WebServices/SOAP - Can I get anything I want out of it?

Reporting
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(imported topic written by ken@gracenote91)

Is there any limitation to the kind of information that I could get out of the SOAP API?

For example, Can I pass any relevance statement or retrieved property request and get information back?

I am asking this because I am wrestling with how I would integrate my GRC platform with BigFix.

I am currently trying to decide between going with Archer or Agiliance.

I just saw Agililiance’sm Bigfix connector - which uses SOAP. Generally pretty nice, although they are a little limited in what they retrieve. I am trying to understand if the limitation is strictly on the Agiliance side of things, or if there is any limitation on BigFix.

Tomorrow Archer is coming in and trying to integrate. As of my last discussion with BigFix ProServices, the thought was to use WebReport to generate a CSV file on an ongoing basis and dump it to a particular location that Archer would parse. This seems a little cludgy. Wondering if If there are any limitations on BigFix side if I decide to tell Archer to do it via webservices.

I know that I DONT want to do it via SQL calls

Ken

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(imported comment written by Lee Wei)

Ken,

I am glad to hear that you choose not to use SQL. You are correct that the SOAP API will give him better compatibility and flexibility going forward.

Yes, you can pass any Session Relevance statements via the SOAP interface. That will include any retrieved property. The Excel Connector is built using only the SOAP API.

http://forum.bigfix.com/viewtopic.php?id=3564

Lee Wei

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(imported comment written by ken@gracenote91)

What are the best technical documents available for dealing with the BigFix SOAP interface ?

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(imported comment written by Lee Wei)

The SOAP interface is documented in the Web Reports User’s Guide on page 71.

http://support.bigfix.com/product/documents/BigFix_Web_Reports_72_091101.pdf

Note that the interface itself is not difficult, as it is a simple interface that enables passing Session Relevance to Web Reports.

Sessions Relevance itself is documented at: http://support.bigfix.com/fixlet/

If you need to talk to someone, you can send me a Private Message.

Lee Wei

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(imported comment written by ken@gracenote91)

Is there a way to view the SOAP messages/relevance queries that the excel connector generates for a particular spreadsheet ?

Ken

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(imported comment written by Lee Wei)

Yes, you can see the relevance being generated.

In the next version, I will make it easier to see.

For now, you just need to unhide the sheet “BigFixExcelConnector”.

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(imported comment written by ken@gracenote91)

Nice…

So here is what that hidden sheet shows:

(item 0 of it & “$x$” & item 1 of it & “$x$” & item 2 of it & “$x$” & item 3 of it & “$x$” & item 4 of it & “$x$” & item 5 of it ) of ((if (exists result (item 0 of it, item 1 of it) ) then (concatenation “%0A” of values of result (item 0 of it, item 1 of it)) else ("")) , (if (exists result (item 0 of it, item 2 of it) ) then (concatenation “%0A” of values of result (item 0 of it, item 2 of it)) else ("")) , (if (exists result (item 0 of it, item 3 of it) ) then (concatenation “%0A” of values of result (item 0 of it, item 3 of it)) else ("")) , (if (exists result (item 0 of it, item 4 of it) ) then (concatenation “%0A” of values of result (item 0 of it, item 4 of it)) else ("")) , (if (exists result (item 0 of it, item 5 of it) ) then (concatenation “%0A” of values of result (item 0 of it, item 5 of it)) else ("")) , (if (exists result (item 0 of it, item 6 of it) ) then (concatenation “%0A” of values of result (item 0 of it, item 6 of it)) else ("")) ) of (bes computers, bes property “Computer Name”, bes property “DNS Name”, bes property “IP Address”, bes property “Subnet Address”, bes property “OS”, bes property “Active Directory Path”)

BES Computers

!!Computer Name|!!DNS Name|!!IP Address|!!Subnet Address|!!OS|!!Active Directory Path|

I’m trying to decipher this…

While I have not yet been to an authoring class, clearly, the first section is relevance.

What is “BES Computers”? Is that a filter used in the query? Or is that just for excel to stick in cell A3?

and finally, how about that final line… that looks like the excel column headers. Is that used by Bigfix or is that used by excel to format the results ?

I guess what I am really after is understanding what a well formed SOAP request would look like for the above relevance statement.

The goal of my question is so that I could have an example that I could show my 3rd party vendor for this query and have them make it happen from within their application. Obviously, they would need to parse the response and map it into their application

Thanks

Ken

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(imported comment written by Lee Wei)

Ken,

You are interested only in the first cell statement. Yes, that would be the relevance statement.

The rest are just information to remind the Excel Connector the selections made by the end user.

For your 3rd party vendor, you can provide them with the WSDL (Web Service Desc Language) for the BigFix SOAP interface.

This will tell them the interface available. Once they set up the connection, relevance statements are like SQL - you can send many statements through that protocol.

http://corona:52312/webreports?wsdl

Replace the server and port number for your Web Server.

Lee Wei

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(imported comment written by ken@gracenote91)

What type of webreport user account must the SOAP requester use? When I set up the service account in webreports for the 3rd party application to use to submit SOAP requests, can I use “Normal” user ?

Also, is there an easy way to configure it so that the credentials do not travel over the network in the clear?

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(imported comment written by Lee Wei)

The SOAP request can use any Web Reports users. The context and visibility of the data will be as available to the Web Reports user.

You can use HTTPS to encrypt the data being passed to Web Reports.

The Web Reports User’s Guide has a section on configuring Web Reports to use https.