FAQ |
General
Does it cost anything to download content (fixlets/tasks/analyses/signatures) from the database?
No, the content uploaded into our database is provided AS-IS and free of charge. Since the content is provided AS-IS, we encourage you utilize a test environment before deploying anything into a production deployment of BigFix.Who can upload content?
Anybody can upload content to our database, all you need is to register for an account. Then you can upload the content you have built and want to share.What about Licensing?
All user submitted content should be uploaded/downloaded acconding the Term of Use .How do I change my username?
At this time, it is not possible to change your own username. If you'd like it changed Contact Us and give details about your request.How do I change my password?
Once logged in, visit your profile page and click the Change Password link in the User Options section.How can I share my bigfix.me network?
Just like the other social networks out there, you can use the following code to add button to your website:<a href="https://bigfix.me/user/USERNAME"><img src="https://bigfix.me/content/bigfixme.png" border="0" /></a>
How do I earn points for contributions I make?
Points are dynamically counted. The following are ways to earn points:- 1 point for every Relevance statement
- 2 points for every ActionScript you have created as part of a Fixlet
- 2 points for every Property that is part of an Analysis
- 2 points for every valid BigFix Inventory Signature uploaded
- 1 point for every comment
- 1/2 point for every Windows Feature you helped to identify
- 1/2 point for every Windows 7 App you helped to identify
- 1/4 point every time you search our database (while logged into your account)
- 1 point for each piece of information you add to your profile
Our points are calculated dynamically based on the current state of our database. If you upload a bunch of content, then delete it, you will not earn any lasting points.
The point system is subject to change at any time, especially if we discover attempts to corrupt or play the system just to earn points.
How does the ranking system work?
We wanted to have a way for "outsiders" to quickly and easily identify the expertise of members in our community. Thus we've come up with the following ranking system which is based on our points system. | 0 Points |
 | 1 - 9 Points |
 | 10 - 19 Points |
 | 20 - 39 Points |
 | 40 - 79 Points |
 | 80 - 159 Points |
 | 160 - 319 Points |
 | 320 - 639 Points |
 | 640 - 1279 Points |
 | 1280 - 2559 Points |
 | 2560 - 5119 Points |
 | 5120 - 10239 Points |
 | 10240 - 20479 Points |
 | 20480 - 40959 Points |
 | 40960 - 81919 Points |
 | > 81920 Points |
How do I contact you to ask more questions?
Please use our contact us form for any specific requests.What should I do if I see something inappropriate on the site?
We do as much as we can to police the site for spammers, junkies and troublemakers but if something slips past us and you see somethign that you feel doesn't belong... add a comment and check the "Report this content as spam" check box. The comment is kept hidden from the view of everyone except our Administrators. We also receive an email notifying us of the report of abuse for immediate investigation.The types of things we look to remove and/or warn about include:
- Spam (people blatantly trying to sell something, typically with links to purchase)
- Junk (posts that include lots of keywords and links about something totally unrelated to BigFix)
- Vulgarity (posts with curses will typically be edited, but also alerts us to warn the user that such language is discouraged here)
- Inaccuracies (most of the time, you can post a comment to correct the inaccuracy, but in the off case that is not acceptable, please do report it to us)
I've forgotten my username or password. How can I retrieve it?
We are working on a way for you to retrieve this information. Until that time, please use the contact us and provide details of your request. Be sure to provide us the email address you used during your initial registration.I see something that does not work quite right. How can I report it?
You have two options.Either leave a comment on that particular piece of content. The developer is immediately emailed on all comments except for spam reports. They should look at the content and try to remediate.
You can also write us directly using our contact form.
BigFix Content
Do I have to have a BigFix Console to contribute?
Absolutely NOT! We're hard at working creating various fixlet wizards which do the grunt work... all you do is answer a few simple questions and the fixlet is auto-magically generated ready for you to download. So far we have the Uninstall Fixlet Wizard and Windows Features Wizard.What RSS feed options do I have?
Note: There are currently functional issues with the RSS feeds. We hope to have those functional again shortly.I've put alot of work into our RSS feeds... Hopefully you will find them useful!
- https://bigfix.me/rss - All Activity Feed
- https://bigfix.me/rss/username - Users Activity Feed, replace "username" with your username.
- https://bigfix.me/rss/newest/username - Keep tabs on the newest 50 pieces of content from your favorite users.
- https://bigfix.me/rss/content/username - Feed your need to discover the past 1000 pieces of content from your favorite users.
- https://bigfix.me/rss/helpful/username - View a list of content you have found helpful
- https://bigfix.me/rss/contentactivity/username - Keep track of your own content... learn who downloaded, commented, rated, and marked helpful.
What does it mean to mark content as "helpful"?
When you mark a fixlet, analysis, or relevance statement as helpful you are essentially indicating that this piece of content was helpful to solve a problem you were having in your deployment. It is a simple tip-of-the-hat to the developer of that content to keep up the good work. We encourage you to leave comments if you want to go beyond this simple hat-tip.BigFix Inventory Signatures
Do I need BigFix Inventory to contribute to the BFI signatures on Bigfix.me?
