BigFix requirements (BigFix scenario)

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The three major components of BigFix that you must install are server, console, and clients. The application also requires a database that stores all the data retrieved from the clients. Ensure that the computer on which you install the components meets all requirements before you start the installation.

Processor and RAM requirements for the BigFix platform

The values provided for BigFix were calculated with the assumption that the BigFix server, its database and Web Reports server are installed on a single server and that the BigFix server is dedicated to License Metric Tool. If you share the BigFix server between other applications, refer to the BigFix documentation for information about hardware requirements: BigFix 10 and BigFix 11 requirements.

Table 1. Processor and RAM requirements for BigFix, its database, and Web Reports server
Environment size Processor Memory

Small environment: up to 5 000 endpoints

 >2 GHz, 4 cores 10 GB

Medium environment: 5 000 - 50 000 endpoints

 >2 GHz, 4 cores 16 GB

Large environment: 50 000 - 150 000 endpoints

 >2 GHz, 4 - 16 cores 16 - 32 GB

Very large environment: 150 000 - 250 000 endpoints

 >2 GHz, 16 cores 32 - 64 GB

Processor and RAM usage by the BigFix client

The BigFix client alone can consume up to 2% of the processing power of one processor core on an endpoint. However, the client is complemented with software and capacity scans that collect necessary software and hardware information from your endpoints. Although the capacity scan reports very low CPU usage, the software scan can consume substantial CPU resources while a scan is in progress. To decrease the impact of a software scan on production system, it can be scheduled to run on the weekends or in the evenings. You can also run the software scan with the CPU threshold option that limits the consumption of your CPU resources.

Table 2. Processor and RAM usage for BigFix clients
Component CPU RAM Comments
BigFix client < 2 % < 20 MB  
Software scan Up to 100 %

You can limit the usage by running the scan with the CPU threshold attribute. For more information, see how to limit the amount of processor resources that the scanner consumes.

 < 80 MB The software scan runs on demand, and can be monitored by checking the following processes: wscansw, wscanfs.
Capacity scan < 1 % < 20 MB The capacity scan runs every 30 minutes, and can be monitored by checking the following process: wscanhw.

Detailed BigFix requirements by component

Table 3. Detailed BigFix requirements
Component Requirements
Server
Console
Clients
Database