HCL-BF-PRO-10 HCLSoftware U Certified Professional-BigFix Platform 1 Questions and Answers

• When creating a scheduled activity in Web Reports, the Activity Actions box allows the user to specify what actions to take when the activity runs1.
• The available options are:
• The user can select one or more of these options for each scheduled activity. For example, the user can email and archive the report, or email and run the executable, or archive and run the executable, or do all three1.

References:

• 1: Creating Scheduled Activities

• When installing the BigFix agent on a Windows endpoint, you can optionally include a pre-defined settings file in the same directory as the setup.exe file, to create custom settings for the Windows client at installation time, for example to assign the new client to a specific parent relay1.
• The name of this file must be clientsettings.cfg12. This file should contain one setting per line, in the format SETTING_NAME=SETTING_VALUE23.
• The other options are incorrect because:
• For more information on how to use the clientsettings.cfg file and what settings can be defined, see the following references. References:
• 1: Installing the Client using the .exe setup
• 2: Clientsettings.cfg question
• 3: Unix/Linux/Mac Client Deploy Tool

• An analysis is a custom content that allows operators to monitor and audit specific properties of the managed BigFix clients12.
• To create an analysis, an operator needs to have the Can Manage Analyses permission, which grants the ability to create, edit, activate, and deactivate analyses3 .
• This permission can be assigned to any console operator, regardless of whether they are master or non-master operators3 .
• Therefore, the correct answer is D. Only console operators with the Can Manage Analyses permission are allowed to create an analysis. References:
• Create Analysis - HCL Product Documentation
• Creating Analyses - HCL Product Documentation
• Operators and analysis - HCL Product Documentation
• [Operator Permissions - HCL Product Documentation]

• A Non-Master operator can create a Retrieved Property by creating an Analysis, which is a collection of properties and relevance expressions that can be evaluated on a set of computers1.
• To create an Analysis, the operator needs to have the Create Custom Content permission and the Read permission on the site where the Analysis will be created2.
• To create an Analysis, the operator can follow these steps3:
• After creating the Analysis, the operator can activate it by right-clicking on it and choosing Activate from the context menu. The Analysis will then be evaluated on the computers that match the relevance expression and the property values will be reported to the server4.
• The operator can view the property values by selecting the Analysis from the Analyses list area in the Console and then selecting the Results tab. The property values will be displayed in the columns corresponding to the property names.
• The operator can also use the property values as filters, sorts, or targets in other Console features, such as computer listings, Fixlet actions, or Web Reports.

References:

• 1: What is an Analysis?
• 2: Creating an Analysis
• 3: Creating an Analysis
• 4: [Activating an Analysis]
• : [Viewing Analysis Results]
• : [Using Analysis Properties]

• To create a custom Fixlet, you need to use the Action Script language, which is a set of commands that run on relevant clients to fix the problem identified by the Applicability Relevance clause1.
• The Action Script language supports various types of scripts that can be executed on different operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc2.
• Some of the valid Action Script types are:
• Among the options given in the question, Powershell and csh are valid Action Script types, as they are supported by the waithidden, runhidden, wait, and run commands2.
• Powershell is a scripting language for Windows systems, which can be executed by using the powershell.exe executable2.
• csh is a shell script for Unix-like systems, which can be executed by using the csh command2.
• AppleScript, Python, and Javascript are not valid Action Script types, as they are not supported by the Action Script language2.
• AppleScript is a scripting language for Mac OS systems, which can be executed by using the osascript command2.
• Python is a general-purpose programming language, which can be executed by using the python command2.
• Javascript is a scripting language for web browsers, which can be executed by using the cscript.exe or wscript.exe commands on Windows systems2.

References:

• The Action Script Language
• Action Script Guide

According to the BigFix Platform documentation, the Site Administrator is responsible for installing and maintaining the BigFix software, and to run administrative tasks that globally affect the environment such as site-level signing keys management. There is only one Site Administrator for a BigFix environment1.

Some of the global system options that the Site Administrator can set and modify are:

• The default masthead file and license certificate
• The default site subscription policy
• The default client settings
• The default relay settings
• The default server settings
• The default Web Reports settings
• The default WebUI settings
• The default LDAP settings
• The default SAML settings
• The default audit log settings
• The default DSA settings
• The default proxy settings
• The default encryption settings
• The default caching settings
• The default logging settings
• The default performance settings
• The default security settings
• The default diagnostic settings

To set and modify these global system options, the Site Administrator must use the BigFix Administration Tool, which is a separate application from the BigFix Console. The Site Administrator must also have the Action Site Credentials, which are a special key generated during the installation process.

The other options (A, B, and D) are not exclusive to the Site Administrator, and can be performed by other Console Operators, depending on their permissions and roles.

References:

• BigFix Site Administrator and Console Operators
• Site administrator responsibilities
• Global system options
• [BigFix Administration Tool]

Here is a step by step comprehensive explanation of why this is the case:

• The Action Script you are testing is trying to stop, start, and execute a service using batch commands.
• The first line of the script uses the “appendfile” command to create a new file with the content “net stop myService”.
• The second line of the script uses the “move” command to rename the file created by “appendfile” to “c:\runme.bat”.
• The third line of the script uses the “waithidden” command to execute the file “c:\runme.bat” and wait for it to finish.
• The fourth line of the script uses the “appendfile” command again to create a new file with the content “net start myService”.
• The fifth line of the script uses the “move” command again to rename the file created by “appendfile” to “c:\runme.bat”.
• The sixth line of the script uses the “waithidden” command again to execute the file “c:\runme.bat” and wait for it to finish.
• The error occurs at the fifth line of the script because “appendfile” is trying to copy content to “c:\runme.bat” which already exists due to the previous actions in the script. In BigFix Action Script, “appendfile” is used to create a new file or append to an existing one, but it seems there’s an issue with overwriting or permissions that causes this line to fail.
• To fix this error, you can either delete the file “c:\runme.bat” before using “appendfile” again, or use a different file name for the second “appendfile” command.

