244
www.bmc.com BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Administrator’s Guide January 2011

Administrator’s Guide.pdf

  • Upload
    3dramky

  • View
    169

  • Download
    2

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

BMC Remedy administration guide

Citation preview

Page 1: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

www.bmc.com

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Administrator’s Guide

January 2011

Page 2: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact Information Design and Development by email at [email protected].

Contacting BMC Software

You can access the BMC Software website at http://www.bmc.com. From this website, you can obtain information about the company, its products, corporate offices, special events, and career opportunities.

United States and Canada

Address BMC SOFTWARE INC2101 CITYWEST BLVDHOUSTON TX 77042-2827 USA

Telephone 713 918 8800 or800 841 2031

Fax 713 918 8000

Outside United States and Canada

Telephone (01) 713 918 8800 Fax (01) 713 918 8000

© Copyright 2005-2007, 2009-2011 BMC Software, Inc.

BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

IBM and DB2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

IT Infrastructure Library® is a registered trademark of the Office of Government Commerce and is used here by BMC Software, Inc., under license from and with the permission of OGC.

ITIL® is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and is used here by BMC Software, Inc., under license from and with the permission of OGC.

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

UNIX is the registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries.

The information included in this documentation is the proprietary and confidential information of BMC Software, Inc., its affiliates, or licensors. Your use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable End User License agreement for the product and to the proprietary and restricted rights notices included in the product documentation.

Restricted rights legendU.S. Government Restricted Rights to Computer Software. UNPUBLISHED -- RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. Use, duplication, or disclosure of any data and computer software by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions, as applicable, set forth in FAR Section 52.227-14, DFARS 252.227-7013, DFARS 252.227-7014, DFARS 252.227-7015, and DFARS 252.227-7025, as amended from time to time. Contractor/Manufacturer is BMC Software, Inc., 2101 CityWest Blvd., Houston, TX 77042-2827, USA. Any contract notices should be sent to this address.

Page 3: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Customer Support

You can obtain technical support by using the Support page on the BMC Software website or by contacting Customer Support by telephone or email. To expedite your inquiry, please see “Before Contacting BMC Software.”

Support website

You can obtain technical support from BMC Software 24 hours a day, 7 days a week athttp://www.bmc.com/support. From this website, you can:

■ Read overviews about support services and programs that BMC Software offers.■ Find the most current information about BMC Software products.■ Search a database for problems similar to yours and possible solutions.■ Order or download product documentation.■ Report a problem or ask a question.■ Subscribe to receive email notices when new product versions are released.■ Find worldwide BMC Software support center locations and contact information, including email addresses, fax

numbers, and telephone numbers.

Support by telephone or email

In the United States and Canada, if you need technical support and do not have access to the Web, call 800 537 1813 or send an email message to [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:<yourSupportContractID>, such as SupID:12345.) Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

Before contacting BMC Software

Have the following information available so that Customer Support can begin working on your issue immediately:

■ Product information

— Product name— Product version (release number)— License number and password (trial or permanent)

■ Operating system and environment information

— Machine type— Operating system type, version, and service pack— System hardware configuration— Serial numbers— Related software (database, application, and communication) including type, version, and service pack or

maintenance level

■ Sequence of events leading to the problem

■ Commands and options that you used

■ Messages received (and the time and date that you received them)

— Product error messages— Messages from the operating system, such as file system full— Messages from related software

Page 4: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

License key and password information

If you have a question about your license key or password, contact Customer Support through one of the following methods:

■ E-mail [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:<yourSupportContractID>, such as SupID:12345.)

■ In the United States and Canada, call 800 537 1813. Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

■ Submit a new issue at http://www.bmc.com/support.

Page 5: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Contents

BMC Atrium Core documentation 5

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 9

Configuring user access to BMC Atrium Core components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

BMC Atrium CMDB computed groups and roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Assigning a BMC Atrium CMDB role to a user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Calbro Services example—BMC Atrium CMDB groups, roles, and users . . . . . . . . . 19BMC Remedy AR System license types required for data access in

BMC Atrium Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Class and attribute permissions on BMC Atrium CMDB data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Class permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Attribute permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Specifying permissions to instances in BMC Atrium CMDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Default instance permissions of classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Permission scenarios when managing user access to BMC Atrium CMDB data. . . . 28

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 31

Calbro Services example of data model update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Class Manager interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Class Manager toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Class Manager display pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Class Manager navigation pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Viewing a class in Class Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34More information about CDM and extension classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Process overview for creating or modifying classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Class properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Class and attribute permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Class attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Weak relationships between classes—Propagating their attributes . . . . . . . . . . . 51Class indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Auditing instance history of classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Deleting a class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Saving the data model as an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Contents 1

Page 6: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Status of classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Class instance icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Defining custom icons for a class instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59CI labels for classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Defining CI labels for a class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Defining tooltips for a class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Defining Quick Edit attributes for a class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Defining instance group thresholds for a class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Creating Data Model Help with the cdm2html utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

cdm2html prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67cdm2html restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67cdm2html Java command syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67cdm2html.bat file (Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 71

Federated data—Calbro Services example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Federation Manager interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Administering plugins and adapters for federated data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Creating plugins for federated data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Registering a federated data adapter with BMC Remedy AR System. . . . . . . . . . 84

Managing data stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Administering the retrieval method of federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Supported data types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Creating a federated data class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Editing a federated data class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Editing an attribute of a federated data class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Creating a federated relationship class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Editing a federated relationship class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Administering the launch method of federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Creating a launch interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Classes or CIs linked to a federated interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Using the launch method of federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 111

Overview of service and impact models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Impact models with and without BMC Service Impact Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Implementing Atrium Impact Simulator cells in server group environments . . 113

Working in the Service Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Opening and searching the Service Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Defining options for the Service Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Creating new services for the Service Catalog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Creating a service offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Creating a requestable offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Creating dynamic service models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Editing queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Manually creating impact models of services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

2 Administrator’s Guide

Page 7: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 135

Overview of migrating BMC Atrium Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Migration of BMC Remedy AR System data from source servers to target servers 136Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Migrator command-line interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Migrating class definitions with Migrator CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138CMDB metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139BMC Atrium CMDB instructions examples of data migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Migrator CLI command examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Logging in to the cmdbdriver program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Exporting class instances with cmdbdriver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Importing class instances with cmdbdriver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Migration of Product Catalog data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Exporting data from the Product Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Importing Product Catalog data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Creating custom data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Validating data in staging forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Importing the data into the BMC Atrium Product Catalog forms. . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Migrating normalization jobs and settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Migrating reconciliation jobs and dataset settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Exporting reconciliation definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Importing reconciliation definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Migrating BMC Atrium Integration Engine data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Exporting BMC Atrium Integration Engine data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Importing BMC Atrium Integration Engine data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Manually configuring federated data on your production server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 171

Overview of BMC Atrium CMDB extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Manually creating BMC Atrium CMDB extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Extension registration and dependency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Extension Loader instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Extension order commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Accessing the Extension Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Possible outcomes of extension installations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Installing extensions with the Extension Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Installing extensions with silent installer (command line) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Initialization file template for the silent installation of extensions . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Verifying your installed extensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Exporting class definitions by using cmdbdriver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Creating the package.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Creating an installation activity file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Converting the extension files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Validating the extension file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Contents 3

Page 8: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 189

Notification of BMC Atrium CMDB events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Publishing an event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Notifications by polling for instances of an event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Atrium Explorer configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Control of the layout of class forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Modification of the views of forms in BMC Atrium CMDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Modifying views of forms in

BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Generating forms for other applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Setting the cache refresh interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Setting the DSO option for BMC Atrium CMDB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Changing the default CI editor in Atrium Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Modifying or deleting datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Deleting a dataset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Configuring how layers are displayed in Atrium Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Appendix A Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications 209

Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from

BMC Remedy AR System applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Embedding BMC Atrium Core widgets in BMC Remedy AR System applications 212Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from non-BMC Remedy AR System

applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 217

Overview of the deprecation process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Use cases for deprecating your data model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its superclass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Replacing a subclass with its superclass sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Deprecating relationship classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Deprecating federation and abstract classes, and federation and abstract

relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Deprecation scenarios not supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Deprecating attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Identifying the metadata to deprecate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Creating deprecation mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Installing the updated data model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Index 231

4 Administrator’s Guide

Page 9: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium Core documentation

This section describes the complete set of BMC Atrium Core documentation, including manuals, Help systems, videos, and so on.

Unless otherwise noted, documentation is available on the BMC Atrium Core documentation media (DVD or Electronic Product Download bundle) and on the BMC Customer Support site, free of charge, at http://www.bmc.com/support.

To find this documentation on the BMC Customer Support site, choose Product Documentation > Supported Product A-Z List > BMC Atrium CMDB Enterprise Manager > 7.6.03.

Title Description Audience

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Administrator's Guide

Information about setting permissions, configuring federation, modifying the data model, configuring an impact model, and other administrative tasks in BMC Atrium CMDB.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Common Data Model Diagram

Hierarchical diagram of all classes in the Common Data Model (CDM) including unique attributes and applicable relationships.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help

Description and details of superclasses, subclasses, attributes, and relationship classes for each class. Contains only information about the CDM at first, but you can update it to include information about data model extensions that you install.

Note: This Help is provided in HTML, and is available on your BMC Atrium Core media. It is not available on the BMC Customer Support site.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Modeling Guide

Best practices for using the classes that BMC provides for BMC Atrium CMDB (both the CDM and extensions) to model complex business entities, focusing on the use of multiple related CIs to model an entity rather than on general information about a class or attribute.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Normalization and Reconciliation Guide

Information about normalizing data in BMC Atrium CMDB and reconciling CIs from different data providers into a single production dataset.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium Core documentation 5

Page 10: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Online Help

Help for using and configuring BMC Atrium CMDB, including BMC Atrium Product Catalog, Reconciliation Engine, Normalization Engine, and so on.

Note: This Help is provided in HTML, and is available through the Help links in the BMC Atrium CMDB user interface. It is not available on the BMC Customer Support site.

Configuration managers, application administrators, asset analysts, and users that work with CIs and need to understand the relationships that exist within BMC Atrium CMDB.

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide

Information about using BMC Atrium CMDB, including searching for and comparing CIs and relationships, relating CIs, viewing history, running impact simulations, and viewing federated data.

Users that work with CIs and need to understand the relationships that exist within BMC Atrium CMDB.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Compatibility Matrix

Information about the BMC Atrium Core configurations that are expected to work properly based on design, testing, or general understanding of the interaction between products.

Note: Download the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Compatibility Matrix from the BMC Customer Support site at http://www.bmc.com/support/reg/remedy-compatibility-tables.html?c=n.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide

Information about CMDB concepts and high-level steps for planning and implementing BMC Atrium Core.

Anyone who wants to learn about and understand BMC Atrium Core products, CMDBs in general, and the functionality of BMC Atrium CMDB in particular.IT leaders, configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts are some who will benefit from this information.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Developer’s Reference Guide

Information about creating API programs using C API functions and data structures.

Application administrators and programmers.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Installation Guide

Information about installing, upgrading, and uninstalling BMC Atrium Core features.

Application administrators.

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Javadoc Help

Information about Sun™ Java™ classes, methods, and variables that integrate with BMC Atrium CMDB.

Note: This Help is provided in HTML, and is available on your BMC Atrium Core media. It is not available on the BMC Customer Support site.

Application programmers.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Master Index

Combined index of all guides. Everyone.

Title Description Audience

6 Administrator’s Guide

Page 11: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Product Catalog and DML Guide

Information about configuring the Product Catalog and DML, adding products, and creating aliases for products, manufacturers, and categorizations.

System administrators, IT managers, network managers, and other qualified personnel who are familiar with their computing and networking environment.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Release Notes

Information about new features, known issues, and other late-breaking topics.

Everyone.

BMC Atrium Core: Taking Your Data Into Production End to End

End-to-end high-level steps for bringing data into BMC Atrium CMDB from a third-party source and making it available in your production dataset.

Note: This Flash video is available on your BMC Atrium Core media. It is not available on the BMC Customer Support site.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Troubleshooting Guide

Information about resolving issues with BMC Atrium Core components, including API, filter and console error messages and their solutions.

Application administrators, programmers, and BMC Support personnel.

BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Web Services Help

Information about using BMC Atrium Core Web Services, including how to publish and find interfaces in the Web Services Registry, set versions, disambiguate web services, configure security policies and encryption, and use BMC Atrium Core Web Services data structures and operations.

Note: This Help is provided in HTML, and is available on your BMC Atrium Core media. It is not available on the BMC Customer Support site.

Application administrators and programmers.

BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.6.04 ADK Developer's Guide

Information about how to build adapters that can transfer information between an external data store and either BMC Remedy AR System forms or BMC Atrium CMDB.

Developers that have a basic understanding of BMC Atrium Integration Engine and want to build adapters that can exchange data between two data sources.

BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.6.04 Online Help

Help for using and configuring BMC Atrium Integration Engine.

Note: This Help is provided in HTML, and is available through the Help links in the BMC Atrium Integration Engine user interface. It is not available on the BMC Customer Support site.

Users that are responsible for setting up data transfer integrations between external data stores and either BMC Atrium CMDB or BMC Remedy AR System.

Title Description Audience

BMC Atrium Core documentation 7

Page 12: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.6.04 User's Guide

Information about creating data exchanges and data mappings, defining rules and queries, activating event-driven data exchanges, defining connection settings, and other BMC Atrium Integration Engine concepts.

Users that are responsible for setting up data transfer integrations between external data stores and either BMC Atrium CMDB or BMC Remedy AR System.

Mapping Your Data to BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Classes

Spreadsheet that maps common IT objects to the appropriate class, whether part of the CDM or an extension. This spreadsheet also includes information about further categorizing instances using key attributes, and best practices for creating normalized relationships.

Configuration managers, application administrators, and asset analysts.

Title Description Audience

8 Administrator’s Guide

Page 13: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

1

Managing permissions

BMC Atrium Core provides several methods of controlling user access to data: application roles, class and attribute permissions, and instance permissions. This section explains how to set up permissions for BMC Atrium Core, including access to different areas of the application and access to configuration data.

The following topics are provided:

! Configuring user access to BMC Atrium Core components (page 10)! Groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDB (page 11)! BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications (page 13)! Calbro Services example—BMC Atrium CMDB groups, roles, and users

(page 19)! BMC Remedy AR System license types required for data access in BMC Atrium

Core (page 21)! Class and attribute permissions on BMC Atrium CMDB data (page 21)! Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access (page 23)! Permission scenarios when managing user access to BMC Atrium CMDB data

(page 28)

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 9

Page 14: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Configuring user access to BMC Atrium Core components

User access to BMC Atrium Core components requires that you create BMC Remedy AR System groups and users who are properly licensed. You must also map these groups to their BMC Atrium Core roles.

NOTE When you upgrade BMC Atrium Core, the installer does not create new groups and does not modify existing role and computed group definitions. As a result, the upgrade process does not break the existing groups, roles, and mappings that you have configured for your system.

Step 1 Open the Group form and create a BMC Remedy AR System regular group (Change group type) for the different levels of access you need defined.

Use the following direct access URL to open the Group form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/Group

For example, create a regular group (CMDBAdmin) that you will use for all your BMC Atrium Core administrators. You can also re-use regular groups that you have previously created.

! For general information about working with groups, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

! For detailed information about groups in the BMC Atrium Core solution, see “Groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDB” on page 11.

Step 2 In the Group form, click Append Group to add the CMDBAdmin regular group to a computed group (for example, CMDB Console Admin Group).

For example, your Group Definition would now read:

"Administrator" OR "CMDBAdmin"

Step 3 Open the Roles form and map a group that you created in step 1 to the Production state of the BMC Atrium Core roles that you want to associate with that group.

Use the following direct access URL to open the Roles form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/Roles

Many roles already have groups mapped to them. For example, the CMDB Console Admin role is mapped out-of-the-box to the CMDB Console Admin Group in the Production state.

NOTE If a group is already mapped to the role, add your group to that computed group instead of modifying the mapping.

10 Administrator’s Guide

Page 15: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDB

! For general information about working with roles, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

! For detailed information about roles in the BMC Atrium Core solution, see “BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications” on page 13.

! For examples of users with the groups and roles required to accomplish their tasks, see “Calbro Services example—BMC Atrium CMDB groups, roles, and users” on page 19.

Step 4 Open the Users form and create BMC Remedy Action Request System (AR System) users.

Use the following direct access URL to open the User form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/User

In the Group List field, select the regular groups associated with the access permissions needed by each user.

NOTE You cannot choose a computed group from the Group List field when creating a user. This is why you had to create a regular group and then add it to the group definition of the computed group.

! For information about the BMC Remedy AR System license types to grant to users of BMC Atrium Core, see “BMC Remedy AR System license types required for data access in BMC Atrium Core” on page 21.

! For information about creating users, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Configuration Guide.

Groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDBWhen defining BMC Atrium CMDB access control, you must create groups on your BMC Remedy AR System server that represent functional areas of the CMDB. You should create group types that are consistent with the purpose of the group. For example, you should define a group that does not need to modify data as a View group type.

Your groups have no authority in the BMC Atrium CMDB until they are mapped to CMDB permission roles. You must map the groups you have defined for functional areas of the CMDB to the corresponding roles installed with the product.

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 11

Page 16: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Table 1-1 lists the default groups that are available when you install BMC Atrium CMDB.

Table 1-1: Default groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDB

Name Group type Category type Users in this group can

CMDB Console User Group Change Computed ! Function in the CMDB Console User role.! Function in the CMDB Data View role. ! Function in the CMDB Definitions Viewer

role.

CMDB Console Admin Group

Change Computed ! Function in the CMDB Console Admin role. ! Function in the CMDB Data Change role. ! Function in the CMDB RE User role.

CMDB RE User Group Change Computed Function in the CMDB RE User role.

CMDB Definitions Viewer Group

Change Computed Function in the CMDB Definitions Viewer role.

RE Operator (Reconciliation Engine Operator)

Change Regular Start and cancel reconciliation jobs.

RE Definition Author (Reconciliation Engine Definition Author)

Change Regular Create and modify reconciliation job definitions.

RE Manual Identification (Reconciliation Manual Identification)

Change Regular Perform manual identification.

CMDB Data Change Group Change Computed Function in the CMDB Data Change role.

CMDB Data View Group View Computed Function in the CMDB Data Viewer role.

CMDB Write Security Change Dynamic View and modify the attributes of BMC Atrium CMDB data.

Atrium Foundation Admin Change Regular Grant administrator access to Atrium Foundation components.

Note: You see this group only if you install BMC Atrium Product Catalog.

Atrium Foundation Admin Computed

Change Computed Function as the Atrium Foundation Administrator.

Note: You see this group only if you install BMC Atrium Product Catalog.

Atrium Foundation Viewer View Regular Grant view access to Atrium Foundation components.

Note: You see this group only if you install BMC Atrium Product Catalog.

Atrium Foundation Viewer Computed Group

Change Computed Function as the Atrium Foundation Viewer.

Note: You see this group only if you install BMC Atrium Product Catalog.

12 Administrator’s Guide

Page 17: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications

BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications

A BMC Remedy AR System deployable application named BMC:Atrium CMDB contains the BMC Atrium CMDB class forms. When you use Class Manager to create new classes, the new classes are automatically added to the application. This application allows you to manage permissions with BMC Remedy AR System roles.

Other BMC Atrium Core components have their own deployable applications, as listed in Table 1-2.

Several permission roles are available for these deployable applications to enable you to grant users the permissions that they need to do their jobs. Table 1-2 lists the application roles available for BMC Atrium Core components.

Table 1-2: Permission roles in BMC Atrium Core applications (Sheet 1 of 5)

Role name Applications Mapped groups (default)

Users with this role can

CMDB Data View

BMC:Atrium CMDB ! Test—None! Production—CMDB

Data View Group

! Gain access to the Atrium Impact Simulator.

! View class instances. Works in conjunction with the CMDBRowLevelSecurity and CMDBWriteSecurity attributes. See “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.To view class instances from the BMC Atrium Core Console, a user must also have the CMDB Console User role.

! Can create instances, but only for classes where all required attributes have either a default value or the Allow Any User to Submit option is enabled.

Note: The CMDB Data View role is for the BMC:Atrium CMDB application and is different than the similarly-named CMDB Data Viewer role used for the Atrium Impact Simulator application.

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 13

Page 18: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

CMDB Data Change

! BMC:Atrium CMDB! Atrium Impact Simulator

! Test—None! Production—CMDB

Data Change Group

! View, create, and modify class instances. Works in conjunction with the CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute. See “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.

! View, create, modify, and delete shared queries.

To perform these tasks from the BMC Atrium Core Console, a user must also have the CMDB Console User role.

CMDB Data View All

BMC:Atrium CMDB ! Test—None! Production—None

! View all class instances, regardless of the CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute for row-level security.To view class instances from the BMC Atrium Core Console, a user must also have the CMDB Console User role.To view class instances in the Atrium Impact Simulator, a user must also have the Atrium Impact Simulator User and CMDB Data Viewer roles.

! Can create instances, but only for classes where all required attributes have either a default value or the Allow Any User to Submit option is enabled.

CMDB Data Change All

BMC:Atrium CMDB ! Test—None! Production—None

! View, create, and modify all class instances, regardless of the CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute for row-level security.

! View, create, modify, and delete shared queries.

To perform these tasks from the BMC Atrium Core Console, a user must also have the CMDB Console User role.

Table 1-2: Permission roles in BMC Atrium Core applications (Sheet 2 of 5)

Role name Applications Mapped groups (default)

Users with this role can

14 Administrator’s Guide

Page 19: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications

CMDB Console User

AtriumCMDBConsole ! Test—! Production—CMDB

Console User Group

! Gain access to the BMC Atrium Core Console.

! Perform queries from applications on the BMC Atrium Core Console (the user must also have one of the two CMDB Definitions roles).

! View federation definitions.! Launch applications in context.! View instance history (the user must

also have one of the two CMDB Definitions roles, row-level security on the audited instances, and permissions on the audit or log form).

CMDB Console Admin

AtriumCMDBConsole ! Test—None! Production—CMDB

Console Admin Group

! Perform all of the tasks granted by the CMDB Console User role.

! View, create, modify, and delete federation definitions.

CMDB Definitions Viewer

AtriumCMDBConsole ! Test—None! Production—CMDB

Definitions Viewer Group

! Open Atrium Explorer.! Run queries in the BMC Atrium Core

Console.

Atrium Impact Simulator User

Atrium Impact Simulator

! Test—CMDB Data View Group

! Production—CMDB Data View Group

! View the Atrium Impact Simulator in the BMC Atrium Core Console.

! View and run impact simulations in Atrium Impact Simulator. Users must also have the CMDB Data Viewer role.

Note: You must have a BMC Remedy AR System write license to run simulations in Atrium Impact Simulator. For more information about license types needed for BMC Atrium Core, see “BMC Remedy AR System license types required for data access in BMC Atrium Core” on page 21.

CMDB Data Viewer

Atrium Impact Simulator

! Test—CMDB Data View Group

! Production—CMDB Data View Group

View and run impact simulations in Atrium Impact Simulator. Users must also have the Atrium Impact Simulator User role.

Note: The CMDB Data Viewer role is for the Atrium Impact Simulator application and is different than the similarly-named CMDB Data View role used for the BMC: Atrium CMDB application.

Table 1-2: Permission roles in BMC Atrium Core applications (Sheet 3 of 5)

Role name Applications Mapped groups (default)

Users with this role can

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 15

Page 20: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

CMDB RE User

REApplicationDeployable

! Test—None! Production—CMDB

RE User Group

! View jobs, activities, and sets.! Start and cancel jobs.

Note: You must be a member of the BMC Remedy AR System Administrator group to start jobs.

CMDB RE Definitions Admin

REApplicationDeployable

! Test—None! Production—None

! View, create, modify, and delete jobs, activities, and sets.

! Start and cancel jobs.

Note: You must be a member of the BMC Remedy AR System Administrator group to start jobs.

CMDB RE Manual Identification

REApplicationDeployable

! Test—None! Production—None

Manually identify instances.

NE User NEApplication ! Test—None! Production—None

! Start and cancel jobs.! View jobs, the Job History, class

configurations, system configurations, and dataset configurations.

