Not sure if this is the right place in the forums, so I apologize if not:
We would like to see the following features added to the BigFix Console:
#1 In the place where we move fixlets up and down between component groups in a baseline, it would be nice to have a dynamic drop-down listing of the component groups so we can just select the group to move the fixlet to, without having to use the up/down arrow repeatedly.
#2 Auto-grouping fixlets in baselines. It would be nice if we could create auto-filters on component groups, so say if a fixlet started with the name MS#-###: Blah Blah Blah, we could create a component group that auto-moves fixlets into itself when added to a baseline, for fixlets matching that custom filter.
#3 It would be nice to have all the fixlet views a way to see if a fixlet is already in an existing baseline. We sometimes have a problem adding fixlets to baselines that already exist in the baseline, and there is no mechanizm now to avoid duplicates (short of eyeballing or doing a CTRL-F search for each one). A quick and dirty way to see if a fixlet does or does not exist in any existing baseline (like a green dot or something that displays the baselines it already belongs to).
#4 When right-clicking on selected fixlets to add to existing baselines, it would be nice to have the list of baselines available, in the right-click menu, to be auto-sorted alphabetically. Currently it appears it’s sorted by date, because we have new baselines showing up at the bottom, but should be grouped together with similarly named baselines up towards the top of the list.
#5 Ability to rename Manual Groups like you can with Automatic Groups
on #1 - if i want to add, lets say, a service pack, logic says it should be first on the list (maybe after the SP has been installed, other patches will not apply).
when i add the SP, it will appear last on the list.
now if my baseline has over 100 components, it is not a great pleasure to click the “up” arrow 100 times…
on #3 - a simpler way to do this is when you try and add a fixlet which already exists, simply don’t allow it to be added…
I agree with renetops. Closely related to #3, I’d like to see increased visibility from a task/fixlet perspective. Where all do instances of it live? What baselines is it part of? An Instance or Version management tab would be beneficial for tasks and fixlets. Managing and maintaining large amounts of custom content across many tasks/fixlets/baselines is tedious.
However, I disagree with Shlomi on in the remark “when you try and add a fixlet which already exists, simply don’t allow it to be added”. There are instances where we have a re-usable script for which we have multiple instances in a baseline. A good compromise would be to place a warning flag on the duplicate instance, but allow it anyway.
I would like to see a feature to be able to search all fixlets for certain relevance, as there are multiple BigFix Admins at our company we spend quite a bit of time discussing relevance and where we have previously used a particular relevance for syntax examples and such. It would be nice to be able to search on your own for say “concatenation” and get a list of all of the places it is used in all existing fixlets, analysis, baselines, etc.
The way I do this now is I open up the tasks or fixlets tab, the press CTRL-F to search. I change the field to search on from Name to Relevance (or even Action), and search for relevance I’m looking for. It will bring up any fixlets/tasks with that relevance so I can “steal” the syntax.
I’ve added a new feature request to my original post:
“#4 When right-clicking on selected fixlets to add to existing baselines, it would be nice to have the list of baselines available, in the right-click menu, to be auto-sorted alphabetically. Currently it appears it’s sorted by date, because we have new baselines showing up at the bottom, but should be grouped together with similarly named baselines up towards the top of the list.”
#6 The ability to view Fixlet IDs when looking at the Baseline’s component applicability. I have to precache all my fixlets to 160 locations using the File Precache Wizard, when I create my baselines I am having to export them into excel to I can track the IDs for precaching.
I think it would also be very helpful to right click a baseline and have a menu option to ‘pre-cache’. My thought is this would launch something similar to the action window and you select the targets to receive the pre-cache as well as date/time constraints. I don’t find the pre-cache wizard helpfull as I don’t want to pre-cache ALL patches for a certain month as not all of them are applicable. I also find that without time controls on the “start client downloads before…” action option it is not really usefull. (unless I manually kick off the action late at night)
Add the live search filtering option into Baseline creation. Its frustrating trying to pick out individual tasks from within the Baseline menu. I know I can add them from the Fixlet page by right clicking but this would just make it easier.