Scanning good practices (BigFix scenario)

To ensure efficiency of software scans in large environments, divide the computers in your infrastructure into scan groups. First, create a benchmark scan group on which you can try different scan configurations to achieve optimal import time. After the import time is satisfactory for the benchmark group, divide the remaining computers into analogical scan groups. For more information, see: Dividing the infrastructure into scan groups (BigFix scenario).

It is a good practice to run the initial import before you activate analyses and schedule scans. The initial import uploads the software catalog from the installation directory to License Metric Tool, and extracts basic data about computers from the BigFix® server. Ensure that the scan data from the first scan group is available on the BigFix server, and then run the second import. When the scan results from the second scan group are available on the BigFix server, run the next import.

After you find the optimal size of scan groups, set the frequency of software scans. The most common frequency is weekly so that every endpoint is scanned once a week. If your environment has more than 100 000 endpoints, consider running scans less frequently, for example monthly. If scans are running daily, take system updates into account. When many files are modified, the next data import runs longer.

Scan frequency depends on how often software changes on the endpoints and on your reporting needs. Group endpoints on which software changes dynamically together and scan them more frequently, for example once a week. Group endpoints with a more stable set of software together and scan them less frequently, for example once a month.

By default, License Metric Tool retrieves four computer properties from the BigFix server: computer name, DNS name, IP address, and operating system. Imports can be much longer if you extract more properties from BigFix during each import. It is a good practice to limit the number of computer properties to 10 or fewer.

Create only as many computer groups as are needed. Import of data gets longer with a growing number of computer groups.

After the installation, imports are scheduled to run once a day. Do not change this configuration. Adjust the hour when the import starts. If your import is longer than 24 hours, you can improve configuration of scan groups. You can also preserve the current configuration because License Metric Tool handles overlapping imports. If an import is running, no other import is started.

Import of data is a computation-intensive task. Response time of the user interface can be slower during the import. Schedule the imports to take place when you are not likely to use the application user interface.