Default scan configuration

Default scan configuration is advised for environments with up to a few thousand computers. It ensures that the required analyses are activated and software and capacity scans as well as uploads of their results are scheduled automatically. These actions are necessary to collect data from the computers in your infrastructure and to display it on the BigFix Inventory reports. You can enable the default scan configuration during the configuration of BigFix Inventory connections to the databases or when adding another data source.

What happens automatically

When you enable default scan configuration, the following actions are automatically activated and scheduled on each computer that is subscribed to the BigFix Inventory site. The same configuration is also automatically applied to all computers that are subscribed to the BigFix Inventory site at a later time.
  • The following analyses are activated:
    • Application Usage Statistics
    • Capacity Configuration for Linux on z Systems
    • Installed UNIX Packages
    • Installed Windows Applications
    • Scanner Information
    • Software Scan Status
    • VM Manager Information
  • The scanner is installed.
  • All types of software scans and uploads of their results are scheduled.
  • Capacity scans and uploads of their results are scheduled.

Additionally, when you enable the default scan configuration for the second and successive data sources that you add, the software catalog is distributed to the computers on condition that it was successfully uploaded and imported for the first data source.

What to do next

  • After you enable the configuration, run the import of data. The data that is collected from the computers in your infrastructure should be displayed on the BigFix Inventory reports. However, the newly set-up environment needs time to finish the scans and to upload their results to the server. If the reports do not contain any data after the first import, wait about an hour until the scans are completed. Then, run another import.

    To change the default scan configuration, use the Scan Configurations panel. Alternatively, you can change the scan configuration through the BigFix console by using the Initiate Software Scan fixlet.

  • Add VM managers that are an important and mandatory addition to the capacity scan. These are the hosts that manage your virtual machines. BigFix Inventory can already evaluate the virtual capacity of your environment, but needs extra data about the physical one to accurately calculate your subcapacity consumption. This data can be collected only from VM managers.