Using Tivoli Software Package Blocks in BigFix Enterprise Server v8 - Part 1

After doing some work with BigFix, I started investigating methods of implementing the use of SPBs into BigFix. After a little bit of trial, I have developed a fairly simplistic way to achieve this.

At a high level, the steps are
1. Create a standalone copy of the disconnected command line (DCLI from now on)
2. Create a task to deploy the DCLI
3. Create baseline to deploy DCLI to desired targets
4. Create tasks to deploy SPBs and executed with the DCLI


Create a standalone copy of the DCLI
The DCLI is a facility provided with TCM to allow package builders the ability to test SPBs locally on a test system. This is used to make sure that a package is behaving as desired without having to import into TCM and use the framework to install. By using the DCLI, a package builder is able to make changes to a package and “redeploy” in a relatively quick manner. Once a package installs with the desired effect via the DCLI, it is then imported into TCM for further testing. For products such as TPM, TPMfSW and the now defunct TPMDSD/TEM, this standalone method was what was being used.

In order to create a standalone version, you will first need to have the Software Package Editor as this contains the binaries required for the DCLI. You will also need the Tivoli Endpoint installed (this is a requirement for the SPE anyway) as this will have a couple DLLs that are also required. Once you have the SPE installed, follow the instructions below to create the image

1. Create a directory called C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn
2. Copy the directory C:\Program Files\Tivoli\swdis\speditor\w32-ix86 to the directory created in step 1. Note that the swdis directory may be installed in a different directory.
3. Edit the file C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes\swdis_env.bat and set it to the following:
set INTERP=w32-ix86 set speditor_dir=C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes set speditor_lib_path=C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes\..\lib set speditor_bin_path=C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes\..\bin set Path=%speditor_dir%;%speditor_lib_path%;%speditor_bin_path%;

4. Copy the following files from C:\Program Files\Tivoli\lcf\bin\w32-ix86\mrt to c:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\lib. Note: this list was created based on some testing of simple packages. There maybe more of these DLLs required.
a. Libcpl60.dll
b. Libdes60.dll
c. Libguid60.dll
d. Libmem60.dll
e. Libmrt60.dll
5. Optional: cleanup extra binaries that are not required for the DCLI
a. In the C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes directory, remove all files except swdis_env.bat
b. Remove the C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\msg_cat directory

This will be the working copy of the DCLI that will be used to import into BigFix. I have found other methods that can be used to import, such as using Winzip, but for now let’s stay with the importing of files and folders built into BigFix.

Create a task to deploy the DCLI

In the previous section the files that are required for the DCLI were identified and made ready for importing into BigFix. Now these tools need to be imported into BigFix and made ready for deployment.

In this section we will take the image created of the DCLI and build a Task out of it. This task will be under the Systems Lifecycle domain and then create a baseline to apply the Task to all computers.

1. Copy the DCLI files to the BES Server. For this example, they have been copied to C:\CID\disconn
2. Navigate to Systems Lifecycle > Wizards > All Wizards > Windows Software Distribution Wizard
3. Set the application name to Tivoli Disconnected Command Line. Press Next
4. Choose the “Folder” option and browse to (or type) C:\CID\disconn. Check the “Include Subfolders”. Press Next
5. Choose the operating systems that are desired for support. This should work for any platform that TCM supports in Windows, but this was only tested on Windows XP and 2003.
6. Set the target relevance to use the File option and set to C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes\swdis_env.bat.
7. In the “Full command line”, leave it with the setup.exe for now, this will be modified later.
8. Review the summary and press “Finish”

The wizard is now complete and the task will be displayed. From here, we need to make some custom modifications to extract the files/dirs and put them in C:\Program Files\Tivoli

1. In the Create Task dialog, select the Actions tab
2. Make the following changes:
a. Remove the line: wait __Download\setup.exe
b. Add the line: dos mkdir "C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn"
c. Add the line: dos move /y __Download\w32-ix86 "C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn"
3. Press the Edit button beside the Include custom success criteria”
4. Select “…the following relevance clause evaluates to false” and enter the string not exist file "C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes\swdis_env.bat". Press OK
5. Set the “Create in site:” to Master Action Site, and set the “Create in domain” to Systems Lifecycle. Note: the site could be made to something else, but for this example, we will just use the default. Press the OK button and enter the key password

The task is now created for deploying the Tivoli Disconnected Command Line to targets. Now that this is created, the next step is to deploy this task to the desired computers.


