BigFix Inventory Beta - new features available! (updated Feb 2017)

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix Inventory beta is available!

Thanks to valuable feedback from customers, the following new functionalities are introduced to facilitate your work with BigFix Inventory:

1. Defining the format of the host serial number
There are situations in which showing information about host serial numbers on the BigFix Inventory user interface is not desired. One of such situations is the service provider’s environment. To address the issue, the possibility of choosing a template used to define how information about hosts is displayed on the user interface is introduced. You can now adjust the template according to your needs and ensure that no sensitive data is visible.

2. Improved data visibility and computer groups management
Improvements are also introduced in the area of data visibility and computer groups management. These include:

  •  Limitation of information that is displayed on the Audit Trail report to actions performed only within the computer group to which the user who views the report has access.
    
  •  Introduction of a permission that gives a read-only access to information about contracts.
    
  •  Possibility of enabling and disabling subcapacity calculations per computer group and choosing the mode that defines how often subcapacity data is calculated for a particular computer group.
    

These improvements give more flexibility and better management of data visibility in situations where computers are divided into groups and each group is managed by a different person. For example, in the service provider’s environment or when computers are divided into regions or business units.

3. Ad-hoc reporting of the raw data
In the previous release, the possibility of defining the time range of some reports in relation to the current date was introduced. This functionality is now extended to hardware inventory reports, for example the Computers and the Scanned File Data reports.

4. Enabling and disabling deployment of automatic actions
If you are interested in the installable beta, you can try out a new feature that allows for controlling the deployment of automatic actions performed during the installation or when adding a new data source to the existing License Metric Tool. The actions include:

  •  Import of the new software catalog to the BigFix server.
    
  •  Configuration of scan frequency and schedule on the Scan Configurations panel.
    
  •  Automatic configuration of the fixlet site on the BigFix server that is added as a new data source.
    
  •  Installation and configuration of the main VM Manager Tool on the BigFix server that is added as a new data source.
    

Thanks to enabling the automatic deployment of these actions, you can reduce the amount of time and resources needed to configure BigFix Inventory to collect data from the computers in your infrastructure.

5. Configuring advanced server setting on the user interface
Instead of using REST API for changing server settings, you can now easily change the settings on the Advanced Server Settings panel.

We encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. The live demo sessions are also a great opportunity to provide your feedback about the current functionalities or about features that would make your work with BigFix Inventory easier.

If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com. For information about enrolling to the beta program, see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. Controlling scan schedule directly from the BFI user interface
The Scan Configurations panel is extended to allow for configuring the time, frequency, and types of software scans per computer group directly from the BigFix Inventory user interface. The functionality is especially useful for service providers. A service provider can create computer groups that represent his customers and set up scan schedules for these groups. Then, each customer can manage software scans for their computers directly from the BigFix Inventory user interface without the need of using the BigFix console.

2. Conditional report emails based on the number of rows in the report
Instead of regularly checking reports, you can configure email notifications that will be sent to particular recipients when a specific number of rows is exceeded in the report. This option is useful for alerting the recipients about changes to the key data. For example, you can define a conditional email that will notify the recipients that more than 10 agents have not reported within the last two weeks.

3. Forcing capacity scan data uploads
When the import of capacity scan data fails, you can run a single capacity scan, and force the upload of its results to ensure that the data on reports is refreshed. Single capacity scan runs only once. Results of this scan are uploaded to the BigFix server regardless of whether they differ from the results of the previous scan.

4. Manually adjusting the PVU per core value from the BFI user interface
The number of processor value units is assigned per processor core based on the information that is provided in the PVU table. It might happen that the value that is assigned to a processor in your environment is incorrect. For example, because the processor that you are using is not yet available in the PVU table. In such case, you can manually change the PVU per core value on the Hardware Inventory panel to ensure that subcapacity licenses are properly calculated and to remain compliant. When the problem that causes incorrect detection of the PVU value is solved by the support, you should reset the PVU per core value.

For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

A new drop of the License Metric Tool beta is available now! In this drop, you can test the following features:

1. Support for IBM i endpoints
To discover software and hardware inventory on IBM i systems, install the scanner on each of your IBM i systems, and then use the QSH to initiate various types of scans that would normally be initiated by the Initiate Software Scan. The following types of scans are available: catalog-based scan, capacity scan, ISO tags scan, and package data scan.

2. Sharing feedback with only a few clicks
Customer feedback is in the heart of the License Metric Tool development process. Thanks to the newly introduced feature, you can send us your feedback with just a few clicks. If you are having problems with panels and reports or think that some of them might be improved, just click the Send Feedback button that is in the top-right corner of the user interface. Each panel has a separate button that creates an email message with the panel name, version of the application that you are using, and - of course - your comment. It helps us quickly determine where the problem is and what needs to be done.

