High level, general questions about BigFix

1

(imported topic written by DMC_BF91)

Very new to BigFix and need to know some general questions about its overall functionality.

  1. Does the client pull the patches from the server or does the server push the patches to the client?

  2. When scheduling an ‘Action’, what actually happens?

(for example:

–Patches are pushed at the set time, then copied, then installed?

or

–At the set time, does the client request the new patches, then download, then install?)

or

–Patches are copied to server then triggered to install at the set time?

----If so, will the server trigger the client at a set time, or will the client activate itself?

  1. Are the patches actually copied to the clients or are they ran from a file server?
2

(imported comment written by MattBoyd)

  1. Pull – although the server can send a “refresh” command to a client to have them check in with the server faster)

  2. As of version 8, I believe the files can be downloaded by the client in advance, then run at whatever time is set in the action.

  3. Files are actually copied to the client from a BES server or relay. No file servers or file shares are involved, and using a file server is generally not recommended.

3

(imported comment written by DMC_BF91)

boyd

  1. Pull – although the server can send a “refresh” command to a client to have them check in with the server faster)
  2. As of version 8, I believe the files can be downloaded by the client in advance, then run at whatever time is set in the action.
  3. Files are actually copied to the client from a BES server or relay. No file servers or file shares are involved, and using a file server is generally not recommended.

(We are beginning to test BigFix now and there are no relays involved yet.)

As for #2, after the files are copied in advance, is the ‘Action’ triggered by the server or client?

I ask because if something were to happen and cause the server to be unavailable, will the ‘Action’ never be able to take place?

4

(imported comment written by cstoneba)

if the main BigFix server crashed and your clients had downloaded the actions and were all queued up, they would continue to run. For example, if the clients were taken off the network (a laptop for example) your actions would still run. Sames true for servers. Now, since the server is down, you’d have no way to know if they succeeded or not of course…

5

(imported comment written by DMC_BF91)

cstoneba

if the main BigFix server crashed and your clients had downloaded the actions and were all queued up, they would continue to run. For example, if the clients were taken off the network (a laptop for example) your actions would still run. Sames true for servers. Now, since the server is down, you’d have no way to know if they succeeded or not of course…

That makes sense, but just to be sure (have to have answers for management), If the actions were currently taking place, they would continue to run.

But, for example, if a server had an action to take place at 5pm and crashed at 4pm, would that action still be triggered/started? Or another way of asking, would the server send the date and time to start the install, along with the patch, to the client and then would the client begin the install at 5pm (assuming the server is still down)?

6

(imported comment written by cstoneba)

If you send the action at 3pm to start at 5pm, and the main BES crashes at 4pm, I’m 95% sure that the action will still run on the endpoint. However, you would need the download to occur before the server dies, or else it won’t successfully run at 5pm.

7

(imported comment written by nls82591)

Can BigFix check the ioslevel (VIO Server level)? How?

8

(imported comment written by NoahSalzman)

Please start a new thread for that question.