HCL - IBM - ILMT - BF - Client Agents / next Version

Hello-

I have a question and I’ll try not to get too wordy.

We have a BigFix environment that was originally stood up for ILMT only. I added BigFix Patch later to replace our WSUS environment.

I don’t manage ILMT, but I do administer the BigFix Patch portion of our environment that rides on BigFix.

Now I’ve been asked to take over both ILMT and BF Patch. Honestly I don’t want the ILMT part.

My questions since HCL now owns the BigFix Patch portion, but allegedly not the ILMT portion…

  • Will licensing be different in the next rumored version (ver 10)?

  • Will it move away or use a different type of client agent and the current ActionSite.afxm file so they can be separate? Since I will still be using both.

  • Is “BigFix” really required to be installed for the ILMT tool to work?

I’m just trying to figure out if these things (or other things) will change since they’re not both IBM anymore.
AND… I’m trying to get out of managing the ILMT part. :rofl:

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris

Great questions and I will do my best to answer them and will also engage @ArturZ to have him comment on anything he can related to the future of ILMT and BigFix.

  1. Will licensing be different in the next rumored version (ver 10)?
  • Is this around our licensing model or perhaps more specific than that? If it is related to our licensing model, we plan to keep the same licensing model that has existed with BigFix.
  1. Will it move away or use a different type of client agent and the current ActionSite.afxm file so they can be separate? Since I will still be using both.
  • BigFix Patch and ILMT use the same agent, ILMT has a scanner that gets deployed via the agent but if that is removed, BigFix Patch will be uninterrupted.
  1. Is “BigFix” really required to be installed for the ILMT tool to work?
    Yes, the BigFix Server needs to be in place for ILMT to function as it contains the site information for the Fixlets, Catalogs, Analyses as well as several other components working “under the hood”

When IBM acquired BigFix, they decided that it made sense to roll ILMT into the BigFix Inventory offering. BigFix Inventory is still in place and is a really powerful tool that can do what ILMT does but across non-IBM products. If that is something you would be interested in seeing more of, I would be happy to show you that side of it.
I do not see ILMT coexisting with BigFix Inventory forever and I’m sure there is a strategy to separate the two but that is not for me to comment on.

Any other questions, feel free to reply and let us know.

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Thanks for the response!

I think my biggest concern is, when they separate, what’s going to happen?

We will continue to have a requirement for ILMT and that won’t go away unfortunately.

But, when HCL separates BigFix from ILMT, technically how is that going to work with the agent?
Right now it points to the BigFix server, where both of these currently run… but with the need to keep both up and running for virtually all the same clients that I currently manage, how will that work? Right now it uses the ActionSite file to point to BigFix. But when they separate, what happens?

Will HCL release a new version with its own client agent that can co-exist with IBM’s client agent that we are all currently using?

Will I need to set up a new HCL BigFix environment and leave the current IBM BigFix environment in place to manage the ILMT tool? Or maybe IBM releases a new version and new environment for their ILMT tool?

Did that make sense? Basically, I need both tools up and running for the same clients.

I don’t believe BigFix Inventory will satisfy the needs of IBM when it comes to reporting all licenses that we currently have here for everything we use. But I could be wrong.

We currently use BigFix for just “BigFix Patch” and the ILMT. So, Inventory may not be available to me.

Thanks again,
Chris

@SmokyMTN

Just an FYI - BFI and ILMT are actually the same product, with one exception. ILMT’s Software Catalog comes with IBM software products and part numbers, while BFI’s Software Catalog comes with both IBM and non-IBM software products, and IBM part numbers. BFI is accepted by IBM as an alternative for the License Metric Tool for this very reason.

I don’t expect IBM to replace the current ILMT tool with anything else for the foreseeable future. So the BigFix Environment you’re currently using will continue to work with ILMT. It is my understanding that IBM will continue to support and develop the ILMT components (server and BigFix Content) that it requires it’s sub-capacity software customers to use.

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BigFix Inventory and ILMT both satisfy IBM subcapacity reporting requirements.

–Mark

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Just to put a finishing touch on this thread, see this blog entry from HCL:

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