Creating a Custom BIOS Update Fixlet/Action

(imported topic written by SirFixAlot91)

I am trying to create a custom fixlet that will be able to run an .exe file I have created that automatically configures the BIOS to enable Wake-on-LAN (WOL) on several Dell desktop models. I have verified that the file “bios.exe”, which I created with a dell released utility, works successfully on all models and have gone as far as creating a custom action through the BigFix wizard that deploys and runs the bios.exe successfully as well. What I would like to do now is create a more advanced action that can verify the target system is indeed a dell GX520 or GX620 or GX745 etc. and will then be able to set and verify if the system has already been configured with the update. I don’t care about it verifying if the update was successful because I will find that out if I can wake it or not. All I would need to verify is if the action was at least attempted on the system so I can make sure I have attempted to update the BIOS on all systems at least once. I have also added the inspector for retrieving the model of the PC in the display properties of the console and this has worked for all models I wish to target. I have never written a custom action/fixlet for BigFix but I do have a slight Java programming background and can make sense of what I see in the already created actions. Would anyone have any suggestions or would this be a case of the “cart before the horse” scenario? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan

(imported comment written by MattBoyd)

Well Dan, today is your lucky day because I’ve actually created a task in BigFix that is applicable ONLY on machines that are missing the BIOS setting. You will need to have Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation (OMCI) on the clients though.

You should install OMCI anyway though, because it opens up a lot of inventory/BIOS configuration features of Dell business-class machines. (see: http://forum.bigfix.com/viewtopic.php?id=4128)

Disclaimer: Please use this task at your own risk.

(imported comment written by SirFixAlot91)

Thank you very much Boyd! The OMCI seems to be a powerful addition and a great option in this case. Thank you for the quick response.

(imported comment written by SirFixAlot91)

Ok, I am back to square one on this topic. I looked into boyd’s great suggestion but it doesn’t look like the “higher-ups” want to green-light the installation of additional software to each system in order to achieve this goal. I had an idea to just add a registry key once the bios.exe completes that basically functions as a “tag” to mark that the configuration has at least been attempted. If this is not a huge breach of standard BigFix practice it would work fine for me because so far I have not had the bios.exe fail on any workstation and it does not have to be a true representation of having completed successfully. I am just looking to see that it has at least been attempted once and if it is not working properly I can go from there on a per workstation basis. Has anyone tried this type of “shortcut” before? Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Dan