The HCL Development team is pleased to announce the release of version 9.5 Patch 13 (9.5.13.130) of the IBM BigFix Platform. The main features in this release are as follows:
Enhance security with new network communication options between Relays
You can now configure parent Relays to always initiate communications with their child Relays. This can help ensure that all BigFix traffic between Relays is initiated from a more secure network to a less secure network. This enhances security in DMZs for example, by avoiding the need to open firewall ports from the DMZ (less secure) to an internal network (more secure).
For details, see Relays in DMZ.
Troubleshoot Client/Relay communication issues more efficiently
By enabling the Client to be aware of its path to the Server via a Relay hierarchy, you can troubleshoot Client-to-Server communications more effectively and efficiently.
For details, see Viewing the Relay path of a Client.
Install BigFix Agent with IPS format (.p5p package) on Solaris 11
On Solaris 11, the BigFix Agent installation package is now available as IPS (Image Packaging System), which is the latest Solaris packaging technology. The previous format of the installation package (pkg) is also still available. You can therefore choose an installation option that best suits your requirements.
For details, see Installation instructions.
Delete Registry keys natively using actionscript
You can now delete not just registry key values, but entire registry keys natively using new actionscript commands. This operation also has a 64-bit equivalent. This feature enables you to more easily maintain the Windows Registry using BigFix.
For details, see regkeydelete and regkeydelete64.
Removal of Flash dependency in Web Reports
As a preparatory step for the end of support (EOS) of Flash in 2020, Web Reports no longer has a dependency on Flash.
BigFix Query support for relevance evaluation in Client context
BigFix Query now supports the evaluation of relevance expressions in Client context. This extends Query’s ability to return data from the BigFix Client for investigative and troubleshooting purposes, including context such as the Client’s ID, parent Relay, and applicable Fixlets.
For details, see BigFix Query.
Run BigFix Agent on Raspberry Pi Version 3 or later
BigFix Platform now supports the BigFix Agent on Raspbian 9 running on the Raspberry Pi 3, Models B and B+.
For details, see Raspberry PI.
Other enhancements
- Added support for SLES 15 Agent on Intel
- Added Root Server DB support for MS SQL 2017
- Upgraded OpenSSL to version 1.0.2r
- Upgraded libcurl to version 7.64.0
- Fixed APARs and defects. For details, see the technical specification section below.
- Fixed security vulnerabilities. For details, see the technical specification section below.
References
See further details in the 9.5.13 Release Notes.
See the full technical changelist.
Pre-Upgrade Considerations
- All BigFix Platform components are being released in this patch.
- Ensure to STOP the WebUI and any other active application connecting to the BigFix database BEFORE starting the upgrade
- A manual Server upgrade is required if you upgrade from a version earlier than 9.5.5.Refer to the 9.5.5 release notes for more information.
Useful links
BigFix downloads and release information
Upgrade documentation in IBM Knowledge Center
Upgrade Fixlets are available in BES Support version 1414 (or later).