BigFix API and Custom UI

Hi all,

We found that the existing UI may create a few opportunities for user error, and therefore looking into creating a custom UI where we can limit and automate some functionality. We have already successfully created a working proof of concept, and before continuing down the development path I am looking for some feedback from the BigFix community that may have possibly already crossed this bridge.

Firstly, I am looking for some feedback on how many developers/companies are creating their own custom UI or automating processes using the BigFix API provided? Would be great if you are open to discussing what you have implemented and why.

Secondly, are there any open source UI’s available?

Any, and all, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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Yes, there are organizations that have chosen to create custom UI’s in specific cases with varying degrees of success. As I’m sure you can understand, we can’t list the names of those customers. They’d have to be willing to list their respective details, etc.

I’ve seen relatively rudimentary BigFix REST API integrations with WordPress. One example was allowing for the termination (i.e. Stop) of an action by ID via REST API. This allowed for the elevation of permissions without exposing them to the actual user.

Is there a specific use case within your organization that requires you to build a custom UI? Have you looked at the latest versions of the WebUI on BigFix v10?

Thank you for the response @cmcannady

I have not had a look at the WebUI yet … only the desktop console. I will chat to our BigFix administrators and see if we can get the WebUI setup to experiment with.

Update:
Our BigFix admins confirmed that we are currently on V9.5 and only plan on upgrading to V10 sometime next year. Are there major differences between the V9.5 WebUI and V10 WebUI when it comes to deployment of custom fixlets? In the console you have the ability to edit the relevance and success criteria before deployment. We use this in cases where we need to “force” patches again. Is this possible in the WebUI?

Assuming that you’re running a more recent BFv9.5 version (i.e. patch 15 or later) then the differences in the WebUI between BF_v9.5 and BF_v10 are minor. That said, I do recommend running the WebUI on dedicated, non-colocated infrastructure (i.e. DON’T run on the root BES server if at all possible) in an enterprise production environment.

Please note that the WebUI is commonly referred to as “Console Lite” in that you do not have the ability to edit the Action Script or Relevance of a fixlet/task. You can dynamically create baselines, import new software packages (assumes LifeCycle and SWD deployed). So your content creators will still need access to the full/thick BES console, but you can move all of your other operators to the WebUI. Additionally, there’s a significant savings in connection costs between the WebUI and BES console.

Please refer to the BigFix Capacity Planning on @bigfix.mark GitHub for additional details on recommendations. Which region are you in? It may be possible to align you with a BigFix Technical Advisor to review the WebUI with you and discuss your use cases, etc.

Thank you for the info once again @cmcannady.

I worked through the functionality of the WebUI yesterday and as you mentioned did find that it is a “lite” version of the desktop console. Although it meets some of our requirements, we may still need to venture down the path of implementing a custom UI or at least automating some processes.

Our BigFix admins will direct some questions regarding V10 to our support line with HCL.

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