NE Administrator

NEApplication ! Test—None! Production—None

! Start and cancel jobs.! View, create, and modify jobs.! Delete Job History data.! Administer class configurations,

system configurations, and dataset configurations.

AIE Definitions Admin

BMC Atrium Integration Engine

! Test—None! Production—None

! View, create, and modify data mappings and data exchanges.

! Manage the BMC Atrium Integration Engine configuration and connection settings.

AIE User BMC Atrium Integration Engine

! Test—None! Production—None

View data mappings and data exchanges.

Atrium Foundation Viewer

! Remedy Foundation Product Catalog

! Remedy Definitive Software Library

! Remedy Foundation Site

! Remedy Foundation Company

! Remedy Foundation Prime Elements

! Test—Atrium Foundation Viewer Computed

! Production—Atrium Foundation Viewer Computed

View records for BMC Atrium Product Catalog products, versions, patches, files, suites, storage (software library items), and signatures.

Table 1-2: Permission roles in BMC Atrium Core applications (Sheet 4 of 5)

Role name Applications Mapped groups (default)

Users with this role can

16 Administrator’s Guide

Page 21: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications

Atrium Foundation Admin

! Remedy Foundation Product Catalog

! Remedy Definitive Software Library

! Remedy Foundation Site

! Remedy Foundation Company

! Remedy Foundation Prime Elements

! Test—Atrium Foundation Admin Computed

! Production—Atrium Foundation Admin Computed

! Create, modify and delete records for BMC Atrium Product Catalog products, versions, patches, files, suites, storage (software library items), and signatures.

! Add and remove BMC Atrium Product Catalog relationships.

General Access ! Remedy Foundation Product Catalog

! Remedy Definitive Software Library

! Remedy Foundation Site

! Remedy Foundation Company

! Remedy Foundation Prime Elements

! Test—General Access! Production—General

Access

Use BMC Atrium Product Catalog fields and access BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Product Catalog and DML Online Help.

Unrestricted Access

! Remedy Foundation Product Catalog

! Remedy Definitive Software Library

! Remedy Foundation Site

! Remedy Foundation Company

! Remedy Foundation Prime Elements

! Test—Unrestricted Access

! Production—Unrestricted Access

Use BMC Atrium Product Catalog fields and access BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Product Catalog and DML Online Help.

Table 1-2: Permission roles in BMC Atrium Core applications (Sheet 5 of 5)

Role name Applications Mapped groups (default)

Users with this role can

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 17

Page 22: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

BMC Atrium CMDB computed groups and rolesFor a BMC Atrium CMDB application’s Production state, the CMDB Data View and CMDB Data Change roles are each mapped by default to a computed group, which acts as a supergroup for the people in each member group. This allows you to assign the most common roles in your organization to more than one BMC Remedy AR System group.

You can create computed groups to organize users of BMC Atrium CMDB. For example, in a service-provider environment, you might create one computed group to contain the groups for one company, and another computed group to contain the groups for another company. You could then assign these computed groups to BMC Atrium CMDB roles. This arrangement simplifies role assignments and makes it easier for you to configure instance permissions. For more information, see “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.

For more information about BMC Remedy AR System application roles and computed groups, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

Assigning a BMC Atrium CMDB role to a userMethods for assigning roles to users differ slightly, depending on whether you want to assign the CMDB Data View and CMDB Data Change roles, or another BMC Atrium CMDB role.

! To assign a BMC Atrium CMDB role to a user

1 Open the User form and search for BMC Remedy AR System users.

Use the following direct access URL to open the User form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/User

2 Make the user a member of a group that is a member of the computed group mapped to one of the following roles:

! CMDB Data View

! CMDB Data Change roles

These two roles are mapped to computed groups provided with the BMC Atrium CMDB named CMDB Data View Group and CMDB Data Change Group.

3 Make the user a member of the group that is mapped to other BMC Atrium CMDB roles, or map one of the user’s existing groups to the role.

4 Save your changes.

18 Administrator’s Guide

Page 23: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Calbro Services example—BMC Atrium CMDB groups, roles, and users

Calbro Services example—BMC Atrium CMDB groups, roles, and users

Access to BMC Atrium Core components requires that you correctly configure groups, roles, and users on the BMC Remedy AR System server.

The following example illustrates how you can create permissions for Calbro users. Table 1-3 lists examples of two users that require different permissions to BMC Atrium Core components based on the tasks they need to perform.

! Bob Baxter manages Backoffice Support at Calbro Services. His job description requires him to view BMC Atrium CMDB data. He notices that the Oracle®

database needs a patch. He needs to be able to run a simulation on the Oracle CI to see the impact to the Calbro IT infrastructure if he brings down the server. Bob is considered a “low-access” user to the BMC Atrium CMDB.

! Mary Mann is part of Calbro’s support staff. Calbro's IT department uses the IT infrastructure to deliver value to the business, in the form of services. These services are tracked in BMC Atrium CMDB as CIs. They can be related to the IT infrastructure CIs that support them. Part of Mary’s job description is to create the service CIs that represent the Calbro service model. She is considered a “power user” of the BMC Atrium CMDB.

The table lists the groups and roles needed by these users to accomplish their tasks. In an actual environment, users will require different combinations of groups and roles than the examples in Table 1-3.

Table 1-3: Roles required for different levels of access (Sheet 1 of 2)

Type of user and sample tasks Overview steps Results

Low-access user, who needs only to view data. Bob must be able to: ! View BMC Atrium CMDB data! Run simulations in Atrium Impact

Simulator

1 Create a low-access regular group (LowUserGroup).

2 Add the LowUserGroup group to the CMDB Console User Group computed group.

3 Create a user. 4 Add the user to the LowUserGroup

group.

Note: Bob cannot view specific BMC Atrium CMDB data until you add row-level security to the data, or you map the LowUserGroup group to the CMDB Data View All production role. For more information, see “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.

Bob can view the data in the following BMC Atrium CMDB applications:! Atrium Explorer! Atrium Impact Simulator! Product Catalog Console

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 19

Page 24: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Review carefully the groups and roles for other tasks that you might need to add to your users. For more information, see:

! “Groups installed with BMC Atrium CMDB” on page 11

! “BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications” on page 13

Full-access administrator, who needs write access to all data and configurations. Mary must be able to: ! View, create, modify, and delete

BMC Atrium CMDB data ! Create and modify queries ! View, create, and modify class

definitions! View, create, and modify

federation definitions ! View and run simulations in

Atrium Impact Simulator! View, create, modify, and delete

Reconciliation Engine jobs, activities, rules, and rulesets

! Manually identify instances ! Start and cancel Reconciliation

Engine jobs ! Modify normalization settings ! Start and cancel Normalization

Engine jobs ! View, create, modify, and delete

Product Catalog records ! Add and remove Product Catalog

relationships

1 Create a full-access regular group (AdminGroup).

2 Add the AdminGroup group to the following computed groups: ! CMDB Console Admin Group

computed group! CMDB Console User Group

computed group! Atrium Foundation Viewer

Computed3 Map the AdminGroup group to the NE

User production role. 4 Create a user, and then add her to the

following groups in the Group List: ! General Access ! Unrestricted Access! Administrator (if you want this user

to view, create, and modify class definitions)

5 Add the user to the AdminGroup group.

Note: Mary cannot see or change specific BMC Atrium CMDB data until you add row-level security to the data, or you map the AdminGroup group to the CMDB Data Change All. For more information, see “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.

Mary can view and modify the data in the following BMC Atrium CMDB applications:! Atrium Explorer! Atrium Impact Simulator! Class Manager! Federation Manager! Normalization console! Product Catalog Console! Reconciliation console! Service Catalog

Table 1-3: Roles required for different levels of access (Sheet 2 of 2)

Type of user and sample tasks Overview steps Results

20 Administrator’s Guide

Page 25: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Remedy AR System license types required for data access in BMC Atrium Core

BMC Remedy AR System license types required for data access in BMC Atrium Core

The type of BMC Remedy AR System license granted to a user helps determine that user’s ability to see and modify data in BMC Atrium Core. BMC Remedy AR System licenses can be grouped into the following categories:

! Read licenses—Enable users to search for and display requests within their assigned permissions. Administrators can configure the AR System server to enable users with Read licenses to submit requests and to modify requests that they submit. This category includes the Read and Restricted Read license types.

! Write licenses—Include all the capabilities of a Read license, and also enable users to modify and save data for requests that they did not submit based on the groups to which they belong. This category includes the Fixed and Floating license types.

Read licenses allow users to search for CIs and relationships, and display instances in Atrium Explorer, but do not allow users access to some BMC Atrium Core functionality. If you want BMC Atrium Core users to create or modify CIs and relationships, run impact simulations in Atrium Impact Simulator, and so on, make sure that those users have write licenses.

For more information about BMC Remedy AR System license types, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Concepts Guide.

Class and attribute permissions on BMC Atrium CMDB data

You can specify permissions on BMC Atrium CMDB data at both the class and attribute level.

Class permissionsYou can specify which groups and roles have the following permissions on each class:

! Hidden—Members of these groups and roles can access the class through workflow, but cannot see its instances in the Atrium Explorer or open its form with BMC Remedy User or a web client.

! Visible—Members of these groups and roles can see and access the class in all ways: instances in the Atrium Explorer, the class form with BMC Remedy User or a web client, and through workflow.

You specify class permissions from the Permissions tab when viewing a class in the Class Manager. For more information, see “Class and attribute permissions” on page 43.

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 21

Page 26: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

WARNING Do not use BMC Remedy Developer Studio to change permissions on the class forms. These permissions will be overwritten the next time a change is made to the class with the Class Manager.

Class permissions are equivalent to BMC Remedy AR System form permissions. For more information about BMC Remedy AR System form permissions, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

Attribute permissionsYou can specify which groups and roles have the following permissions on each attribute:

! View—Members of these groups and roles can view the attribute in the class form, but cannot modify its value.

! Change—Members of these groups and roles can view and modify the attribute value.

You can also specify that a user without Change permissions can set the attribute’s value when creating an instance. To do so, select the Allow Any User to Submit option.

You specify attribute permissions from the Permissions tab when viewing an attribute (in the Attributes dialog box) from the Class Manager. For more information, see “Class attributes” on page 45.

WARNING Do not use BMC Remedy Developer Studio to change permissions on the attribute fields. These permissions will be overwritten the next time a change is made to the class with the Class Manager.

Attribute permissions are equivalent to BMC Remedy AR System field permissions. For more information about BMC Remedy AR System field permissions, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

22 Administrator’s Guide

Page 27: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access

Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access

The CMDB Data View and CMDB Data Change roles do not completely control access to instances in BMC Atrium CMDB. They control access to the contents of instances in general. But to view or modify a specific instance, you must also have row-level access to that instance. A class attribute controls row-level security and another one controls write security. These attributes and the CMDB Data View and CMDB Data Change roles work together:

! CMDBRowLevelSecurity—Users who are members of a group with row-level access have permission to view the instance if they also have the CMDB Data View or CMDB Data Change role.

! CMDBWriteSecurity—Users who are members of a group with write access have permission to modify the instance if they also have row-level access and the CMDB Data Viewer role. This permission is useful for giving someone write access to a specific instance without giving write access to all instances with one of the CMDB Data Change roles.

If you have row-level access to an instance but not the CMDB Data View role, you cannot view the instance. If you have the CMDB Data Change role but not row-level access to an instance, you cannot view or modify the instance. The CMDB Data View All and CMDB Data Change All roles have row-level access to all instances and do not depend on the CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute.

For example, suppose a service provider has created groups named Solaris Group and WindowsGroup. The service provider wants the SolarisGroup to have write access to certain CIs, and the WindowsGroup to have read access to those CIs. The service provider assigns both groups to the CMDB Data View role, and then adds those groups to the CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute value for each CI, giving everyone read access to those CIs. The administrator then adds the SolarisGroup to the CMDBWriteSecurity attribute for the CIs he wants them to be able to modify.

Table 1-4 shows another example. Joe is a member of the Service Desk group and has the CMDB Data View role, and Jane is a member of the Change Team group and has the CMDB Data Change role. They are both members of the All Hands group.

Table 1-4: Example instance permissions using roles and security attributes

InstanceId CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute

CMDBWriteSecurity attribute

Joe canread

Joe canwrite

Jane canread

Jane canwrite

1 NULL NULL

2 NULL Service Desk

3 Service Desk NULL Yes

4 Service Desk Service Desk Yes Yes

5 Change Team NULL Yes Yes

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 23

Page 28: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Neither user can read or write to instances 1 and 2, which have no group specified for row-level security. Neither write security nor the CMDB Data View and CMDB Data Change permission roles have any effect without row-level security.

Best practice

You can automatically configure row-level security at the instance level using the Normalization Engine. The Normalization Engine includes rules that set the row-level and attribute-level permissions on CIs as you define them. For more information, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Normalization and Reconciliation Guide.

If BMC Atrium CMDB represents just one organization, use the CMDB Data View All and CMDB Data Change All roles for users. If you are using BMC Atrium CMDB for a multitenancy environment, use the CMDB Data View and CMDB Data Change roles with the CMDBRowLevelSecurity and CMDBWriteSecurity attributes.

NOTE BMC Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM) uses instance permissions by means of the Company field. If you are planning to use BMC Remedy ITSM, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Guide to Multi-Tenancy before implementing instance permissions.

Specifying permissions to instances in BMC Atrium CMDBYou must specify the proper row-level access to instances in the BMC Atrium CMDB.

Before you begin

Carefully read the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide for information about working with CI and relationship instances.

! To specify instance permissions

1 In Atrium Explorer, add the instances that you want to create or edit into a Sandbox view.

2 Right-click an instance and select Edit.

The instance appears in a class form or the Asset view of the instance.

3 Set the value of the CMDBRowLevelSecurity or CMDBWriteSecurity attribute to a group name or list of group names.

4 Save your changes.

6 All Hands NULL Yes Yes Yes

7 All Hands Service Desk Yes Yes Yes Yes

Table 1-4: Example instance permissions using roles and security attributes (Continued)

InstanceId CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute

CMDBWriteSecurity attribute

Joe canread

Joe canwrite

Jane canread

Jane canwrite

24 Administrator’s Guide

Page 29: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access

Default instance permissions of classesDefault instance permissions allow you to specify CMDBRowLevelSecurity and CMDBWriteSecurity values for an entire class instead of specifying them every time you create an instance of the class. You can give these permissions to a different group for each account ID, which supports multitenancy by enabling you to grant users access to only the instances for their account.

Using the BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions form, you specify default permissions with the BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions class, a special class in the BMC.CORE.CONFIG namespace. Each BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions instance can grant both row-level and write security. You can specify the class and account it applies to, or allow it to apply more broadly by using the keyword default.

NOTE In the Class Manager, you can find the BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions class as a subclass of the BMC_ConfigBaseElement base class.

The AccountID and ClassId attributes of every new instance are compared against the MATCHAccountID and MATCHAppliedToClassId attributes in BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions. The BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions instance with the lowest precedence number as shown in Table 1-5 supplies permissions for the new instance. If no instance matches and you do not supply values for the CMDBRowLevelSecurity or CMDBWriteSecurity attribute of the instance, no user has that level of security for the instance.

Default permissions are applied to an instance only when it is created. If you later change the permissions mappings in BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions, the permissions on existing instances are not updated. In that case you must edit the instances manually to match the new permissions.

NOTE If you supply values for CMDBRowLevelSecurity and CMDBWriteSecurity when creating an instance, those values are appended to the default permissions. Both values are saved at instance creation.

Table 1-5: BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions matching precedence

Precedence Account matching Class matching

1 MATCHAccountID matches AccountID on instance

MATCHAppliedToClassId matches ClassId on instance

2 MATCHAccountID matches AccountID on instance

MATCHAppliedToClassId is default

3 MATCHAccountID is default MATCHAppliedToClassId matches ClassId on instance

4 MATCHAccountID is default MATCHAppliedToClassId is default

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 25

Page 30: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

For example, given the BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions instances in Table 1-6, a new instance of BMC_ComputerSystem with an AccountID of Calbro Services would have the Service Desk group placed in both its CMDBRowLevelSecurity and CMDBWriteSecurity attributes. An instance of BMC_Monitor with an AccountID of Calbro Services would have the Service Desk group placed in its CMDBRowLevelSecurity attribute and the Change Team group placed in its CMDBWriteSecurity attribute.

Configuring default permissions of classesYou can use the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions form to configure the default permissions of classes in the BMC Atrium CMDB.

Figure 1-1: BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions form

Before you begin

Carefully read the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide for information about working with CI and relationship classes.

Table 1-6: Example instances of BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions

MATCHAccountID MATCHAppliedToClassId ASSIGNRowLevelSecurity ASSIGNWriteSecurity

default BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM All Hands Service DeskCalbro Services default Service Desk Service DeskCalbro Services BMC_MONITOR Service Desk Change Teamdefault default Change Team Change Team

26 Administrator’s Guide

Page 31: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access

! To configure default permissions

1 Open the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions form in New request mode.

Use the following direct access URL to open the form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/ BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions

2 In the MATCHAccountID field, type the name of a specific account or type default to match all accounts for which you do not specify permissions.

3 In the MATCHAppliedToClassId field, type the class ID of a BMC Atrium CMDB class or type default to match all classes for which you do not specify permissions.

NOTE The class ID is case sensitive and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

4 In the ASSIGNRowLevelSecurity field, select or type the names of the groups that you want to have row-level security for new instances, separated by spaces.

You can use any BMC Remedy AR System group or role, such as those listed in “BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications” on page 13. The field menu appends selections to the value currently in the field.

5 In the ASSIGNWriteSecurity field, select or type the names of the groups that you want to have write security for new instances, separated by spaces.

NOTE In this procedure, you are creating a new instance of the BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions class. In addition to the previously specified attribute fields, which are relevant to the default permissions that you want to create, you can set permissions on this instance by entering group names in the CMDBRowLevelSecurity and CMDBWriteSecurity fields, or you assign it to an account by typing an AccountName value. Do not enter values in the remaining fields.

6 Click Save.

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 27

Page 32: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Permission scenarios when managing user access to BMC Atrium CMDB data

BMC Atrium CMDB provides the following methods of managing user access to data:

! Application roles

! Class and attribute permissions

! Instance permissions

These methods can overlap, with the security of one method sometimes taking precedence over another method. Table 1-7 lists different scenarios of how data access-control might be configured for read and write access to a class and an instance of that class, and what happens when Joe Unser, an employee at Calbro Services, tries to read or modify that instance.

Table 1-7: Data-access scenarios for reading and writing data (Sheet 1 of 2)

Member of CMDB Data View role?

Member of CMDB Data Change role?

Class permission

Permission for all attributes

CMDBRowLevelSecurity access?

CMDBWriteSecurity access?

Result

N/A Yes Visible View Yes N/A Joe can see the class in his list of objects, and can see all attributes of the class. Joe can view and modify the instance.

Yes No Visible View Yes No Joe can see the class in his list of objects, and can see all attributes of the class. Joe can see the instance, but when he tries to modify the instance, he sees a permission error.

N/A Yes Visible View N/A No Joe can see the class in his list of objects, and can see all attributes of the class. Joe can see the instance, but when he tries to modify the instance, he sees a permission error.

N/A Yes Hidden N/A N/A Yes Joe cannot see the class in his list of objects. However, Joe can modify the data on that instance through workflow started in another class.

28 Administrator’s Guide

Page 33: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Permission scenarios when managing user access to BMC Atrium CMDB data

No No Visible Change N/A N/A Joe can see the class in his list of objects, and can see all attributes of the class. Joe can view and modify the instance.

Table 1-7: Data-access scenarios for reading and writing data (Sheet 2 of 2)

Member of CMDB Data View role?

Member of CMDB Data Change role?

Class permission

Permission for all attributes

CMDBRowLevelSecurity access?

CMDBWriteSecurity access?

Result

Chapter 1 Managing permissions 29

Page 34: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

30 Administrator’s Guide

Page 35: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

2

Modifying your data model

As you evaluate your business environment and plan your data model, you might determine that the Common Data Model (CDM) installed with BMC Atrium CMDB is not sufficient to store information for some of your assets.

NOTE Before extending the CDM, review the best practices in the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide. Adding new classes and attributes are among the last things you should consider.

The following topics are provided:

! Calbro Services example of data model update (page 32)! Class Manager interface (page 32)! Viewing a class in Class Manager (page 34)! More information about CDM and extension classes (page 35)! Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager (page 36)! Deleting a class (page 57)! Saving the data model as an image (page 58)! Status of classes (page 58)! Class instance icons (page 59)! CI labels for classes (page 61)! Defining tooltips for a class (page 63)! Defining Quick Edit attributes for a class (page 64)! Defining instance group thresholds for a class (page 65)! Creating Data Model Help with the cdm2html utility (page 66)

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 31

Page 36: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Calbro Services example of data model updateThe following example illustrates how you might update the data model for your particular needs.

Suppose a BMC Atrium CMDB administrator at the fictional company Calbro Services wants to track the model year of several of the devices on the network, such as servers, workstations, and routers. Because the model year is a critical piece of information, the administrator wants to include it in the data model. The administrator has reviewed the best practices in the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide, and has decided that the best approach is to extend the data model by adding a new attribute to an existing class.

After referring to the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help, the administrator determines that the new attribute should be added to the BMC_ComputerSystem class. Because each subclass inherits attributes from its superclass, the BMC_Mainframe and BMC_Printer classes will also use the new attribute.

However, not every element that can be tracked by the BMC_ComputerSystem class and its subclasses needs a model year attribute. For example, the model year is not important for load balancers and firewalls. The administrator decides that the attribute should be optional.

Using Class Manager, the administrator can add a new, optional attribute to the BMC_ComputerSystem class.

Class Manager interfaceUse the Class Manager application to manage the core of the data model. You can view, modify, create, and delete CI and relationship classes and their attributes. The Class Manager interface includes the following panes:

! Toolbar (see “Class Manager toolbar” on page 33)

! Display pane (see “Class Manager display pane” on page 33)

! Navigation pane (see “Class Manager navigation pane” on page 34)

32 Administrator’s Guide

Page 37: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Class Manager interface

Figure 2-1: Class Manager layout

Class Manager toolbarUse the buttons and menus in the Class Manager toolbar to:

! Change the layout and view of the classes in the display pane

! Create new classes

! Edit and delete existing classes

! Save the view of your data model as a .png image

! Print the contents of the display pane

! Change the layout of the classes in the display pane

Class Manager display paneEach class of the data model is represented in the Class Manager display pane by an icon labeled with the name of the class. The icon and its border represent the type of class, and an expand/collapse box shows and hides subclasses. The icon's border differentiates the class type as follows:

! Regular class—solid grey line

! Categorization class—dashed grey line

! Abstract class—dotted grey line

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 33

Page 38: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! Final class—solid black line

! Final categorization class—dashed black line

Click a class to highlight it and display its properties in the navigation pane. Double-click a class to open it for editing. Right-click a class to access commands for adding a subclass, editing the class, or deleting the class.

Right-click the background of the display pane to view commands that enable you to add new classes.

After you have opened a base class, its name is listed at the bottom of the display pane. Click the names at the bottom of the display pane to switch between base classes as you work.

Use the zoom bar to resize the class tree in the display pane for easier viewing. You can also resize the class tree by using the scroll wheel on your mouse. Hold the Shift button and click the background of the display pane to move the class tree within the pane.

Class Manager navigation paneThe Base Classes section of the Class Manager navigation pane shows the classes in the data model that do not have a superclass, such as BMC_BaseElement and BMC_BaseRelationship. Click a base class to open that class in the display pane.

The Properties section of the navigation pane shows some of the properties of the class selected in the display pane. For more information about the properties of a class, open the CI Class or Relationship Class dialog box for that class as described in “Viewing a class in Class Manager” on page 34.

Click the Hide/Restore arrow to hide or show the navigation pane. You can also resize the navigation pane by clicking the border and dragging the pane edge left or right.

Viewing a class in Class ManagerYou use the Class Manager to view the classes and attributes in the data model.

Before you begin

See the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide for information about opening applications in the BMC Atrium Core Console.

