Reading relevance - overwhelming task

Usage and Config Platform
1

Hi guys
I am new to BigFix.
Had been using it for a couple of months and one of the big challenge I faced is
reading the Relevance, especially for the MS patching fixlets.

At times, we need to find out why a server was marked not relevant for a patch in BigFix
but the administrator deem the patch relevance. Most of the time, the relevance text is overwhelming that
I gave up reading it.

Is there a tool or some guide line to help newbies with reading relevance?

All advise welcome
Thanks
Eng Keat

1 Like
2

Have you tried looking at http://developer.bigfix.com ?

3

You might want to test on a Client box separately each relevance statement from a mentioned fixlet using Fixlet Debugger or an analysis.

If you decide to test whole relevance statement in Fixlet Debugger, you may use the Graphical mode (File => New Tab => New Graphical Breakdown Tab)

For Fixlet Debugger, make sure to use the Client mode (Debug => Evaluate Using => Local Client Evaluator)

1 Like
4

Hi @yeoek,

Instead of reading relevance, I would recommend the following steps in order to find out why a server was marked not relevant (false negative):

  • Verify relevance evaluation result, by running relevances on the target endpoint using QnA tool
  • If relevances evaluate all True, try send refresh to the target endpoint, or clear the BigFix server cache.
  • If any of the relevances evaluates False, verify the following:
    • Patch is indeed needed for the endpoint (various ways in doing this, e.g. MBSA scan, looking at Windows Update)
    • Patch is installable on the endpoint (download the patch and manually run it)

You can open a PMR with IBM support if the above proves it’s a false negative case.

Hope the above helps.

1 Like
5

Thanks, I’ll give it a try

6

Note that another (potentially simpler) method to evaluate such relevance statements for testing purposes against an endpoint is via BigFix Query rather than QNA (https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSTK87_9.5.0/com.ibm.bigfix.webui.doc/WebUI/Users_Guide/c_bigfix_query.html). The advantage being that you don’t have to remotely connect to the machine to leverage Query, and you can quickly evaluate a given relevance expression across multiple machines at once.

3 Likes