This announcement describes upcoming changes to BigFix Inventory Catalog content and its distribution.
BigFix Inventory Catalog updates
Important!
Starting from July 2024, Catalog updates will be available from a new BigFix Inventory Discovery site, and BigFix Inventory server version 11.x will be required for all subsequent catalog releases.
BigFix Inventory version 10.0.16.0 was the last one with an aligned catalog publication date.
The next Catalog update in May will be the last update published to the BigFix Inventory v10 site.
All changes are related to BigFix Inventory Team’s commitment to move HCL Catalog to the next level.
Starting with BigFix Inventory version 10.0.13, the BigFix Inventory Team introduced catalog-related improvements, enabling more frequent and server-independent updates. These changes lead to a compacted catalog package, improved content freshness, and optimized processing time on the server side.
In BigFix Inventory 10.0.14, an improved Scanner Catalog distribution to the endpoints was introduced.
In BigFix Inventory version 10.0.15, end-of-support data was integrated into the catalog package, and the user interface was aligned with catalog naming conventions. This enhancement ensured that with the rollout of catalog updates 10.0.15.1 and 10.0.15.2, users promptly received updated End of Support information without the need to await the next server update.
BigFix Inventory 10.0.16 introduced new catalog versioning aligned to the catalog creation date. With this change, the freshness of the catalog can be verified immediately.
In addition to these enhancements, the Inventory Discovery Team provided continuous delivery of catalog content updates featuring normalized publishers, delivered ideas and refreshed catalog definitions to align discovery rules with new software deployment models and the discovery of detailed versions.
For discovery on Windows systems, template signatures are added for out-of-the-box discovery of current and future software versions. This action will continue, and new content will be added in the next catalog updates. For enhanced software inventory reporting, major catalog cleanup was done for Windows-related content.
Further enhancements are coming with the next BigFix Inventory server update.
Specifically, the complete removal of backward compatible catalog files from the catalog package, the refinement of main catalog content for streamlined processing, and the integration of new definitions to reduce noise and enhance out-of-the-box discovery capabilities. Special definitions to delete obsolete catalog content will be added to address those deployments where not all previous catalog updates were implemented on time.
To ensure a seamless transition without disrupting existing BigFix Inventory deployments, a new BigFix Inventory Discovery site will be available for future catalog updates. Additionally, compatibility definitions of the catalog will be changed, and previous versions of the BigFix Inventory server will ignore new catalogs during import time.
Upgrading the BigFix Inventory server to version 11.x will be required to activate the catalog import option.
Contact support if discovery gaps are noticed in reports before and after catalog updates.
Review the next server release notes for details.
IBM Catalog
BigFix Inventory server package will continue to include updates to licensing definitions for IBM products.
Ongoing Catalog Updates
The BigFix Inventory team will continue to deliver regular updates of the software catalog for non-IBM products for use by BigFix Inventory 11.x without the necessity to upgrade the server code.
This one-time action with the update to version 11.x will allow the Discovery team to publish future catalog updates more frequently as soon as new information is available.
BigFix Inventory server updates
There is also an upcoming change related to BigFix Inventory version 11 and related package distribution. See the related announcement for details BigFix Inventory server and future updates - Release Announcements / Inventory (Release Announcements) - BigFix Forum.
Questions or Concerns
Please contact your Technical Advisor or visit the Inventory forum to address questions or concerns.
– The BigFix Inventory Team