Using BIgFix to pull firmware version

Content Authoring
1

Is it possible to use BigFix to pull firmware versions from HP Servers?

2

Are these X86 or other types of servers?

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3

And which OS’s (or OS Families) are you wanting the information from?

  • Windows
  • *NIX

There is a property BIOS that at least for most of my Windows computers returns a Date.

Q: BIOS as string
A: 01/14/13
T: 0.054 ms

The computer I run the Console on (and tested the above statement on) was manufactured in 04/2013 according to the sticker on the bottom, so that date seems about right.

On my Linux/Unix boxes, there is no BIOS object to inspect but something might be available through another object.

On my Mac, it returns the following …

Q: BIOS as string
A: MM71.88Z.0230.B00.1802091122
T: 45273

Not sure how to decode that string, but the last 10 digits appear to be a date (02/09/2018 1122). Might be able to Google to find how to decode that.

These results were with BES Client Versions > 9.5.1, but I believe the BIOS object has been there for a while.

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4

These are X86 Windows servers.

5

I’m doing that with the dmi family of inspectors, should be able to post something shortly.

HP’s are a pain in particular because they don’t properly represent version numbers. “J20” is not a version!

6

Thanks very much all

7

This should help, depending on your needs…

q: vendors of bios_informations of dmi
A: Hewlett-Packard
T: 0.165 ms
I: plural string

q: manufacturer of system_information of dmi
A: Hewlett-Packard
T: 0.169 ms
I: singular string

q: family of system_information of dmi
A: 103C_53335X G=D
T: 0.164 ms
I: singular string

q: product_names of system_informations of dmi
A: HP Z420 Workstation
T: 0.170 ms
I: plural string

q: bios_versions of bios_informations of dmi
A: J61 v03.92
T: 0.167 ms
I: plural string

q: (system_bios_major_release of it as string & "." & system_bios_minor_release of it as string) of bios_informations of dmi
A: 3.92
T: 0.247 ms
I: plural string

q: bios_release_dates of bios_informations of dmi
A: 02/09/2018
T: 0.164 ms
I: plural string

// I wanted a sortable version
q: (parenthesized part 3 of it & "_" & parenthesized part 1 of it & "_" & parenthesized part 2 of it) of matches(regex("([[:digit:]]{2})/([[:digit:]]{2})/([[:digit:]]{4})")) of bios_release_dates of bios_informations of dmi
A: 2018_02_09
T: 0.610 ms
I: plural string

q: serial_number of system_information of dmi
A: 2UA3291DD1
T: 0.264 ms
I: singular string

q: sku_number of system_information of dmi
A: LJ449AV
T: 0.305 ms
I: singular string
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8

Thanks very much. I am new to BigFix and not sure what to do with this info.

9

See https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS63NW_9.5.0/com.ibm.bigfix.doc/Platform/Console/c_creating_analyses.html for instructions on creating an Analysis. Each of the queries I listed should be separate Properties in the analysis. Since they don’t change frequently, you should set “Evaluate Every:” to something like one week. Take the “Q:” of the front of my queries, the “Q:” is just a special term in the Fixlet Debugger - you never include that when working in the Console.

Once the Analysis is activated, you can read the results in the Results tab of the analysis; in the Details pane of any computer; or add the property as a Column on any computer view.

10

I tried Q:BIOS as string on windows server it’s returning date.
Can you please let me know the query to check the Firmware version.

Thanks

11

Pay attention to the post from @JasonWalker. He includes WMI and DMI queries that will return additional information about the BIOS.