Using HCL BigFix relevant Fixlets to upgrade IBM Workload Scheduler agents

Fixlets and tasks are central to HCL BigFix. Using Relevance statements, they target specific computers, remediating only those HCL BigFix clients affected by an issue. They are both packaged with an action script that can resolve the issue with a simple mouse-click.

For example, IBM Workload Scheduler Fixlets find, if relevant, only the IBM Workload Scheduler agents that have installed a version earlier than 10.2.3. The related actions then prepare the instance to install the upgrade and then upgrade the agent.

Fixlets and tasks differ mainly on how they get resolved.

A Fixlet is triggered by a Relevance clause that detects a vulnerability, for example a version earlier than 10.2.3 applied to agents. When an action is invoked to solve the vulnerability, this Fixlet automatically loses relevance and is no longer applicable on that specific HCL BigFix client. When a Fixlet action propagates through your network, you can track its progress using the Console, Web Reports, and the Visualization Tool. When you remedy every HCL BigFix client in your network, the Fixlet is no longer relevant and is removed from the list. If the vulnerability returns, the Fixlet is shown again in the list to address the vulnerability again.

A task comes with one or more action scripts that help you to adjust settings or to run maintenance tasks.

At any time, you can open a Fixlet to inspect the underlying Relevance expressions that are used to target clients, as well as the action scripts that are designed to address the issue. The language used is close to the human language to give you a high degree of confidence in both applicability and efficacy of the remedial action. You can also see precisely which computers in your network are affected by each Fixlet. When propagated, you can view the progress and ultimate history of each action taken on a client basis.

IBM Workload Scheduler provides the following Fixlets for each operating system to upgrade agents to the new version:

Prepare the upgrade of the IBM Workload Scheduler type_of_agent agent to version 10.2.3 for platform
Install the IBM Workload Scheduler type_of_agent agent to version 10.2.3 for platform

Where type_of_agent can be fault-tolerant, dynamic, for z/OS and platform is one of the supported operating systems.

If the first Fixlet is relevant and you click Take Action, HCL BigFix prepares the IBM Workload Scheduler agent for the upgrade by performing the following steps:

Downloads the images from the HCL BigFix server or relay.
Extracts the images.
Checks if the IBM Workload Scheduler command line tools are running (conman, composer, fileaid). If they are running, the action fails.
Enables the Install Fixlet for the upgrade

If one of the actions fails, the Fixlet fails and remains relevant. You can check the failed action by using the Status tab of the action. Perform the necessary steps to solve the problems on the agents and rerun the action.

Note: If the extract step fails, check if the extract tool is present on the agent. If it is not present, install the extract tool and rerun the action.

Note: If the procedure to prepare the agent upgrade fails with the following error:

Completed // Delete $TMP/run.sh
Completed delete "{parameter "TMP"}/run.sh"
Completed // Move __createfile to $TMP/run.sh
Completed move __createfile "{parameter "TMP"}/run.sh"
Completed // Execute run.sh
Completed wait sh "{parameter "TMP"}/run.sh"
Completed // Continue if the return code of the previous command was 0
Failed continue if {exit code of action = 0}

the problem is caused by an IBM Workload Scheduler process that did not stop. To solve the problem, run the following actions:

On UNIX operating systems, check the file:
```
/tmp/TWA/tws952/tws952_process_agent_user.txt
```
to find information about the process that is still running.
Kill the process.
Rerun the action.

To find information about the log file location for HCL BigFix on several operating systems, see: HCL BigFix Common File Locations .

If all the actions succeed, the Fixlet is no longer relevant and the next Fixlet becomes relevant. If you click Take Action for the new one, it upgrades the previously prepared agent instance to 10.2.3, performing the following steps:

Upgrades the instance.
Resets the fence to the original value.
Links back to the domain manager.

Also in this case you can check the status of the action through the relative tab and, in case of errors, solve the problems and rerun the action until it succeeds.