! To view a class

1 Open the Class Manager.

2 In the Base Classes section of the navigation pane, click a base class.

3 In the display pane, use the expand/collapse buttons to locate the class you want to view.

4 Double-click the class you want to view.

34 Administrator’s Guide

Page 39: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

More information about CDM and extension classes

The CI Class or Relationship Class dialog box appears. If you want to modify the class, see the procedures in “Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager” on page 36.

More information about CDM and extension classes

For classes that are part of the CDM or BMC data-model extensions, you can view detailed information about each class on the More Information tab of the CI Class or Relationship Class dialog box. Use this information to help you:

! Plan how to use the classes in the data model.

! Decide which classes and attributes should be extended if you determine that the current data model must be extended.

The More Information tab includes the following sections:

Table 2-1: Sections in the More Information tab

Section Description

Additional Properties Lists the following information:! The data model to which the class belongs, such as the

Common Data Model or a BMC extension.! The product owning the class, such BMC Atrium CMDB.! The underlying BMC Remedy AR System form.! A detailed description of the class, including

recommendations for using the class to store data.

Data Providers Lists the products that provide information to the class. For example, a discovery product populates classes.

CI Mappings Suggests the types of real-world CIs that you might store in the class. For each real-world item, the CI Mappings section suggests the following best-practice information:! Category, Type, and Item settings! Class attributes to set

Normalized Relationships Provides the following best-practice information for defining relationships that involve this class:! The value to use for the Name attribute for instances of the

relationship.! Recommended relationship class.! Source and destination CI classes, including the side of the

relationship on which the class belongs.! For legacy CDM classes, the corresponding class from the

1.x version of CDM. This information can help you plan to move data from legacy classes to current classes.

Relationships Lists all of the possible relationships in which the class can participate, including the type of relationship class, and the source and destination CI classes.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 35

Page 40: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

You use the Class Manager to add, remove, and modify classes in your data model.

WARNING Do not use BMC Remedy Developer Studio to modify classes and attributes directly on class forms. Modifying the BMC Atrium CMDB data model requires more than just editing a form, and you might break some functionality.

Federated data and federated relationship classes appear in Class Manager. You can update some properties of a federated class through Class Manager (for example, Author). However, you cannot create attributes in these classes through Class Manager. You modify these classes in Federation Manager, as described in “Editing a federated data class” on page 92 and “Creating a federated relationship class” on page 93.

Best practice

BMC Software recommends that you attempt to use the classes and attributes in the BMC CDM as they were originally defined. However, you might have corporate reasons to extend the data model. You can create your own classes or extend classes by adding attributes, and these changes will be preserved across upgrades.

Never modify the core CDM class attributes because upgrades across versions will overwrite these customizations. Modifications to the CDM—for example, changing the attribute field length in a class—will not be preserved during upgrades.

For best practices for extending the data model, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide. For information about the process for creating or modifying a class, see “Process overview for creating or modifying classes” on page 37.

36 Administrator’s Guide

Page 41: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Process overview for creating or modifying classesIf you must add a new class to the data model, follow the process outlined by the following steps. If you must modify an existing class, you can enter the process at any step, or perform any step independently.

Best practice

BMC Software recommends that you set the Development Cache Mode option in the Configuration tab on the AR System Administration: Server Information window before you create or modify classes. Otherwise, you might experience server crashes due to server memory exceeding 2 GB during copy of the server cache. When you finish your changes to the data model, clear the Development Cache Mode.

Step 1 Define the properties of the class, which include its type, how it stores data, and (for relationship classes) the relationship type. For more information, see “Class properties” on page 38.

Step 2 (optional) Specify permissions. If you do not specify permissions for a class, BMC Atrium CMDB assigns default permissions. For more information, see “Class and attribute permissions” on page 43.

Step 3 Define one or more attributes. For more information, see “Class attributes” on page 45.

Step 4 (optional) Propagate attributes in a weak relationship. This step is necessary only if you have created a relationship class that has a weak relationship in which the attributes from one class should be propagated to another class. For more information, see “Weak relationships between classes—Propagating their attributes” on page 51.

Step 5 (optional) Specify indexes. Indexing can reduce database query time, so index attributes that you expect users to use in queries frequently. For more information, see “Class indexes” on page 53.

Step 6 (optional) Configure instance auditing for the class. Auditing enables you to track the changes made to instances of a class. For more information, see “Auditing instance history of classes” on page 55.

Define properties1

Specify permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

Creating or modifying a class

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 37

Page 42: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

NOTE When you use the Class Manager to create a new class, a delay of up to five minutes might occur before a user can start creating instances of that class in Atrium Explorer. This delay happens only rarely, typically in test environments, and is caused by how admin cache memory works in the BMC Remedy AR System when you create objects from a new form. In general, BMC Atrium Core users do not experience delays in a production environment.

Class propertiesThe properties of a class define the class and how it stores data.

Common CI and relationship class propertiesTable 2-2 lists the class properties defined in the CI Class and Relationship Class dialog boxes, and how you should enter information for those properties when creating a new class. Most of these properties are fields on the General tab of the CI Class and Relationship Class dialog boxes. The Description field is on the More Information tab.

Define propertiesSpecify

permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

1

Creating or modifying a class

38 Administrator’s Guide

Page 43: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Table 2-2: Class properties (Sheet 1 of 2)

Property Description

Class Type Indicates the type of class.

Super Class Select a class to be the parent class of the new class.

Namespace Select a namespace from the list or enter a new namespace. For more information, see “Namespaces and partitioning the data model” on page 41.

Class Name Enter a name that describes the class. Class names are limited to alphanumeric characters and underscores.

Status Indicates the current state of the class. You cannot enter a new value in the Status field. When you create or modify a class, its Status is set automatically to Change Pending.

Author Enter your name, as the person who created the class.

Final Select the Final check box to prevent subclasses from being created for the new class. For more information, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Singleton Select the Singleton check box if this class represents a unique CI. For more information, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Description Enter a brief description of the class, such as information about the type of data stored by the class, how the class should be used, and any unusual characteristics of the class.

Note: This property is in the More Information tab.

Data Storage Method

Select an option:! Regular—The class stores instances on its own AR System form.

If the class is a subclass, the AR System form is a join form that joins the attributes of the superclass with the attributes unique to the subclass.

! Categorization— The class stores instance attributes in the AR System form of its superclass rather than in a join form. A join form is still created using the class name for your convenience, but it is not part of the inheritance tree.

! Abstract with data replication—The class cannot hold any direct instances, but instances of its subclasses will be replicated to a form that holds only the attributes of the superclass.

! Abstract without data replication—The class cannot hold any direct instances and does not have an AR System form.

For more information about data storage methods for classes, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 39

Page 44: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Custom Properties Additional information about the class. For example, BMC Service Impact Manager (SIM) adds custom properties in the extension classes or attributes that they create, and they consume that information later. You must enter the custom properties in serialized format. The serialization format for most items is:ListSize\PropId\DataType\PropValue\PropId\DataType\PropValue\...! PropId must fit in the range between 300000 and 399999 ! DataType is a BMC Remedy AR System data type number as

defined in the ar.h header file. For example, specify 2 for an integer and 4 for a character string. Therefore, a Custom Properties list containing one value, an integer with ID 300050 and value 1 would be formatted:1\300050\2\1

For more information about the ar.h file, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Developer’s Reference Guide. For some data types, the PropValue can contain information about the value itself. For data types CHAR, DIARY, VIEW, and DISPLAY, the PropValue contains both the data value length and the prop value. The serialization format is: ListSize\PropId\DataType\DataLength\PropValue

For example, a custom property of data type CHAR, ID 300000, and value of Houston would be formatted:1\300000\4\7\Houston\

For the DECIMAL data type, the serialization format is: ListSize\PropId\10\ValueLength\Value

The PropValue of the CURRENCY data type is even more detailed. The serialization format is: ListSize\PropId\12\ValueLength\Value\CurrencyCodeLen\CurrencyCode\TimeStamp\NumItems\FuncValueLength\FuncValue\FuncCurrencyCodeLength\FuncCurrencyCode

For example, a custom property of data type CURRENCY, ID 300001, and value of $3.30 would be formatted:1\300001\12\4\3.30\3\USD\1242870112284\1\4\3.30\3\USD\

Combining two properties in a list would be formatted: 2\300000\4\7\Houston\300001\12\4\3.30\3\USD\1242870112284\1\4\3.30\3\USD\

Table 2-2: Class properties (Sheet 2 of 2)

Property Description

40 Administrator’s Guide

Page 45: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Namespaces and partitioning the data modelYou can partition the data model by using namespaces. Unlike datasets, which partition instance data, namespaces partition classes and attributes in the data model. This allows you to specify the provider or consumer of a certain type of data, or to make other arbitrary groupings. For example, all classes in the Common Data Model are in the BMC.CORE namespace, and other classes provided by BMC Atrium CMDB that hold information such as configuration definitions are in the BMC.CORE.CONFIG namespace.

Other BMC Software products that extend the data model, such as BMC Impact Solutions or BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping, create their own namespaces to hold the new classes and attributes. Likewise, BMC extensions that are distributed independently of BMC products use their own namespaces.

Namespaces can be applied at the attribute level as well as the class level. This means that some, or even all, of the attributes of a class can reside in a different namespace from the class itself. This is useful when you have a class that is used for more than one purpose, but one of those purposes requires an extra attribute.

A namespace serves as a label to identify classes that serve different purposes, and serves also to create unique names. A namespace prepends the names of its class forms, though not its attribute fields. Therefore, a class that you create in one namespace can have the same name as an existing class in another namespace. However, attributes of the same class in different namespaces cannot share the same name.

Namespaces do more than just serve as a logical categorization system for the data model. Because many reconciliation definitions allow you to specify namespaces, you can easily target a reconciliation activity to include only data that is being stored for a particular purpose. Instead of creating a lengthy qualification to select or omit several specific classes, you can include or omit them from an activity by specifying their namespace.

Whenever you extend the data model, use your own namespace instead of BMC.CORE. This prevents your extensions from being overwritten by new BMC Software classes when you upgrade to a future version of the CDM. When creating namespaces, use the naming convention COMPANYNAME.PURPOSE. For example, if the Calbro Services company created a set of classes for storing data about buildings and other facilities-related CIs, they might store them in the namespace CALBRO.FACILITIES.

Additional properties for Relationship classesRelationship classes require additional properties that define how the relationship functions with CI classes.

! Member classes—Two CI classes must be members of a relationship class. Class 1 is the source member and Class 2 is the destination member. If you need directionless or directionally symmetric relationships, you can create another relationship with Class 1 and Class 2 switched.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 41

Page 46: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! Roles—Refers to the relationship roles of the member classes. You can use the default Source and Destination roles, or you can specify new roles when you create a relationship class. Role names are used as prefixes on the field labels of attributes pertaining to each member class.

Table 2-3 lists the properties defined in the Relationship Class dialog box, and how you should enter information for those properties when creating a new class.Table 2-3: Relationship type properties

Property Description

Class 1 Select a class to use as the source class.

Class 2 Select a class to use as the destination class.

Role 1 Enter a role name for Class 1. By default, this is Source.

Role 2 Enter a role name for Class 2. By default, this is Destination.

Cardinality Select a cardinality:! One to one—Each instance of Class 1 can have this relationship

with one instance of Class 2.! One to many—Each instance of Class 1 can have this relationship

with multiple instances of Class 2.! Many to one—Multiple instances of Class 1 can have this

relationship with each instance of Class 2.! Many to many—Each instance of Class 1 can have this

relationship with multiple instances of Class 2, and vice versa.BMC Atrium CMDB enforces the cardinality of a relationship class. Fulfilling a “many” cardinality means that multiple instances of the relationship exist.

Cascade Delete Select the Cascade Delete check box to delete (or mark as deleted) the destination member whenever the source member is deleted (or marked as deleted). This field applies only to relationships with a left-hand cardinality of One.

Weak Reference Select the Weak Reference check box to create a composite object with the relationship and its member instances in which the destination member is a weak entity. This field applies only to relationships with a left-hand cardinality of One.

Propagated Attributes

If you have selected classes in the Class 1 and Class 2 fields and you have selected the Weak Reference check box, click Propagated Attributes to map attributes between members of a weak relationship. For more information, see “Weak relationships between classes—Propagating their attributes” on page 51.

42 Administrator’s Guide

Page 47: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Defining class properties in the Class ManagerThe Class Manager helps you define properties for CI and relationship classes.

! To define class properties

1 In the Class Manager, browse the data model until you have selected the class that will be the superclass for the new class.

2 In the toolbar, click either the New CI Class button or the New Relationship Class button.

3 In the Properties section of the General tab, enter information as described in Table 2-2 on page 39.

NOTE You cannot modify the Data Storage Method, Final, and Singleton fields after you have saved a class.

4 (optional) In the Additional Information section of the More Information tab, enter a description of the class in the Description field.

5 If the class is a relationship class, define relationship type properties as described in Table 2-3 on page 42; otherwise skip this step.

6 Perform one of the following actions:

Class and attribute permissionsClass and attribute permissions determine which users, according to their groups and roles, can view and modify classes and attributes.

Action Steps

You want to provide additional information for the class

Continue with the process described in “Process overview for creating or modifying classes” on page 37.

You are finished working with this class

1 Click OK.2 In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

Define properties1

Specify permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

Creating or modifying a class

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 43

Page 48: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

If you do not set permissions, BMC Atrium CMDB automatically assigns the following default visible permissions:

! CMDB Data Change

! CMDB Data Change All

! CMDB Data View

! CMDB Data View All

For more information about BMC Atrium CMDB permissions, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Setting class permissionsThe Class Manager helps you set permissions for CI and relationship classes.

! To set permissions for a class

1 In the Class Manager, open a class for editing.

2 On the General tab, open the Permissions section.

3 In the Hidden Permissions list, select one or more groups and roles to have access to the class without being able to see it in lists of classes.

4 In the Visible Permissions list, select one or more groups and roles to have access to the class and be able to see it in lists of classes.

If you do not specify permissions, BMC Atrium CMDB assigns default permissions.

5 Perform one of the following actions:

Action Steps

You want to provide additional information for the class

Continue with the process described in “Process overview for creating or modifying classes” on page 37.

You are finished working with this class

1 Click OK.2 In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

44 Administrator’s Guide

Page 49: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Class attributesThe Attributes tab of the CI Class and Relationship Class dialog boxes helps you manage the attributes of a class.

The Class Name column lists the selected class and the superclasses from which the class inherits attributes. For example, the Attributes tab for the BMC_Patch class lists the BMC_BaseElement, BMC_Patch, BMC_Software, and BMC_SystemComponent classes. Click the arrow next to a class to show all of the attributes for that class. Figure 2-2 shows the Attributes tab of the CI Class dialog box for the BMC_Patch class, expanded to show the attributes from the BMC_Patch and BMC_Software classes.

Figure 2-2: Attributes of the BMC_Patch class

You can edit or delete attributes that are unique to a class, but not attributes that are inherited from a superclass.

When creating an attribute of the Selection data type, you can specify custom enumeration values instead of the default values, which start at 0 and increment by 1. This allows you to leave unused any numbers between the values you choose. The benefit is that you can later add a selection between two others without invalidating existing data by changing the enumeration of the existing selections.

Define properties1

Specify permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

Creating or modifying a class

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 45

Page 50: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

You can view, modify, and delete existing attributes of a class. However, you can modify or delete only attributes that are unique to a class. You cannot modify or delete attributes inherited from a superclass.

NOTE New attributes are not automatically visible on the class forms. For information about laying out attribute fields on class forms, see “Control of the layout of class forms” on page 194.

Common attribute fieldsYou can define common attributes for every attribute data type.

Table 2-4 lists the fields that appear in the Attribute dialog box and describes how you should enter information for those fields when creating an attribute. Fields marked with an asterisk are required.Table 2-4: Common fields in the Attribute dialog box (Sheet 1 of 2)

Field Description

Data Type * The type of information that the attribute contains. After you select a data type, data type characteristics fields specific to your selection appear to the right of the Data Type field. For more information about these fields, see “Data Type attribute fields” on page 47.

Attribute Name * A descriptive name of up to 80 alphanumeric characters (including underscores) that is indicative of the function.

Note: There is no mechanism in the Class Manager to specify a localized label to appear in place of the Attribute Name on the class form. To change the label, use BMC Remedy Developer Studio to create or edit the appropriate view of the class form. For more information about BMC Remedy AR System views, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

Namespace Namespace for the attribute. Select or enter a namespace if this attribute should be in a different namespace than the class that contains it. To use the class namespace, leave this field blank. For more information, see “Namespaces and partitioning the data model” on page 41.

Field ID ID of the field created for the attribute on the class form. It is an integer that must be greater than 536870911 but less than 2147483647, which is the default maximum value for field IDs. To have the system generate an ID, leave this field blank.

46 Administrator’s Guide

Page 51: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Data Type attribute fieldsSome fields in the Attribute dialog box appear only when you select certain values for the Data Type field.

Entry Mode Mode that determines whether the attribute must contain a value for each instance and whether its value is stored in the database. It can be any one of these options:! Required—The attribute value must be filled in when a user

creates an instance. A required attribute appears with a bold label in the class form.

! Optional—You can enter information for the attribute or leave it empty.

! Display only—The attribute is used as a temporary field. The value of the attribute is not stored in the database.

Audit Option An option that determines whether changes to this attribute value trigger an audit:! Audit—Changes to the value trigger an audit.! Copy—Changes to the value cause the attribute to be written to

the audit form.! Audit and Copy—Changes to the value trigger an audit and

cause the attribute to be written to the audit form.The default is None. For more information about these options, see “Auditing instance history of classes” on page 55.

Attribute Type The type of the attribute, either regular or core. You can create only regular attributes.

Custom Properties Additional information about the attribute. You must enter the custom properties in serialized format. The serialization format for most attribute items is:ListSize\PropId\DataType\PropValue\PropId\DataType\PropValue\...

Custom properties for attributes are the same as for classes. For more information, see “Custom Properties” on page 40.

Primary Key Read-only value that indicates whether the attribute is a primary key for an index of this class in the database. For more information about indexes, see “Class indexes” on page 53.

Hidden An option that determines whether the attribute is hidden on the class form.

Table 2-4: Common fields in the Attribute dialog box (Sheet 2 of 2)

Field Description

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 47

Page 52: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 2-3: Data type fields

Table 2-5 describes the fields on the Attribute dialog box that appear according to the Data Type selected for the attribute. All of these fields are optional. For more information about these fields, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.Table 2-5: Attribute fields specific to data types (Sheet 1 of 3)

Fields Description Applicable data types

Allowable Currency Types

List of currency types allowed. Currency

Attachment Pool Name of the attachment pool to which the attachment field belongs.

Attachment Field

Default Value Value that is saved for the attribute when a new instance is created if the user does not enter a value. The Default Value can be a static value or a keyword from the field menu.

! Character ! Currency ! Date ! Date/Time ! Decimal ! Diary ! Integer ! Real ! Selection ! Time

Enum Type Specifies the way in which selection-field options are ordered in the database.! Regular—BMC Remedy AR System

numbers the IDs beginning with 0 and incrementing by 1.

! Custom—You must number all of the IDs manually. You can enter any value from 0 through 2147483647.

Selection

Functional Currency Types

List of currency types to which the value can be converted when it is saved to the database.

Currency

48 Administrator’s Guide

Page 53: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

ID Values If you selected a custom Enum Type for a selection field, enter the IDs for each of the values.

Selection

Input Length Determines the maximum size of the attachment, measured in bytes. A value of 0 defaults to the maximum allowed by the database.

Attachment Field

List Format If you want the attribute to contain a list of character values, enter the maximum number of elements in the list in the format Lmax. If you want the attribute to contain only one value, leave this field empty. For example, enter L4 to specify a maximum of four list elements. This maximum is enforced by the BMC Atrium CMDB API.When creating instances of this class, delimit list elements in this attribute with a semicolon (;). To include a semicolon in a list element, place a backslash (\) in front of it. A semicolon after the last element is optional. For example, to create a list containing a, b, ;, and d, enter the string a;b;\;;d in this attribute when creating an instance of the class.

Character

Max Maximum value allowed in this field. For Currency and Decimal types, the maximum can be any amount. For the Integer type, the maximum can be as high as 2147483647. For the Real type, the maximum can be as high as 1.845e+019.

! Currency ! Decimal ! Integer ! Real

Max Length Maximum number of characters that a user can enter in the attribute. The default is 255.

Character

Menu Name BMC Remedy AR System menu to attach to the attribute to allow users to select a value.

Character

Menu Style Select Append to append menu selections to the attribute’s existing value, or Overwrite to replace an existing value with each menu selection.

Character

Min Minimum value allowed in this field. For Currency and Decimal types, the minimum can be any amount. For the Integer type, the minimum can be as low as –2147483647. For the Real type, the minimum can be as low as -1.845e+019.

! Currency ! Decimal ! Integer ! Real

Pattern Select a pattern if you want to allow only certain types of values in the attribute, such as alphabetic characters or selections from an attached menu.

Character

Table 2-5: Attribute fields specific to data types (Sheet 2 of 3)

Fields Description Applicable data types

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 49

Page 54: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Creating attributesThe Class Manager helps you create attributes for CI and relationship classes.

! To create an attribute

1 In the Class Manager, open a class for editing.

2 In the CI Class or Relationship Class dialog box, click the Attributes tab.

3 In the Attributes tab, click New.

4 In the Attribute dialog box, enter information for the common fields, as listed in Table 2-4 on page 46.

5 Enter information for the optional fields specific to your selection for the Data Type field, as listed in Table 2-5 on page 48.

6 (optional) In the Permissions section, select groups and roles that can view and modify the attribute.

If you do not specify permissions, BMC Atrium CMDB assigns the following permissions:

7 To add more attributes, repeat step 3 through step 6.

8 Click OK to close the Attribute dialog box.

Precision Number of decimal places displayed. ! Decimal ! Real

QBE Match Select the type of Query By Example (QBE) matching to be used when querying on this attribute from the class form. The default is Anywhere.! Anywhere—The string matches if it is

found anywhere in the attribute value.! Leading—The string matches if it is found

at the beginning of the attribute value.! Equal—The string matches if it is exactly

the same as the attribute value.

Character

Values Values that appear in the selection field. Selection

Table 2-5: Attribute fields specific to data types (Sheet 3 of 3)

Fields Description Applicable data types

View permissions Change permissions

! CMDB Data View! CMDB Data View All

! CMDB Write Security! CMDB Data Change! CMDB Data Change All

50 Administrator’s Guide

Page 55: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

9 Perform one of the following actions:

Weak relationships between classes—Propagating their attributesYou can map attributes between members of a weak relationship. The value of a mapped attribute of the source class is copied, or propagated, to the corresponding attribute on the destination class. This allows you to find out limited information about a source CI while viewing a destination CI, without having to follow the relationship and view the source CI.

Best practice

To propagate a source attribute, you must map it to an existing attribute on the destination class. Create new attributes on the destination class for this purpose, instead of mapping to an attribute provided by the CDM. Doing so allows CDM attributes to serve their intended purpose and prevents you from accidentally overwriting propagated source CI values with values from somewhere else.

Action Steps

You want to provide additional information for the class

Continue with the process described in “Process overview for creating or modifying classes” on page 37.

You are finished working with this class

1 Click OK.2 In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

Define properties1

Specify permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

Creating or modifying a class

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 51

Page 56: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 2-4: Mapped attributes in a weak relationship

The attribute that you propagate to on the destination class must be the same data type as the attribute on the source class, and it cannot be inherited from a superclass. When you set up propagation, the limit characteristics of the destination attribute are modified to match those of the source attribute. For example, if you propagate an integer attribute that has a Min value of 3 on the source side to a destination attribute with a Min value of 1, the Min value of the destination attribute changes to 3.

Propagating attributes for weak relationshipsThe Class Manager helps you propagate (or copy) attributes for weak relationships.

! To propagate attributes for weak relationships

1 Make sure that you have:

! A relationship class that will connect two CI classes.

! An attribute on the destination class for each attribute that will be propagated from the source class.

2 In the Class Manager, open the relationship class for editing.

3 In the Relationship Type section of the Relationship Class dialog box, select the Weak Reference check box.

4 Click Propagated Attributes.

5 In the Class 1 table of the Weak Reference Propagated Attributes dialog box, select a source attribute to propagate.

6 In the Class 2 table, select a destination attribute.

7 Click Map Relationship.

8 Repeat step 5 through step 7 for each attribute you want to propagate.

9 Review the mapped attributes in the mapped relationship table.

52 Administrator’s Guide

Page 57: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

10 Click OK to save the mappings.

11 Perform one of the following actions:

Class indexesIndexing classes can reduce database query time.

