Hi BigFix masters i was wondering if any one can help in understanding in how bigfix web reports in patch compliance works. Like which protocol does it takes to fetch the patching status.
Thanks in Advance
Do you mean Bigfix Web Reports, or the Bigfix Compliance web interface? They do different jobs, but use the same communication methods - a combination of REST API to the root server, and direct SQL queries to the bfenterprise database.
Hi @JasonWalker i am talking about both, how do they work ? Do they use SOAP protocol to fetch the information?
No, neither uses SOAP…they use direct SQL and REST API, though Web Reports does make its data available to SOAP clients.
Thanks @JasonWalker but do you have any documents which i can refer and get more knowledge regarding this topic.
@karthik04 - I believe the Patch Compliance leverages the same ETL method from SQL/DB2 (depending) that exists with importing the checklist data. The best I could find on this is here
I will check with the Product team to see if we have any other material for you on this.
@karthik04, In general Implemented BigFix doesn’t use any APIs to collect the data. All the data collection will be performed by BigFix Client and the Inventory Scanner Installed on each computer. All the data will be posted to the BF Enterprise database either on SQL/Db2 (According to the implementation). Once the data have been uploaded, the WebReports will run relevant quires and provide the Patch Compliance report. Where as in BigFix Compliance the data will be imported to the TEMA db (Compliance Data base, this is separate db) and the Compliance analytics will provide the reports based on the Filters selected. If your Patch compliance data is other than BigFix, then It uses REST/SOAP API to import/Query/Generate the report as you configure it.
Hi @shalva agreed that the data is being collected from the database after the scanning activity. What i wanted to know is ( we will take an example) when we initiated a patching activity onto one of the system. Once the patching is completed on that system once we take the patch compliance report from BigFix web reports immediately the compliance is increased onto that system and the action status still shows as Pending Restart. As we know the patch gets completed / applied onto a system once the system is being rebooted.
So here i am bit confused how the data is being fetched or generated in BigFix Webreports if the action status in the console still says as Pending restart and the Patch compliance in BigFix has also increased. As the data import is scheduled lately.
@karthik04 Agreed to your point, However, try once clearing the Console cache and re login, this may be helpful. For the data import part, the Compliance will not get changed until the Successful import. If you still facing problem just check with Technical Support.
The source fixlets are coded to become “Not Relevant” while they are pending a restart (usually via a clause like not pending restart "some_sha_value"
This is the same behavior that prevents reapplying the same patch before rebooting, also shows the fixlet Remediated in Web Reports.