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Server Automation
Server Automation provides powerful automation. You can use it to sequence automation actions in steps across multiple endpoints.
Configuring your system
This section describes how the BigFix architecture is relevant for Server Automation. It also describes how Server Automation can affect BigFix performance.
Troubleshooting
Use the information described here to troubleshoot problems.

Server Automation
Server Automation provides powerful automation. You can use it to sequence automation actions in steps across multiple endpoints.
- Overview
  BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation provides you with the capability to automate provisioning workflows. You can automate a sequence of Fixlets, Tasks, and Baselines across different endpoints, such as servers or computers. Server Automation exploits the agility and scalability of BigFix to deliver powerful functionality in a lean and efficient manner, with minimal impact on your network.
- Automation
  BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation provides you with technology to sequence actions, such as the deployment of Fixlets, across multiple endpoints. To sequence automation, you create an Automation Plan. Your Automation Plan contains all of the actions for your end-to-end automation sequence.
- Virtualization
  Virtualization is a software technology that allows multiple operating systems to run on the same host computer at the same time. Additional uses of virtualization include the quick creation of new systems for testing, training, and demonstration. Using virtualized computers saves the cost of hardware, management, and administration of the server infrastructure.
- Configuring your system
  This section describes how the BigFix architecture is relevant for Server Automation. It also describes how Server Automation can affect BigFix performance.
  - Overview
    BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation is built on the BigFix platform. Server Automation uses the key BigFix strengths and advantages. It is also subject to the BigFix architecture capacity considerations and latency. Read the configuration documentation included here to understand how BigFix architecture is relevant to BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation and how you can configure your system for optimum performance. This documentation also describes how Server Automation functionality influences BigFix system performance.
  - Server Automation components
    BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation uses BigFix technology and is subject to the same latency considerations as BigFix. Read the information in this section to learn about the inherent latency and how it affects Server Automation.
  - Enhancing the performance of Server Automation
    To ensure that you minimize the impact on performance, you need to understand the limits and capacity constraints of the BigFix architecture. This section describes how the BigFix capacity constraints are relevant to BigFix Lifecycle Server Automation. Use the information described here to ensure that your system is tuned for optimum performance.
  - Troubleshooting
    Use the information described here to troubleshoot problems.
  - Server Automation REST API
    The Server Automation REST API is a node-based application which enables you to execute and monitor Server Automation Plans. Using this REST API, you can perform Server Automation tasks in a standardized and operating system-independent method.
- Sample Automation Plans
  Server Automation is shipped with a number of sample Automation Plans that you can run out of the box. To run these Automation Plans out of the box, ensure that the Fixlets contained in them are available. Typically, you would substitute some of the Fixlets contained in these samples with particular Fixlets that you want to run. Use the information in each of the following sections to find out more about each of the sample plans.
- Server Automation content
  Server Automation provides content that you can use to automate processes and software deployment.

Troubleshooting

Use the information described here to troubleshoot problems.

Problem:

When the automation plan engines are installed on one or more DSA servers in your environment, each step of the automation plan execution is created several times instead of one. The number of times each step is created is equal to the number of DSA servers, with the automation plan engine installed, present in your environment.

Cause:

In a DSA environment, you can install the Server Automation components on both servers, but you must ensure that only one instance is active at any given time. Otherwise, multiple actions will be created for each step in the plan. Both plan engine instances will process the same plan.

Solution:

To disable the plan engine on the DSA server, perform these steps:

Immediately after installing it, go to <BES Root Dir>\Applications\Config and rename the PlanEngine.xml file into PlanEngine.xml.stop.
To ensure that it is stopped, check the <BES Root Dir>\Applications\Logs\pe_console.log file. No new messages should be posted in the log file.

In the event of a primary root server failure, rename the XML file back to PlanEngine.xml on the DSA server but remember to disable the plan engine instance on the primary server as well (by adding the .stop extension to the XML file on the primary server ).