3. Support for Linux MSPP
Multiple Shared Processor Pools are supported on Linux for IBM Power Systems.

For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. Setting the license threshold for IBM products

You can set a license threshold to indicate the maximum number of license units that a product is entitled to use within a particular computer group. The threshold is then used to calculate whether license utilization is above or below the entitlement.

If you create a saved report that displays only the products for which license utilization exceeds the threshold and schedule report emails to be sent whenever a product appears on that report, you get instant notifications that allow you to quickly react to license overconsumption.

2. New method of classifying IBM products

Software Classifications is a new report that introduces a completely new way of looking at your software inventory and the associations between the discovered software components and licensable products.

The new report not only gives you a view of each action that you have taken while classifying software on the IBM Software Classification panel, but above all provides a flat structure with software installations broken into single components. This approach greatly improves the usability and management of software assets.

Currently, the report is in its first stages of development, allowing for a read only view of your inventory. However, it is worth to try it out as the report aims to eventually replace the IBM Software Classification panel. It will become an integrated place to manage the discovered software components and their associations with licensed products.

3. API to retrieve cluster information

Information about the cluster to which a computer belongs is available on the Hardware Inventory report. It can also be retrieved through REST API. The information can be then used, for example, to calculate the license demand for Oracle or Microsoft.

4. All VM managers are visible on the user interface

Until now, the VM Managers panel listed only VM managers that are managed in central mode. Now, it also lists those that are managed in the distributed mode. Options such as editing, deleting, or testing connection are still applicable only for the VM managers that are managed in the central mode.

However, the read-only view of VM managers that are managed in the distributed mode on the user interface gives you a clear overview of all VM managers that are defined in your infrastructure.

5. Support for VMWare vSphere Fault Tolerance

VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance allows for reducing virtual machine and application downtime to zero. If a server failure occurs, a live shadow instance of a virtual machine is created. The instance is up-to-date with the primary virtual machine.

BigFix Inventory can handle the situation when shadow instances of virtual machines are created and can properly calculate PVU utilization of software that is installed on such machines.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. New user interface for classifying IBM products
Software Classification is a report that introduces a completely new way of looking at your software inventory and relations between discovered components and licensable products. It provides a flat structure with software installations broken into single components, which makes it easier to view your software assets and manage relations between them.

It also provides the possibility of classifying components that were discovered through software ID tags by allowing to create custom bundling definitions.

The report is a combination of other well-known reports: Software Installations and IBM Software Classification. It aims to eventually replace the latter and become an integrated place to manage the discovered software components and their relations with licensed products.

2. Setting the license threshold for IBM products
You can set a license threshold to indicate the maximum number of license units that a product can use within a particular computer group. The threshold is then used to calculate whether license utilization is above or below your expectations.

From the list of predefined reports, you can choose the Exceeded Thresholds report and schedule emails to be sent whenever a product appears on that report. It will ensure that you are automatically notified when metric utilization for any product exceeds the threshold which will allow you to quickly react to license overconsumption.

3. Optimization of the scanner cache folder
The scanner cache folder stores information about scanned files and directories in your file system. By knowing the hierarchy of files, the scanner can locate them quicker, which results in shorter scans.

The amount of disk space that is needed for the cache depends on the number of files that are being scanned. If the current location of the cache folder cannot ensure sufficient disk space, you can optimize the cache. Thanks to the optimization, the cache includes only files relevant for the types of software scans that you are running.

4. Improved troubleshooting of VM managers
When VM managers in your infrastructure have status other than OK, and you are not sure how to troubleshoot the problem, simply click the name of the status. You will be redirected to a documentation page that provides the most common reasons for each status and how to proceed.

5. Disabling the transfer of VM manager credentials
When the security policy in your company does not allow for transferring VM manager credentials through the network, you can configure BigFix Inventory so that the credentials are not transferred to the server. They are also not displayed on the VM Managers panel when you edit the VM manager.

6. Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Little Endian and PowerKVM
You can detect software that is installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Little Endian. You can also use PowerKVM as a supported virtualization technology on this platform.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

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The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. Extension of the new user interface for software classification
Software Classification is a report that introduces a completely new way of looking at your software inventory and relations between discovered components and licensable products. It provides a flat structure with software installations broken into single components, which makes it easier to view your software assets and manage relations between them.

In this beta drop, the panel is extended in BigFix Inventory to include also software from vendors other than IBM.

2. Support for IBM i endpoints
Because of the lack of support for BigFix clients on IBM i, the discovery is based on disconnected scans, a semi-automated procedure for collecting the data about the hardware and software inventory.

