Product:
IBM BigFix Inventory application update 9.2.11
Features:
This update contains features that extend software discovery and enhance license reporting. The key features include:
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Improved license planning and prevention of security risk by setting up and monitoring end of support dates for selected software products
BigFix Inventory provides the end of support dates for selected IBM software products and components for which the information has been announced. Additionally, it provides the possibility of manually adding end of support dates for products and components that are not available out of the box.
Benefits: You can use information about end of support to easily define license demand for the future. You can also use it for security purposes. For example, to determine whether software installed on a computer that is under investigation is still supported or could be exposed to security vulnerabilities. -
Extended reporting capabilities for Virtual Processor Core (VPC) license metric
BigFix Inventory measures utilization of the Virtual Processor Core (VPC) metric. The metric is based on the number of virtual cores (vCPUs) that are available to the product. VPC consumption is reported on the physical server level as well as across servers similarly to what is available for other license metrics such as PVU.
Benefits: You can measure virtualization capacity that is used within a physical server as well as across servers for VPC licenses to properly monitor usage of resources as well as perform adequate license management control. -
Introduction of the Package Data Summary report
The Package Data report lists software packages that are discovered on the computers in your infrastructure. You can find out what is the name of every package, its version, vendor, description, and type. Every occurrence of the package is listed as a separate row on the report.
This application update introduces the Package Data Summary report. The report provides an aggregated view of the discovered packages with a number of times each package appears in the infrastructure. This number is a hyperlink that brings you to the detailed list of computers where the package is deployed.
From the Package Data Summary report, you can generate software signatures with one click. You can also select multiple packages and create signatures in bulk.
Benefits: The process of creating signatures from package data is simplified. You can easily create software signatures for up to 20 components at once. Additionally, the report provides information about which packages were already used as signatures, so you can focus only on the remaining ones. -
Reporting information about the detailed version of Windows applications
Installed software components that are detected based on the presence of specific files are reported with a detailed version which is the same as the file version. The information is shown in the Component Detailed Version column on the Software Classification report.
Benefits: The information can help you decide whether versions of installed software components are covered by your entitlements and are in line with the company policy. It can also be used for security purposes. For example, to check whether the latest security patches are installed or whether versions with vulnerabilities exist in the infrastructure. -
Updates of the software catalog will be delivered in the form of content packs
Until now, the software catalog was versioned, published and updated separately. From the following release, the software catalog will be delivered in the form of a content pack that is versioned along with the version of the application.
Additionally, the process of updating the software catalog is simplified. You simply need to run the Software Catalog Update task that downloads the software catalog, and automatically uploads it to the BigFix Inventory server during the next import of data.
Benefits: Manual upload of the software catalog through the BigFix Inventory user interface is no longer needed. -
Discovery of new components from Windows, Corel, Adobe, Symantec and SAP
The software catalog is extended to discover new components from Windows, Corel, Adobe, Symantec and SAP. To discover the components, ensure that you upgrade BigFix Inventory to version 9.2.11.
Published site:
IBM BigFix Inventory - version 105.
Action to take:
To learn how to get the application update and deploy it as well as to view the full list of new features and APARs that were fixed in this application update, see the following link: http://ibm.biz/bfi_update_9211.
During the upgrade, new versions of the software catalog and PVU table are uploaded. The versions that are uploaded are the newest ones that were available during the release of the application update to which you are upgrading.
BigFix Inventory Team
