BigFix Reviews

BigFix is a good product with good technical support. We are updating the package and everything, so there are no issues.

BixFix is good, but they have to update the product. For example, we need AI, ML, and IIT. We also want to edit the discovery of our assets less.

There are some status problems we can't really call a bug. We want them to improve and offer these things. I want a Manager of Manager. I also want to see the multiple control and a multiple report format. I want to get the whole report within a single console.

It's like you have a simple car and you want to buy a BMW. A simple car also works, and every car has four wheels. But we all want more power, to be more agile, and receive more status updates.

I have been using BigFix for six years.

The stability of BigFix isn't bad.

The scalability of BigFix isn't bad.

BigFix technical support is good.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give BigFix a seven.

The most valuable feature of this solution is real-time recording.

We use it for planning a lot of distributions and we get results immediately, so as to see when it's being deployed.

We would like to see enhancement of the web UI.

The stability is great.

It scales well, this is a great product.

We have used technical support, we went through all of that. They're wonderful and have been really helpful. We're good now because of them.

We did a proof of concept, looked at the other competitors and after scaling all of them on a matrix, IBM ended up being the best option for us.

The most important criteria while selecting a vendor are the product's stability, relationship with the support team, salesperson and technicians.

The setup was very complex. It was very bumpy and we had network issues. But, they worked with us and we are happy now.

Talk to us, see what are your challenges and go for it!

Near world PCI compliance and patch. We share the modules that we own for BigFix. So, those are the most important.

Our compliance levels - i.e. our compliance percentage has improved.

Simulators could be introduced.

None that I can think of. It does what we purchased it for. So, there isn't really anything that I can think of to add to it.

It is very stable. Streaming, of course, will do it.

I manage and control the relays and everything, so it's easy to put new relays up and configure them.

The technical support is usually pretty good. However, I had a ticket that stayed open for a couple of weeks which I didn't get a response to. Then when we got the response it wasn't really good. So they could have told me sooner than two weeks.

We did an audit. A PCI audit. We were looking for reliability. Also cost and support were considerations.

I did the initial setup, it's fairly straightforward.

I wasn't part of the evaluation of other products.

Definitely look at BigFix to consider it as a solution.

It gives us one tool that allows us to patch our systems, so we don't have multiple tools to patch our systems. We have one tool that allows us to patch multiple platforms, as well as inventory and provide insights on all of those different platforms. Also, we're currently using it for automation, so it's helping us innovate in all of those platforms, for us to look for new things and also address problems in real time. We're using it more as a platform more than we are as a tool.

I think the most valuable feature is its flexibility and the fact that there's one agent that allows you to do a lot of different things. We use it for compliance, primarily patching. Also, it becomes our master source collector for most of our information. We take that information and feed dashboards. It also helps us make decisions, so some of that has to do with compliance, as what our targets are; what we need to address, such as vulnerability leaks and that type of thing.

We also use it for inventory, like our source data. It feeds a lot of our dashboards. We actually take data from all over our company from other source systems and combine that with our BigFix data. It gives us insights on different areas that we need to target and challenges that we have that we wouldn't normally see just with one tool. We basically use it as our master source and then, from that, it helps us provide a source of truth.

I would like to see more multithreading, which I understand comes, clustering and we may end up doing some container-related work with Bluemix and lead some of that effort to allow us to scale on demand. Because there are times when you have a zero day and with our size and scale – we have a very large relay environment – it'd be nice to be able to scale on demand but as an enterprise, see it as one relay instead of several hundred. We'd like to be able to see everything be more integrated in the universe of BigFix with other tools. It seems like that's the direction it's going, in their original vision of having a single-agent type of approach, but we'd also like to remove some of the complexity by having more clustering and DR capabilities built in to the tool.

We have had scalability issues because we bend the laws of the physics for the tool. For some of our reporting needs, we've had to go and take our databases and put it in big data, only because we have so many different environments that we don't have one single pane of glass way of taking all of our environments and comparing it all together. We have to take the data outside and then still leverage the tool inside to give us all of the feeds, so that we can have one enterprise view across all of our different instances. That's just because of the number of machines that we have. It doesn't allow us to just take advantage of one environment.

I have used technical support. In fact, I at one point managed the technical side for the same customer. I was part of the strategic outsourcing, so I was with the customer, then I supported the customer on the IBM side and then I came back to the customer's side to help them innovate using that same tool and the same support team I used to manage. So, it was full circle.