In this beta drop, installation of the scanner, running the capacity scan as well as creation of the file that identifies the IBM i system are simplified and further automated to facilitate working with IBM i.

3. Software discovery on Docker containers
Docker is a platform that allows for automating the deployment of applications inside software containers. BigFix Inventory can discover software that is installed inside Docker containers. It can also measure PVU and RVU MAPC utilization of the discovered IBM products.

4. Tracking VPC licenses
Virtual Processor Core (VPC) is a unit of measure by which a program can be licensed. A VPC can be considered as a physical processor core, provided that the server is not partitioned for virtual machines, or as a virtual core assigned to a virtual machine.

You can use BigFix Inventory to track the VPC consumption.

5. Support for Ubuntu 14.04 for IBM Power Systems (64-bit)
You can detect software that is installed on Ubuntu 14.04 Little Endian. You can also use IBM Power Systems (64-bit) as a supported virtualization technology on this platform.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. Extension of the new panel for software classification
In this beta drop, the Software Classification panel is extended with the following functionality:

  • Selecting and assigning more than one component
  • Classifying products from vendors other than IBM (BigFix Inventory only)

2. Support for bundling tags
Bundling tags contain information about the part number of a product to which the instance of a component should be assigned. The tags are delivered only for selected products that are discovered by software ID tags. When a bundling tag is available, it takes precedence over other bundling rules. Thanks to the presence of bundling tags, you can save time and effort related to analyzing to which product a particular component belongs.

3. New VM manager status - Insufficient rights
The status indicates that no data was collected from the VM manager because the user that is defied for this VM manager does not have sufficient rights.

4. Information about scan duration is available
The Software Scan Status analysis provides information about the duration of the entire software scan. You can use this information, for example, to validate that the scan timeout that you are planning to set is not going to interfere with the scans, or to verify whether optimization is needed to reduce the length of the scan.

5. Installing the scanner in a custom directory
You can choose whether you want to install the scanner in the default directory (on the C: or opt drive) or the directory where the BigFix client is installed. This option is useful, for example, when the security policy in your company does not allow for installing software on the C: or opt drive. In such case, you simply install the BigFix client on a different drive and then install the scanner on the same drive.

6. Forcing reupload of software scan results
It the import of software scan results failed, or when software is not reported properly on the Software Installations report, you can run the Force Reupload of Software Scan Results fixlet. The fixlet reuploads inventory data that was gathered by the software inventory and the file system scans to BigFix once. The data is then transferred to IBM BigFix Inventory during the import.

7. Support for Debian 8 and z/KVM on SUSE Linux 12 for IBM Systems z
You can detect software that is installed on Debian 8. You can also use z/KVM as a supported virtualization technology on SUSE Linux 12.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the BigFix
Inventory beta is available!

1. Extension of the new panel for software classification
In this beta drop, the Software Classification panel is extended with the following functionality:

  • Confirming and unconfirming the assignment
  • Preview of options that are planned to be implemented.

2. Install metric utilization for non-IBM products.
Information about products that use the Install metric is available on the All Metrics report. You can see not only the current number of computers on which the product is installed but also how that number changed over time. You can also set a threshold, to easily monitor when the number of installed instances exceeds your expectations.

3. Collecting the number of users authorized to use application in VDI
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a technology that is used for creating virtual, personalized desktops hosted on a centralized machine. It provides a secure and highly flexible virtual environment, and prevents data loss or breach. You can use BigFix Inventory to count the number of users authorized to use applications in VDI.

4. Support for new operating systems
You can detect software that is installed on Ubuntu 16 on x86. You can also use VMWare on Oracle Solaris 10 and 11.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

We also encourage you to join us during the live demo sessions to be up-to-date with the new features that we are currently working. If you would like to be invited to the next live demo session, please send us an e-mail to talk2sam@us.ibm.com.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the License Metric Tool beta is available!

1. Extension of the new panel for software classification

In this beta drop, the Software Classification panel is extended with the
following functionality:

  • Information about components that were installed in your infrastructure during a specific period and their assignment. You can use this information to view details of components that contributed to the overall license utilization for a specific period. You can also reassign and exclude uninstalled components if their original assignment was incorrect and impacted the license metric utilization.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of the License Metric Tool beta is available!

1. Extension of the Software Classification panel
In this beta drop, the panel is extended with the following functions:

  • Selecting the license metric of a product to which you are assigning the component

  • Excluding a product from license calculations, for example when the product instance is a trial version

  • Suppressing a discovered component when it is a false-positive

  • Viewing information about components that were installed during a specific period and their assignment

2. Discovery of Microsoft Exchange editions
Software Installations report provides information about editions of Microsoft Exchange Servers that are installed in your infrastructure. You can use this information to verify how many licenses are needed for each edition.