Index attributes that:

! You expect users to query frequently.

! Are used by discovery applications to identify CIs.

! Are used in reconciliation identification rules. For more information about identification rules, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Normalization and Reconciliation Guide.

If you create an index for a Character attribute, you can save query time by setting the QBE Match characteristic of that field to Leading or Equal instead of Anywhere.

Use the Indexes section on the General tab of the CI Class and Relationship Class dialog boxes to specify the indexes for a class. You can specify indexes on non-inherited attributes only. If an attribute is inherited form a superclass, you must specify the index for that attribute on the superclass. Display-only attributes cannot be indexed, because no values are stored for them.

To combine multiple attributes into a composite index, specify as many as 16 attributes per composite index. The sum of all attribute lengths in a single index must be fewer than or equal to 255 bytes, so Diary attributes and Character attributes larger than 255 bytes cannot be indexed.

Action Steps

You want to provide additional information for the class

Continue with the process described in “Process overview for creating or modifying classes” on page 37.

You are finished working with this class

1 Click OK.2 In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

Define properties1

Specify permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

Creating or modifying a class

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 53

Page 58: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

More time is required to modify a class (for example, adding new attributes) when indexes have been specified for it. The greater the number of indexes specified for the class, the more time and disk space are required. Specifying and modifying instances also takes longer for classes with many indexes.

Best practice

Specifying or modifying indexes in a class that already holds a large number of instances can take a significant amount of time and disk space. Therefore, you should avoid creating indexes during normal production hours. For more information about BMC Remedy AR System indexes, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

Specifying class indexesThe Class Manager helps you index your classes.

! To specify a class index

1 In the Class Manager, open a class for editing.

2 In the General tab of the CI Class or Relationship Class dialog box, expand the Indexes section.

3 Click New.

4 In the Name field of the Index dialog box, enter a name for the new index.

5 Add at least one field to the index:

a Select one or more fields in the Fields on Form table. If you want to select multiple fields for a composite index, press the Ctrl key as you select fields.

b Click Add.

6 (optional) Specify indexing characteristics for the fields in the index:

a In the Fields in Index table, select a field.

b If all values for the field must be unique, select the Unique check box.

c If the index is the primary key for the class, select the Primary Key check box.

d Repeat step a through step c for the other fields in the Fields in Index table.

7 In the Index dialog box, click OK.

8 Repeat step 3 through step 7 for other indexes you want to create for this class.

9 Perform one of the following actions:

Action Steps

You want to provide additional information for the class

Continue with the process described in “Process overview for creating or modifying classes” on page 37.

You are finished working with this class

1 Click OK.2 In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

54 Administrator’s Guide

Page 59: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager

Auditing instance history of classesYou can keep a history of changes to instance data, which is called auditing. You enable auditing on a per-class basis, and you select which attributes trigger an audit and which are written as a result. An audit is triggered when an instance is created or deleted or when the value of one or more selected attributes changes as the result of an instance being modified. The new value must be different from the existing value to trigger an audit. Copying the same attribute value does not trigger an audit. For example, during reconciliation, a merge activity replaces the existing 348981 value for the SerialNumber attribute with 348981. This does not change the value and does not trigger an audit.

For detailed information about auditing, including best practices, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

For information about viewing instance history in Atrium Explorer, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

NOTE By default, no classes in the data model are configured for auditing. Choose an auditing strategy wisely, limiting class auditing to business-critical situations. As the number of classes with auditing increases, system performance might slow.

Audit typesYou can specify the following types of audit when modifying a class:

! Copy—Creates a copy of each audited instance. When you enable Copy auditing for a class, each BMC Remedy AR System form pertaining to that class is duplicated to create audit forms that hold audited instances. This includes forms from superclasses, because they hold data for instances of their subclasses.

! Log—Creates an entry in a log form that stores all attribute values from the audited instance in one field. When you enable Log auditing for a class, you specify the name of the log form to use. If this form does not already exist, it is created automatically. You can use the same log form with multiple classes.

Define properties1

Specify permissions (optional)

Define attributes

Configure auditing (optional)

Specify indexes (optional)

Propagate attributes (optional)

2 3

4 5 6

Creating or modifying a class

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 55

Page 60: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

NOTE You cannot use Log auditing above Copy auditing in the inheritance tree. This means that if you already have Copy auditing enabled for a class, you cannot enable Log auditing for any of its superclasses, and if you already have Log auditing enabled for a class you cannot enable Copy auditing for any of its subclasses. This is due to the structure of audit forms. For more information about audit forms, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Attribute audit optionsUsing the following attribute audit options to specify which attributes trigger an audit and which are written during an audit:

! None—Changes to this attribute do not trigger an audit. NULL is written to this field in the audit form in a Copy audit, and nothing is written to the Log field in a Log audit. This option is the default.

! Audit—When the value of this attribute changes, an audit is triggered and the attribute value is written to the audit form or log form. When another attribute triggers an audit, this attribute is not written.

! Copy—Changes to this attribute do not trigger an audit, but the attribute value is written to the audit form or log form when another attribute triggers an audit.

! Audit & Copy—When the value of this attribute changes, an audit is triggered. This attribute value is written to the audit form or log form in any audit, regardless of whether its value changed.

As long as there is at least one Audit, Copy, or Audit & Copy attribute for a class, a Create or Delete operation triggers an audit regardless of the values of such attributes. Audit, Copy, and Audit & Copy attributes are all written during such an audit.

Configuring auditing for a classYou can use the Class Manager to configure auditing for a class and specify which attributes in that class are included in an audit.

! To configure auditing for a class

1 In the Class Manager, open a class for editing.

2 In the General tab of the CI Class or Relationship Class dialog box, expand the Auditing section.

3 In the Audit Type field, select Copy or Log, as described in “Audit types” on page 55.

4 If you selected Log auditing, enter the name of the log form in the Audit Log Form field, or accept the default form name, CMDB:DefaultAuditLog.

This form stores log entries for this class. If the form that you specify does not exist, it is created automatically.

56 Administrator’s Guide

Page 61: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Deleting a class

5 In the Qualification field, type a qualification to specify which instances of the class are audited.

For example, the following qualification specifies that only instances in the BMC.ASSET dataset are audited:

'DatasetId' = "BMC.ASSET"

If you want all instances to be audited when they are created and deleted and when a selected attribute is changed, leave this field blank.

6 Click the Attributes tab.

7 Select an attribute that you want to be included in audits and click Edit.

8 From the Audit Option menu, select an option for this attribute, as described in “Attribute audit options” on page 56.

9 In the Attribute dialog box, Click OK.

10 Repeat step 7 through step 9 for each attribute that should be included in audits.

11 In the Class dialog box, click OK.

12 In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

Deleting a classYou can use the Class Manager to delete a class from the data model.

Best practice

Never delete classes or attributes from the BMC CDM. Deleting such classes or attributes can cause problems during upgrade.

WARNING When you delete a class, all of its subclasses and dependencies (such as audit forms) are deleted. If it is a CI class, all of the relationship classes in which it or its subclasses participate are also deleted.

You can also deprecate a class and its attributes from the data model (for example, to improve the performance of the BMC Atrium CMDB or update the data model to adjust to your business needs). For more information, see “Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model” on page 217.

! To delete a class

1 Open the Class Manager.

2 In the display pane, browse the data model until you have selected the class that you want to delete.

3 In the toolbar, click the Delete Class button.

4 In the confirmation message, click Yes.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 57

Page 62: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Saving the data model as an imageThe Class Manager displays the data model as a color-coded, hierarchical chart. If you want to save a view of that chart for use outside of the Class Manager, you can save the contents of the display pane as a .png image. For example, if you are developing internal documentation for the data model, include an image that shows your extensions.

! To save the data model as an image

1 In the display pane of the Class Manager, open the data model to show all of the classes that you want to include in your image.

2 Resize the view of the data model to fit within the display pane.

3 Click the Export View As Image button.

4 In the Export Image dialog box, select a scale mode:

! None—Saves the entire contents of the display pane, including areas that you must scroll to see, to a maximum size of 2880 pixels by 2880 pixels.

! ViewPort—Saves only the portion of the display pane that is currently visible.

! Fit—Scales the entire contents of the display pane to fit in the pixel parameters that you set.

5 Select the number of insets, which determine how many pixels of border surround the saved image.

6 Select a background color for the image, and then click Export.

7 Save the image to the location of your choice.

Status of classesAfter you make any change to a class or attribute with the Class Manager or a BMC Atrium CMDB API program, the class definitions are automatically synchronized with the BMC Remedy AR System forms that hold class data and the workflow that enforces hierarchy and other rules.

A class can be in one of the following statuses:

! Change Pending—The Class Manager is in the process of updating BMC Atrium CMDB.

! Active—The Class Manager has synchronized modifications with BMC Atrium CMDB.

! Error—A Class Manager update or create operation has failed. Pause your mouse pointer over the Error icon in the display pane to see the error message.

58 Administrator’s Guide

Page 63: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Class instance icons

The Class Manager displays the current status. In the tree view, a clock icon in the corner of the class box indicates a status of Change Pending. When the clock icon is not displayed, the status is Active.

In the table view, a Status column indicates the status of each class.

Class instance iconsAtrium Explorer displays a specific icon to represent each instance. The icon is defined for a specific class, and you can add and modify those icons in BMC Atrium CMDB.

An instance of BMC_UIComponent for each CI class in the CDM defines an icon to represent that class in the Atrium Explorer. You can modify these icons, create new icons to represent classes outside of the CDM, or create multiple icons for the same class. If there is no BMC_UIComponent icon instance for a class, that class is represented in the Atrium Explorer by the same icon as its superclass.

You can use multiple icons for the same class to:

! Display different icons for different sets of instances of the class. For example, you might use one icon to represent desktop computer instances of BMC_ComputerSystem and another to represent laptop computer instances.

! Display different icons in different locales. For example, you might change the colors of the icons for a locale where the original colors carry an unwanted meaning.

! Display different icons in different data consumer products. Because instances of BMC_UIComponent are available to any BMC Atrium CMDB client like instances in the data model, those clients can make use of icons that you store here. For example, BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping display these icons.

If you have not defined an icon for a class, or if no icon defined for the class has a qualification that matches the current instance, the Atrium Explorer will display the icon of the nearest superclass that has a defined icon. If you create a new base class without an icon, the new class uses the BMC_BaseElement icon.

Defining custom icons for a class instanceYou can create your own custom icons (using a class instance of BMC_UIComponent) to represent class instances in Atrium Explorer.

! To define a custom icon

1 Use the following direct access URL to open the BMC_UIComponent form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 59

Page 64: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

2 Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for the following attributes:

! ClassId—Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.

! ComponentLocale—Type the locale where this icon should be displayed. When a client requests an icon under a locale for which there is no icon defined, the en_US icon is displayed.

! ComponentName—(optional) Type a name for the icon.

! ComponentQual—(optional) Type a qualification that specifies which instances of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId are represented by this icon. If you do not specify a value for ComponentQual, this icon represents all instances of the class, subject to the values of ComponentLocale and ComponentTag4.

Atrium Explorer supports only qualifications that use string or integer values. In addition, you can use the AND or = operators when constructing a qualification, and you can include multiple AND statements with the qualification. For example:

'Name'="DesktopPC" AND 'PrimaryCapability'=3 AND 'Manufacturer'="Dell"

! ComponentRelatedClassId—Type the class ID of the class that this icon represents. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

! ComponentTag1—Type the name of the application that owns the icon. It should be a name other than BMC_CMDB, which is used for icons supplied by the BMC Atrium CMDB.

! ComponentTag2—(optional) Type an integer from 1 to 5 to indicate the size of the icon, with a smaller number meaning a smaller size. For a standard 32-by-32-pixel icon, specify 3. This is the default for the icons shipped with the BMC Atrium CMDB.

! ComponentTag3—(optional) Type an integer to specify the format of the file attachment in ComponentAttachment:

! 1—JPEG

! 2—BMP

! 3—GIF

! 4—TIFF

! 5—PNG

In this release, ComponentTag3 is stored but not used.

! ComponentTag4—Type an integer to specify the precedence value of this icon. When more than one icon’s ComponentLocale and ComponentQual match an instance to be represented in the Atrium Explorer, the icon with the highest precedence value is displayed. The icons shipped with the BMC Atrium CMDB all have a precedence value of 10.

60 Administrator’s Guide

Page 65: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

CI labels for classes

! ComponentType—Select Icon.

! Component Attachment—Specify the image file of an icon.

3 Save your changes.

New and changed icons are available to Atrium Explorer within ten minutes. To make them available sooner, restart the mid tier. After waiting ten minutes or restarting the mid tier, reopen Atrium Explorer.

CI labels for classesIn the Atrium Explorer display pane, a label appears below each CI icon to help you identify that CI. The text of the label is the value of an attribute of the CI class. By default, Atrium Explorer uses the Name or ShortDescription attribute of that CI, depending on its CI class, as listed in Table 2-6.

! CIs that represent logical resources use the Name attribute.

! CIs that tend to have long, encoded names use the ShortDescription attribute.

A subclass uses the CI label settings of its superclass. For example, because the BMC_System class uses the ShortDescription attribute for CI labels, the BMC_ComputerSystem class also uses the ShortDescription attribute.

Classes have a prioritized list of attributes for CI labels to ensure that every CI has a label in Atrium Explorer. If the first attribute is empty, then Atrium Explorer uses the second attribute, and so on. If all listed attributes are empty, then Atrium Explorer displays the class name as the CI label. This ensures that the CI label is never empty.

You can configure different attributes to use for CI labels of a class by creating an instance of the BMC_UIComponent form for that class. By default, classes that use the ShortDescription attribute for CI labels do so because they inherit that setting from a BMC_UIComponent form entry for the BMC_BaseElement class. Classes that use the Name attribute have their own BMC_UIComponent form entries.

Table 2-6: Default attributes for CI labels

Classes with a Name attribute label Classes with a ShortDescription attribute label

! BMC_Collection ! BMC_Document ! BMC_LogicalEntity ! BMC_Person

! BMC_AccessPoint ! BMC_Equipment ! BMC_Settings ! BMC_System ! BMC_SystemComponent ! BMC_SystemService

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 61

Page 66: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Consider the following suggestions when choosing new attributes to use for CI labels:

! Choose attributes that are likely to have clear values. Some attributes might have no values or values that are not descriptive of the CI.

! The default limit in Atrium Explorer for CI labels is 32 characters, so choose attributes that allow you to identify CIs with fewer characters. For example, avoid using the Description attribute, since the full description is likely to exceed the display limit. You can change the character limit as part of the Atrium Explorer options, available in the Atrium Explorer toolbar.

Defining CI labels for a classYou can define the label that appears below each CI icon to help you identify that CI.

! To define a CI label for a class

1 Use the following direct access URL to open the BMC_UIComponent form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent

2 Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for the following attributes.

When searching for existing BMC_UIComponent instances of a class, specify the ClassLabelAttribute for the ComponentType field as part of your search criteria.

! ClassId—Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.

! ComponentType—Select ClassLabelAttribute.

! ComponentRelatedClassId—The ID of the class to which this entry applies. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_BaseElement has a class ID of BMC_ASSETBASE. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

! ComponentString—The attributes to use for CI labels, listed in order of preference. Separate attributes with a comma and a space. For example, enter Description, Category to specify Description as the first attribute and Category as the second attribute.

! ComponentLocale—The locale for which this label is applied. When a client requests a locale for which there is no label defined, the en_US threshold is used.

! CMDBRowLevelSecurity—Select the Public group.

3 Save your changes.

New and changed CI labels are available to Atrium Explorer within ten minutes. To make them available sooner, restart the mid tier. After waiting ten minutes or restarting the mid tier, reopen Atrium Explorer.

62 Administrator’s Guide

Page 67: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Defining tooltips for a class

Defining tooltips for a classWhen you mouse over an instance in Atrium Explorer, it displays a tooltip containing attribute values for that instance. The list of attributes in the tooltip are defined for a specific class, and you can add and modify those tooltips in BMC Atrium CMDB.

An instance of BMC_UIComponent for each CI class in the CDM defines a tooltip listing attribute values for that class in the Atrium Explorer. You can modify these tooltips, create new tooltips to represent classes outside of the CDM, or create multiple tooltips for the same class.

! To define a tooltip

1 Use the following direct access URL to open the BMC_UIComponent form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent

2 Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for the following attributes:

! ClassId—Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.

! ComponentLocale—Type the locale where this tooltip should be displayed. When a client requests a tooltip under a locale for which there is no tooltip defined, the en_US tooltip is displayed.

! ComponentName—(optional) Type a name for the tooltip.

! ComponentQual—(optional) Type a qualification that specifies which instances of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId display the attributes listed in this tooltip. If no ComponentQual is specified, this tooltip is displayed for all instances of the class, subject to the values of ComponentLocale and ComponentTag4.

Qualifications use dollar signs to enclose attribute names. For example, the qualification $Name$ LIKE “Computer%” matches instances where the value of the Name attribute begins with “Computer.”

! ComponentRelatedClassId—Type the class ID of the class for which this tooltip displays attribute values. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

! ComponentString—Type the names of the attributes, delimited by commas, for which values are displayed when a user mouses over an instance of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId in the Atrium Explorer.

! ComponentTag1—Type the name of the application that owns the tooltip. It should be a name other than BMC_CMDB, which is used for tooltips supplied by the BMC Atrium CMDB.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 63

Page 68: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! ComponentTag4—Type an integer to specify the precedence value of this tooltip. When more than one tooltip’s ComponentLocale and ComponentQual match an instance to be represented in the Atrium Explorer, the tooltip with the highest precedence value is displayed.

! ComponentType—Select Tooltip.

3 Save your changes.

New and changed tooltips are available to Atrium Explorer within ten minutes. To make them available sooner, restart the mid tier. After waiting ten minutes or restarting the mid tier, reopen Atrium Explorer.

Defining Quick Edit attributes for a classWhen you right-click an instance in Atrium Explorer, you can select the Quick Edit option to quickly edit certain attributes for that instance without opening the full instance editor. By default, you can quick-edit the name and short description of an instance. However, the list of attributes included for Quick Edit are defined against a specific class, and you can configure which fields appear.

An instance of BMC_UIComponent for each CI class in the CDM defines which attributes for that class appear for the Quick Edit option in the Atrium Explorer. Edit that instance to configure which attributes appear for Quick Edits.

! To define Quick Edit attributes

1 Use the following direct access URL to open the BMC_UIComponent form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent

2 Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for the following attributes:

! ClassId—Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.

! ComponentLocale—The locale for which this set of Quick Edit attributes is applied. When a client requests a locale for which there are no Quick Edit attributes defined, the en_US attributes are displayed.

! ComponentName—The name for this set of Quick Edit attributes.

! ComponentQual—A qualification that specifies which instances of the class in ComponentRelatedClassId display the set of Quick Edit attributes. If no ComponentQual is specified, this set of attributes is displayed for all instances of the class, subject to the values of ComponentLocale and ComponentTag4.

Qualifications use dollar signs to enclose attribute names. For example, the qualification $Name$ LIKE “Computer%” matches instances where the value of the Name attribute begins with “Computer.”

64 Administrator’s Guide

Page 69: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Defining instance group thresholds for a class

! ComponentRelatedClassId—The class ID of the class for which this set of attributes applies. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

Modify the instance with a ComponentRelatedClassId of BMC_ASSETBASE to apply the set of Quick Edit attributes to all classes in the Common Data Model.

! ComponentString—The names of the attributes, delimited by commas, that are available for Quick Edit in the Atrium Explorer.

! ComponentTag1—The name of the application that owns the set of Quick Edit attributes. It should be a name other than BMC_CMDB, which is used for tooltips supplied by the BMC Atrium CMDB.

! ComponentTag4—An integer to specify the precedence value of this set of Quick Edit attributes. When more than one set’s ComponentLocale and ComponentQual match an instance to be represented in the Atrium Explorer, the set with the highest precedence value is displayed.

! ComponentType—Select QuickEditAttributes.

3 Save your changes.

New and changed sets of Quick Edit attributes are available to Atrium Explorer within ten minutes. To make them available sooner, restart the mid tier. After waiting ten minutes or restarting the mid tier, reopen Atrium Explorer.

Defining instance group thresholds for a classWhen you right-click an instance in Atrium Explorer, you can select the Expand Children and Expand Parents options to view the CIs related to the selected CI. By default, if four or more instances of a class are related to the CI, the related CIs appear as an instance group to conserve space in the display pane. For more information about viewing instance groups in Atrium Explorer, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

To change the default number of CIs that cause an instance group to appear for a CI class, create an instance of BMC_UIComponent for that CI class. If you specify an instance group threshold for a superclass, the threshold applies to all subclasses that do not also have a threshold specified in a BMC_UIComponent instance. For example, if you specify an instance group threshold of 10 for the BMC_ComputerSystem class, that threshold also applies to the BMC_Mainframe class unless you specify a different threshold value for mainframe CIs.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 65

Page 70: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To define instance group thresholds

1 Use the following direct access URL to open the BMC_UIComponent form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent

2 Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for the following attributes:

! ClassId—Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.

! ComponentLocale—The locale for which this threshold is applied. When a client requests under a locale for which there is no threshold defined, the en_US threshold is used.

! CMDBRowLevelSecurity—Select the Public group.

! ComponentString—The minimum number of CIs of this class that form an Atrium Explorer instance group.

! ComponentType—Select ExplorerGroupThreshold.

! ComponentRelatedClassId—The ID of the class to which this threshold applies. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

Modify the instance with a ComponentRelatedClassId of BMC_ASSETBASE to apply the instance group threshold to all classes in the Common Data Model.

3 Save your changes.

New and changed instance group thresholds are available to Atrium Explorer within ten minutes. To make them available sooner, restart the mid tier. After waiting ten minutes or restarting the mid tier, reopen Atrium Explorer.

Creating Data Model Help with the cdm2html utility

BMC Atrium CMDB comes with Data Model Help that describes the classes and attributes in the CDM. This help is generated from a live BMC Atrium CMDB data model by using the cdm2html utility. If you install other BMC Software products that extend the BMC Atrium CMDB data model or if you add classes or attributes yourself, the Data Model Help no longer reflects the actual data model. The cdm2html utility enables you to update the Data Model Help to reflect the current data model.

The cdm2html utility creates an HTML-based help system that provides information about the data model, including class inheritance, attributes, and characteristics such as whether a class is abstract or a categorization class.

66 Administrator’s Guide

Page 71: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating Data Model Help with the cdm2html utility

Best practice

This help includes the descriptions found in the Class Manager in the Class Description field for classes and the Description field for attributes. If you have created new classes or attributes, enter meaningful descriptions for them in the Class Manager before running cdm2html.

cdm2html prerequisitesThe cdm2html utility is a BMC Atrium CMDB Java API client, and requires the following software:

! Java Runtime (J2SE™) version 1.5 or later.

! Apache Xalan-Java version 2.7 or later. This is bundled with BMC Atrium CMDB and installed in CMDBInstallDir\utils.

! Prerequisites for BMC Atrium CMDB Java API and BMC Remedy AR System Java API clients as listed in the JavaAPI_Overview.html file of the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Javadoc Help.

cdm2html restrictionsThe cdm2html utility is subject to these restrictions:

! It can be used only with a BMC Atrium CMDB that has English as its data language.

! It does not delete help files. If you delete a class from the data model and then run cdm2html, the previously existing HTML file for that class remains untouched. You should always generate Data Model Help into a new folder or clean out the existing folder before generating.

! It does not create help for Hidden or Display Only attributes.

cdm2html Java command syntaxThis section explains how to directly invoke cdm2html with a Java command from a Windows or UNIX® command prompt. You must either add the following paths and files to your CLASSPATH environment variable before running cdm2html or include the -cp parameter at runtime to specify them:

! CMDBInstallDir\utils\

! CMDBInstallDir\utils\cdmutil.jar

! CMDBInstallDir\utils\xalan.jar

! CMDBInstallDir\sdk64\bin\cmdbapi7604.jar

! CMDBInstallDir\sdk64\bin\arapi7604_build002.jar

! CMDBInstallDir\sdk64\bin\commons-lang-2.4.jar

! CMDBInstallDir\sdk64\bin\log4j-1.2.14.jar

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 67

Page 72: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

The command syntax is:

java [-cp Path] com.bmc.cmdb.cdmutil.cdm2html -indir Path -outdir Path -server HostName -user UserName -password Password -port Number

The parameters are:

! -indir—The path where cdmutil.jar resides. By default, this file is installed in CMDBInstallDir\utils. If you specify a relative path, it must begin with a period (.) and be relative to the directory from which you are executing the command.

