Home
Installation Guide
Learn the system requirements, licensing and installation instructions, and how to configure and maintain BigFix.
Installing on Windows systems
Now that you understand the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to get authorized and install the programs.
Installation Steps
To install the product, perform the following steps:
Step 3 - Installing the components
You have now created a private key, requested and received a certificate, used the certificate to create a masthead, and then generated the various installation components, including the BigFix Installation Guide.
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.
Embedding in a Common Build
If your organization employs a specific build image or common operating environment (COE) on a CD or image that is used to prepare new computers, you can include the Client in this build.

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 V9.5 gathers data from BigFix clients deployed with different code pages and languages, encode the data into UTF-8 format, and report it back to the BigFix server.
- Sample deployment scenarios
  The following deployment scenarios illustrate some basic configurations taken from actual case studies. Your organization might look similar to one of the examples below, depending on the size of your network, the various bandwidth restrictions between clusters and the number of relays and servers. The main constraint is not CPU power, but bandwidth.
- Assumptions and requirements
  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.
  - Installation Steps
    To install the product, perform the following steps:
    - Step 1 - Downloading BigFix
      Download BigFix from the HCL License & Delivery Portal (Flexnet).
    - Step 2 - Requesting a license and creating the masthead
      Before you perform the steps below, you must have purchased a license and obtained a BigFix license authorization file (*.BESLicenseAuthorization) using your License Key Center account or, in the case of a Proof-of-Concept evaluation, that was provided to you by your HCL Technical Sales Representative.
    - Step 3 - Installing the components
      You have now created a private key, requested and received a certificate, used the certificate to create a masthead, and then generated the various installation components, including the BigFix Installation Guide.
      - Managing the Server ID limit
        The Server ID is the identifier of the BigFix server.
      - Installing the Windows primary server
        The BigFix server is the heart of the system. It runs on a server-class computer on your network, which must have direct Internet access as well as direct access to all the client computers in your network.
      - Authenticating Additional Servers
        Multiple servers can provide a higher level of service for your BigFix installation.
      - Installing Additional Windows Servers (DSA)
      - Running the BigFix Diagnostics tool
        The BigFix Diagnostics tool verifies that the server components are working correctly.
      - Understanding the server components
        The BigFix server is now successfully installed and responds to messages and requests from the relay, client, and console computers using a variety of components.
      - Installing the console
        The BigFix console lets the operator monitor and fix problems on all managed computers across the network.
      - 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.
        Using the Client Deploy Tool
        You can use the Client Deploy Tool (CDT) to install Windows, UNIX and Mac target computers.
        Installing the Client Manually
        The BigFix client can always be installed by manually running the client installer on each computer.
        Installing the Client using the .exe setup
        Installing the Client using the .msi setup
        Embedding in a Common Build
        If your organization employs a specific build image or common operating environment (COE) on a CD or image that is used to prepare new computers, you can include the Client in this build.
        For Windows operating systems
        For Linux operating systems
        For Macintosh operating systems
        Enabling encryption on Clients
        When installed, you can set up your Clients to encrypt all outgoing reports to protect data such as credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information.
      - Installing the WebUI
        Use this procedure to install the WebUI on BigFix Version 9.5.11 or later.
      - Installing a stand-alone Web Reports server
        By default, the Web Reports component is installed along with the BigFix server.
      - Running the Administration Tool
        The Installer automatically creates the BigFix Administration Tool when it installs the other components of the Console program.
      - Working with TLS cipher lists
        All network communications between the BigFix components and the internet are encrypted by using the TLS protocol standard. Starting from Version 9.5.11, master operators can control which TLS ciphers should be used for encryption. A master operator can set a deployment-wide TLS cipher list in the masthead by using BESAdmin.
      - Additional administration commands
        The installation automatically downloads the BigFix Administration Tool program BESAdmin.exe, in the %PROGRAM FILES%\BigFix Enterprise\BES Server directory.
  - Removing the Product Components on Windows systems
    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.
  - Uninstalling a Windows replication server
    To uninstall a replication server, call the database-stored procedure delete_replication_server, which removes the specified ID from the replication set.
- Installing on Linux systems
  After understanding the terms and the administrative roles, you are ready to actually get authorized and install the programs.
- 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
- Upgrading on Linux systems
- 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

Embedding in a Common Build

If your organization employs a specific build image or common operating environment (COE) on a CD or image that is used to prepare new computers, you can include the Client in this build.

To create the image, follow these steps:

Rate this topic

5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star

Comment on this topic.

By clicking this box, you acknowledge that you are NOT a U.S. Federal Government employee or agency, nor are you submitting information with respect to or on behalf of one. HCL provides software and services to U.S. Federal Government customers through its partners immixGroup, Inc. Contact this team at https://hcltechsw.com/resources/us-government-contact. Do not include any personal data in this Comment box. Note: To report a problem or question about the product software, do not use this form. Instead, go to the HCL Software Support site.