3. Measuring application usage on Mac OS X
Software Installations report provides information about application usage for software that is installed on Mac OS X. You can use this information to decide whether license for particular software should be extended or not based on the frequency of its use.

4. Reduced impact of scans due to the optimization of the scanner cache folder
The scanner cache folder is used to store information about scanned files and directories in your file system. By knowing the hierarchy of files, the scanner can locate them quicker, which results in shorter scans. The amount of disk space that is needed for the cache depends on the number of files that are being scanned.
New installations of BigFix Inventory use an optimized cache which includes only files that are relevant for the types of software scans that you are running. It results in a reduced size of the cache.

5. Upload of PVU table and software catalog during the upgrade
During the upgrade, new versions of the software catalog and PVU table are uploaded to BigFix Inventory to ensure that the latest software is properly discovered and that new processors are correctly matched. The versions that are uploaded are the newest ones that were available during the release of the application update to which you are upgrading.

6. Support for new operating systems
You can detect software that is installed on Ubuntu 16 for IBM Power Systems, and SUSE Linux 12 for IBM Power Systems on Little Endian Architecture.

7. Support for XenServer and Citrix XenServer
You can use XenServer and Citrix XenServer as supported virtualization technologies on selected operating systems.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

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The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of theBigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. Extension of the Software Classification panel
The Software Classification panel introduces a new way of looking at software inventory and relations between the discovered components and licensable products. It provides a flat structure with software installations broken into single components, which makes it easier to view software assets and manage relations between them. In this beta drop, the panel is extended with the following functions:

  • Selecting the license metric of a product to which you are assigning the component
  • Suppressing a discovered component when it is a false-positive

2. Reporting of physical core-based metric for Microsoft SQL Servers
BigFix Inventory measures utilization of the physical core-based licenses for Microsoft SQL Server. You can use this information to calculate the demand for Microsoft SQL Server licenses. The feature is supported for versions 2012, 2014, and 2016 (Standard and Enterprise edition).

This is the first part of the improvements planned to be delivered in BigFix Inventory to report utilization of core-based licenses for Microsoft products that use this license metric.

3. Reporting high water mark of Oracle Database user sessions
BigFix Inventory retrieves the number of user sessions that are registered into the Oracle Databases deployed in your environment, and provides their high water mark. You can use this information to calculate the demand for the Oracle Named User Plus license.

4. Searching the software catalog by part number
The Software Catalog report provides information about product part numbers and associated license metrics. Thus, you can check which products your part numbers represent and what license metrics they use. This information facilitates the process of software classification. You can also verify whether a particular part number is contained in the current software catalog, and thus influences automated bundling.

5. Utilization of the Install Seats metric for products discovered by SWID tags
The All Metrics report is extended to include information about the utilization of the Install Seats metric for non-IBM products that are discovered by SWID tags. You can now see the number of installations of software that is discovered by SWID tags and for which the software catalog does not define license details.

6. Support for new operating systems
You can detect software that is installed on Windows Server 2016 (Standard, and Datacenter)

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.

1 Like

The BigFix Inventory Development Team is pleased to announce that a new drop of theBigFix Inventory beta is available!

1. Creation of custom classification rules
When you are assigning a component, or excluding a product, you can create a custom classification rule that will be applied when the same component or product is discovered in the future. It allows for automating actions on analogical components or products, and facilitates the process of software classification.

2. Utilization of the virtual core based metric for Microsoft SQL Server
BigFix Inventory measures utilization of the virtual core based metric for Microsoft SQL Server. You can use this information to calculate the demand for Microsoft SQL Server licenses. The feature is supported for versions 2012, 2014, and 2016 (Standard and Enterprise edition).

3. Utilization of the Install Instances metric for IBM products
The All Metrics report is extended to include information about the utilization of the Install Instances metric for IBM products. You can see not only the current number of installed product instances, but also how that number changed over time. You can also set a threshold, to easily monitor when the number of installed instances exceeds your expectations.

4. Overview of license metrics that are used by IBM products in your infrastructure
The All Metrics report is extended to include not only products with license metrics for which utilization is calculated, but also all other IBM products in your infrastructure. Even though metric utilization might not be calculated for these products, it gives you an overview of all IBM metrics for which you should have licenses.

5. Checking matched part numbers on the Software Catalog report
The Software Catalog report is extended with information about your part numbers that were matched with the part numbers that are contained in the software catalog.

6. Support for new operating systems and virtualization technologies
You can use Xen Hypervisor, and Oracle VM as supported virtualization technologies on selected operating systems.

More information
For information about enrolling to the beta program, and more details about each feature see: https://ibm.biz/beta_program.