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Summary:

What is a masthead file?

Solution:

The action site masthead is a file that was generated during installation by the BES Admin Tool. The action site masthead has the extension .afxm and has several different purposes.

The action site masthead serves the following functions:

• Acts as a configuration file with parameters such as BigFix Server IP address, port number, locking behavior, etc.
• Contains information necessary for the digital signature security scheme that BES uses (the masthead contains the public key information)
• Contains the licensing information that allow BigFix users to operate BES with a specified number of users for a specified length of time

The action site masthead is used in the following ways:

• The BES Installation Generator puts the masthead file in the BES Server, BES Console, and BES Client installer folders
• The BigFix Server and BigFix Client installers require the masthead file be in the same folder as the other installation folders otherwise they will not run (the masthead file is used by the BigFix Console installer to set up an ODBC driver, but it is not required)
• The BigFix Clients use the IP address and port number information in the masthead to know which BigFix Server to report to
• Whenever an action is going to be taken, the BigFix Clients first verify that the digital signature in the action matches the signature in the masthead
• The BigFix Clients and BigFix Server will use the license information in the masthead when they determine how BigFix BES Clients can be used and when the license expires