ESXi, Patch for Virtual Endpoint Manager and Server Automation sites content to use this action commands instead of creating custom actions.

For more information, see VMware Plugin Commands.

Inspectors

The VMware Plugin reports several properties of VMware Virtual Machines. Starting from Version 11 Patch 2, new inspectors and properties are available for VMware Hosts as well. It is possible to discern which set of credentials reported the information, since each instance also reports a credentials label.

For more information, see VMware Asset Discovery Plugin Inspectors.

Analyses

Analyses are available for each plugin. See Activating cloud analyses for more information.

Data concerning resources is described in The cloud analyses data.