! -outdir—The path in which to generate the help files. If you specify a relative path, it must begin with a period (.) and be relative to the directory from which you are executing the command. The default is the current directory.

! -server—The BMC Atrium CMDB server from which you want to export Data Model Help. You can specify either a host name or IP address. The default value is localhost.

! -user—The BMC Remedy AR System user to perform the operation. The default value is Demo. The user must have the CMDB Definitions Viewer role.

! -password—The password for this user. The default value is blank.

! -port—The port number on which to connect to the server. The default value is 0, which means to use the BMC Remedy AR System portmapper.

Here is an example command at the CMDBInstallDir\utils\ prompt on a Window 64-bit computer, assuming that you did not add anything to CLASSPATH:

java -cp "C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\utils\;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\utils\cdmutil.jar;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\sdk64\bin\cmdbapi7604.jar;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\utils\xalan.jar;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\sdk64\bin\arapi7604_build002.jar;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\sdk64\bin\commons-lang-2.4.jar;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\sdk64\bin\log4j-1.2.14.jar;C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\sdk64\bin" com.bmc.cmdb.cdmutil.cdm2html -outdir .HTMLHelp -indir "C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\CMDB\utils" -user Demo -password ""

After running the utility, the outdir directory will contain a zipped version of the help and an html folder containing the unzipped help.

cdm2html.bat file (Windows)On Windows, you can avoid typing the extensive CLASSPATH information by invoking the cdm2html utility from a wrapper batch file, cdm2html.bat. Before running the batch file, you must set these system variables:

! JAVA_HOME—Set to your Java installation directory, such as C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_11\bin\java

! CMDBSDK—Set to your BMC Atrium CMDB SDK installation directory, such as C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\cmdb\sdk\bin

68 Administrator’s Guide

Page 73: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating Data Model Help with the cdm2html utility

The batch file is located in CMDBInstallDir\utils. Its parameter syntax is the same as for the direct Java command. Here is an example command:

cdm2html.bat -indir "C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\cmdb\utils" -outdir .HTMLHelp -user SysAdmin -password 1xR34Ut8 -port 0

After running the utility, the outdir directory will contain a zipped version of the help and an html folder containing the unzipped help.

Chapter 2 Modifying your data model 69

Page 74: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

70 Administrator’s Guide

Page 75: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

3

Configuring federated data

You can configure BMC Atrium CMDB to display federated data. You can configure federation through the retrieval and launch methods. The retrieval method enables you to view federated data as if it were stored in BMC Atrium CMDB. The launch method enables you to view federated data through another application, such as a BMC Remedy AR System form. For more information about federation, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

The following topics are provided:

! Federated data—Calbro Services example (page 72)! Federation Manager interface (page 72)! Administering plugins and adapters for federated data (page 73)! Managing data stores (page 85)! Administering the retrieval method of federation (page 87)! Administering the launch method of federation (page 97)

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 71

Page 76: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Federated data—Calbro Services exampleThe following example illustrates when you might choose to federate data.

Calbro Services stores service and maintenance records for their printers in a Microsoft SQL Server database. Allen Allbrook, a BMC Atrium CMDB administrator at Calbro Services, knows that only core data for a CI should be stored in the BMC Atrium CMDB. Detailed and related data for those CIs should be federated to help organize CIs and make the BMC Atrium CMDB more efficient.

Allen determines that the service and maintenance database stores information that is related to CIs in the BMC Atrium CMDB, and makes that data available using the retrieval method of federation. The federated data is then available to be viewed from within the BMC Atrium CMDB through Atrium Explorer.

Allen completes the following tasks to enable BMC Atrium CMDB to display the federated service and maintenance data on the Microsoft SQL Server database:

! Create a plugin for the new Microsoft SQL Server database, as described in “Creating plugins for federated data” on page 75.

! Create a data store to represent the incident database, as described in “Managing data stores” on page 85.

! Create a federated data class for the specific incident data to federate, as described in “Creating a federated data class” on page 89.

! Create a federated relationship class that defines how the federated incident data is related to CIs stored in BMC Atrium CMDB, as described in “Creating a federated relationship class” on page 93.

For more information about when to federate data, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Federation Manager interfaceThe Federation Manager interface enables you to manage all of the external data stores that you want to be available through BMC Atrium CMDB. An external source of data is most often a database, a CMDB compliant with the CMDBf standard, or forms on a BMC Remedy AR System server. External sources of data are represented in Federation Manager as data stores.

The navigation pane lists all of the external data stores that you have configured. When you select a data store, details for the federated data available from that data store appear in the display pane.

The display pane contains tabs that provide access to different information for the selected data store:

! General—Lists the name and description of the selected data store.

72 Administrator’s Guide

Page 77: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

! Retrieval Definitions—Enables you to administer the federated data classes and federated relationship classes associated with the selected data store. Retrieval definitions enable you to view federated data as if it were stored in BMC Atrium CMDB. For more information, see “Administering the retrieval method of federation” on page 87.

! Launch Definitions—Enables you to administer launch interfaces and launch links, which launch federated data using a method that you configure. For more information, see “Administering the launch method of federation” on page 97.

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

Federation Manager plugins and adapters provide the mechanism to connect the master BMC Atrium CMDB to external sources of data, federating data from different types of repositories. Figure 3-1 illustrates the concept of federation between the BMC Atrium CMDB and a federated Oracle database.

Figure 3-1: Federation between BMC Atrium CMDB and federated database

BMC Atrium CMDB

Core CMDBclasses

Federated CMDB dataclasses

Federateddata Class1

Federateddata Class2

Oracle Database1

Table 1 Table 2

JDBCadapter

Plugin forDatabase 1

CDMClass1

CDMClass2

Federated relationship

Federated relationship

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 73

Page 78: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Table 3-1 explains the federation concepts illustrated in Figure 3-1.

As shown in Figure 3-1 by the downward arrows, BMC Atrium CMDB can establish links from its own data to the external data source, but the external source cannot establish links to BMC Atrium CMDB. Federated data is not bidirectional.

You can use any adapter in one or more plugins. For example, you might use a single JDBC™ adapter to configure two different plugins, with each plugin configured to connect with a different external database. BMC Atrium CMDB includes three adapters at installation:

! JDBC—Enables you to federate data from any JDBC-compliant database. For more information, see “Creating a JDBC plugin” on page 75.

! CMDBf—Enables you to federate data from any CMDBf-compliant CMDB. If you have third-party CMDBs in your environment, you can use the CMDBf adapter. For more information, see “Creating a CMDBf plugin” on page 79.

! AR—Enables you to federate data from forms on any BMC Remedy AR System servers. For more information, see “Creating an AR plugin” on page 81.

If you want to connect to an external data source of a different type, you must first create a new adapter. For more information, see “Registering a federated data adapter with BMC Remedy AR System” on page 84.

Table 3-1: Important federation concepts explained

Federation concept Description

Core BMC Atrium CMDB classes

Store CI instances (for example, BMC_ComputerSystem from the Common Data Model).

Federated data classes

Represent data that is stored externally (for example, data in an Oracle database). In the retrieval method of federation, you can use Atrium Explorer to view or query this data in the context of the data model.

Federated relationships

Join the core CMDB classes with the federated data classes.

Adapter Provides the code-level connectivity between BMC Atrium CMDB and an external source of data. It enables you to federate data from various external data sources (for example, the Oracle adapter connects to a JDBC-compliant Oracle database).

Plugin Provides access to an external source of data. The plugin uses an adapter and other information, such as the user name and password required to access a database.

Database Contains the data (for example, incidents or change requests) in database tables that you do not want to store directly in the BMC Atrium CMDB.

74 Administrator’s Guide

Page 79: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

Creating plugins for federated dataPlugins use adapters to connect an external source of data to BMC Atrium CMDB. If you want to federate data on a JDBC-compliant database, a CMDBf-compliant CMDB, or the forms residing on a BMC Remedy AR System server, you can create a plugin using an adapter that is installed with BMC Atrium CMDB.

Figure 3-2 illustrates how plugins and adapters work with two federated Oracle databases. You can use any adapter for one or more plugins. For example, you might use a JDBC adapter to configure two different plugins, with each plugin configured to connect with a different external database.

Figure 3-2: Using plugins and adapters with federated databases

Table 3-1 on page 74 explains the federation concepts illustrated in Figure 3-2.

NOTE You only need to create plugins with the retrieval method of federation, not the launch method.

Creating a JDBC pluginThe following procedure includes an example for a Calbro Services administrator who wants to create a custom JDBC plugin for a Microsoft SQL Server database that contains workgroup and data transfer information about computer system CIs.

The JDBC plugin requires a database driver. If you do not want to use one of the drivers (SQL Server, Oracle, IBM® DB2®, or Sybase) that BMC provides, you must use your own. Many drivers are available on the internet.

NOTE If your BMC Atrium CMDB environment uses a server group, you must install that driver in the same directory path on each server in the group.

Oracle databases

Plugin for Database 1 Plugin for Database 2

User/password

Database1 Database2

User/password

User/password

JDBCadapter

User/password

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 75

Page 80: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To create a JDBC plugin

1 Open Federation Manager.

2 In the toolbar, click the Configure repository plugins and adapters button.

Figure 3-3: Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box

3 In the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box, click New.

4 In the General tab of the Details section, enter the following information for the JDBC plugin:

Click Refresh to verify that the plugin is properly loaded

Table 3-2: Parameters for creating JDBC plugin (Sheet 1 of 2)

Field Description

Adapter From the list of available adapters, select JDBC.

Database Type Select a database from the list (for example, SQL Server). To select a different type of database (for example, MySQL), select Other from the Database Type list. You must then specify the parameters for the database, including login information, JDBC URL, and so on.

Plugin Name Unique name for the plugin. This name cannot change after you save the plugin. To make the name descriptive in a meaningful, consistent way, consider using the following naming convention:DatabaseType_DatabaseName_PLUGIN_HostName.

Host Name Actual name of server hosting your database (for example, Calbro_server_SJ).

Note: Do not use localhost.

76 Administrator’s Guide

Page 81: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

For example, Allen, the Calbro Services administrator, selects the JDBC adapter and SQL Server database type, names the new plugin SQLServer_Northwind_CalbroSJ, and enters the remaining parameters for the Microsoft SQL Server server database.

5 (optional) Click the Filter Options tab of the Details section.

a Select the source of the data that you want to fetch.

By default, the JDBC Adapter fetches data from tables only. You can fetch the data from views only, or both tables and views.

Database Name Name of the particular database to be used (for example, Northwind).For DB2, enter a schema name. The schema name is case-sensitive and must be specified in uppercase characters (for example, MYSCHEMA).

Service Name (Oracle only)

Alias to an Oracle instance

Port Number ! DB2—50000! Oracle—1521! SQL Server—1433! Sybase—5001

Note: These port numbers are the default values for the respective databases. You could use a different port number for your database.

User Name User name to log in to the database (for example, sa).

Password Password to log in to the database.

JDBC URL (Other only)

The JDBC connection information to the database. You must enter the proper values for your particular database. For example, the MySQL database: jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysqlFor specific information about constructing JDBC URLs, see the documentation for your specific database.

JDBC Driver (Other only)

The full name of the JDBC driver class. You must enter the proper values for your particular database. For example, the MySQL database: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

Table 3-2: Parameters for creating JDBC plugin (Sheet 2 of 2)

Field Description

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 77

Page 82: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 3-4: Filter options to limit the data returned

b For performance reasons, enter a pattern to filter the tables returned.

For example, if you enter Ab%, only the tables starting with the Ab pattern are retrieved from the database.

6 Click Add.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box reads No for the new plugin.

7 In the list of repository plugins, select the new plugin.

8 Click Show XML.

9 In the Plugin XML dialog box, copy all of the text from <plugin> to <\plugin>, including those tags, and then close the dialog box.

10 On the plugin server computer, open the pluginsvr_config.xml file for editing.

By default, the pluginsvr_config.xml file is in the InstallDir\BMC Software\AtriumCore\cmdb\plugins\shared\ directory.

11 In the <pluginsvr_config> section of the pluginsvr_config.xml file, paste the <plugin> text that you copied from the Plugin XML dialog box in step 9 as a new <plugin> entry.

12 Save and close the pluginsvr_config.xml file.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box displays No when you first create the new plugin.

13 Click Refresh.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box now should display Yes for the new plugin. If the Loaded column continues to display No, one of the following conditions exists:

! An error occurred in connecting to the external data source. Examine the AtriumPluginSvr.log file for errors. By default, the AtriumPluginSvr.log file is in the InstallDir\BMC Software\AtriumCore\Logs\ directory.

! The external data source returns no external tables. No errors are logged in this case.

78 Administrator’s Guide

Page 83: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

14 If your BMC Atrium CMDB environment uses a server group, make sure the same plugin is configured on all servers in the server group. Repeat the following steps for each server:

a Copy the same plugin configuration information in the pluginsvr_config.xml file for each server. Make the appropriate changes in the <filename> and <pathelement> tags to correct the jar paths for the local server if required.

b Copy and paste the Server Plugin Alias entry in the ar.cfg file. Change the server name to the local server.

c Restart the server.

15 Close the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box.

You now must create a data store to represent the external data in your database. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

Creating a CMDBf pluginThe following procedure includes an example for a Calbro Services administrator that wants to create a custom plugin for a CMDBf-compliant CMDB. The administrator has already located the Access Point URL and the WSDL URL to the CMDB.

Use the CMDBf plugin only for federated repositories that are other third-party CMDBs. The combination of the master BMC Atrium CMDB instance with the secondary CMDB instances constitutes a logical CMDB known as the Configuration Management System (or CMS) in IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) V3.

NOTE Do not use the CMDBf plugin to connect one BMC Atrium CMDB storing one type of data (for example, Asset Management data) to another BMC Atrium CMDB storing another type of data (for example, Change Management data). Only one BMC Atrium CMDB should function as the single source of reference for all CIs in your IT environment.

! To create a CMDBf plugin

1 Open Federation Manager.

2 In the toolbar, click the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters button.

3 In the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box, click New.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 79

Page 84: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

4 In the General tab of the Details section, enter the following information for the CMDBf plugin:

For example, Allen, the Calbro Services administrator, would select the CMDBf adapter, name the new plugin CMDB_PLUGIN_CalbrSJ, and enter the user name and password to the CMDB. He would then enter an Access Point URL of http://goldserver:9090/axis2/services/ThirdPartyCMDB_porttype, and a WSDL URL of http://goldserver:9090/axis2/services/ThirdPartyCMDB_porttype?wsdl.

Figure 3-5: Creating a CMDBf plugin

5 Click Add.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box reads No for the new plugin.

6 In the list of repository plugins, select the new plugin.

7 Click Show XML.

8 In the Plugin XML dialog box, copy all of the text from <plugin> to <\plugin>, including those tags.

Table 3-3: Parameters for creating CMDBf plugin

Field Description

Adapter Select CMDBf from the list of available adapters.

Plugin Name Unique name for the plugin. This name cannot change after you save the plugin. To make the name descriptive in a meaningful, consistent way, consider using the following naming convention: DatabaseType_DatabaseName_PLUGIN_HostName.

User Name User name to access the external source of data.

Password Password to access the external source of data.

Access Point URL URL of the service access endpoint, formatted as follows:http://HostName:PortNumber/ServicePortName

WSDL URL URL of the service WSDL, formatted as follows:http://HostName:PortNumber/ServicePortName?wsdl

80 Administrator’s Guide

Page 85: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

9 On the plugin server computer, open the pluginsvr_config.xml file for editing.

By default, the pluginsvr_config.xml file is in the InstallDir\BMC Software\AtriumCore\cmdb\plugins\shared\ directory.

10 In the <pluginsvr_config> section of the pluginsvr_config.xml file, paste the <plugin> text that you copied from the Plugin XML dialog box in step 8 as a new <plugin> entry.

11 Save and close the pluginsvr_config.xml file.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box displays No when you first create the new plugin.

12 Click Refresh.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box now should display Yes for the new plugin.

If the Loaded column continues to display No, one of the following conditions exists:

! An error occurred in connecting to the external data source. Examine the AtriumPluginSvr.log file for errors. By default, the AtriumPluginSvr.log file is in the InstallDir\BMC Software\AtriumCore\Logs\ directory.

! The external data source returns no external tables. No errors are logged in this case.

13 If your BMC Atrium CMDB environment uses a server group, make sure the same plugin is configured on all servers in the server group. Repeat the following steps for each server:

a Copy the same plugin configuration information in the pluginsvr_config.xml file for each server. Make the appropriate changes in the <filename> and <pathelement> tags to correct the jar paths for the local server if required.

b Copy and paste the Server Plugin Alias entry in the ar.cfg file. Change the server name to the local server.

c Restart the server.

14 Close the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box.

You now must create a data store to represent the external data in your CMDBf-compliant CMDB. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

Creating an AR plugin The following procedure includes an example for a Calbro Services administrator that wants to create a custom AR plugin for the form on the BMC Remedy AR System server used to store printer service records. In this case, creating an AR plugin instead of a JDBC plugin is easier for federation because form names are typically easier to read than table names from the AR System database.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 81

Page 86: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To create a plugin using the AR adapter

1 Open Federation Manager.

2 In the toolbar, click the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters button.

3 In the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box, click New.

4 In the General tab of the Details section, enter the following information:

For example, Allen, the Calbro Services administrator, would select the AR adapter, name the new plugin ARServer_PLUGIN_CalbroSJ, and enter the user name, password, server name, and port of the BMC Remedy AR System server.

Figure 3-6: Creating an AR plugin

5 (optional) Click the Filter Options tab of the Details section to fetch the data from a particular type of form on the BMC Remedy AR System server.

You can retrieve data from the following forms:

Table 3-4: Parameters for creating AR plugin

Field Description

Adapter Select AR from the list of available adapters.

Plugin Name Unique name for the plugin. You cannot change this name after you save the plugin. To make the name descriptive in a meaningful, consistent way, consider using the following naming convention: ARServer_PLUGIN_HostName.

User Name User name to access the BMC Remedy AR System server.

Password Password to access the server.

AR Server Name of the server.

Port Port number of the specified server.

Table 3-5: Form types from which you can retrieve data (Sheet 1 of 2)

Form Description

Regular Forms Default setting.

Specified Forms Enter the form in the Form Name field.

All Forms Includes all form types.

Join Forms Includes all join forms.

82 Administrator’s Guide

Page 87: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering plugins and adapters for federated data

6 In the Changed since field, enter the date and time to limit the forms to those modified after the specified time.

7 In the Include Hidden Forms field, specify whether to include hidden forms (the default value) or not.

8 Click Add.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box reads No for the new plugin.

9 In the list of repository plugins, select the new plugin.

10 Click Show XML.

11 In the Plugin XML dialog box, copy all of the text from <plugin> to <\plugin>, including those tags.

12 On the plugin server computer, open the pluginsvr_config.xml file for editing.

By default, the pluginsvr_config.xml file is in the InstallDir\BMC Software\AtriumCore\cmdb\plugins\shared\ directory.

13 In the <pluginsvr_config> section of the pluginsvr_config.xml file, paste the <plugin> text that you copied from the Plugin XML dialog box in step 11 as a new <plugin> entry.

14 Save and close the pluginsvr_config.xml file.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box displays No when you first create the new plugin.

15 Click Refresh.

The Loaded column in the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box now should display Yes for the new plugin. If the Loaded column continues to display No, one of the following conditions exists:

! An error occurred in connecting to the external data source. Examine the AtriumPluginSvr.log file for errors. By default, the AtriumPluginSvr.log file is in the InstallDir\BMC Software\AtriumCore\Logs\ directory.

! The external data source returns no external tables. No errors are logged in this case.

View Forms Includes all view forms.

Join Forms that depend on

Includes all join forms that depend on the form specified in the Form Name field.

Join Forms that are depended on by

Includes all join forms that the form specified in the Form Name field depend on.

Dialogs Includes all dialog forms.

Forms with Data Includes all forms with data in them.

Vendor Forms Includes all vendor forms.

Table 3-5: Form types from which you can retrieve data (Sheet 2 of 2)

Form Description

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 83

Page 88: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

16 If your BMC Atrium CMDB environment uses a server group, make sure the same plugin is configured on all servers in the server group. Repeat the following steps for each server:

a Copy the same plugin configuration information in the pluginsvr_config.xml file for each server. Make the appropriate changes in the <filename> and <pathelement> tags to correct the jar paths for the local server if required.

b Copy and paste the Server Plugin Alias entry in the ar.cfg file. Change the server name to the local server.

c Restart the server.

17 Close the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box.

You now must create a data store to represent the external data in your BMC Remedy AR System form. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

Registering a federated data adapter with BMC Remedy AR SystemIf you want to federate data on an external source of data other than a JDBC-compliant database, CMDBf-compliant CMDB, or BMC Remedy AR System server, you must register an adapter to work with BMC Remedy AR System. For example, you could create a web services adapter or any application-specific adapter such as an SAP adapter, an LDAP adapter, and so on. In BMC Remedy AR System, these are known as ARDBC plugins. For more information about creating ARDBC plugins, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Integration Guide.

After you have created the adapter, you must register the adapter through the Federation Manager.

! To register an adapter

1 Open Federation Manager.

2 In the toolbar, click the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters button.

3 In the Configure Repository Plugins and Adapters dialog box, click the Adapter Registration tab.

4 Click New.

5 In the General tab of the Details section, enter the following information:

Table 3-6: Parameters for registering a custom adapter

Field Description

Name A unique name for the adapter.

File Name The location of the .jar file that defines the adapter.

Entry Class The main entry class in the .jar file.

Path The paths to the .jar file and all its supporting files, separated by semicolons.

84 Administrator’s Guide

Page 89: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Managing data stores

Figure 3-7: Registering a custom adapter

6 (optional) In the More Information tab of the Details section, enter the following information:

7 Click Register.

The adapter is now available to be used by a plugin. The Other Properties tab appears when you create plugins using the new adapter. You can click inside the cells in the Name and Value columns to add a new properties and values for your custom adapter. Click the Add or Delete icons to add properties.

Managing data storesA data store can represent multiple sources of external data. For example, a data store can represent data from databases (retrieval type) or launch in context links. You can use the Federation Manager to federate external data through a data store, making that data available to view and query with BMC Atrium CMDB tools, such as Atrium Explorer.

Table 3-7: More Information parameters

Field Description

Author The name of the person or organization that wrote the adapter.

Description A description of the adapter, such as its purpose.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 85

Page 90: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

After you have created a data store, you can configure federated definitions using the retrieval and launch methods, as illustrated in the following flowchart:

The following procedure includes an example for a Calbro Services administrator who wants to create a new data store for the computer system information stored on a Microsoft SQL Server database. The administrator has already created a plugin for this database, as described in “Creating plugins for federated data” on page 75.

! To create or modify a data store

1 Open Federation Manager.

Figure 3-8: Federation Manager interface

2 In the toolbar, click the Manage data stores and definitions button.

3 In the Data Store dialog box, perform one of the following actions:

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

Action Steps

Create a new data store 1 Select Create new Data Store.2 Enter a name that briefly describes the data store.3 Provide a full description of the data store.4 Click Next.

The new data store is created after you click Next.

Modify an existing data store

1 Click the Edit button to modify the name or description of the data store.

2 Click Update to save your changes.

Manage data stores and definitions button

Edit or update data store name or description

86 Administrator’s Guide

Page 91: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the retrieval method of federation

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would select Create new Data Store, provide a name of Federated Weight Data for Banking Servers, describe the data store as Microsoft SQL Server database for Banking Servers, and then click Next.

4 Select a federation method, and then click Next.

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would select Retrieval.

