Install sql server on Bigfix inventory

Usage and Config BFI
21

Let me present official approach to MS SQL 2016 working with BFI/LMT.

As it was already announced in the technote (https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22016328),
the changes introduced in MS SQL 2016 make this database incompatible with 9.2.12 and older versions of ILMT and BFI.

To be more specific, the inventory data is impacted, as even the simple comparison operation of the information about the same date and time performed on this database provides the incorrect result
Due to such MS SQL 2016 behavior change, ILMT and BFI cannot reliably work with the database records, and cannot correctly process the new, updated or deleted data.

For an example of such issue, see:

· MS SQL 2016 is not supported by 9.2.12 or any earlier ILMT/BFI server, regardless of the SQL Server compatibility level (changing compatibility level to SQL Server 2014 does not resolve the problem with the incorrect result of comparison operation).

· Any audit snapshot generated on SQL 2014 and any other database supported for ILMT or BFI is valid.

· Any audit snapshot generated on SQL 2016 is invalid, regardless of the reporting period covered.

o If you step into not supported configuration, if possible, revert to supported database version and recover data from the latest backup performed before switching to MS SQL 2016.

· According to the current plan, ILMT and BFI support for MS SQL 2016 is going to be released at the end of 3Q 2018. Wait for the new release before upgrading ILMT or BFI database to MS SQL 2016.

· ILMT and BFI team is considering a possibility to help customers who entered the unsupported path with a solution to preserve configuration (bundlings, vm managers, custom signatures, users & roles, etc), but not inventory data.
Watch the forum for updates regarding this topic.

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22

Looks like 9.2.13 is out…and it supports SQL 2016.

Though the wording is a little odd…does this mean I cannot upgrade 9.2.11 to 9.2.13 because I’m already on SQL 2016?

BigFix Inventory server is now supported on MS SQL 2016 for fresh installations.

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23

Hi,

Check this link: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22016328 it is updated now.

24

Yep. That makes it sound like you should have no problem upgrading to 9.2.13 from a previous version that has already been using SQL 2016. The caveat being that there are no guarantees on data validity for a very specific collection prior. Now we just need someone to perform the upgrade to validate.

25

@AlexaVonTess I upgraded 9.2.11 to 9.2.13 today via the Fixlet. So far, so good. After the upgrade, need to open the web interface to run the schema update.

There’s a warning that the first import may take longer than usual. I started a manual import, and so far it’s been running for about an hour (my nightly imports have been taking fifteen minutes).

26

That’s normal and thanks for the update! I just came back from time off and after I catch up, I plan do run this… Friday or next week.

27

Since this upgrade also updates the software catalog, import will take more than usual.

28

I upgraded and all has gone well. I do have a question, something I’ve never done before:

The document states that it Updated Analyses: Installed Windows Applications and Software Scan Status

Do we need to Deactivate/Activate those for the changes/updates to take or just leave them?

29

You don’t have to modify analyses, they will be updated automatically

30

Right, but often, in the case of open Actions, something being updated has to be stopped/started for the change to take… Maybe not the case with Analyses. Thanks.

31

Right…if the fixlets are updated and you want to take advantage of the new definitions, then you need to manually stop the old actions and start the new ones. We (BFI) keep backward compatibility though so that usually you may run the old actions with new server as well, but this is not the recommended approach as usually the functionality may not be full.

32

Is it safe to say that upgrading the SQL server from 2012 to 2016 if the ILMT version is 9.2.4.0? I assume so, but I haven’t seen anywhere where it is specifically called out for specific versions that are newer of ILMT. Thank you

33

9.2.4.0 no, 9.2.14 yes

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