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Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
Installing on Linux systems
After understanding the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to actually get authorized and install the programs.
Installing the components
Installing the Server

Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
- Introduction
  BigFix aims to solve the increasingly complex problem of keeping your critical systems updated, compatible, and free of security issues. It uses patented Fixlet technology to identify vulnerable computers in your enterprise. With just a few mouse-clicks you can remediate them across your entire network from a central console.
- BigFix Platform Unicode Support Overview
  BigFix Platform V11 gathers data from BigFix clients deployed with different code pages and languages. It encodes all data into UTF-8 format, and reports it back to the BigFix server.
- Sample deployment scenarios
  The following deployment scenarios illustrate some basic configurations taken from actual case studies.
- Requirements and assumptions
  BigFix runs efficiently using minimal server, network, and client resources.
- Types of installation
  Before you install the product, decide if you want to do an evaluation or production installation.
- Managing licenses
  You must obtain a license key before you can install and use BigFix.
- Before installing
  Before running the installation make sure that you read the following topics and run the requested activities if needed.
- Installing on Windows systems
  Now that you understand the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to get authorized and install the programs.
- Installing on Linux systems
  After understanding the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to actually get authorized and install the programs.
  - Installing and configuring DB2
    BigFix 11 Server installation on Linux has IBM DB2 as a prerequisite. It must be installed before the BigFix Server is installed.
  - Installing and configuring MS SQL
    Starting from BigFix Version 11 Patch 1, the Linux Server installation introduces the support of Red Hat 9 x86 64-bit with Microsoft SQL Server database.
  - Installing and configuring DB on Cloud
    Starting from BigFix Version 11 Patch 2, the Linux Server installation introduces the support of Red Hat 9 x86 64-bit with Google Cloud SQL for Microsoft SQL Server 2022 database.
  - Downloading BigFix
    Download BigFix from HCL License & Delivery Portal (Flexnet).
  - Performing an evaluation installation with DB2
    To install a BigFix server with an evaluation license on Linux with DB2, perform the following steps:
  - Performing an evaluation installation with MS SQL
    To install a BigFix server with an evaluation license on Linux with MS SQL, perform the following steps:
  - Installation Command Options
    You can run the Production or Evaluation installation in interactive or silent mode. You can use a single installer for different components.
  - Installing the components
    - Installing the Server
      - Installing the Server with DB2
        Before running the installation, to ensure you have all the prerequisites, see Platform/Installation/c_bigfix_server.html.
      - Installing the Server with MS SQL
        Starting from Patch 1, BigFix Server on Linux Red Hat 9 supports Microsoft SQL Server 2019 and 2022 (Enterprise and Standard are recommended). Only the SQL Authentication is supported. DSA environments are not supported on the BigFix Linux Server with Microsoft SQL database.
      - Submitting the license request
        How to submit a license request.
      - Configuring the proxy
        This procedure explains how to set up a proxy connection when installing the BigFix server.
      - Customizing the masthead parameters
        How to customize the masthead parameters.
    - Installing Web Reports Standalone with DB2
      If you run a fresh installation of Web Reports, the HTTPS configuration is automatically enabled on port 8083.
    - Installing Web Reports Standalone with MS SQL
      If you run a fresh installation of Web Reports, the HTTPS configuration is automatically enabled on port 8083.
    - Installing the WebUI Standalone with DB2
      Install the WebUI on just one computer per deployment.
    - Installing the WebUI Standalone with MS SQL
      Install the WebUI on just one computer per deployment.
    - Verifying Server Installation
      Verify that an installation has completed successfully.
    - Silent installation
      How to perform a silent installation.
    - Installing the Client on Linux
    - Installing the Console
      You can install the BigFix console on any Windows computer that can make a network connection via HTTPS port 52311 to the Server.
  - Installation Folder Structure
    After the BigFix installation, you can see the following folder structure.
  - Configuration, Masthead, and Log Files
    At the end of the installation you can find the following BigFix files containing the settings of the installed components and the installation messages.
  - Managing the BigFix Services
    Procedure to manage the services.
  - Changing the database password
    How to change the database password.
  - Changing the DB2 port
  - Removing the BigFix components from Linux
    You can have one or more BigFix components installed on a local system and you can decide to remove one or all of them at the same time.
  - DSA on Linux
- Installing the clients
  Install the BigFix client on every computer in your network that you want to administer, including the computer that is running the console.
- BigFix Administration Tool
  The BigFix Administration Tool, also called BESAdmin, is the tool we use to perform configuration changes and maintenance operations.
- Post-installation configuration steps
  After having run the installation, make sure that you read the following topics and run the requested activities if needed.
- Managing relays
  Relays can significantly improve the performance of your installation.
- Introduction to Tiny Core Linux - BigFix Virtual Relay
  Follow the step-by-step sequence of operations needed to build the virtual machine, from the downloading of the ISO image to the complete setup and configuration of the BigFix Virtual Relay.
- Setting up a proxy connection
  If your enterprise uses a proxy to access the Internet, your BigFix environment can use that communication path to gather content from sites.
- Running backup and restore
  You can schedule periodic backups (typically nightly) of the BigFix server and database files, to reduce the risk of losing productivity or data when a problem occurs by restoring the latest backup.
- Upgrading on Windows systems
  Before you begin
- Upgrading on Linux systems
  Before you begin
- SQL Server parallelism optimization
  The performance of an SQL Server database instance can often be improved by small tweaks. Performance might also be hindered by simple oversights. In fact, some SQL Server parallelism settings have suboptimal default values. Moreover, they have to be re-tuned after an hardware upgrade. Other issues might arise from inadvertent hardware configurations, especially when SQL Server is hosted on a virtual machine (VM).
- Known limitations and workarounds
  This section describes the known limitations and possible workarounds.
- Logging
  This section describes the log files associated with the BigFix components.
- Uninstalling the BigFix client
  To uninstall the BigFix client installed on the various operating systems, see the following sections.

Installing the Server

To install the BigFix Server with DB2 database, see Installing the Server with DB2.

To install the BigFix Server with MS SQL database , see Installing the Server with MS SQL.

Starting from Patch 2, BigFix Server on Windows Server (2019 or later) and on Linux Red Hat 9 systems supports Google Cloud SQL for Microsoft SQL Server 2022 database. Only the SQL Authentication is supported. DSA configurations are not supported with Google Cloud SQL for Microsoft SQL Server 2022 database.