5 Proceed to one of the following sections, depending on the type of federation you selected:

Administering the retrieval method of federation

With the retrieval method of federation, you create BMC Atrium CMDB classes to represent data that is stored externally. You create federated data classes to display the external data as if it were stored in BMC Atrium CMDB. You also create federated relationship classes that join classes that are already part of the BMC Atrium CMDB data model to the new federated data classes. This enables you to view the relationships between federated data and BMC Atrium CMDB data through such tools as Atrium Explorer and Atrium Impact Simulator.

If you selected Proceed to

Retrieval ! “Administering the retrieval method of federation” on page 87 for conceptual overview)

! “Creating a federated data class” on page 89! “Editing a federated data class” on page 92

Launch ! “Administering the launch method of federation” on page 97 (for conceptual overview

! “Creating a launch interface” on page 98

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 87

Page 92: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Supported data typesAs part of the process of creating a federated data class, BMC Atrium CMDB creates attributes to represent the fields on the external repository. The data type of each attribute must be one of the types supported by BMC Remedy AR System.

The BMC Remedy AR System data type of each attribute depends on the native data type on the external repository. For example, Double fields on a JDBC-compliant repository are created as BMC Remedy AR System Real fields in the federated data class. String fields on a CMDBf-compliant external repository are created as BMC Remedy AR System character fields in the federated data class.

Data types on the external repository do not change. The mapping occurs in BMC Atrium CMDB as part of creating the federated data class.

For more information about BMC Remedy AR System data types, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Database Reference.

Table 3-8 lists the supported JDBC data types and their mapped BMC Remedy AR System data types. Only the listed data types are created as attributes in BMC Atrium CMDB federated data classes.

Table 3-8: Supported data types for JDBC-compliant repositories

JDBC data type BMC Remedy AR System data type

Bigint Integer

Bit Character

Boolean Character

Char Character

Clob Character

Date Date

Decimal Decimal

Double Real

Float Real

Integer Integer

Longvarchar Character

Numeric Decimal

Real Real

Smallint Integer

Time Time

Timestamp Date/Time

Tinyint Integer

Varchar Character

88 Administrator’s Guide

Page 93: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the retrieval method of federation

Table 3-9 lists the supported CMDBf data types and their mapped BMC Remedy AR System data types. Only the listed data types are created as attributes in BMC Atrium CMDB federated data classes.

Creating a federated data classAs part of the process of configuring the retrieval method of federation, you must define a federated data class in the BMC Atrium CMDB data model. The federated data class represents a set of information about the external source of data (such as a table on a database), so that data can be viewed within the context of the data model. Federated data classes that you create are subclasses of the BMC_FederatedBaseElement class.

The following procedure includes examples for a Calbro Services administrator who wants to create a new federated data class for computer system information stored on a Microsoft SQL Server database. Specifically, the administrator wants to federate information for name, workgroup, last data transfer, and so on. The administrator has already created a plugin and data store for this database.

! To create a federated data class

1 In Federation Manager, open the External Data Repository page by using one of the following methods:

! As part of the procedure to create a new data store, as described in “Managing data stores” on page 85.

Table 3-9: Supported data types for CMDBf-compliant repositories

CMDBf data type BMC Remedy AR System data type

String Character

Decimal Decimal

Integer Integer

Date Date

Time Time

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 89

Page 94: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! In the navigation pane, select an existing data store. Then in the Retrieval Definitions tab, click New next to the Federated Data Classes table.

2 From the Repository list on the External Data Repository page, select the plugin that you want to use to connect to the data store.

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would select the banking server plugin, as created in “Creating plugins for federated data” on page 75.

NOTE If you defined a plugin alias in the ar.cfg file that is different from the plugin name, the alias is listed in the Repository field.

3 From Available Tables, select a table that you want to access on the external data repository, and then click Next.

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would select the BankingServers table.

4 On the Federated Data Class General Information page, review or provide the following information, and then click Next:

! A namespace for the new federated data class.

By default, new federated data classes are in the BMC.FED namespace. For more information, see “Namespaces and partitioning the data model” on page 41.

! (optional) A valid name for the class. You can use only the following characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and a period. By default, the Name field is auto-filled, based on the table you selected previously.

! (optional) The name of the person or company creating this class.

! (optional) A description of the class.

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would select the BMC.FED namespace and name the class CAL_BankingServers.

If your organization follows particular naming conventions when extending the data model, apply those conventions to this class.

Table 3-10: Create launch interface method

Method Steps

Creating a new data store 1 Create a new data store. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

2 On the Federation Definition Method page, select Retrieval.

3 Click Next.

Create launch definition in an existing data store

1 In Federation Manager, select a data store from the list.

2 Click the Retrieval Definitions tab. 3 Click New next to the Federated Data Classes table.

90 Administrator’s Guide

Page 95: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the retrieval method of federation

5 On the Field Selection page, select the data fields on the external data source that you want to make available through federation:

a From the Fields Available in the External Table list, select a field, and then click Add.

b Continue adding fields to the Attributes in the CMDB Federated Class list until you have added all of the fields that you want to be available in the new class.

c Use the Key Attribute menu to select a field in the new federated data class as the key identifier for the class.

NOTE Select a field that contains a unique value for each instance in the table. The key identifier should be either a character or integer field on the external source of data. When you submit the federated data class, the key field is created in BMC Atrium CMDB as a character field. When the underlying vendor form that represents the federated data class is created, the key identifier field is internally mapped to the Request ID field (field ID 1).

d Click Next.

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would add the PrimaryKey, Name, Priority, LastDataTransfer, and Workgroup fields as attributes in the new federated data class, and would specify PrimaryKey as the key attribute.

6 Review or assign Hidden and Visible permissions for the new class, and then click Next.

For more information about BMC Atrium CMDB permissions, see “Class and attribute permissions on BMC Atrium CMDB data” on page 21 and “Class and attribute permissions” on page 43.

7 On the Summary page, review the details for the federated data class, and then perform one of the following actions:

Action Steps

Create the federated data class and then start the process of creating a federated relationship class.

1 Select Create the Data Class and Continue with Relationship Class Creation.

2 Click Next.3 If the federated data class is successfully

created, click OK to close the SUCCESS dialog box.

4 Create the federated relationship class. For more information about creating a federated relationship class, see “Creating a federated relationship class” on page 93.

Create the federated data class only. 1 Select Create the Data Class and then Exit.2 Click Finish.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 91

Page 96: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To verify the new federated class and its attributes

1 Open Class Manager.

2 Select the BMC_FederatedBaseElement class.

Your new federated class is displayed as a subclass next to it.

3 Double-click the federated class to open the CI Class dialog box.

4 Review the general properties of the federated class.

5 Click the Attributes tab and review the fields that you selected from your external data repository.

These are listed as attributes in your federated class.

6 Click OK.

Editing a federated data classAs your installation of BMC Atrium CMDB matures, you might want access to a different set of data than you originally made available through a federated data class. For example, a database might have new information about banking servers that you want to associate with CIs in BMC Atrium CMDB.

NOTE You cannot modify the plugin name, table name, or key attribute associated with a federated data class.

! To edit a federated data class

1 In Federation Manager, select the data store containing the federated data class that you want to edit.

2 In the Retrieval Definitions tab, select the federated data class you want to edit, and then click Edit.

3 In the General tab of the Edit Federated Data Class dialog box, verify the setting for the Allow Unqualified Queries check box.

By default the field is not selected, forcing the user to enter a qualification when querying for data in this class. If you want users to be able to submit unqualified queries for this class, select the check box.

4 If necessary, change the Visible and Hidden permissions for the class.

5 Click the Attributes tab.

6 Use the Add and Remove buttons to configure which fields on the external table are included as attributes of the federated data class.

NOTE Do not remove the key attribute from the federated data class.

7 Click OK.

92 Administrator’s Guide

Page 97: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the retrieval method of federation

Editing an attribute of a federated data classAttributes for federated data classes function well without editing. However, you can change some characteristics of the attributes. For example, you might want an attribute to have a name different from the one used on the external source of data.

! To edit an attribute

1 In Federation Manager, open the federated data class that you want to edit.

2 In the Edit Federated Data Class dialog box, click the Attributes tab.

3 In the list of attributes used in the federated class, click the edit button next to the attribute that you want to edit.

4 In the Attribute - Edit dialog box, edit values for any of the following fields:

! Attribute Name

! Namespace

! Any field that controls the storage capacity for the attribute (such as Max Length)

5 Click OK to save the changes to the attribute.

6 In the Edit Class dialog box, click OK.

Creating a federated relationship classTo establish relationships between CIs stored within BMC Atrium CMDB and external data, you must configure a federated relationship class in the data model. Federated relationship classes that you create are subclasses of the BMC_FederatedBaseRelationship class. The source class of the relationship must be in the BMC_BaseElement hierarchy of classes, and the destination class of the relationship must be a federated data class. For more information about relationships between CIs, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 93

Page 98: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

The following procedure includes examples for a Calbro Services administrator who wants to create a new federated relationship class that enables users to see federated data that is related to computer system CIs stored in BMC Atrium CMDB. The administrator has already created a plugin and data store for this database, and has created a federated data class for the incident information.

Best practice

Create a federated relationship that links the CI class to your federated data class. Define a qualification that specifies which instances from the source class are related to data in the destination class. This qualification requires matching an attribute in the federated data class to an attribute in the CI class (for example, matching IDs between two sets of CIs).

For best performance with your production system, remember that the more federated data that you pull in with your qualification, the more likely you will experience poor performance from the BMC Remedy AR System server. Your qualification should return only a limited result set from the federated repository.

! To create a federated relationship class

1 In Federation Manager, open the Federated Relationship Class dialog box by using one of the following methods:

! As part of the procedure to create a new data store and federated data class, as described in “Managing data stores” on page 85 and “Creating a federated data class” on page 89.

! On the Retrieval Definitions tab, select an existing federated data class to be the destination class, and then click New next to the Federated Relationship Classes table.

2 In the Namespace field, select a namespace for the new federated data class.

By default, new federated data classes are in the BMC.FED namespace. For more information, see “Namespaces and partitioning the data model” on page 41.

3 In the Name field, enter a name for the class.

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would name the class CAL_FederatedBankingServersData.

If your organization follows particular naming conventions when extending the data model, apply those conventions to this class.

4 (optional) Enter the following information, and then click Next:

5 In the Source and Destination Classes page, select a source CI class for the relationship.

By default, the current federated data class appears as the destination class.

Author The person or provider that created this class.Description The purpose of the class, such as the CI and federated data

classes that it relates.

94 Administrator’s Guide

Page 99: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the retrieval method of federation

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would select a source class of BMC_ComputerSystem.

6 Click the Qualification Builder icon to create the qualification.

Create a qualification for the relationship to specify which instances of the source class are related to the data in the destination class. Creating a valid qualification is necessary to create the link between the CI instance and the external data in the federated class.

a Select an attribute from the source class. Attributes for the source class are automatically enclosed in single quotation marks.

b Select an operator.

c Select an attribute from the destination class. Attributes for the destination class are automatically enclosed in dollar signs.

Figure 3-9: Qualification Builder

For example, the Calbro Services administrator would build the following qualification to relate computer systems to external information about the banking servers:

'Name'=$Name$

d Click OK.

7 Click Next.

8 Assign Hidden and Visible permissions for the new class, and then click Next.

For more information about BMC Atrium CMDB permissions, see “Class permissions” on page 21.

9 Review the details for the federated relationship class.

10 If you are satisfied with the details, click Finish.

11 If the federated relationship class is successfully created, click OK to close the SUCCESS dialog box.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 95

Page 100: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

If you created a successful match between records from the CI class and the federated class, you can view them in Atrium Explorer. For example, see the section on viewing federated instances in the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

! To verify the new federated relationship class and its attributes

1 Open Class Manager.

2 Select the BMC_FederatedBaseRelationship class.

Your new federated relationship class is displayed as a subclass next to it.

3 Double-click the federated relationship class to open the Relationship Class dialog box.

4 Review the general properties of the federated relationship class.

5 Click the Attributes tab and review the source and destination attributes.

6 Click OK.

Editing a federated relationship classAs you change the amount and type of data that you store in BMC Atrium CMDB and external sources of data, you might need to modify the federated relationship class that relates CIs to federated data. For example, if you increase the number of fields stored as attributes of a federated data class, you should alter the qualification in the federated relationship class.

! To edit a federated relationship class

1 In Federation Manager, select the data store containing the federated relationship class that you want to edit.

2 In the Federated Data Classes table of Retrieval Definitions tab, select the federated data class associated with the federated relationship class that you want to edit.

3 In the Federated Relationship Classes table, select a class, and then click Edit.

4 In the Edit Federated Relationship Class dialog box, modify the qualification that relates instances of this class to instances of a CI in the BMC Atrium CMDB.

5 If necessary, change the Visible and Hidden permissions for the class.

6 Click OK.

96 Administrator’s Guide

Page 101: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

Administering the launch method of federation

With the launch method of federation, you define the method of viewing the data (such as opening the data on a BMC Remedy AR System form), and then you create a federated link between that data and CIs in BMC Atrium CMDB.

Figure 3-10: Launch Definitions tab in Federation Manager

For example, you could use the AR System query method to access data from an BMC Remedy AR System form. You could also use the URL method to access any website to which you allow browser access. For more information, see “Using the launch method of federation” on page 105.

Users can view the data using the access method that you specified by clicking the Open Launch in Context Menu button in Atrium Explorer. For more information about viewing federated data through Atrium Explorer, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 97

Page 102: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

NOTE BMC Remedy IT Service Management uses the launch method to integrate its application suite out-of-the-box with the BMC Atrium CMDB. For example, you can select a CI in Atrium Explorer and then click the Open Launch in Context Menu button to view related change requests or related incidents.

When using the launch federation method, you must configure the following components within BMC Atrium CMDB:

! Data store—Defines an external source of data related to CIs. Data stores are also known as federated products. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

! Federated launch interface—Specifies a method of getting the data from a federated product. Launch interfaces are also known as federated interfaces.

! Federated launch link—Connects one or more CIs to the federated data by using the method specified by a federated interface. Launch links are also known as federated links.

Creating a launch interfaceA launch interface (also known as a federated launch interface) specifies the method for accessing a particular type of federated data from a specified federated product. It is the connection between CIs and the federated data about them.

Launch interfaces can link to either a specific CI or a set of CIs. This gives you the ability to create one launch interface at design time instead of having to create a new interface every time you create an instance of the CI class.

A class-level launch interface uses either attribute substitution or foreign key substitution to access its federated data in the context of a given CI. For more information about these concepts, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

98 Administrator’s Guide

Page 103: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

A launch interface uses one of these access methods to launch its federated data store:

! AR—A query to a BMC Remedy AR System form. You specify the server, form, view, and query string, and choose whether to launch the query in BMC Remedy User or a web client.

! URL—A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for accessing web sites.

! Run Process—An executable on the BMC Atrium CMDB server computer. You can specify parameters in the access string.

! Manual—Instructions for finding data manually.

! To create a launch interface

1 In Federation Manager, create a new launch interface by one of the following methods:

Figure 3-11: Creating new federated launch interface

Table 3-11: Create launch interface method

Method Steps

Creating a new data store 1 Create a new data store. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

2 On the Federation Definition Method page, select Launch.

3 Click Next. The Launch Interface Definition page appears.

Create launch definition in an existing data store

1 In Federation Manager, select a data store from the list.

2 Click the Launch Definitions tab. 3 Click New.

The Launch Interface Definition page appears.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 99

Page 104: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

2 In the Name field, type a name for this launch interface.

3 In the Description field, type a description for this launch interface.

4 In the Access Method list, select the method that you want to use.

Access method To define the access method

AR 1 In the Access Method list, select AR. 2 In the Launch Method list, select the launch method that you want to

use when the interface is launched:! Native—Launch the query in BMC Remedy User. Not used when

the link is opened from Atrium Explorer. ! Web—Launch the query in a browser.

3 In the Server Name field, type the name of the server containing the form.

4 In the Form Name field, type the name of the BMC Remedy AR System form that you want to query.

5 (optional) In the View Name field, type the view of the form to display.

6 (optional) In the Query field, type the qualification that you want to use. Enclose field names in single quotation marks ('). You can use any combination of the following keywords:! $AttributeName$—Value of any specified attribute of the

instance from which this interface is launched in context. Use this keyword for attribute substitution.

! $#KEY#$—Value of the foreign key on the relationship between the federated product being launched in context and the instance from which it is being launched. Use this keyword for foreign key substitution.

! $#WEBPATH#$—Default web path for this BMC Remedy AR System server.

! $#CLASSNAME#$—Class name of the instance from which this interface is launched in context.

! $#CLASSNAMESPACE#$—Namespace of the class of the instance from which this interface is launched in context.

URL 1 In the Access Method list, select URL. 2 Type the URL that you want to use in the Access String field. For

example: http://ComputerName/SDE/default.asp?ModSeq=15&Sequence=$Sequence$&FormSeq=15You can substitute any value in the URL with an attribute from the CI in BMC Atrium CMDB. You can also use any of the keywords listed for the Query field of the AR access method.

Note: You can enter a maximum of 254 characters in the Access String field.

For more information (including a helpful use case), see “Using the launch method of federation” on page 105.

100 Administrator’s Guide

Page 105: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

5 Click Next.

Figure 3-12: Defining row-level security access to federated launch definition

Run Process 1 In the Access Method list, select Run Process. 2 Type the path to the executable in the Access String field. For

example:"C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Acrobat 7.0\\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe" c:\\www5_toysrus_com_Our.pdfThe executable runs only if it exists on the client computer. If you want the executable to run on a remote server computer, place the executable on a shared network drive, and specify a Run Process path that uses the shared drive.You can use any of the keywords listed for the Query field of the AR access method. For more information about Run Process actions, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Workflow Objects Guide.

Note: Browsers cannot launch federated data using the Run Process access method.

Manual 1 In the Access Method list, select Manual. 2 Type informative text in the Access String field. For example:To find the master password for all accounts, open the company safe deposit box.

Access method To define the access method

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 101

Page 106: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

6 In the Row Level Security window, select which groups and roles should have row-level access for the federated launch interface.

The Public group is selected by default. This means that any user who can access the UI can launch this federated interface. To view or modify a specific launch interface, you must also have row-level access to that instance. For more information, see “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.

7 Click Finish.

The launch interface appears in the table.

Classes or CIs linked to a federated interfaceA launch link connects a launch interface to a CI or class. A class-level link can optionally include a qualification that selects which of its instances are linked.

Linking by instanceLinking at the instance level creates a relationship between one instance in BMC Atrium CMDB and an interface to a particular piece of federated data. You must create a separate link for each instance from which you want to access federated data. This type of launch link is useful when you want to restrict access to the federated data. For example, if your CEO has the only monitor in your environment for which an extended warranty was purchased, you might create a link from that monitor instance in BMC Atrium CMDB to information about the extended warranty.

Linking by classLinking at the class level enables you to specify one link that connects, for example, all computer systems in your environment to the incident records that pertain to them. You can optionally specify that the link applies to only a subset of computer systems by adding a qualification. Linking at the class level creates a relationship between one BMC Atrium CMDB class and an interface to a particular piece of federated data. This method is the best practice in most cases.

Create a federated data store

1

Retrieval method: Create a federated

class

2 3

2 3

Configuring federation

Retrieval method: Create a federated

relationship

Launch method: Create a launch

interface

Launch method: Create a launch link

102 Administrator’s Guide

Page 107: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

NOTE Launch links are not bidirectional. They allow you only to access external data from BMC Atrium CMDB. Though some BMC Software applications provide links to data in BMC Atrium CMDB and you could create such links from third-party applications, these capabilities are independent of the federation features of BMC Atrium CMDB.

Creating launch linksYou use Federation Manager to create a launch link that connects a launch interface to a CI or class.

Figure 3-13: Creating a federated launch link

! To create a launch link

1 In Federation Manager, select a federated data store.

2 Click the Launch Definitions tab.

3 Select a federated launch interface.

4 In the Federated Launch Links area, click New.

5 In the Link Description field, type a general description for this launch link.

6 In the Link Destination section, review or enter the following information:

! Link To (read-only)

! Name

! Description

7 In the Link Source section, choose one of the following series of steps.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 103

Page 108: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

TIP A Class link is usually better than an Instance link because it allows multiple instances to access external data from a single launch link, rather than requiring a link for each instance.

8 When you finish providing details for the launch link, click Next.

9 In the Row Level Security window, select which groups and roles should have row-level access for the federated launch link.

The Public group is selected by default. This means that any user who can access the UI can launch this federated link. To view or modify a specific launch link, you must also have row-level access to that instance. For more information, see “Roles, instance permissions, and row-level access” on page 23.

10 Click Finish.

The launch link appears in the table.

Table 3-12: Creating launch links

Link from source Steps

Class 1 In the Link From field, choose Class.2 In the Class Name field, choose a class (for example,

BMC_CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem). 3 Click the Qualification Builder icon to create the qualification to

specify which instances of the Source class are linked. For example, build the qualification 'MarkAsDeleted' = $NULL$ to restrict the link to instances that have not been soft deleted.If you do not add a qualification, all instances of the Source class are linked. Because the launch interface is an instance of the BMC.CORE:BMC_FederatedInterface class, the Class Type, Namespace, and Class Name fields are preset and disabled.For more information about using the Qualification Builder, see “Creating a federated relationship class” on page 93.

Instance 1 In the Link From field, choose Instance.2 In the Class Name field, choose a class (for example,

BMC_CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem). 3 In the Instance ID field, type the ID of the BMC Atrium CMDB

instance. 4 In the Dataset ID field, type the ID of the dataset where the

instance resides.

104 Administrator’s Guide

Page 109: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

Using the launch method of federationThe following use case demonstrates how to leverage federation links within Federation Manager by selectively launching a URL that accesses the attribute values of a CI and uses them in the URL (in this case, the URL to launch BMC Service Desk Express).

! In BMC Atrium CMDB, Computer System CIs contain specific attribute data for each of the configuration item records inside the CMDB (for example, Name, Type, Item, and so on).

NOTE To integrate BMC Atrium CMDB with BMC Service Desk Express for this use case, the Computer System class was extended and new attributes were added (for example, Sequence)

! In BMC Service Desk Express, configuration item records are stored within BMC Service Desk Express itself. You can reference them by a unique sequence number. A formatted URL string contains all the necessary information to launch the correct record. For example:

http://ComputerName/SDE/default.asp?ModSeq=15&Sequence=1002&FormSeq=15

When formatting the URL, BMC Service Desk Express lets you open any record by identifying its:

! Related module (represented by the ModSeq value)

! Records sequence (represented by the Sequence value)

! Form sequence number (represented by the FormSeq value)

Including these values in the URL launches the correct record within BMC Service Desk Express and automatically opens it in a browser.

Before you begin

! Review the following sections:

! “Creating a launch interface” on page 98

! “Classes or CIs linked to a federated interface” on page 102

! “Creating launch links” on page 103

! You must create or use a federated data store, as shown in Figure 3-14. For more information, see “Managing data stores” on page 85.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 105

Page 110: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 3-14: Federated data store

! To use the launch method of federation

1 In Federation Manager, select the federated data store.

2 Click the Launch Definitions tab.

3 Define the federated launch interface.

You start by modifying the URL string that launches your application. For example, you would modify the following URL used to access CI records in BMC Service Desk Express:

http://ComputerName/SDE/default.asp?ModSeq=15&Sequence=1002&FormSeq=15

When you modify the formatted URL access string for use with the launch method, you can substitute any value in the URL with an attribute from the CI in BMC Atrium CMDB.

NOTE In a localized environment, using the attribute ID works with all languages.

For example, the $Sequence$ keyword is substituted for the sequence ID number (1002) in the URL. The launch interface now contains the following formatted URL access string:

http://serverName/sde/default.aspx?ModSeq=158&Sequence=$Sequence$&FormSeq=11

When you launch the URL, $Sequence$ is replaced with the actual value of the Sequence attribute.

This string is added to all CI records, represented as an attribute of the CI. In this example, the hardcoded value for the sequence number (1002) is replaced with the appropriate attribute name that references the CI record in BMC Service Desk Express. This attribute must be available within BMC Atrium CMDB to replace the $Sequence$ variable with the correct CI record sequence number when the Federated Launch Link is used.

106 Administrator’s Guide

Page 111: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

Figure 3-15: Defining the federated launch interface

4 Define the federated launch link.

You use launch links to filter or create specific qualifications for the CI records that the launch link applies to. In the following example, the business requirement is to limit the federated launch link to another web-based application for those CIs that are.

