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BigFix Patch provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console.
Patch for AIX User's Guide
BigFix® for Patch for AIX® provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all AIX endpoints.
Using BigFix Patch for AIX
Use the Fixlets on the Patches for AIX Fixlet site to apply AIX patches to your deployment.
Deploying firmware updates
You can deploy firmware updates, also known as microcode updates, by using the custom content that was created by the AIX Deployment Wizard.

Patch User Guides
BigFix Patch provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console.
- Patch for Windows User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Windows™ provides Fixlets for Microsoft™ security and non-security patches. Dashboards, wizards, and reports aid you in managing updates for various endpoint devices.
- Patch for AIX User's Guide
  BigFix® for Patch for AIX® provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all AIX endpoints.
  - Overview
    BigFix Patch for AIX® provides unified, real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all endpoints from a single console. BigFix Patch keeps your AIX clients current with the latest packages, service packs, and fixes.
  - Using the download plug-in
    The download plug-ins, AIX Plug-in and AIX Plug-in R2, are executable programs that download a relevant patches directly from the patch vendor. Fixlets use an internal protocol to communicate with the download plug-in to download files. These Fixlets are based on updates made by the vendor.
  - Using the AIX download cacher
    You can use the AIX download cacher utility to deploy service pack, concluding service pack, or technology level fixes. The download cacher uses HTTP to download specific fix packs. Ensure that HTTP network traffic is not blocked in your environment.
  - Using BigFix Patch for AIX
    Use the Fixlets on the Patches for AIX Fixlet site to apply AIX patches to your deployment.
    - Fix pack download configuration
      Configure the target AIX systems and the BigFix server to download filesets from the internet.
    - Fileset installation states
      Fileset installations can be in either an Applied or a Committed state.
    - Deploying technology levels and service packs
      You can deploy technology level and service pack updates through the BigFix released content or the custom content that is generated by the AIX Deployment Wizard.
    - Creating Fixlets for interim fixes
      Use the AIX Interim Fix Management Wizard to create Fixlets to install customized interim fixes on AIX systems.
    - Deploying interim fixes
      BigFix provides Fixlets for interim fixes that are released through an AIX vulnerability advisory or subscription notification. You can deploy these Fixlets to install interim fixes to endpoints. For customized interim fixes, you can use the AIX Interim Fix Management Wizard to create custom Fixlets for deployment.
    - Uninstalling all interim fixes
      Interim fixes lock their target filesets to prevent any changes to the filesets while the interim fix is installed.
    - Creating Fixlets for firmware updates
      You can use the AIX Deployment Wizard to deploy packages for firmware updates, which are also known as microcode updates, on endpoints that are not managed by IBM Hardware Management Console (HMC). These updates can be in either .rpm or .iso format.
    - Deploying firmware updates
      You can deploy firmware updates, also known as microcode updates, by using the custom content that was created by the AIX Deployment Wizard.
    - Creating Fixlets for AIX fileset updates
      You can use the AIX Deployment Wizard to deploy fileset updates and program temporary fixes (PTFs).
    - Creating Fixlets for AIX package updates
      You can use the AIX Deployment Wizard to deploy packages for service packs, concluding service packs, and technology levels.
    - Alternate disk utility overview
      Use the AIX Advanced Deployment Wizard to deploy technology level and service pack fix packs to a new or existing alternate disk clone.
    - Multibos utility overview
      Use the AIX Advanced Deployment Wizard to deploy technology level and service pack fix packs to a new or an existing standby BOS.
    - Creating preinstallation verification checks
      Use the AIX Advanced Deployment Wizard to create Fixlets that check the preinstallation requirements of a selected fix pack against the endpoints in your environment.
    - Rejecting applied filesets
      You can use the AIX Advanced Deployment Wizard to create tasks to reject filesets that are in the applied state and restore the previous version of the update. You can reject individual filesets or all the filesets for a specific fix pack. You can run a preview of the action to ensure that it completes successfully without rejecting any filesets. You can also specify whether you want to reject filesets that have dependencies and do not meet the rejection checks.
    - NFS Repository Management overview
      To help manage technology level or service pack fix packs on a remote disk space, BigFix Patch offers the NFS (Network File System) Repository Management feature on the AIX Advanced Deployment Wizard.
    - Individual AIX fileset updates
      Deploy AIX technology level and service pack updates as a full fix pack bundle and not as individual filesets. Updating individual filesets might cause unexpected results.
    - Supersedence
    - Troubleshooting Failed OS Updates
      Learn which common factors affect the outcome of a deployment.
  - Network Installation Management (NIM) integration
    BigFix provides an alternative solution for updating and managing multiple AIX system through Network Installation Management (NIM). BigFix supports the NIM patch management features in this release.
  - Troubleshooting
    When problems occur when patching AIX endpoints, review the log files to determine what went wrong and how to correct the errors.
  - Frequently asked questions
    The questions and answers in this section can help you to better understand BigFix Patch for AIX®.
- Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Red Hat Enterprise Linux endpoints.
- Patch for CentOS Linux User's Guide
  BigFix® Patch for CentOS Linux™ provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all CentOs endpoints.
- Patch for SUSE Linux Enterprise User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for SUSE Linux Enterprise provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all SUSE Linux endpoints.
- Patch for Ubuntu User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Ubuntu provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Ubuntu endpoints.
- Patch for Oracle Linux User's Guide
  BigFix® Patches for Oracle Linux provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Oracle Linux endpoints.
- Patch for Solaris User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Solaris provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Solaris endpoints.
- Patch for HP-UX User's Guide
  BigFix® for Patch for HP-UX provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all HP-UX endpoints.
- Patch for Mac OS X User's Guide
  BigFix® for Patch for Mac OS X provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Mac OS X endpoints.
- Patch for Debian User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Debian provides an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. It gives you unified, near real-time visibility and enforcement to deploy and manage patches to all Debian endpoints.
- Patch for VMware ESXi User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for VMware ESXi provides you unified, near real-time visibility to manage patches to all VMware ESXi endpoints from a single console.
- Patch for Raspbian User's Guide
  BigFix Patch for Raspbian provides Fixlets that you use to manage the latest updates and service packs that Raspberry Pi releases. These Fixlets are available through the Patches for Raspbian sites.
- Virtual Endpoint Manager User's Guide

