Free Practice Questions for HCL Software Academy HCL-BF-PRO-10 Exam

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

When an action is performed by the Master Operator, the action is saved in the Master Action Site, which is a special site that contains all the actions taken by the Master Operator.

The Master Action Site is replicated to all the relays and clients in the deployment, so that they can receive and execute the actions from the Master Operator.

The Master Action Site is also visible to all the operators in the console, but only the Master Operator can create, modify, or delete actions in this site.

The Master Action Site is different from the Master Operator Site, which is a custom site that contains content created by the Master Operator, such as Fixlets, tasks, analyses, and baselines.

The Master Operator Site is not replicated to the relays and clients, but it can be subscribed to by other operators or computers.

The Master Operator Site is also different from the source site of a Fixlet, which is the site where the Fixlet was originally published by the content provider, such as HCL or a third-party vendor.

The source site of a Fixlet is not affected by the actions taken by the Master Operator, unless the Master Operator modifies the Fixlet itself and republishes it to the same site or a different site.

The Local Operator Site is a custom site that contains content created by a non-master operator, such as Fixlets, tasks, analyses, and baselines.

The Local Operator Site is not replicated to the relays and clients, but it can be subscribed to by other operators or computers.

The Local Operator Site is not affected by the actions taken by the Master Operator, unless the Master Operator modifies the content in the Local Operator Site and republishes it to the same site or a different site. References:

Understanding sites

Creating and managing actions

Creating and managing custom sites

According to the BigFix Platform documentation1, the standard Relay configuration can support up to 5,000 endpoints per Relay, while the high scale Relay configuration can support up to 10,000 endpoints per Relay. The high scale Relay configuration requires more hardware resources and tuning parameters than the standard Relay configuration. To configure a high scale Relay, you need to follow these steps2:

Install the Relay on a dedicated server with at least 8 CPU cores, 16 GB of RAM, and 500 GB of disk space.

Set the _BESRelay_HTTPServer_MaxConnections setting to 2000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_PostResults_ParentRelayBufferDirectoryMaxSize setting to 10000000000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_PostResults_ParentRelayBufferDirectoryMaxCount setting to 100000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_PostResults_ChildRelayBufferDirectoryMaxSize setting to 10000000000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_PostResults_ChildRelayBufferDirectoryMaxCount setting to 100000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_Download_LimitBytesPerMinute setting to 0 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_Download_LimitBytesPerMinutePerClient setting to 0 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_Download_PreCacheStageDiskLimitMB setting to 100000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_Download_PreCacheStageDiskLimitPercent setting to 0 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_Download_CacheLimitMB setting to 100000 on the Relay.

Set the _BESRelay_Download_CacheLimitPercent setting to 0 on the Relay.

Restart the Relay service after applying the settings. References:

Relay scalability

Configuring a high scale Relay

The license.pvk file is the private key file that is part of the BigFix license. It is protected by a password that is set during the installation of the BigFix server.

The license.pvk file is used to authenticate the BigFix Master Operators, who are the highest level of authority in the BigFix hierarchy. They can perform any action on any computer or site in the BigFix deployment.

The license.pvk file is also used to sign the masthead file, which contains the configuration settings and the public key for the BigFix deployment. The masthead file isdistributed to all BigFix components, such as clients, relays, and consoles, to verify the identity and authority of the BigFix server.

The license.pvk file is not used to authenticate the BigFix Site Administrator, who is a special Master Operator that can manage the license and the masthead files. The Site Administrator uses the site admin password to access the license.pvk file and perform license-related tasks.

The license.pvk file is not used to authenticate the BigFix local operators, who are the lower level of authority in the BigFix hierarchy. They can only perform actions on the computers and sites that are assigned to them by the Master Operators. The local operators use their username and password to log in to the BigFix console.

The license.pvk file is not used to authenticate the BigFix LDAP operators, who are the local operators that are authenticated by an external LDAP server. They use their LDAP credentials to log in to the BigFix console. References:

Managing licenses

Missing or Lost license.pvk file

Check private key password - license.pvk

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

According to the BigFix Platform documentation, the upgrade Fixlet in the Support site does not upgrade a remote server correctly. You must run the full BigFix server installer to perform the upgrade. Remote database setups might encounter problems during upgrade and require resetting database connection settings after manually running the BigFix Server installer1.

The upgrade procedure is as follows:

Upgrade the Server Installers using the Support Fixlets.

Run the Server installer as a user that has DB Owner or SA permissions to the database server. The installer recognizes that the Server is at an earlier version and asks if you want to upgrade to the latest version.

Run the BigFix Administrator Tool (BESAdmin.exe) to update the remote database tables; you will be prompted for the site admin password. Note: The BESAdmin.exe should be run automatically, if your account has the DB Owner or SA privileges to the remote database.

The BigFix server is now correctly upgraded.

The other options (A, B, and C) are not correct because:

Running the server installer as a local administrator does not guarantee that the user has the appropriate database permissions.

Using the upgrade Fixlets from the console does not work for a remote server setup.

Upgrading the server installers and using the upgrade Fixlets from the BigFix Console is redundant and unnecessary.

References:

Upgrading a BigFix server with a remote database

[BigFix Server Upgrade Guide]

BigFix Clients are the endpoints that run the BigFix Agent software and communicate with the BigFix Server or Relays.

BigFix Clients periodically check for new content from the BigFix Server or Relays, such as Fixlets, Tasks, Actions, or Analyses.

The default interval for checking new content is 15 minutes, but this can be configured by the BigFix Administrator.

To reduce the network traffic and latency, BigFix also uses a notification mechanism to inform the BigFix Clients of new content as soon as possible.

The notification mechanism uses the UDP protocol, which is a connectionless and lightweight protocol that does not require a handshake or acknowledgment.

The BigFix Server or Relays send UDP packets to the BigFix Clients on port 52311, which is the default port for BigFix communication.

The UDP packets do not contain any content, but only serve to notify the BigFix Clients that there is something new for them to gather.

Upon receiving a UDP notification, the BigFix Client initiates a TCP connection to the BigFix Server or Relay to gather the new content over a secure and reliable channel.

The UDP notification mechanism can be enabled or disabled by the BigFix Administrator, and it can also be configured to use different ports or multicast addresses. References:

BigFix Architecture

BigFix Client Settings

BigFix Notification Guide