You must create a qualification that controls which records the federated launch links can access by class (BMC.CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem):

‘Manufacturer’ = “DELL” AND ‘Type’ = “LAPTOP”

With this qualification, you specify that you want only Dell laptop Computer System CIs to have launch links.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 107

Page 112: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 3-16: Defining the federated launch link

5 Search in your dataset for the Computer System CI.

The Federated Launch Link is accessible within Atrium Explorer. If the CI meets the link qualifications, you can open the Launch-method federated links for the selected instance. For example, you can now launch the BMC Service Desk Express application URL defined in the federated launch interface, as shown in Figure 3-17.

108 Administrator’s Guide

Page 113: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Administering the launch method of federation

Figure 3-17: Launching BMC Service Desk URL from the instance

The Launch Link Interface uses the Sequence attribute value in the BMC Atrium CMDB CI record and substitutes it in the URL string to launch the correct CI record in the web-based BMC Service Desk Express application.

Chapter 3 Configuring federated data 109

Page 114: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 3-18: Launching federated CI in web-based application

110 Administrator’s Guide

Page 115: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

4

Administering service and impact models

You can configure service models by creating relationships in the BMC Atrium CMDB. Service models enable you to understand how the IT infrastructure impacts the business services that IT provides.

You can also configure an impact model by creating impact relationships in Atrium Explorer. With an impact model, you can run impact simulations in Atrium Impact Simulator to determine how changes to a CI affect other CIs or business services. For example, you could run a simulation to learn what devices and applications in your network would be impacted if you were to take a server offline.

The following topics are provided:

! Overview of service and impact models (page 112)! Working in the Service Catalog (page 114)! Creating dynamic service models (page 125)! Manually creating impact models of services (page 128)

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 111

Page 116: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Overview of service and impact modelsA service model is an extensible system that defines the resources that deliver business services, models their behaviors and functional relationships, and manages the delivery of the resulting services. You can view and change the relationships between the components and add new components to the model.

For example, a cart checkout application is a component of an online store that supports and enables the convenient checkout feature of the online store. The relationship between these items (the application and the actual service) is part of the service model of the online store. For information about designing a service model, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Supporting your service model, the impact model enables you to assess the effect that an incident, fault, or other change might have on business operations or services.

In BMC Atrium CMDB, you configure an impact model by assigning impact relationships between CIs in the BMC Atrium CMDB. You can manually create an impact relationship between two CIs in Atrium Explorer, but you can also set the HasImpact attribute to Yes in an existing relationship (for example, Hosted System Component). As you add more impact relationships between CIs, the impact model grows. With an established impact model, you can run impact simulations with the Atrium Impact Simulator, as described in the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

In BMC Atrium CMDB, you can assign impact relationships between CIs with Atrium Explorer, as described in the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

Impact models with and without BMC Service Impact ManagerThe Atrium Impact Simulator can predict the impact on CIs by using the impact relationships—both regular relationships with impact and impact-only relationships—that you configure within BMC Atrium CMDB. If you have BMC Service Impact Manager (SIM) installed, Atrium Impact Simulator can also use the impact relationships configured for BMC SIM.

Atrium Impact Simulator and BMC SIMIf you have BMC SIM installed, Atrium Impact Simulator uses the impact models that you have configured in BMC SIM in addition to any impact relationships you create manually in BMC Atrium CMDB. In this scenario, you might use Atrium Impact Simulator to test different impact scenarios before deploying those scenarios in BMC SIM.

112 Administrator’s Guide

Page 117: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Overview of service and impact models

The following features of BMC SIM are not used with Atrium Impact Simulator:

! BMC SIM schedules

! Custom propagation models

! Custom status computation models

! Custom status

Atrium Impact Simulator without BMC SIMIf you do not have BMC SIM installed, Atrium Impact Simulator uses the impact relationships that you create between CIs in BMC Atrium CMDB. You can create these relationships manually through Atrium Explorer, or through the dynamic service modeling function of the Service Catalog.

Implementing Atrium Impact Simulator cells in server group environments

With server group support for Atrium Impact Simulator cells, you can run multiple simulators at the same time for purposes of system redundancy. If you run a simulation and the primary AIS cell on which Atrium Impact Simulator is installed fails or becomes unavailable, you can still run the simulation by accessing a secondary cell, re-entering the simulation, and running it again.

This implementation allows Atrium Impact Simulator to be on any server and to function in any situation.

Atrium Impact Simulator queries all Primary AIS cells and then tries to connect to them in the order of their creation. If Atrium Impact Simulator cannot connect to any of the primary cells, then it tries to connect to the secondary cells. If none of them are available, then it tries to connect to any load balance cells. Finally, Atrium Impact Simulator tries to connect using the default values of localhost, 1825, and ais.

If you designate all cells as load balance cells, when a user launches Atrium Impact Simulator, it tries to connect to one of the cells by picking a random cell. This distributes the load of simulations.

To implement this feature, you must configure the AIS:GlobalPreferences form. You can implement as many individual cells as you need. In addition, you can add more than one of any of the categories—that is, you can have multiple Primary cells and multiple Secondary cells all running concurrently.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 113

Page 118: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To implement Atrium Impact Simulator cells in server group environments

1 Open the AIS:GlobalPreferences form in Search mode.

Use the following direct access URL to open the AIS:GlobalPreferences form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/AIS:GlobalPreferences

2 Specify the following required attributes for each AIS cell:

3 Click Test to test the availability of the cell.

The possible results are Failure, Success, and Testing.

Working in the Service CatalogITIL V3 has raised the importance of service lifecycle management and the need to align IT with business goals. Creating a service catalog has two main challenges. First, customers and partners need to know clearly what services IT offers and what it does not. One reason is that services are fragmented, and service information is managed in different places or silos. Process and end user information is managed in one place, service level management is managed elsewhere, and another application manages costs.

Second, service models tend to focus on the infrastructure and on the technical services and associated CIs in an environment. The focus is on the supporting services and details and not on the business services. For example, when a particular server fails, an IT staff member might not know the business service that is affected, such as the ability to book orders. In this situation, the service model and the service catalog present only a partial view of the services.

As a result of these challenges, an IT user cannot view the whole service. Rather than design a service catalog starting with the CIs, ITIL V3 requires starting with the business service. The Service Catalog in BMC Atrium Core allows you to overcome fragmentation and to provide a more complete view of services:

! Focus on services to generate better business results.

! Create a catalog of services in which you manage cost, quality, and value.

! Use a common language for IT and businesses to communicate clearly what IT does and does not do.

AIS Cell Host Hostname of server where AIS is installed

AIS Cell Port Port number (for example, 1825)

AIS Cell Encryption Key Encryption key (for example, ais)

Type ! Disabled = 0! Primary Cell = 1! Secondary Cell = 2! Load Balance Cell = 3

114 Administrator’s Guide

Page 119: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Working in the Service Catalog

Opening and searching the Service CatalogWith the BMC Service Catalog, you can view the details and relationships of services and add new services to the model.

The services in a service model represent parts of your business. As you build a service model, the Service Catalog enables you to populate the service model from a catalog of services and add new services. You can then view and edit services.

The Service Catalog enables you to:

! Search and view all services that have been defined

! Filter the currently displayed set of services by any of their associated attributes

! Create a new service, service offerings, requestable offerings, and options

Figure 4-1: Working in the Service Catalog

! To open the Service Catalog

1 On the left side of the BMC Atrium Core Console, click the Application Launcher.

2 Mouse over Applications and select Service Catalog.

When you open the BMC Atrium Core Console Service Catalog, the existing services are displayed as either the Business Services or Technical Services. The listed services correspond to services from the BMC_Asset dataset. Unlike previous releases, the Service Catalog does not save or load services from the user Sandbox dataset.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 115

Page 120: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To view the details of a service

1 In the Services table, select a service.

Figure 4-2: Service Catalog Details pane

2 Click the Details bar on the right.

3 View the service information in the Details pane.

The service offerings are displayed with the name, type, stage, and description of each.

! To search services

In the Search field, enter text to search for in the service names and descriptions.

The search criteria applies as you enter text, and the matching services update automatically in the Services table.

Click to view Details pane

116 Administrator’s Guide

Page 121: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Working in the Service Catalog

Defining options for the Service CatalogLike requestable offerings, options are visible to end users and define the flexibility of your services. An option might be one particular customization, such as an email inbox capacity of 250 MB, where a requestable offering might be a bundle of options, such as storage and backup options. For example, a mobile cell plan can offer a bundle of options, such as unlimited messages, call forwarding, and a data plan, or a user can select each of them as individual options as needed.

In the Service Catalog, you can use options for the service offerings and requestable offerings. An option has one or more choices, each of which has cost and price information. These options and their choices are used when end-users make a request in a request console, such as Service Request Management. They are managed separately from offerings because they do not rely on a specific offering. You can reuse options across offerings.

! To create an option and option choices

1 In the Service Catalog, click Options Editor.

Figure 4-3: Options Editor

2 In the Options area, click New Option.

3 In the New Option window, enter a name and description for the option, and click OK.

The new option is listed, and you can create option choices for it.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 117

Page 122: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

4 To allow users to choose more than one choice for an option, select the Multi-Select check box.

By default, Multi-Select is not enabled, and users can select only one choice per option.

5 In the Option Choices area, click New Option Choice.

6 In the New Option Choice window, enter a name and description for the option choice.

7 To set the Customer Price and Cost, select a monetary unit and amount, and then select the charge type and interval.

! The Customer Price is the amount charged to the customer for the option choice.

! The Delivery Cost is the amount that it costs to offer the option choice. This cost can include real cost, notational costs (such as staffing time), and depreciation.

! Type specifies the basis for the customer cost: GB (Storage), CPU Count, CPU Seconds, CPU % Utilization, Named User, Concurrent User, Instance.

! Interval specifies when the charge occurs: Hour, Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, a One-Time charge, or Other.

8 In the New Option Choice window, click OK.

The new option choice is listed.

9 To change the order of the choices, select a choice, and click the move up or down button.

Customers will see the order of choices that you have defined.

10 To make a choice the default, select the Pre-Select check box.

11 Create options and choices as needed.

12 In the Option Editor, click OK.

NOTE You must click OK in the Options Editor to save changes to the options and choices.

Creating new services for the Service CatalogA service is the utility that an organization provides and is defined by its service offerings, requestable offerings, and service level targets.

For example, the Calbro IT organization offers an email service, which includes gold and silver service offerings that have service level targets based on response times.

In the Service Catalog, a service must have at least one service offering and can have one or more requestable offerings. For more information, see “Creating a service offering” on page 119 and “Creating a requestable offering” on page 124.

When you create a service, it is saved to BMC.ASSET dataset.

118 Administrator’s Guide

Page 123: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Working in the Service Catalog

Best practice

To make sure that your business service CIs appear in the Service Catalog, use the Service Catalog to create them. The Service Catalog displays only instances of BMC_BusinessService where the ServiceType attribute is set to “BusinessService” or “TechnicalService,” and it correctly sets this attribute when creating a CI. Other BMC interfaces that create business service CIs, such as Atrium Explorer or Service Model Editor, do not correctly set the value for ServiceType. If an existing business service CI does not appear in the Service Catalog, edit the value of ServiceType to make it appear. To avoid potential problems with reconciliation and promotion, do not create service CIs with duplicate names.

! To create a service

1 In the Service Catalog, click Create a new service.

2 Enter the service name.

3 For Type, select a service type.

! Business service—Services that customers use and that shows the customer view of services, such as email or an online store.

! Technical service—Supporting IT and infrastructure resources required to support business services that are not visible to customers, such as servers, applications, and network CIs.

4 Enter a description of the service.

5 Click Save to create the service.

After creating a service, define a service offering. For more information, see “Creating a service offering” on page 119.

For technical services, you can use the Map IT Resources to use queries to associate CIs with technical services. For more information, see “Creating dynamic service models” on page 125.

Creating a service offeringA service offering defines a level of service for a price: it combines the service (utility) and a service level target (warranty) to bring value to the customer.

For example, the Calbro IT organization offers different service offerings, or levels, for a email service based on response times. Each service offering costs a different amount based on the service level targets.

The gold service offering has the following definition:

! Service Level Target

! Type: Response Time

! Description: 5 minutes 80% of time

! Price: USD $8 per year per instance

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 119

Page 124: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

The silver service offering has the following definition:

! Service Level Target

! Type: Response Time

! Description: 15 minutes 80% of time

! Price: USD $12 per year per instance

You can define service offerings based on how you want to manage your services. For example, if managing your services by location is important to your business, you might create the service offerings for Email-US, Email-Europe, and Email-Asia. If managing services by organizations and their resource demands, you might have service offerings for Finance-Small, Finance-Medium, Finance-Large, Support-Medium, and Support-Large to customize for the different storage requirements for each organization.

In the Service Catalog, you can further define a service offering:

! Associate a service offering with a technical service.

! Add options to the service offering for end users to select.

All technical and business services must have at least one service offering and can have more than one.

When you create a service level target in the Service Catalog, it does not create a record in nor retrieve data from BMC Service Level Management. For more information, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide.

Before you begin

! Create the technical services needed to support each service offering.

! (Optional) Define the options and choices.

120 Administrator’s Guide

Page 125: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Working in the Service Catalog

! To create a service offering

1 From the Service Catalog, edit or create a service.

In the Service Offering tab, a default service offering is available, which you can edit.

2 To add a new offering to the service, click Create a New Service Offering.

TIP You must be in the Service Offerings tab to create a new service offering.

3 In the General Information tab, define the parameters described in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1: Service offering parameters

Parameter Description

Default Service Offering

Enable this option to make the selected service offering the default for the service. Unless users select a different service offering, the default service offering is used.

Name A short, descriptive name for the service offering.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 121

Page 126: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

4 To set the Base Price and Delivery Cost, select a monetary unit and amount, and then select the charge type and interval.

! The Base Customer Price is the amount charged to the customer for the service offering.

! The Delivery Cost is the amount that it costs to provide the service offering. This cost can include real cost, notational costs (such as staffing time), and depreciation.

! Type specifies the basis for the customer cost: GB (Storage), CPU Count, CPU Seconds, CPU % Utilization, Named User, Concurrent User, Instance.

! Interval specifies when the charge occurs: Hour, Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, a One-Time charge, or Other.

Description A more detailed description of the service offering.

Lifecycle Stage Set the service offering to one of the following ITIL stages:! Requirements—The business or IT organization has submitted

a set of outline requirements for a new or changed service.! Defined—The requirements for a new service are being

assessed, defined and documented, and the Service Level Requirements (SLRs) are being produced.

! Analyzed—The requirements for a new service are being analyzed and prioritized.

! Approved—The requirements for a new service are being finalized and authorized.

! Chartered—The new service requirements are being communicated, and resources and budget are being allocated.

! Designed—the new service and its constituent components are being designed and procured as required

! Developed—The service and its constituent components are being developed or collected as required.

! Built—The service and its constituent components are being built.

! Tested—The service and its constituent components are being tested.

! Released—The service and its constituent components are being released

! Operational—The service and its constituent components are operational within the live environment.

! Closed—The service and its constituent components that was released is not available but not retired.

! Retired—The service and its constituent components are being retired because the business no longer needs them, other services have superseded them, or they are no longer cost-effective.

Table 4-1: Service offering parameters (Continued)

Parameter Description

122 Administrator’s Guide

Page 127: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Working in the Service Catalog

5 In the Options tab, add options to the service offering.

a From the Available Options list, search and select an option.

b Click Add to move it to the Selected Options list.

The choices for the selected option appear in the Option Choice table.

c To create a new category, select an option.

d Enter a new category name, and click Add Category.

The new category is listed with the selected option. If you delete a category, the option is not removed.

e To move choices among categories, select an option, and use the arrows to move it up or down in the list.

If a category is empty, it is deleted.

f Click Save.

6 In the Supporting Technical Services tab, link the service offering to technical services.

a Search for a technical service.

b Expand a technical service to view its service offerings.

c Select one technical service offering.

NOTE Do not select more than one technical service offering.

7 In the Transactional Requestable Offerings tab, select the offerings that are currently associated with the global service.

These transactional requestable offerings are created in BMC Service Request Management. By default, they are associated with the global service. When you select them in the Transactional Requestable Offerings tab, they are then associated with the current service offering. If you clear a transactional requestable offering, it is no longer associated with the current service offering and links to the service offering in the global service.

8 Click Save.

After creating a service offering, you can define a requestable offering. For more information, see “Creating a requestable offering” on page 124.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 123

Page 128: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Creating a requestable offeringA requestable offering is the part of a service that end users can see and request. Like a service offering, it combines a service (utility) and a service level target (warranty). But unlike with a service offering, end users can select a requestable offering.

For example, the Calbro IT organization creates the following requestable offerings for its email service:

! Create a new account.

! Reset an account password.

! Increase the inbox size limit.

! Backup and restore email.

The Calbro Finance group has the silver email service offering. An end user like Patrick Paycheck cannot see or choose a service offering, such as gold or silver, but he can select from the requestable offerings. He already has an account but, because he deals with budget requests from several other groups, he needs a higher quota on his inbox size.

In the Service Catalog, services do not require a requestable offering but can have one or more. You can also associate options with a requestable offering.

Before you begin

! Create a service with at least one service offering.

! (Optional) Define the options and option choices.

! To create a requestable offering

1 From the Service Catalog, edit or create a service.

2 Select a service offering.

3 Click the Requestable Offering tab.

4 Click the Create a New Requestable Offering.

5 In the General Information tab, enter a name and description for the requestable offering.

124 Administrator’s Guide

Page 129: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating dynamic service models

6 To set the Base Price and Delivery Cost, select a monetary unit and amount, and then select the charge type and interval.

! The Base Customer Price is the amount charged to the customer for the service offering.

! The Delivery Cost is the amount that it costs to provide the service offering. This cost can include real cost, notational costs (such as staffing time), and depreciation.

! Type specifies the basis for the customer cost: GB (Storage), CPU Count, CPU Seconds, CPU % Utilization, Named User, Concurrent User, Instance.

! Interval specifies when the charge occurs: Hour, Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, a One-Time charge, or Other.

7 In the Options tab, add options to the service offering.

a From the Available Options list, search and select an option.

b Click Add to move it to the Selected Options list.

The choices for the selected option appear in the Option Choice table.

c To create a new category, select an option.

d Enter a new category name, and click Add Category.

The new category is listed with the selected option. If you delete a category, the option is not removed.

e To move choices among categories, select an option, and use the arrows to move it up or down in the list.

If a category is empty, it is deleted.

8 Click Save.

Creating dynamic service models You no longer need to manually create relationships between CIs if you have a business rule that you can apply in your IT infrastructure—for example, servers should automatically be linked to an application or to a cluster. The dynamic service model lets you map a query to any CI to automate the maintenance of service models supporting that CI.

In your service model, you can dynamically link or unlink a technical service to the CIs delivering that service. You can create and associate one or more queries with a technical service from the Atrium Explorer toolbar. You can then define a scheduled interval when the dynamic service model server runs those queries. The CIs returned by these queries are automatically linked to the technical service attached to the queries. Any existing links to components that are no longer returned by these queries are unlinked from the service.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 125

Page 130: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

For example, Allen Allbrook, the Calbro Services administrator, does not want to manually examine all the computer CIs that have changed in his IT infrastructure to see how they affect a technical service CI. Instead, he can create an automated query that runs every 30 hours. This query returns all computer CIs related to that technical service.

! To associate queries with a technical service (when creating a dynamic service model)

1 In Atrium Explorer, open the BMC.ASSET dataset.

2 Search for a technical service CI and drag it into the display pane.

3 Select the technical service CI.

4 From the Atrium Explorer toolbar, click the Map IT Resources icon.

NOTE The Map IT Resources icon in Atrium Explorer is enabled when you select any CI from the BMC.ASSET dataset and you have administrative privileges.

The Map IT Resources dialog box appears. The Available Queries list shows the queries available for the selected service.

Figure 4-4: Map IT Resources dialog box

126 Administrator’s Guide

Page 131: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating dynamic service models

5 Perform the following actions with CI queries:

6 In the Run queries every field, specify the time (by minutes, hours, or days) to run the automated query.

The default is 30 hours.

7 Click Apply.

8 Click Close.

9 Wait for the queries to run in their specified time (for example, 30 hours).

10 Reopen the technical service and then expand its children.

The related CIs returned by the queries appear under the technical service in Atrium Explorer.

NOTE If the query does not return the expected CIs linked to the technical service, review the atriumInstallDirectory/logs/dsm.log file for errors. Make sure the DSM engine and the plugin filters are properly running.

! To delete a query

1 Select a query from the list.

2 Click the Delete icon.

3 Click Yes when prompted.

Table 4-2: Associating queries with a technical service

Task Steps

To use an existing query

1 Select a query from the Available Queries list2 Click the arrow to add it to the Selected Queries list.

To create a new query

1 Click the New icon.2 In the Query - New dialog, create a query that returns CIs that

you want related to the technical service. For example, you might create a query of the BMC_ComputerSystem class for computer names that start with “Calbro”. The qualification for that query is Name LIKE Calbro%.

3 Click Save. For more information about creating queries, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 127

Page 132: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Editing queriesTo edit a query associated with a technical service, search for a technical service instance in the BMC.ASSET production dataset, and click the Map IT Resources icon in the toolbar.

! To edit a query associated with a technical service

1 Search for a technical service CI and drag it into the display pane.

2 Select the technical service CI.

3 From the Atrium Explorer toolbar, click the Map IT Resources icon.

4 In the Map Technical Services dialog box, select a query.

5 Click the Edit icon.

The Query - Edit dialog opens.

6 Edit the query to match your current needs for the technical service.

For more information about queries, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

7 Click Save.

Manually creating impact models of servicesYou can manually create impact models of services in Atrium Explorer without the BMC Service Impact Manager (SIM) product or extensions installed. You then can use Atrium Impact Simulator to test the impact to a service when a provider is unavailable. For example, you can test the effects of weighted averaging to a consuming CI in the impact model when one or more provider CIs are unavailable.

Table 4-3 describes the main settings that affect the impact model.

Table 4-3: Impact model settings

Settings Description

ImpactWeight (in impact relationship)

Specifies the weight that this impact relationship has in computing the status of the consumer CI. The default setting is 100. This weight is relative to all relationships providing impact to the consumer CI. Weighting an impact relationship allows you to model the effect to the business service if a provider CI is unavailable (for example, a server goes down).

128 Administrator’s Guide

Page 133: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Manually creating impact models of services

Figure 4-5 on page 130 shows a sample impact model created in Atrium Explorer. There are four server CIs connected to a cluster CI, which is then connected to a technical service CI.

! The impact relationships in this impact model use the following default settings:

! ImpactWeight—100

! ImpactPropagationModel—DIRECT

! By default, the ImpactComputationModel of the cluster is set to STANDARD.

ImpactPropagationModel (in impact relationship)

Specifies the propagation model used for this impact relationship. The following values are available: ! DIRECT (default)—Propagates status of the provider CI to the consumer CI.

For example, if the provider CI status is Unavailable and the ImpactPropagationModel setting is DIRECT, then the consumer CI status is Unavailable.

! INCREASING—Increases the severity of the status of the provider CI. The status of the consumer CI becomes more critical than that of its provider CI by one level. For example, if the provider CI status is Impacted and the ImpactPropagationModel setting is INCREASING, then the consumer CI status is Unavailable.

! DECREASING—Decreases the severity of the status of the provider CI. The status of the consumer CI is less critical than that of the provider CI by one level. For example, if the provider CI status is Unavailable and the ImpactPropagationModel setting is DECREASING, then the consumer CI status is Impacted.

! JUST_WARNING—Propagates only warning information from the provider CI to the consumer CI.

! JUST_INFO—Propagates only standard information from the provider CI to the consumer CI.

ImpactComputationModel (in cluster)

Specifies the status of the cluster, based on the statuses propagated from provider CIs. The following values are available:! STANDARD (default)—Computes the status using the highest propagated

value of the incoming relationships. For example, if the provider is Unavailable, the cluster will be Unavailable.

! CLUSTER—Computes the status where greater than 50% of the providers (the “quorum” percentage) must agree on the same status. If you have four server providers, three of them must have the same (or worse) status in their impact relationship to the cluster.

