[BESAdmin-Announcements] BigFix Patch for SUSE released a new download plug-in and other patching enhancements

[Announcements for BES Administrators]

BigFix is pleased to announce the release of the SCC Plug-in in the Manage 
Download Plug-ins dashboard. This new and enhanced download plug-in for 
SUSE uses the SUSE Customer Center (SCC) to download and cache patches 
from the Novell's website to the BigFix server. It retrieves package data 
directly from the vendor to help improve the accuracy and reliability of 
the package dependency resolution and repository support. 

All patch Fixlets in the 'Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools' and 'Patches 
for SLE 12 Native Tools' sites are updated to use the SCC download 
plug-in. 

The enhancements to the download plug-in make it highly extensible and 
robust, enabling such possibilities: 
- Ability to support new channels and repositories. 
- Installation and dependency resolution, as well as other patching 
functionalities, can be extended to other channels, not just to those that 
are shipped out of the box. 
- Eliminates dependencies on utilities such as bzip2, expect, and 
similar.  
- Improved performance related to downloading large numbers of packages, 
which consequently shortens the turnaround time for patching. 

Note: The SUSE download plug-in is still available and can be used with 
the Fixlets that are in custom sites. However, the SUSE download plug-in 
and outdated content are no longer supported for SUSE Linux Enterprise 
Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (x86 and x86-64).

Along with this release, BigFix Patch provides several other enhancements 
and features: 
- A solution that can combine the installation of updates for multiple 
packages into a single task, effectively reducing the execution time of 
the baseline and improving patch performance. 
- Enhanced download cacher that uses the SUSE repositories to download 
patches. 
- Improved logging messages for better troubleshooting. 

Patching using the SCC download plug-in and the Multiple-Package Baseline 
Installation feature can lead to improved reliability and faster 
deployment (about eight times faster than the previous solution). This 
data was determined in a controlled environment and may vary across 
environments.

  
Highlights:
Updated the Fixlets to support the new download plug-in. Please see the 
latest site versions under Published sites.
SCC Download Plug-in v1.0.0.1
SCC Download Cacher v1.0.0.1
Enable the Multiple-Package Baseline Installation feature - SLE 11 (ID 
#201)
Enable the Multiple-Package Baseline Installation feature - SLE 12 (ID 
#201)
Delete SUSE 11 Package List File for Multiple-Package Baseline 
Installation (ID #200)
Delete SUSE 12 Package List File for Multiple-Package Baseline 
Installation task (ID #200)
TROUBLESHOOTING: SUSE 11 Patching Deployment Logs – Cleanup task (ID #300) 

TROUBLESHOOTING: SUSE 12 Patching Deployment Logs – Cleanup task (ID #300) 

Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x32 - SP0 (ID #101) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x32 - SP0 (ID #102) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x86_64 - SP0 (ID #103) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x86_64 - SP0 (ID #104) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x32 - SP1 (ID #111) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x32 - SP1 (ID #112) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x86_64 - SP1 (ID #113) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x86_64 - SP1 (ID #114) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x32 - SP2 (ID #121) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x32 - SP2 (ID #122) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x86_64 - SP2 (ID #123) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x86_64 - SP2 (ID #124) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x32 - SP3 (ID #131) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x32 - SP3 (ID #132) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x86_64 - SP3 (ID #133) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x86_64 - SP3 (ID #134) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x32 - SP4 (ID #141) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x32 - SP4 (ID #142) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 11 - x86_64 - SP4 (ID #143) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 11 - x86_64 - SP4 (ID #144) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 12 - x86_64 - SP0 (ID #101) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 12 - x86_64 - SP0 (ID #102) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLES 12 - x86_64 - SP1 (ID #111) 
Multiple-Package Baseline Installation - SLED 12 - x86_64 - SP1(ID #112) 

Published sites:
Patching Support site, version 652
Patches for SLE 11 Native Tools, version 91
Patches for SLE 12 Native Tools, version 154
  
Actions to take: 
- Review your baselines. Ensure that the best practices for baselines 
listed at https://ibm.biz/Bdsc8D are followed. 
- Use the Manage Download Plug-in Dashboard (from the Patching Support 
site) to register the SCC download plug-in on the BigFix server. 
- Use the Baseline Synchronization Dashboard to update existing baselines 
and custom sites with the latest content from the external Fixlet sites. 
For details on how to sync your baseline components with the external 
sites, see https://ibm.biz/Bdsc8d.  

Resources:
- For more information about the download plug-in, see 
https://ibm.biz/BdsRWA.
- For more information about the download cacher, see 
https://ibm.biz/BdsRWV.
- For more information about the Multiple-Package Baseline Installation 
feature, see https://ibm.biz/BdsRW9.
- For troubleshooting information, see https://ibm.biz/BdsRW7.
- For Frequently Asked Questions, see https://ibm.biz/BdsRWk.

Application Engineering team
IBM BigFix Patch


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bigmail.bigfix.com/pipermail/besadmin-announcements/attachments/20161026/64c4a9d9/attachment.html>