I am happy with the support team. Actually, there are some challenges from time to time, only because our needs are a little bit more complex because of how complex an organization and how large we are. Our needs are a little bit more than the average company. We've been able to work through those challenges and become more on the innovative leader side of the tool, which also helps us to get better support because now we're going from the bleeding edge of trying to get our organization to address problems to leading the industry charge, hopefully. Maybe next year with what we're trying to do with BigFix, we might be able to present some of our findings.

I was not actually involved in the initial setup because we've had it for over ten years, but I've helped transform it from being a tool into a platform. The technical part of that transformation was not very complex. It was more of the internal challenges, getting support, and more the political side was a little more difficult than the technical side.

Understand where your focus is going to be. Then, based on your focus, start moving in that direction and then, don't get so myopic with your focus that you don't see the capabilities it can provide, where it can become a universal tool to help you solve a lot of problems and potential endpoint security risks. You don't want to compete in your organization with other tools that provide the same capabilities. Consolidate your efforts into BigFix and get rid of those competing tools. Put the money into the support, the services and the innovation it provides.

Openness and honesty are the most important criteria I look for in a vendor. What are the shortcomings of the tool? What are some of the challenges that others have had with the tool and how have you been able to overcome those challenges?

We use this solution to successfully manage and control approximately thirty-five hundred machines in multiple, complex environments.

1. I can manage all of my assets from one place, no matter where they are in the world.
2. Manage deployments and authorized software assets.
3. Manage IMAGES for the entire organization from one place, and do it fast!
   
4. Patch management is no longer a problem.

The most valuable feature is patch management, a must have, even for Linux and iOS.

We have a strict standard for compliance, and this solution has simplified this. 

I would like to see the Self Service section made more user-friendly.

With respect to OSD, I would like to control the task sequence competently from the BigFix console.

Patch is a given and it is the flagship feature since the late 1990s. The architecture for patching and the 100% correct reporting makes BigFix stand apart from other solutions. Software Distribution is another powerful and strong feature that automates deploying software and saves a ton of time. The BigFix framework also gives you the ability to remove software and updates files, like configuration.

Patching is completed usually within a day or two. 98% of the endpoints are patched in the first pass no matter if they are all the corporate or traveling.

The new EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) feature, Detect, is new and still needs a few updates. This is close to being a great addition to help when an attack has occurred.

Five years.

No stability issues. If relays are not configured correctly, then this can cause a performance issue. An occasional health check is needed to ensure the solution is running at peak performance.

BigFix can scale up to 250,000 endpoints on one server.

The deep technical resources are very good and can isolate an issue very quickly.

We started with SCCM and decided to switch because of inaccurate reporting, limited OS support, and we were unable to patch remote endpoints.

Initial setup is very simple. With the Web User Interface, it makes the learning curve very short.

I would stay with the Managed Virtual Server license model, which is a 1-to-1 license per OS whether it is virtual or physical.

Yes. SCCM, LANDESK, Altiris, and Tanium.

You will not be impressed with the looks of the reports, but they are accurate. The BigFix.me forum is a great place to learn from others.

The most valuable feature for me is patching, because it's helped me to make sure I am always compliant. It's completely transparent. I can take care of what I need to do because BigFix is doing the patching by itself.

It is always taking me to the right level of security compliance.

Maybe they could introduce a preview of what is going to happen next, because generally what the project is doing is just asking you to execute some actions. I'd like to see a pop-up which says you are expected to do this or that and then I can decide if I have to do that today.

I never had problems, so I think it's highly stable.

I don't know about scalability because I'm not using it for a larger scale.

I haven't used the technical support.

I was not involved in the initial setup.

For me, the perception that I can see in the market about stability, quality and all those kinds of things is important when selecting a vendor. Cost is definitely also a criteria.

I would advise them to just do it.

We use it for patching our AIX servers and we also use it for deploying and up keeping our Tivoli workload scheduler application.

We've been able to fully automate our TWS installs, to the point where a user requests it and we don't do anything. Also, our upgrades are much more refined than the manual processes we did before.

The most valuable feature for us is the ability to manage TWS, the relevance is really what sets it apart. Also, using it as a software deployment tool is the key for us.

I'm looking for them to make big web UI improvements.

Stability is very good. We've had very little downtime.

Scalability is very good. We're a smaller client in the BigFix realm. We're 4,500 clients around just the servers but it's very good for us.

Technical support has been good. When IBM first took over it was kind of rocky but in the last few years, it's definitely improved.

The initial setup was very straight forward and very easy to set up.

I would rate it a ten out of ten. It's very useful, very powerful, and you can do a lot with it. 

I would tell a colleague who's considering this solution to check it out, it's great.