Airgap tool misbehaving?

[mlong]

This morning I tried to bring in the new Inventory install content using the Airgap tool and keep getting “No files to download” results. Looking in my Airgap.db, I see fixlets listed that clearly should have associated downloads, but the tool will not download anything. For example, the fixlet called “Download IBM BigFix Inventory (9.2.17.0)” is listed in the database (might want to fix that name…). Surely this fixlet has a “prefetch” statement. The one for Inventory 9.2.16 did.

What part of a fixlet tells the Airgap tool that there is a download? The prefetch statement is the only place with a URL, correct? So if a fixlet references a URL with a prefetch, the Airgap tool should recognize that and download the file, correct?

Also, I noticed that the URLs for my previous Inventory content have prefetch statements that point to http://software.bigfix.com, not to the URL for the Inventory site. Could something be blocking the Airgap tool from downloading directly from that site? Is something broken in my Airgap tool? I routinely get content for vendor patches a couple of time per month, but have not been able to airgap BigFix content such as WebUI updates and now Inventory for the past several months.

[itsmpro92]

Perhaps the airgap parameter -usehttps is blocking your access to the BFI downloads. The files are on a URL that starts with http.

See here for more details: https://help.hcltechsw.com/bigfix/9.5/platform/Platform/Config/c_https_gathering.html?hl=https%2Cairgap

What do the airgap log files show after the session ends?

[mlong]

From the documentation you linked “The server tries first to gather all sites using the HTTPS protocol. In case of failure, the server will gather the sites using the HTTP protocol. This redirection applies only if the URL is hard-coded with HTTP. This is the default behavior.”

I have never added the -usehttps switch because of the above description. I just ran it again with the -no-usehttps switch and get the same result - “Nothing to download”. Here is the log file output [edited]:

2020-02-12 08:46:56 IBM BigFix 9.5.13.130 Airgap CLI Tool. (c) Copyright IBM Corp 2001, 2018. (c) Copyright HCL Technologies Limited 2018, 2019
2020-02-12 08:47:03 Site List written to [d:\sitelist.txt].
2020-02-12 08:47:03 Saving history. Do not terminate until save completes.
2020-02-12 08:47:03 Saved.
2020-02-12 08:47:03 Operation successfully completed.
2020-02-12 08:49:54 IBM BigFix 9.5.13.130 Airgap CLI Tool. (c) Copyright IBM Corp 2001, 2018. (c) Copyright HCL Technologies Limited 2018, 2019
2020-02-12 08:50:08 Gathering sites...
2020-02-12 08:50:08 Gathering site [BES Inventory and License]
2020-02-12 08:50:11 Creating intermediate archive for site...
2020-02-12 08:50:12 Intermediate archive for site created.
2020-02-12 08:50:12  Version: 188.
2020-02-12 08:50:12 Gathering site [IBM Endpoint Manager for Software Use Analysis]
2020-02-12 08:50:13 Creating intermediate archive for site...
2020-02-12 08:50:13 Intermediate archive for site created.
2020-02-12 08:50:13  Version: 130.
2020-02-12 08:50:13 Gathering site [IBM Software Inventory]
2020-02-12 08:50:14 Creating intermediate archive for site...
2020-02-12 08:50:14 Intermediate archive for site created.
2020-02-12 08:50:14  Version: 88.
2020-02-12 08:50:14 Gathered 3 sites.
2020-02-12 08:50:14 Creating temporary AirgapResponse...
2020-02-12 08:50:15 temporary file for AirgapResponse created. Will replace AirgapResponse.
2020-02-12 08:50:15 
Response file AirgapResponse created.

2020-02-12 08:50:15 Parsing sites...
2020-02-12 08:50:15 Sites Parse completed.
2020-02-12 08:50:16 Nothing to write. No file list created.
2020-02-12 08:50:16 Saving history. Do not terminate until save completes.
2020-02-12 08:50:16 Saved.
2020-02-12 08:50:16 Operation successfully completed.

I deleted Airgap.db prior to starting and generate a new “clean” one, along with a new sitelist file, so it is not skipping downloads because it thinks it has already downloaded them. In my sitelist file, I change the flags for the sites I want to R::, then use the -fDays filter to specify number of days for content. The command line I just ran looks like this:

BESAirgapTool.exe -site d:\sitelist-inv.txt -createFilelist d:\filelist-inventory-delta-2020-02-12.txt -fDays 30 -no-usehttps -timeout 60

[itsmpro92]

The parameter -createFilelist should actually be -createfilterlist

[mlong]

Only if you want to create a list of filter values. I don’t want filters, I want the download list. I do this twice a month for ~30G of content on average. It works everywhere except BigFix content. -createfilelist generates a file filled with URLs which you can then flag to download or ignore. We haven’t been able to get WebUI updates for some time and now BFI.

[itsmpro92]

I’m all caught up now, and I see the same result you do. Nothing to write. No file list created.

You should open a case with HCL. I agree that this doesn’t appear to be working as intended.

[akira]

If you specify -createFileList option, Airgap tool will just create file-list file and will not download any files. You need to run Airgap tool one more time with -file option with edited file-list file.
The log entry you aded here does not seem to indicate you have run the third time with file-list file.

[mlong]

Neither the -createfilelist or -download options are working. I understand what the switches do. The tool keeps reporting that there are no files.

[akira]

If you specify -creaeteFileList WITHOUT-fDays, do you get the line for the files you want in the file-list file?

[itsmpro92]

Thanks very much for the suggestion. That worked for me. I have a list of 140 files now.

[mlong]

Yes - it works without -fDays but in my case that gets every file available. For WebUI that’s 3600+ files. The problem is that it works as expected on all sites I have tried except software.bigfix.com.

[akira]

The sites where files to download resides are not at all relevant.
As described in the documentation (https://help.hcltechsw.com/bigfix/9.5/platform/Platform/Config/c_airgap_tool_NonExtr.html), -fDays checks the date of fixlets.

I think, in your case, possibilities are:

1. No fixlets in the BFI site are modified in last 30 days.
2. The BFI site does not set modified date to (some of) fixlets, or
3. Some fixlets in BFI site have incorrect modified date.

[mlong]

I don’t think you are understanding the problem. There are new fixlets and they do have downloads associated. My command line string works for every download I have tried except those from software.bigfix.com. I think that the site where the content resides is entirely relevant.

To reiterate - I get what I am expecting to get from every site using the -fDays filter unless the download is on software.bigfix.com. The AirgapResponse file has new fixlets and the Airgap Tool will download the content to go with them except for those fixlets that point to software.bigfix.com. It doesn’t matter what number of days I use with the filter.

If I do not use the filter at all, I can get the downoads. I can create a filelist, edit it, and then download the content. However, that defeats my automation process.

My question is - why does it seem to work as expected on all sites except software.bigfix.com?

I suspect that your #2 and #3 points are getting close to the reason for this. It’s not just BFI - it’s any fixlet that has software.bigfix.com in the prefetch URL - WebUI, Compliance, etc. It seems they are not getting tagged or date stamped correctly.