Some references that support this explanation are:

• BigFix Action Script guide: 1
• BigFix Action Script reference: 2
• BigFix Action Script examples: 3
• BigFix Action Script best practices: 4

• The GatherDB.log file records the activity of the GatherDB service, which is responsible for importing external site content into the BigFix database.
• The GatherDB service runs periodically to check for new versions of external sites and download them from the BigFix server or relay.
• The GatherDB.log file contains information such as the site name, version, size, download time, and import status for each external site.
• The Console Operator can review the GatherDB.log file to troubleshoot issues with external site imports, such as missing or outdated site content, download errors, or import failures.
• The GatherDB.log file is located in the BES Server\GatherDBData folder on the BigFix server or relay. References:
• GatherDB.log
• Troubleshooting Site Gather Issues
• GatherDB Service

• Message Level Encryption (MLE) allows your Clients to encrypt upstream data using a combination of an RSA public/private key-pair and an AES session key1.
• When MLE is enabled, the BigFix Root server (or a decrypting Relay) needs to use the corresponding RSA private key to decrypt the AES session key, which is then used to decrypt the Client report1.
• This decryption process consumes CPU resources on the BigFix Root server, and the amount of CPU usage depends on the number of encrypted reports received and the key length used1.
• Therefore, the BigFix Root server requires additional CPU resources appropriate to the number of managed endpoints to process the encrypted reports1.
• The other options are incorrect because:
• 1: Message Level Encryption (MLE) Overview
• 2: [Enabling encryption on Relays]

• To define password complexity criteria for local Web Reports users, you need to edit the webreports.cfg file located in the C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Server\BESReportsServer\wwwroot\cgi-bin directory.1
• In the webreports.cfg file, you can set the following parameters to customize the password complexity requirements:2
• After editing the webreports.cfg file, you need to restart the Web Reports service for the changes to take effect.1

References:

• 1: https://help.hcltechsw.com/bigfix/9.5/platform/Platform/Web_Reports/c_web_reports_config_file.html
• 2: https://bigfix-wiki.hcltechsw.com/wikis/home?lang=en-us#!/wiki/BigFix%20Wiki/page/Console%20User%20Password%20Policies

• The BigFix Client contacts its Relay to gather new content using the UDP protocol on port 52311 (by default).
• The UDP protocol is used for notifications, which are messages sent by the Relay to inform the Client that there is new content available, such as actions, fixlets, tasks, or analyses.
• The Client then initiates a TCP connection with the Relay on the same port to download the new content and report the results back to the Relay.
• The TCP protocol is used for data transfers, which are more reliable and secure than UDP, but also more resource-intensive and slower.
• The Relay then forwards the Client reports to the Root Server or another Relay using the TCP protocol as well. References:
• Port requirements for communication between root to clients via relay
• BigFix Wiki - BigFix Relays
• How is BigFix secure? Authentication or Protocol used in BigFix for secure communication

To upgrade a DSA environment, the following steps are required:

• Run the BigFix Server upgrade on the primary server first, following the manual upgrade instructions1.
• Verify that the primary server is upgraded successfully and that all the services are running.
• Run the BigFix Server upgrade on the secondary servers, one at a time, following the same manual upgrade instructions1.
• Verify that the secondary servers are upgraded successfully and that all the services are running.
• Verify that the DSA replication is working properly and that the data is consistent across all the servers.

References:

• Manual upgrade - HCL Product Documentation
• BigFix Wiki - BigFix Upgrade Best Practices
• Deploy newer version of BigFix Server on DSA, viable?

• To upgrade the BigFix platform components, you need to follow the recommended order and the version rules as documented in the Upgrade Paths and the BigFix Upgrade Best Practices.
• The recommended order of upgrading the components is as follows:1
• The version rules for the components are as follows:12

References:

• 1: Upgrade paths for BigFix 10 - HCL Product Documentation
• 2: Upgrading on Windows systems - HCL Product Documentation
• 3: BigFix Wiki - BigFix Upgrade Best Practices

• The WebUI is a web-based interface that provides access to the flexibility and power of BigFix.
• The WebUI has some upper use limits that depend on many factors, such as the number of endpoints, the workload, the time of day, the server location, and the number of concurrent users.
• Concurrent users are defined as highly active users who perform multiple actions per minute on the WebUI.
• According to the BigFix Capacity Planning Guide, both the Windows and Linux WebUI instances support 36 concurrent users on a 250k deployment base. This is the recommended scalability limit for the WebUI server on BigFix v10.x.
• The WebUI also requires additional hardware resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage, to power the WebUI. These resources are in addition to the BigFix root server requirements and depend on the number of concurrent users.
• The WebUI also implements a database cache for several counters to improve the WebUI response times. The cache has a default refresh interval of 10 minutes. References:
• Hardware Requirements
• WebUI Administrators Guide
• BigFix WebUI