Caching the files

Edit online

Typically, fixlets and tasks download files that they require from the Internet. In separated networks, the required files must first be cached on a Windows computer with the Internet access and then moved to the BigFix® server.

Before you begin

You need a Windows computer with the Internet access.
Important: You need to complete these steps only if you updated the site content in extraction mode. If you updated the site content in non-extraction mode, the steps are not required.

Procedure

  1. Optional: The default size of the BigFix server cache is enough if you use only the IBM License Reporting (ILMT) v9 fixlet site. If you plan to run fixlets from other sites, such as BES Support, increase the cache size so that the BigFix server does not try to delete any files. To increase the cache size, perform the following steps.
    1. Log in to the BigFix console.
    2. In the navigation tree, click Computers and right-click the computer on which the BigFix server is installed. Then, click Edit Computer Settings.
    3. Increase the value of the _BESGather_Download_CacheLimitMB setting. If the setting is not on the list, add it and specify the value in MB.
      The size depends on each fixlet site. You might need to increase it to at least a couple of gigabytes. The License Metric Tool site itself caches 3 GB of files.
  2. Copy the IBM License Reporting.efxm file from the BigFix server to the Windows computer with the Internet access.
    1. Log in to the computer where the BigFix server is installed and go to the install_dir\BES Server\wwwrootbes\bfsites directory.
    2. Copy the IBM License Reporting.efxm file and move it to the computer with the Internet access. Place the file in the C:\BigFix directory.
  3. Use the BES Download Cacher to download the required files.
    1. Download the BES Download Cacher to the computer with the Internet access. For information about downloading the tool, see: Transferring downloaded files in the BigFix documentation.
    2. On the computer with the Internet access, go to the C:\BigFix directory, and create a folder that is called downloads.
      Tip: Do not clean the contents of this folder. Next time, when you run the Download Cacher only the files that were changed since the last download will be updated. The process will last shorter than if you downloaded the entire content every time.
    3. Run the BES Download Cacher. 
      BESDownloadCacher.exe -m "C:\BigFix\IBM License Reporting.efxm" 
-x C:\BigFix\downloads
  4. Copy the contents of the downloads folder from the computer with the Internet access to the following directory on the BigFix server. 
    install_dir\BES Server\wwwrootbes\bfmirror\downloads\sha1

Results

The cached files are automatically delivered to the BigFix relays and clients every time you run a fixlet that requires those files. Use both the Airgap tool and the BES Download Cacher periodically to ensure that the content of your fixlet site is always up-to-date.

What to do next

When you run a fixlet, an action is created to indicate the status of its execution. If an action started by a fixlet is running and a newer version of the fixlet is delivered, stop the current action. Then, run the new version of the fixlet. To do this, perform the following steps.
  1. Log in to the BigFix console and go to Actions.
  2. Look for actions started by fixlets that were updated, right-click each action, and click Stop Action.
  3. Run the updated version of the fixlets.