Course Description

IBM BigFix Inventory provides valuable insight into what software your organization owns - and what software it has installed but does not own - along with how often the software is being used. It supports better planning, budgeting and hardware and software license compliance, while mitigating security risk. In this course, you will learn to interact and operate the IBM BigFix Inventory solution. You will gain a solid understanding of the various components of the solution and will be able to configure, operate, develop reports, perform maintenance tasks, and troubleshoot IBM BigFix Inventory.

Objectives

Upon completion of the IBM BigFix Inventory course, students will be able to:

• Gain insight into the BigFix portfolio and BigFix Inventory's major offerings
• Understand Software ID / Discover, Signature ID / Creations, and software usage
• Learn to operate BigFix Inventory including the software catalog and custom software signatures; deploy scanners, and run disconnected scans
• Create and schedule reports (audit, RVU, PVU, customer) for both applications and infrastructure
• Learn techniques to maintain and optimize IBM BigFix Inventory
• Perform basic troubleshooting techniques for application and platform issues

Audience

-

Prerequisites

• BigFix Fundamentals
• Basic Microsoft Windows and VMWare skills

Content

Day 1 Overview

• Introduction, covering: benefits, risks, and advantages; the BigFix portfolio and adjacent IBM products; and roles and responsibilities
• Key Concepts, including: contracts; discovery; Fixlets, tasks, and analyses; highwater mark; background activities; and Bundling
• Features and Functions of BFI/LMT, including: software discovery and identification; signature discovery and creation; software usage counting; reports; IBM license compliance; and usage monitoring

Plan and Install

• Architecture of BFI/LMT, including: scalability (BigFix architecture, scan groups, data import); network design; Firewalls, proxy servers, and ports; network planning; airgapped networks; reporting groups; and migration
• BigFix Platform and BFI/LMT Infrastructure, covering: server and database requirements; disk space; permissions; multiple Inventory/LMT servers; Licensing & masthead; Installing BigFix Server, relays, and clients; security and access
• Implementation of BFI/LMT, including: installing the BFI/LMT server; automatic vs manual scan configuration; Virtual Machine Managers; FIPS compliance; security and access

Configure and Operate

• BFI/LMT Components, including the software catalog; PVU Table; Part Numbers; capacity data collection; public clouds; advanced scanning; supported virtualization technologies; disconnected scans; and custom software signatures
• Optimization, including activating analyses; authentication options; customize login page; advanced HTTP connectivity options; and data retention
• Reporting, which includes: automated bundling; software classification; RVUs, PVUs and other metrics; scheduling reports; tagging; advanced server settings; thresholds; enterprise software; audit snapshots; and contracts

Deploy

• Endpoints and Scanners, including AS400/i-Series; distributed OS scanners; and shared file systems
• Deployment Tasks, such as: upgrading the BFI Server; using BESAdmin; managing the BFI/LMT content site in BigFix; client categorization; backup and restore; roles in BFI/LMT; and permissions in BigFix

Day 2 Maintain

• BFI/LMT Application management, covering: software catalog upload and distribution to endpoints; deployment health; data imports; PVU tables; and database management
• BigFix Platform management, including: Fixlet site version; Platform updates and upgrades; VM Manager updates; Security and encryption; infrastructure health; and backup & restore

Troubleshoot

• BFI/LMT Application issues, such as: scanner diagnostic data; VM Manager statuses and actions; Debugging the import; database performance and connectivity; UI performance; and client cannot scan
• BigFix Platform Issues, covering: client to relay, and relay to server connectivity; diagnostics tool; fillDB issues; network loading; client diagnostics; and Recovering a BigFix server
• Support resources, including log locations; VM Manager command line options; manual catalog updates; IBM support; Forums and self-help