Baselines are collections of Fixlet messages and Tasks that can be deployed to a group of endpoints with a single command.
Baseline components are pointers to their corresponding source Fixlets or Tasks, which means that they do not contain the actual content, but only reference the original source.
Baseline components can get out of synchronization with their source Fixlets or Tasks, which means that the source content may change or become obsolete, while the Baseline component remains unchanged. This can cause issues such as incorrect relevance, missing downloads, or failed actions.
To avoid these issues, Baseline components should be synchronized with their source Fixlets or Tasks regularly, either manually or automatically. Synchronization updates the Baseline components with the latest content from the source Fixlets or Tasks, and also removes any components that are no longer available or relevant.
Baselines can be created by any user who has the permission to create content in a custom site. This includes Master Operators, who have full permissions to manage all aspects of the BigFix environment, as well as Non-Master Operators, who have limited permissions to manage specific sites or domains.
Baselines can include more than 100 components, but this is not recommended for performance and usability reasons. The optimal number of components for a Baseline depends on various factors, such as the size of the deployment, the complexity of the content, the frequency of the updates, and the network bandwidth. Generally, it is advisable to keep the Baseline components as few and simple as possible, and to group them logically by function or category.
Baselines can include other Baselines as components, which allows for creating nested or hierarchical Baselines. This can be useful for organizing and managing complex or large-scale deployments, such as patching multiple operating systems or applications. However, nesting Baselines also adds more layers of complexity and potentialsynchronization issues, so it should be done with caution and proper planning. References:
Introducing Baselines
Creating or Customizing Baselines
Baselines
