[BESAdmin-Announcements] IBM BigFix Inventory and IBM License Metric Tool application update 9.2.14 is now available!
Announcements for BES Administrators
besadmin-announcements at bigmail.bigfix.com
Mon Dec 17 06:47:12 PST 2018
This update contains features that extend software discovery, enhance
license reporting and address security scenarios. The key features include:
· Reporting license usage for Adobe Creative Cloud products on Windows
(BigFix Inventory only)
BigFix Inventory reports utilization of the Registered User metric
for Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe CC) products. The information is
extracted during regular software scans directly from computers where
Adobe Creative Cloud products are installed. Based on the scan
results, the Registered User metric is displayed on the All Metrics
report. Detailed information about users is shown on the Software
Users report.
Benefits: Thanks to this feature, you can track licenses for Adobe CC
products to analyze trends, define thresholds and optimize costs by
identifying users of unused instances.
· Tagging software for more flexible categorization
You can now tag software components, or instances of the discovered
software to classify them. The tags might, for example, emphasize the
ownership of a software product, categorize it as a test or free of
charge instance, or mark it as blacklisted or approved.
Benefits: The reports allow more flexibility and can be customized to
carry additional information about software products that are
specific to your business.
· Reporting license usage for IBM Rational portfolio
Information about the usage of Floating User metric is now available
on the All Metrics report for IBM Rational products. The calculations
are available thanks to the integration with IBM Rational License Key
Server. The usage is provided in the .slmtag files.
Benefits: License consumption for IBM Rational portfolio can be
monitored and analyzed.
· Preview: New dashboard and reporting
o New dashboard is now available in License Metric Tool
The new dashboard presents an improved overview of your
inventory and license metrics. Additionally, it contains a
quick search that allows you to browse the software inventory
by the component name. To view the new dashboard, click Go to
New Dashboard & Reporting on the home page.
o Extension of the new dashboard and reporting in BigFix
Inventory
The newest additions to the new BigFix Inventory dashboard
include the summary of the most important inventory data,
recent changes, discovery gaps, and security issues in one
place.
The dashboard is also extended with quick search that allows
you to easily find information related to file hashes, file
names, vulnerabilities and software components.
Benefits: Improved dashboard experience that makes the summary of the
most important information available at a single view.
· Preview: Detecting malware threats based on SHA-256 file checksums
thanks to integration with IBM X-Force Exchange (BigFix Inventory
only)
By comparing the classification of the SHA-256 checksums with the
information from IBM X-Force Exchange portal, BigFix Inventory
displays the reputation of the discovered files on the Scanned Data
report. Thus, you can quickly identify which files in your
environment pose malware threats.
Benefits: Thanks to the information about file reputation, you can
better identify malware threats in your environment.
· Migrating software classification with REST API
You can use a new REST API request to migrate software
classification, for example, when moving agents between the instances
of the BigFix servers.
Benefits: Thanks to the new REST API, you can easily migrate the
software classification.
· Discovery of new components from Citrix, Oracle and SAP (BigFix
Inventory only)
The software catalog is extended to discover new components from
Citrix, Oracle and SAP. To discover the components, ensure that you
upgrade BigFix Inventory to version 9.2.14.
Below is the list of the most important newly added components. To
learn about their exact versions, use the Software Catalog widget in
BigFix Inventory to browse the catalog content.
· Added discovery capability for Citrix products
o Citrix Diagnostics Facility
o Citrix PowerShell Snap-In
· Added discovery capability for Oracle products
o Oracle Discoverer
o Solaris
· Added discovery capability for SAP products
o SAP PowerBuilder
· Added discovery capability for Adobe CC 2019
· Improved usage reporting for Java products
Benefits: More visibility into deployed products and components and
better license management without the need to develop custom
signatures.
· Information about the end of support dates for Microsoft products
(BigFix Inventory only)
The end of support dates are automatically populated for Microsoft
software that according to information provided on 20 November 2018
is announced to be out of support between 30 November 2015 and 1
November 2021.
Benefits: The information about the end of support dates for the
Microsoft software used in your organization is up-to-date and thus,
you can prepare for the forthcoming software updates.
· Security enhancements
The following components are updated to maintain the highest security
standards:
· On the server side:
o To maintain security, Java is upgraded to the newest
version: 8.0.5.25.
o WebSphere Application Server Liberty is upgraded to
version 18.0.0.3.
· On the endpoint side:
o Update of the Xerces library to version 3.2.1 on Solaris
Sparc and Solaris x86 to keep the scanner secure and
reliable.
· Support for new virtualization technologies
· SLES 11 for PowerVM on Power9 in Power8 compatibility mode.
· SLES 12 for PowerVM on Power9 in native mode.
· SLES 15 on Power9 with disconnected scanner in P9 native mode.
· Oracle VM Server for x86, version 3.4.x.
· Solaris Kernel Zones on x86 without nested virtualization (not
yet announced as IBM subcapacity eligible).
Action to take
To learn how to get the application update and deploy it as well as to view
the full list of new features and APARs that were fixed in this application
update, see the following links:
BigFix Inventory: https://ibm.biz/bfi_update_9214
License Metric Tool: https://ibm.biz/lmt_update_9214
Questions
If you have any product-related questions, please post them on one of the
following forums:
https://ibm.biz/BFI_Forum
https://ibm.biz/ILMT_Forum
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