Fixlets failing on CentOS while successful on RHEL equivalent

Usage and Config
1

For the last few days I’ve been having zero success patching anything on a CentOS 7 box using BigFix. I’ve done a ton of troubleshooting and it’s too much to post here, but I will give you the basics in case someone can point me in a direction I haven’t tried yet.

BigFix version is 9.5.8.38 (I know 9.5.9 is out there, just haven’t updated and it shouldn’t matter in this case)
OS is CentOS 7.4
Source Content site is: Patches for CentOS7 Plugin R2
Download Plugin is CentOS Plug-in R2 v1.0.0.2
Content Sites (Patching Support and Patches for CentOS7 Plugin R2) are both updated.

The issue:
No matter which Fixlet I deploy I get the following in the “EDR_DeploymentResults.txt” file:

8326 : 2018-05-12 23:39:08 : ERROR : Install/test failed. Fixlt ID: 18040801
8326 : 2018-05-12 23:39:08 : ERROR : Exit Code: 1

The “EDR_ExitCode” file always looks something like this:

Dependency resolution error.
Loading “yum-centosplugin” plugin
Config time: 0.020
Yum version: 3.4.3
rpmdb time: 0.000
Setting up Package Sacks
pkgsack time: 0.013
Checking for virtual provide or file-provide for libdb-5.3.21-21.el7_4.x86_64
Checking for installed virtual provide or file-provide for libdb-5.3.21-21.el7_4.x86_64
No package libdb-5.3.21-21.el7_4.x86_64 available.
Checking for virtual provide or file-provide for libdb-utils-5.3.21-21.el7_4.x86_64
Checking for installed virtual provide or file-provide for libdb-utils-5.3.21-21.el7_4.x86_64
No package libdb-utils-5.3.21-21.el7_4.x86_64 available.

Error: Nothing to do

The strange thing is that the same updates are successful when I deploy them to a RHEL 7 box.

As I said before I’ve done a ton of troubleshooting but can’t hit on the solution. If you have suggestions on what the results of a specific troubleshooting step I’ve taken is by all means ask and I’ll answer…

Thanks,
M

2

I had something like this with Redhat and it was either due to a certificate error or my id expired on RHN. Now since this is Centos, I am not sure how that would be related since I do not think you have to set this up.

I will have to check my notes on Monday to see what else I can offer for suggestions.

3

Heya Martin! Long time no speak…glad to see you’re still around here.

After posting and proofreading the post I got an idea and went down the path to check it out.

As it turns out the problem was that the repos on the CentOS box didn’t have the version of the rpm the Fixlet is looking to install.

Long story short: I found an old CentOS repo that had the rpms in the versions the Fixlet is trying to install…added it to the /etc/yum.repos.d/ and “voila”!..instant gratification.

So the issue here (apparently) is really two-fold:

a. The CentOS repos don’t keep as many older versions of rpms as RHEL repos do (when I searched the repos of my RHEL box I did find the versions referred to by the Fixlet – which is why the RHEL Fixlet completes successfully).

b. IBM is not updating the CentOS Fixlets frequently enough to keep up with the change in rpm versions.

In either case…problem solved.

Thanks,
M