Deploying firmware updates

You can deploy firmware updates, also known as microcode updates, by using the custom content that was created by the AIX Deployment Wizard.

Before you begin

Run the Determine Firmware Level task and enable the AIX Firmware Level analysis (ID # 74) on all target AIX systems. The task collects firmware version information, which is used to identify the relevant systems. This task remains relevant to all AIX systems, providing the option to update system firmware information as often as might be required. No firmware related content becomes relevant until you run this task.

Note: The firmware information is updated automatically as part of each BigFix® generated firmware deployment. You do not need to run the Determine Firmware Level task after deploying firmware updates with BigFix content.

About this task

After creating a one-time action or Fixlet for a firmware update, you deploy it to the relevant computers. For information about creating custom content, see Creating Fixlets for firmware updates.

Procedure

From the BigFix console, navigate to where the custom content is located.
Select a firmware update Fixlet.
Review the text in the Description tab.
Click the appropriate link in the Actions box to start the deployment.

What to do next

Firmware updates are deployed to the temporary side of the service processor.

Use the Restart Computer task (ID# 62) to restart the system, and then verify the installation of the fix. After you verify that the installation of the firmware version is successful, commit the firmware fix by using the Commit Firmware Fix Permanently Fixlet. This action might take several minutes to run.

Attention: When an update is committed to the permanent side, it cannot be undone.

Note: Rejecting a firmware update requires physical interaction with the target servers and cannot be performed using BigFix.