Generally yes, especially if you are interested in providing signatures which are valid for BFI. The format of the BFI signatures files are XML, and for someone who has some software development experience, the format is easily understood. However creating a signature file without trying it on BFI is likely to result in a signature that may not properly identify the intended target software. See our SUA Signature Development Checklist for what we consider a best practice.Having said that, however, we would encourage you to look at our format and see if there are tools or methods that you might invent that can help generate high quality signatures. You can then use BigFix Inventory to validate the results of your work. The XSD file for the signature file format is located here.
Why are some things different between the BFI signature content sections on Bigfix.me from the Bigfix content (fixlets, analyses, and relevance)?
The functionality of the web site for Bigfix content is much more mature than the functionality of the BFI signature content. The web site was originally designed for fixlets, analyses, and relevance, and support of BFI signature content is a more recent addition (with the launch of that addition in February 2015). Over time we expect the functionality of all the content to be more ubiquitous.Additionally, BFI signature content is, by nature, different from Bigfix content. BFI signatures form a natural hierarchy aligning to software publishers and titles. Additionally, BFI signatures are much more like “rules” and should not functionally affect the endpoints like fixlets and analyses, so there may be some ways we choose to represent the signature content on the web site differently than we show the Bigfix content.
We are open to hearing your opinions on the choices we make throughout the website. If you’d like to make a suggestion, please go to the forum posting here and make a comment about changes you think would improve the community experience.
What version of BigFix Inventory do I need to benefit from the community?
You should be able to benefit from the community with ANY version of BigFix Inventory or Software Use Analysis. However, the signature content is specifically tied to the new signature export format that was added to BigFix Inventory (SUA) 9.0.1.2. Further, this feature is tied to the Catalog Customizations within BFI, so signatures created using the standalone tool Software Knowledge Based Toolkit (SwKBT) are not supported and cannot be shared on the community.If you do not currently have BigFix Inventory 9.0.1.2, or if you are not using the signature tooling within BFI, you can still benefit from the community by reviewing the material in the Learn section, visiting the BFI Signature section of the Forum, and looking at the signature listings for information about how others are detecting specific software releases.
How are signature files validated?
Bigfix Inventory uses an XML Schema file (XSD) to validate the signatures that should properly work with BFI. Additionally, within the signature XML file, we check that a UniqueId parameter is included with the Software tag.The version of the XSD file we use for validation is here if you’d like to take a look and possibly use it for any tooling you’d like to create for yourself or the community.
I downloaded a signature from the community and it doesn’t work. What do I do?
If you try a signature and it doesn’t work, we suggest you come back to the community and make a comment on the signature entry. This comment will help others in the community know about your experience, and it will provide the signature author feedback that they can consider in improving the quality of their signature. You also have the option to rate the signature as well, and you indicate your level of confidence in the quality of the signature.
Why is there more than one signature file for the same software title release?
When we created the signature sharing portion of the web site, we made a conscious choice to allow multiple signatures for the same software title release to be uploaded to the community. We felt that there may be multiple ways someone might specify a signature, and different authors may have different solutions. As you are trying to make a choice about which signature to select, you should examine the ratings and comments made for the signature to see if that helps you differentiate which signature might best meet your needs.Periodically, the administrators on the site will review the content on the site and try to remove those entries which appear to be exact duplications of older entries. You can help the process by flagging an entry (using the comment feature) and indicating that you see the signature as an exact duplicate of an earlier entry.
Why is there a Download To Zip feature for BFI signatures? Why can I only zip up the files on a single page and I can’t zip files across multiple pages?
The Download To Zip feature was provided for BFI Signatures because often times BFI users will want to import signatures to BFI as specific groups, say titles from a particular publisher, or releases for a specific title.With the initial addition of signature content to Bigfix.me, we had to make choices about what features we could add in our first release and which ones we would add in a future website update. For now, Download To Zip is limited to a specific page because that was what we could implement in the time we had to hit our launch target date. Our plan is to provide support for selecting signatures across multiple pages which can go into a single zip file in a future update of the website. In the mean time, you can use the signature filter to allow up to 100 signatures per page.
Is the Bigfix.me community integrated with BigFix Inventory?
Not yet, but if the community becomes popular enough with BFI customers, we intend to do an integration between the website repository and the BFI console, just as there has been an integration done between the IBM Endpoint Manager (Bigfix) console and Bigfix.me. Think that’s a good idea? A must-have feature? Let us know.
Can I contribute signatures from the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit to Bigfix.me?
No. Our strategic direction is to move away from this tool to the capabilities provided directly in BigFix Inventory. For now, this tool is still needed by many customers because our current signature creation capability inside of BFI is limited to package signatures and file signatures. As we extend the signature creation capabilities within BFI, we expect there will be less of a need for SwKBT.
