Automatically decommissioning inactive computers

Available from 9.2.8. When infrastructure management policy does not allow the deletion of decommissioned BigFix clients in BigFix, you can enable automatic decommissioning of inactive computers directly in BigFix Inventory. By decommissioning the inactive computers you ensure that they do not have negative impact on metric calculation.

About this task

Important: To ensure consistency between the BigFix platform and the BigFix applications, it is recommended to manage the entire infrastructure in BigFix. Decommissioning computers in BigFix Inventory is an alternative solution allowed only when decommissioning in BigFix is not possible.
If a computer stops reporting to BigFix, it is considered inactive. Configure BigFix Inventory to automatically decommission computers that are inactive for a specified period.
Note: This solution is not supported on the computers with disconnected scanner. For more information, see: Decommissioning computers with disconnected scanners.

Procedure

  1. Log in to BigFix Inventory.
  2. Go to Management > Advanced Server Settings.
  3. To enable the feature, set the decommission_inactive_computers parameter to true, and click Save.
  4. To set the inactivity period after which the computers are automatically decommissioned, configure the value of max_data_visibility_for_inactive_computers parameter to the required number of days, and click Save. By default, the inactivity period is set to 90 days.

Results

The reports display only the data for the period before the date when the computer was decommissioned.
Note: When a decommissioned computer reactivates and starts reporting back to BigFix, the report data is updated.

What to do next

To disable automatic decommissioning of inactive computers, go to Advanced Server Settings, select the decommission_inactive_computers parameter, and set it to False.