Enabling Message Level Encryption (MLE) means every report from all 50,000 endpoints is encrypted and can only be decrypted by the BigFix Root server. This decryption process is computationally intensive and directly impacts the server's CPU. For a large-scale deployment, the cumulative effect of decrypting tens of thousands of reports significantly increases the CPU load. Therefore, ensuring the Root server has adequate CPU resources is the most critical consideration to support this configuration and maintain performance.

A. All Relays must have at least 8GB RAM to support this configuration.

Relays do not decrypt MLE-protected reports; they simply pass the encrypted data to the server. The performance impact on Relays is negligible, and there is no specific RAM requirement for them related to MLE.

C. An additional NIC must be added to the BigFix Root server to balance the extra load caused by the encrypted reports.

MLE adds minimal data overhead to reports. The primary bottleneck created by MLE is CPU processing for decryption, not network bandwidth. A standard NIC is sufficient to handle the network traffic.

D. The BESServerMaxReportDecryptions setting should be set to an appropriate value on the BigFix Root server to minimize the impact from handling the encrypted reports.

This setting tunes the number of concurrent decryption threads. While important for managing CPU usage, it is a configuration setting, not a resource requirement. The fundamental consideration is having sufficient CPU hardware (Option B) to handle the load in the first place.

1. HCL BigFix Platform 10.0 Capacity Planning

Performance

and Management Guide

Section: "Message Level Encryption (MLE)"

Page 21.

"Enabling MLE increases the CPU usage on the BigFix server because it must decrypt every report that it receives from the BigFix clients. The performance impact of MLE on the BigFix server is directly proportional to the number of reports that the server processes." (Supports B)

"The performance impact of MLE on the BigFix relays is negligible because the relays do not decrypt the reports." (Refutes A)

2. HCL BigFix Platform 10.0 Installation Guide

Chapter 2: "Installation Scenarios and Requirements"

Section: "Server Requirements".

Under the hardware requirements tables

a note states: "If you plan to enable Message Level Encryption (MLE)

the CPU requirements for the BigFix server will be higher. The additional CPU load is proportional to the number of managed endpoints." (Supports B)

3. HCL BigFix Platform 10.0 Administrator's Guide

Chapter 2: "BigFix Administration"

Section: "Securing your environment".

"Be aware that enabling this feature will increase the CPU load on your main BigFix server." (Supports B)

The guide also describes the BESServerMaxReportDecryptions setting as a way to "throttle the decryption process to reduce the CPU usage

" confirming its role as a tuning parameter rather than a primary resource requirement. (Explains why D is secondary to B)