Deploying DCLI to targets

The task has now been created, what next? Well, we need it to get out to the targets so that we can then deploy SPBs. For this example, I will not be using any real complex targeting, I just want to get it out. Targeting is another discussion all together (which we kind of hit on when we go to deploy the SPBs). For my lab, my target computers all start with the name “win2kcli”, so what this example will do is create a site to do just that. Then create a baseline to target all the computers that are subscribed to the site and apply the DCLI as a policy.

Create custom site
1. Navigate to Systems Lifecycle > All Systems Lifecycle > Sites > Custom. Right click in the List Panel and select Create Custom Site
2. In the Create Custom Site dialog, enter “All WIN2KCLI Computers”. Press OK
3. This will create the new site and display it in the List Panel. From here the subscription needs to be set. Select the “Computers which match the condition below”
a. Set the property to “Relevance Expression”
b. Set the operator to “is true”
c. Press the “Edit Relevance…” button and enter the text computer name as lowercase contains "win2kcli". Press OK
4. Press the “Save changes” button and enter password.

Now that the custom site is created, target computers will start appearing under the site’s “Subscribed Computers”

Create Custom Group
In order to target for the baseline, a computer group needs to be created. This group will be assigned the same relevance as the site.

1. Navigate to Systems Lifecycle > All Systems Lifecycle > Sites > Custom > All WIN2KCLI Computers > Computer Groups
2. Right click in the List Panel and select “Create Automatic Computer Group”
3. Set the Name: All WIN2KCLI Computers CG
4. Create in site: All WIN2KCLI Computers
5. Create in domain: Systems Lifecycle
6. Set the relevance field to “Relevance Expression”
7. Set the condition to “is true”
8. Press the “Edit Relevance…” button
a. Enter: computer name as lowercase contains "win2kcli"
9. Press the Create button and enter your password

Create Baseline
The site has been created and the subscriptions set, now the baseline policy needs to be set to deploy the DCLI.

1. Navigate to Systems Lifecycle > All Systems Lifecycle > Sites > Custom > All WIN2KCLI Computers
2. Right click in the List Panel and select “Create New Baseline…”
3. Set the Name to “Deploy DCLI”
4. Set the Description to “Deploy Tivoli Disconnected Command Line”
5. Click on the Components tab (image create_baseline_2.jpg)
a. Set the Group Name to DCLI and press Save Group Name
b. Click on the “add components to group” link and press the Tasks tab
c. Navigate to All Tasks > By Source > Software Distribution Wizard and select Software Distribution – Deploy: Tivoli Disconnected Command Line and press OK
6. Click on the Relevance tab and select “Computers which match all of the relevance clauses below”. Set the clause to: not exist file "C:\Program Files\Tivoli\disconn\w32-ix86\classes\swdis_env.bat".
7. Set the Create in site to All WIN2KCLI Computers
8. Press the OK key and enter password

Activate Baseline
With the new baseline created, it now needs to be activated. Since we need to be on all the computers we need to set this as a policy.

1. Navigate to Systems Lifecycle > All Systems Lifecycle > Sites > Custom > All WIN2KCLI Computers > Baselines
2. Select the “Deploy DCLI” baseline
3. Press the “Take Action” button
4. In the “Preset” field, set it to Policy
5. On the Target tab, select the option “All computers with the property values selected in the tree below
6. Expand to All Computers > By Group and select All WIN2KCLI Computers
7. Press the OK button and enter the password

This takes care of the DCLI. This is currently a proof of concept and I need to do some more testing to verify that I have set the various properties/groups/etc. If you have any comments/suggestions, please post a comment on this blog.

For the next blog entry, we will take a SPB and import it into BigFix. Stay tuned, it will be posted in a couple days.