Upgrading a BigFix server with a remote database

The upgrade Fixlet in the Support site does not upgrade a remote server correctly. Run the full BigFix server installer to perform the upgrade.

Remote database setups might encounter problems during upgrade and require resetting database connection settings after manually running the BigFix Server installer. Because the upgrade Fixlet in the Support site does not upgrade a Server correctly, you must run the full Server installer to perform the upgrade. The upgrade process might reset remote database configurations on the server; the troubleshooting steps can help you find any configurations that are incorrect after the upgrade.

Pre-upgrade checklist:

  1. Back up your database.
  2. Check if your authentication method is SQL or NT.
    NT Authentication
    Take note of the NT Domain account used for BigFix Server Services.
    SQL Authentication
    Take note of the SQL account used for SQL Authentication Registry values.
  3. Take a screenshot of ODBC connections; bes_bfenterprise, bes_EnterpriseServer, enterprise_setup, and LocalBESReportingServer.
  4. Verify the DB Owner or SA rights for this account. It is critical that an NT user performing the upgrade, that is the user that will run setup.exe, has the appropriate database permissions.

Upgrade procedure:

  1. Upgrade the Server Installers using the Support Fixlets.
  2. Run the Server installer as a user that has DB Owner permissions to the database server. The installer recognizes that the Server is at an earlier version and asks if you want to upgrade to the latest version.

Troubleshooting steps:

If the installation does not complete successfully, run the following steps:

  1. Check the system DSN for bes_bfenterprise. It should point to the database server and set to use the BFEnterprise database as the default database. Double check if it is set to use NT or SQL Authentication correctly. The FillDB and GatherDB services fail to connect to the database if this DSN is not configured correctly.
  2. Check the system DSN for LocalBESReportingServer. It should point to the remote database server and set to use the BESReporting database as the default database. Check if the system DSN is set to use NT or SQL Authentication correctly. You will receive an error message prior to the Web Reports login request if this is not configured correctly.
  3. If you are using NT Authentication, check that the FillDB, GatherDB and Web Reports services are configured to run as your service account with permission to the database.
  4. If you are using SQL Authentication, check that the username and password registry keys are set correctly.
  5. If your console gives an error message that the database has the wrong version, you might need to run the database upgrade scripts manually to upgrade the database. Run the BigFix Administrator Tool (BESAdmin.exe) to update the remote database tables; you will be prompted for the site admin password.
    Note: The besadmin.exe should be run automatically, if your account has the DB Owner or SA privileges to the remote database.

The BigFix server is now correctly upgraded.