Performing initial configuration on Windows (BigFix scenario)

During the initial configuration, you create the License Metric Tool database and the application administrator. You also set up a connection to the BigFix® server and database.

1. Create the License Metric Tool database.
   1. Enter the host name of the database server. The format of the host name depends on whether you are connecting to a default instance of the MS SQL Server and use the default port.

      	Default instance of MS SQL Server	Non-default instance of MS SQL Server
      Default port	hostname	hostname\instance_name
      Non-default port	hostname:port	hostname\instance_name:port

   2. Enter the name of the application database.
      Restriction: Do not use the same name as the name of the BigFix database.
   3. Select the authentication mode.
      • Select Windows Authentication, to authenticate with a Windows user that you specified as the service owner during the installation of License Metric Tool.
        Restriction: If the MS SQL Server is installed on the same computer as License Metric Tool, enter the database host name without its domain name (FQDN) or use localhost instead. The host name can be specified as C1921680100 or localhost, but not as C1921680100.domain.com or 192.168.0.100.
      • Select SQL Server Authentication to authenticate with an MS SQL Server user. This authentication mode must be enabled in MS SQL Server. For more information, see: Enabling the MS SQL Server Authentication mode.
   4. To create the database instance, click Create.
2. Create the administrator of License Metric Tool.
   Tip: Avoid using admin, administrator, root or a similar name for the administrative account. Such an account might be prone to hacker attacks and locked out if an attacker exceeds the specified number of failed login attempts. For more information about the account lockout, see: Configuring user account lockout.
3. Select BigFix as the type of the data source, and click Next.
4. From the Data Source Type list, choose BigFix on DB2 or BigFix on SQL Server. Then, provide the name of the data source.
5. Optional: The Enable default scan schedule for this data source check box is selected by default. Clear this check box if you want to manually configure the scans.

   If you enable the default scan schedule, actions that are needed to collect data from the computers in your infrastructure are automatically started on the BigFix server. This option is advised for environments with up to a few thousand computers. For larger environments, finish the installation, divide the computers into groups, and then manually set up scan schedule for each group to avoid performance issues. For more information about the default and manual scan schedule, see: Setting up data collection (BigFix scenario).

6. Configure the connection to the database for the BigFix server. The database stores information about the computers and data that was discovered on these computers. Specify the host, port, database name, and credentials of the user that can access the BigFix database.
   

   If you selected BigFix on SQL Server, the format of the host name depends on whether you are connecting to a default instance of the MS SQL Server and use the default port.

   	Default instance of MS SQL Server	Non-default instance of MS SQL Server
   Default port	hostname	hostname\instance_name:port
   Non-default port	hostname:port	hostname\instance_name:port

7. Configure the connection to the BigFix server. The host name or IP address, and the API port number are automatically retrieved from the database. Specify only the administrative user that you created during the installation of BigFix.
   

   Note: If you do not want to provide the Master Operator, you can create a dedicated BigFix user that fulfills the following requirements:

   • Is assigned the IBM License Reporting (ILMT) v9 site
   • Is assigned computers that you are going to monitor, and the computer where the BigFix server is installed
   • Has the following permissions: Can use REST API, Can use Console, Custom Content, Can Create Actions

   The option is supported starting from BigFix 9.5.
8. Optional: If the BigFix and License Metric Tool servers are in separated networks, the automatic address lookup might return incorrect address. To disable the lookup, select Disable automatic address lookup, and specify the address manually. Then, configure additional environment variables on the License Metric Tool server. For more information, see: Configuring servers in separate networks (BigFix scenario).
9. To create connections to the databases, click Create.