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Summary:

How does the BES Server/Relay cache work?

Solution:

The following information applies to both the BES Server and the BES Relays as they use the same caching mechanism.

The BES Relay is a demand driven cache so it will not cache any files unless one of its children (BES Relays or BES Clients) requests the information. Once a file is requested, the BES Relay will retrieve the file from its parent (BES Relay or BES Server) and then cache the file locally.

After the BES Relay has cached the file, it will keep it until the cache is full. The default cache size is 1 GB, but it can be changed by using the settings Tasks on the BES Support Fixlet site. If the cache is full, the BES Relay will remove the least recently used file (LRU) in an effort to maximize the cache efficiency.

There are situations that require that files are manually downloaded and cached, usually because the files to be downloaded are not publicly available, and administrators must download the files directly from the source (i.e. Microsoft).

You can "pre-populate" the download cache by placing files in the default download cache location, but make sure the file name is the sha1 hash value of the file otherwise the file will be ignored for security reasons. You can also clear these files out manually as necessary.

The download cache is stored by default at "C:\Program Files\BigFix Enterprise\BES Server\wwwrootbes\bfmirror\downloads\sha1". The file is stored with the name as its sha1 hash value.

Note: Earlier revisions of BES stored the download cache by default in "C:\Program Files\BigFix Enterprise\BES Relay\wwwroot\bfmirror\downloads\sha1".

The download cache will grow to a maximum of the BES Relay cache size (default 1 GB).

To set the cache size or other BES Relay settings, use the Tasks on the BES Support Fixlet site. You can easily access these in the BES Console by going to View BES Server and BES Relay Settings Tasks in the NAV bar.

You can view the BES Relay cache size and other BES Relay information using the Analyses on the BES Support Fixlet site. You can activate these on the "Analyses" tab in the BES Console.

See http://support.bigfix.com/bes/install/downloadutility.html for utilities that will help with the BES Relay/Server cache.