You can check for cached files on the relay here:
C:\Program Files\BigFix Enterprise\BES Relay\wwwroot\bfmirror\downloads\sha1
The confusion is that you’re misunderstanding what is being logged and the purpose of that URL in the log.
Let’s walk through the log (Log messages listed first then summary):
At 00:15:08 +0530 - mailboxsite (http://DC01HQIEM001.company.tld:52311/cgi-bin/bfgather.exe/mailboxsite2970131)
Downloaded ‘http://IN19INIEM001.company.tld:52311/mailbox/files/44/30/4430d8d5fa34b5442e0526e0dba5c04c66e5432d’ as 'Action 1138.fxf’
Gather::SyncSiteByFile adding files - count: 1
The client has noticed a change in its mailbox site and has downloaded the action
At 00:15:09 +0530 -
Successful Synchronization with site ‘mailboxsite’ (version 34) - 'http://DC01HQIEM001.company.tld:52311/cgi-bin/bfgather.exe/mailboxsite2970131’
Processing action site.
Processing a new action
At 00:15:12 +0530 - mailboxsite (http://DC01HQIEM001.company.tld:52311/cgi-bin/bfgather.exe/mailboxsite2970131)
Relevant - Deploy X-Lite (fixlet:1138)
The client knows it now needs to deploy X-Lite (From the action #1138)
At 00:15:13 +0530 -
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) Action signature verified for Downloads
DownloadsAvailable: checking for 'http://IN19INIEM001.company.tld:52311/bfmirror/downloads/1138/0’
The client sees there is a download in the action and contacts the relay IN19INIEM001 for the download
At 00:15:14 +0530 -
DownloadsAvailable: false (action id 1138)
Relay says, “I don’t have the download, check back in a little bit”
At 00:15:21 +0530 -
Report posted successfully
At 00:15:22 +0530 -
Retry warning, attempt 2 succeeded for ForceNonexistence (/Library/Application Support/BigFix/BES Agent/__BESData/__report)
At 00:17:35 +0530 -
DownloadPing command received (ID=1138)
Client receives a ping, “Cheer up guy, I didn’t have the file before but I do now!”
DownloadsAvailable: checking for 'http://IN19INIEM001.company.tld:52311/bfmirror/downloads/1138/0’
At 00:17:36 +0530 -
DownloadsAvailable: true (action id 1138)
Client doesn’t believe the relay so the client checks for the download, sure enough the download is available from the relay
DownloadsAvailable: checking for 'http://IN19INIEM001.company.tld:52311/bfmirror/downloads/1138/0’
DownloadsAvailable: true (action id 1138)
Client checks again for giggles
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) Non-Distributed - DownloadsAvailable
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) Submitting download request
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) Download url: 'http://DC01HQIEM001.company.tld:52311/Uploads/5a488acc79a738a407353a1922868969530663df/X-Litepkg.tmp’
The client grabs the URL provided in the action and says, “This is my download URL”. If the file wasn’t on the relay or the client was set to download directly instead of using a relay, it would download it now but because the relay has the file it will take the hash of the file and ask the relay for that file
At 00:19:03 +0530 -
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) Non-Distributed - DownloadsAvailable
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) Action signature verified for Execution
ActionLogMessage: (action:1138) starting action
Everything’s set, lets run the action
At 00:19:03 +0530 - actionsite (http://DC01HQIEM001.company.tld:52311/cgi-bin/bfgather.exe/actionsite)
Command succeeded (Prefetch download manager collected file) prefetch X-Litepkg.tmp sha1:5a488acc79a738a407353a1922868969530663df size:43395863 http://DC01HQIEM001.company.tld:52311/Uploads/5a488acc79a738a407353a1922868969530663df/X-Litepkg.tmp sha256:02d2421d092509b09de001bfb45c02fcdcc9e47411d0c36152c130872b3d77c9 (action:1138)
I was able to download the file from the relay, let’s go!
The URL in the prefetch command is only used if the download isn’t available on the server. If this was a new windows patch the server/relay would say, “I don’t have that file, I’ll follow the URL to get the file!”.
Because this is an upload (likely from software distribution dashboard) the client asks for the file from the relay, the relay asks for it from the server, and the server grabs it from the Uploads directory and gives it to the relay who gives it to the client.
Let me know if you’d like further explanation for any part and I hope this was helpful!