! WEIGHTED_CLUSTER—Computes the status by averaging all statuses of provider CIs and propagating the impact weight to the cluster. The weight determines how much importance (numerically weighted) to give to each provider relationship that impacts a consumer CI. The higher the number, the greater the importance.Using the WEIGHTED_CLUSTER setting allows the providers to operate together as a functional whole and increase their availability.

Table 4-3: Impact model settings (Continued)

Settings Description

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 129

Page 134: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 4-5: Creating impact model in Atrium Explorer

If you do not modify the impact weight, propagation model, or cluster type default values, the servers function independently of each other in the impact model. As a result, if a server CI is unavailable, the predicted impact is that the cluster CI and the technical service CI will likewise be unavailable, even though three other servers are fully functional.

Figure 4-6: Impact on service if provider is unavailable and no weighted clustering

130 Administrator’s Guide

Page 135: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Manually creating impact models of services

You can subsequently modify the impact model in various ways. For example, you can modify the ImpactComputationModel setting of the cluster to WEIGHTED_CLUSTER. The WEIGHTED_CLUSTER setting uses the ImpactWeight value of each of the providers. If you do not modify the default values from 100, all of these providers are considered equal in the impact model. The impact of any single provider is a weighted averaged with the other providers. As a result, when the provider is unavailable, there should be no impact to the technical service.

You can also modify the impact weights and propagation model settings of the relationships (for example, by setting the impact weight to 400 and the propagation model to INCREASING). If you increase the ImpactWeight of one of the providers, that server is now assigned more weight in the computed status than the back-up servers. As a result, when the provider is unavailable, there now should be a minor impact to the technical service.

Before you begin

You can easily test the impact model in Atrium Explorer. The following examples assume that you created the impact model shown in Figure 4-5. The servers, cluster, and technical service use their default settings.

! To test the settings that affect impact simulations

1 Edit the propagation model settings of the impact relationship between two CIs (for example, between one of the software server CIs and the cluster CI).

a Right-click the relationship and then select Edit.

b In the BMC_BaseRelationship form, click the Custom tab.

c In the ImpactPropagationModel field, type INCREASING.

d Click Save.

2 Run an impact simulation on the server (for example, setting the simulated status to Very Impaired).

The INCREASING value in the propagation model increases the severity of the status propagated from the provider CI to the consuming CI. The predicted impact is that the cluster and the technical service will be Unavailable.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 131

Page 136: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 4-7: Impact on service with change to propagation model values

3 Edit the cluster.

a Right-click the cluster and then select Edit.

b Click the Custom tab.

c In the ImpactComputationModel field, enter WEIGHTED_CLUSTER.

d Click Save.

e Perform the same steps on the technical service.

4 Run an impact simulation on the server CI (for example, setting the simulated status to Unavailable).

Based upon the new WEIGHTED_CLUSTER value, all of the providers are considered equally in the weighted average. Even when one server is unavailable, the predicted impact is that the cluster and the technical service will experience no impairment, because three other servers are still running. The effect of one server being unavailable has been balanced among the four providers.

132 Administrator’s Guide

Page 137: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Manually creating impact models of services

Figure 4-8: Impact on service with change only to cluster settings

5 Edit the impact weight of the impact relationship between two CIs (for example, between one of the software servers and the cluster).

a Right-click the relationship and then select Edit.

b In the BMC_BaseRelationship form, click the Custom tab.

c In the ImpactWeight field, enter 400.

The ImpactWeight is an integer that is relative to the other providers to the cluster. To change the behavior of the impact model and to provide more weight to the provider in the computed status, you must change the weight relative to the other values. The provider now has four times the weight relative to the other servers.

d Click Save.

6 Run an impact simulation on the server CI (for example, setting the simulated status to Unavailable).

Based upon these new values, one provider is considered four times more important in the weighted average. When that provider is unavailable, the predicted impact is that the cluster and the technical service will experience some kind of impairment.

Chapter 4 Administering service and impact models 133

Page 138: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 4-9: Impact on service with change to cluster and impact weight settings

When you run the actual simulation in Atrium Impact Simulator, you see that the cluster and the technical service will experience minor impairment—the server’s delivery of service is slightly affected.

For more information about impact states, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

134 Administrator’s Guide

Page 139: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

5

Migrating BMC Atrium Core data

You can migrate data from one BMC Atrium Core server to another. The most common reason to migrate data from one server to another is to move your BMC Atrium Core implementation into production.

The following topics are provided:

! Overview of migrating BMC Atrium Core (page 136)! Migration of BMC Remedy AR System data from source servers to target

servers (page 136)! Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances (page 137)! Migration of Product Catalog data (page 148)! Migrating normalization jobs and settings (page 162)! Migrating reconciliation jobs and dataset settings (page 163)! Migrating BMC Atrium Integration Engine data (page 165)! Manually configuring federated data on your production server (page 169)

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 135

Page 140: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Overview of migrating BMC Atrium CoreYou can migrate BMC Atrium Core from one server to another server. The most common reason to migrate data from one BMC Atrium Core to another is to move your BMC Atrium Core from development into production.

When you install BMC Atrium Core, you first work on a development server to design your system. After you refine and test your system on the development server, you migrate BMC Atrium Core to a production server. The production server is a copy of the development server that is ready for your users.

Before migrating your BMC Atrium Core data, make sure both your BMC Atrium Core servers are configured and running.

When migrating BMC Atrium Core, migrate the components in the following order so that the proper dependencies are in place.

Step 1 BMC Remedy AR System groups, roles, and users (see page 136)

Step 2 BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances (see page 137)

Step 3 BMC Atrium Product Catalog product entries and configurations (see page 148)

Step 4 Normalization jobs and configurations (see page 162)

Step 5 Reconciliation jobs and configurations (see page 163)

Step 6 BMC Atrium Integration Engine exchanges (see page 165)

Step 7 Federated data (see page 169)

NOTE These procedures cover the steps for migrating only BMC Atrium Core settings and data. If you have other BMC Software applications installed on your development server that integrate with BMC Atrium Core, such as BMC Remedy Asset Management, you must migrate that data separately.

Migration of BMC Remedy AR System data from source servers to target servers

When you migrate your work from development to production, use BMC Remedy Data Import to move all customized data from the Group, User, and Roles forms on the source server to the target server. Without these records, users logged in to the production environment neither have proper access to different applications in BMC Atrium Core nor access to application roles, class and attribute permissions, and instance permissions, as you configured and tested in the development environment.

For more information, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Configuration Guide.

136 Administrator’s Guide

Page 141: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

Migrating your BMC Atrium CMDB from a development server to a production server requires the following high-level steps:

Step 1 Migrate class data with migratorcli (see page 138).

Step 2 Log in to cmdbdriver (see page 146).

Step 3 Export instance data with cmdbdriver (see page 146).

Step 4 Import class data with cmdbdriver (see page 147).

Migrator command-line interfaceThe Migrator command-line interface (CLI) program is a standalone application that delivers Migrator functionality without a graphical interface. The Migrator CLI also provides BMC Atrium CMDB support that enables you to supply a class name, from which Migrator can determine the required data and BMC Remedy AR System objects that make up that class name.

There are many examples of BMC Atrium CMDB migration scenarios (for example, the CMDB migration for a single class or the migration and comparison of all classes).

The executable file for the Migrator CLI application is migratorcli.exe and is stored in the same directory as the main Migrator product at installation.

The Migrator CLI uses four types of XML files as instruction sets to identify migration options and execute the migration or reporting specified. These files are included in the command-line sequence. You can use third-party XML editors to work with these files. Table 5-1 lists and describes these files.

NOTE The source and destination are not stored in any of these XML files. As a result, these files can be reused as needed for comparisons or difference reporting.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 137

Page 142: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Table 5-1: XML files used in Migrator CLI

For more information about Migrator CLI, see the BMC Remedy Migrator 7.6.04 Migrator Guide.

Migrating class definitions with Migrator CLIYou use the Migrator CLI to set migration options, migrate objects and data, compare information between migrations, and generate difference reports.

Before you begin

You must know the form name, unique field ID, and field IDs for each class to be migrated. For more information about unique indexes in BMC Remedy AR System forms, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

! To migrate BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions

1 Open a copy of ExampleCMDBInstruction.xml in a text or XML editor.

2 After the <special-instructions> element, create an entry for each class to migrate using the following syntax.

<special type="meta-data" name="ClassName" owner="CMDB" enabled="true"/>

XML file Migrator CLI function

Package Can be used to assemble multiple sets of instructions within one migration.

Configuration Specifies migration, logging, mask, differences, change history, backup, and prefix options. For more information about options, see Options.When migrating BMC Atrium CMDB classes, use the supplied CMDBConfiguration.xml file. This file is identical to the Migration Configuration file, with some different configuration options.

Instruction Contains a single set of instructions for a migration. With the compare command, this file also can contain multiple named sets where the name is used to name the result file as well as the difference file.

Difference Enables migration of all objects found to be different or missing between source and destination.

Metadata mapping Used for migrations that include the BMC Atrium CMDB. ! CMDBMetaData.xml—When this file is used, extra attributes

and indexes that are not found on the source are not deleted on the destination.

! CMDBMetaDataEnableDelete.xml—When this file is used, Migrator performs a full synchronization of source and destination, deleting any extra attributes and indexes on the destination that that are not found on the source.

138 Administrator’s Guide

Page 143: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

Depending on your business needs, you can create different instructions. For example, you can use the Migrator CLI to import classes or the workflow attached to CMDB class forms, after you create, modify, or delete the class model on the development server and then you want to import this model into the production server. You also can use the Migrator CLI if you have added BMC Remedy AR System workflow to the CMDB forms.

For more information, see “BMC Atrium CMDB instructions examples of data migration” on page 142.

3 Run the migratorcli command and specify the CMDBMetaData.xml, ExampleCMDBInstruction.xml, and CMDBConfiguration.xml files.

migratorcli –m –s Source -d Destination --classname “” –metatype “CMDB” –y “CMDBMetaData.xml” –g “Migrator Configuration.xml” –u Demo

Depending on your business needs, you can run different versions of the migratorcli command. For more information, see “Migrator CLI command examples” on page 144.

CMDB metadataThe following section uses sample entries to explain the metadata XML document structure. The main root element can contain multiple <meta> items for each major metadata type, such as CMDB.

<meta-data xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="Migration Meta Data.xsd">

NOTE In normal situations, do not modify the CMDBMetaData.xml files.

meta name<meta name="CMDB" identifier-form="OBJSTR:Class" description="This is the meta-data for the CMDB application design">

The root element for a specific metadata design such as CMDB and contains all the form and object mappings that are specific to this element.

! meta name—The name of the metadata item. It is used as the “owner” within the instruction XML document when attempting to migrate or compare metadata items within special items.

! identifier-form—The main form that contains the true name of the metadata. For CMDB, this is the form that contains the class name. This is known as the root form from which all other forms are mapped.

! description—Text that describes the document.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 139

Page 144: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

form name<form name="OBJSTR:Class" unique-field-id="1" name-field-id="8" extends-form="form-name">

Used to identify a specific form and how the data on that form relates to other defines forms and/or to AR System Object(s).

! form name—The name of the form on the AR System server.

! unique-field-id—The unique identifier for the field. By default, 1 is used.

! name-field-id—The field that contains the unique name of the entry. It is typically used only when the mapping item is the main identifying form. This is the field that is searched when a name is specified within the instruction document.

! extends-form—The name of the base form. Entries are mapped using the unique IDs of this form and the form mapping that is defined for the extends form.

object type<object type="Form" cascade="all">

For AR System object mapping, this element and its children are used to identify the object to which this form mapping maps.

! object type—The AR System object that does not include metadata.

! cascade—The action to take if the parent entry is deleted. Options are:

! all—Perfoms both creation and deletion of entries.

! create-orphan—Creates only entries found on the source but are missing from the destination. Does not delete extra entries found on the destination.

! delete-orphan—Deletes extra entries found on the destination but not on the source. Does not create extra entries found on the source.

<field id="1"/> and <text value=":"/>

These items are contained within the <object> element and are used to identify the fields and text that make up the name of the AR System object. The name is built based on the contents of the fields and the text value.

one-to-many form<one-to-many form="formName" local-key-id="3" foreign-key-id="2" cascade="all">

One-to-many mapping is used when a single entry in the main form is related to many entries within the specified form.

! one-to-many form—The name of the external form where many entries match one entry locally.

! local-key-id—The field ID of the local key used in the external form to make multiple entries from the local form.

140 Administrator’s Guide

Page 145: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

! foreign-key-id—The unique field ID used on the remote form. It is not required, because the unique-field-id defined on the form can be used.

! Cascade —The action to take if the parent entry item is deleted. Options are:

! all

! create-orphan (not currently supported)

! delete-orphan

The <local-keys> and <foreign-keys> can be used if multiple fields are used for each corresponding attributes. These elements override the corresponding attributes.

many-to-one form<many-to-one form="formName" local-key-id="3" foreign-key-id="2">

This mapping type is used to define mapping of multiple entries in the local form to a single entry in the foreign form. Because this mapping has no cascade option, deleting or creating entries in this form does not affect the external form.

! many-to-one form—The name of the external form, where one entry matches many local entries.

! local-key-id—The field ID of the local key used in the external form to make multiple entries from the local form.

! foreign-key-id—The unique field ID used on the external form. This ID is not required because the unique-field ID defined on the form can be used.

one-to-one form<one-to-one form="formName" local-key-id="" foreign-key-id="">

In this mapping, every entry in the local form maps to one entry within the specified external form. Cascade is not defined for this mapping type.

! one-to-one form—The name of the external form where one entry matches one entry locally

! local-key-id—The field ID of the local key used in the external form to make multiple entries from the local form.

! foreign-key-id—The unique field ID used on the external form. This ID is not required because the unique-field ID defined on that form can be used.

many-to-many form<many-to-many form="formName" local-key-id="3" foreign-key-id="5" mapping-form="" source-field-id="2" destination-field-id="1">

This mapping allows mapping of multiple entries in the local form to multiple entries in the external form. This mapping uses an intermediate form, in which the unique fields from the local form are mapped to the unique fields on the external form.

! many-to-many form—The name of the external form where many entries matches many local entries

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 141

Page 146: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! local-key-id —The field ID of the local key used in the external form to make multiple entries from the local form.

! foreign-key-id—The unique field ID used on the external form. This ID is not required because the unique-field ID defined on that form can be used.

! mapping-form—The name of the intermediate form used in the mapping.

! source-field-id—The field ID in the mapping form that contains the value of the unique-field ID of the source entry. This value comes either from the local-key-id field or the unique-field-id.

! destination-field-id—The field ID in the mapping form that contains the value of the unique-field-id of the destination entry. This value comes either from the foreign-key-id field or the unique-field-id of the external form.

The <source-fields> and <destination-fields> can be used to override the attributes and where multiple fields can be defined for each. The source and destination field IDs must be defined for the mapping to succeed.

BMC Atrium CMDB instructions examples of data migrationIn an instructions file, such as ExampleCMDBInstruction.xml, you can specify the BMC Atrium CMDB classes and the activity performed on them. After the <special-instructions> element, create an entry for each class to migrate using the following syntax.

<special type="Instruction" name="ClassName" owner="CMDB" enabled="true"/>

The special type=”Instruction” element defines the activity, where can be “meta-data” or “difference”, for example.

CMDB instructions for a single classThe following example specifies only one class (BMC_Person), which you can migrate or compare within BMC Atrium CMDB. You must also set type to “meta-data”.

For an example of the command used with this instruction, see “Migration and comparison of a specified class” on page 144, in which you must include the CMDBMetaData.xml mapping file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> - <instructions xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="Migration Instructions.xsd">- <instruction enabled="true" name="ExampleCMDB">- <special-instructions>- <!-- BMC_Person class and all of its sub-class will be automatically included -->

<special type="meta-data" name="BMC_Person" owner="CMDB" enabled="true" />

</special-instructions> </instruction>

</instructions>

142 Administrator’s Guide

Page 147: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

CMDB instructions for multiple classes The following example specifies several classes for migration. You must specify each class its own <special> element and set type to “meta-data”.

For an example of the command used with this instruction, see “Migration of multiple classes” on page 145.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><instructions xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="Migration Instructions.xsd"><!-- This Example shows how you can migrate or compare a specific class within the CMDB system and remember to include the CMDBMetaData.xml mapping file on command line--> <instruction enabled="true" name="ExampleCMDB"> <special-instructions> <special type="meta-data" name="BMC_Person" owner="CMDB" enabled="true"/> <special type="meta-data" name="BMC_Patch" owner="CMDB" enabled="true"/><special type="meta-data" name="BMC_Application" owner="CMDB"

enabled="true"/> </special-instructions> </instruction></instructions>

CMDB instructions for using difference report files as input After you compare classes, you can use the difference report in Specified Object Comparison.xml to migrate only the differences. You can modify Migration Instructions.xml as shown in the following example. You must set name to the path and name of the comparison file, and set type to “difference”.

For an example of the command used with this instruction, see “Migration differences using difference report files as input” on page 145.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><instructions xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="Migration Instructions.xsd"><instruction enabled="true" name="example"> <special-instructions> <!-- Use a difference result file as input and here name is the full path to that file --><special type="difference" name="C:\Program Files\ BMC Software\Migrator\migrator\Specified Object Comparison.xml"/

> </special-instructions></instruction></instructions>

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 143

Page 148: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Migrator CLI command examplesIn each of the compare (-c) examples below, a comparison result report is generated named Specified Object Comparison.xml.

If the --<object type> command is not included, the example is an all object migration/comparison, and the name of the comparison result file is All Object Comparison.xml.

WARNING If the comparison result file already exists, it is overwritten with the new file.

Migration and comparison of all classes The following command migrates and compares all classes in BMC Atrium CMDB.

NOTE In this command sequence, the –metatype is required because it defines the mapping to use within the mapping file CMDBMetaData.xml.

migratorcli –m –s Source -d Destination --classname “” –metatype “CMDB” –y “CMDBMetaData.xml” –g “Migrator Configuration.xml” –u Demo

migratorcli –c –s Source -d Destination --classname “” –metatype “CMDB” –y “CMDBMetaData.xml” –g “Migrator Configuration.xml” –u Demo

To migrate and compare all classes in a specific namespace (for example, BMC.CORE), add the --namespace parameter:

migratorcli –m –s Source -d Destination --classname “” --namespace “BMC.CORE” –metatype “CMDB” –y “CMDBMetaData.xml” –g “Migrator Configuration.xml” –u Demo

Migration and comparison of a specified classThe following command migrates or compares a specified class in BMC Atrium CMDB. Define the class to migrate in an instructions file, as described in “CMDB instructions for a single class” on page 142.

NOTE In this command sequence, the –metatype is required, because it defines the mapping to use within the mapping file CMDBMetaData.xmlfile.

migratorcli –m –s Source -d Destination --classname “BMC_Person” --namespace "BMC.CORE" –metatype “CMDB” –y “CMDBMetaData.xml” –g “Migrator Configuration.xml” –u Demo

migratorcli –c –s Source -d Destination --classname “BMC_Person” --namespace "BMC.CORE" –metatype “CMDB” –y “CMDBMetaData.xml” –g “Migrator Configuration.xml” –u Demo

144 Administrator’s Guide

Page 149: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

Migration of multiple classes The following command migrates or compares several classes within BMC Atrium CMDB. Define the classes to migrate in an instructions file, as described in “CMDB instructions for multiple classes” on page 143.

MigratorCLI -m -s Source -d Destination -y "CMDBMetaData.xml" -g "CMDBConfiguration.xml" -i "Migration Instructions.xml" -u Demo

NOTE You no longer need to define metadata mappings with the Migrator CLI; it defaults to the CMDBMetaDataEnableDelete.xml mapping document. Otherwise, use the -y parameter to specify the CMDBMetaData.xml mapping document.

Migration differences using difference report files as input The following command migrates only the differences between classes. For an example of the instruction used with this command, see “CMDB instructions for using difference report files as input” on page 143.

MigratorCLI -m -s Source -d Destination -y "CMDBMetaData.xml" -g "CMDBConfiguration.xml" -i "Migration Instructions.xml" -u Demo

Difference reports created in HTML formatBy default the difference report is generated in XML, but you can create it in HTML format with the following command using -xslt parameter.

MigratorCLI -c -s Source -d "Destination" --classname "BMC_Person"--namespace "BMC.CORE" --metatype "CMDB" -y "CMDBMetaData.xml" -g "CMDBConfiguration.xml" -u Demo --xslt "DiffToHtml.xslt"

Migration of a class to a file You can migrate classes to a .migrator file. You can use this file to recover metadata and class definitions in case of any failure during migration. You can migrate destination classes to a .migrator file before migration so that, in case of any failure, you can recover class definitions and metadata by migrating this .migrator file to the destination server.

MigratorCLI -c -s Source -d "FilePath" --classname "BMC_Person" --namespace "BMC.CORE"--metatype "CMDB" -y "CMDBMetaData.xml" -g "CMDBConfiguration.xml" -u Demo

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 145

Page 150: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Logging in to the cmdbdriver programThe cmdbdriver program is the command-line interface to the BMC Atrium CMDB C API. The following steps describe the procedure to start the cmdbdriver program.

! To log in to the cmdbdriver program

1 Start the cmdbdriver program using the following steps based on your platform:

! Windows

! Navigate to C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\cmdb\sdk\bin.

! Double-click cmdbdriver.exe.

! UNIX

! Navigate to /usr/arsystem/ServerName/cmdb/sdk/bin.

! Type the command cmdbdriver.

2 Type the command init to initialize the driver.

3 Type the command log to log into your development server.

You are prompted to specify several parameters one at a time. You must enter the following parameters:

! Type a valid user name and password.

! Type the name of your server.

You can leave the other parameters blank. After you specify the login parameters the command prompt appears.

4 Type the abbreviation of the function and provide the appropriate input parameter values.

For example, for importing class definitions, type impdf at the prompt. Use the help command (h or ?) to display the cmdbdriver commands. When you are finished using the cmdbdriver, type e or q to exit the program.

Exporting class instances with cmdbdriverYou must export both CI and relationship configuration data from your development server.

! To export instance data for a class

1 Log in to your development server.

2 Start the cmdbdriver program and specify your user credentials.

For more information about starting the cmdbdriver program, see “Logging in to the cmdbdriver program” on page 146.

3 Type the xexpdt command to export instance data from the BMC Atrium CMDB.

146 Administrator’s Guide

Page 151: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium CMDB class definitions and instances

4 At the Export instance data from all classes? (F): prompt, type T to export all instance data.

If you press Enter to accept the default value of F, you must specify the namespace, class, and attribute details for which you want to export the class definitions.

5 At the Dataset ID (): prompt, type the dataset ID from which you want to export the instance data.

6 At the Filename for exported data: prompt, specify the file name in which to save the exported instance data.

Make sure you specify the exact path for the file name, for example, c:\ExportedInstanceData\CoreInstanceData.xml. If you specify a file name that already exists, the contents of the file is overwritten.

Importing class instances with cmdbdriverYou must import the CI and relationship instances from the export files, which contain the class and instance data you exported in Step 1 and 2 of this procedure, to your production server.

! To import instances of a class or classes

1 Log in to your production server.

2 Start the cmdbdriver program and specify your user credentials.

For more information about logging in to the cmdbdriver program, see “Logging in to the cmdbdriver program” on page 146.

3 Type the impdt command to import instance data into the BMC Atrium CMDB.

4 Type any of the following import options to specify the action to take when an instance to be imported has the same Instance ID as an existing instance in the BMC Atrium CMDB:

! 1 (Error on dup)—If the instance already exists with the same Instance ID, generate an error message and do not import the instance.

! 2 (Generate new ID on dup)— If the instance already exists with the same Instance ID, generate a new Instance ID and import the instance.

! 3 (Merge on dup)— If the instance already exists with the same Instance ID, merge the new instance and the existing instance.

! 4 (Generate new ID for all)—Create a new Instance ID for the instance to import even if the new instance is not a duplicate.

5 Type the directory path and the file name where the import data is located, for example, c:\ExportedInstanceData\CoreInstanceData.xml.

The data is imported into the BMC Atrium CMDB.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 147

Page 152: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Migration of Product Catalog dataYou can export and import Product Catalog entries in bulk to and from external files or staging forms. Before attempting to export or import the data, you must understand what data is required and how this data is represented on the Product Catalog Console. To create individual Product Catalog entries, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Product Catalog and DML Guide.

The Product Catalog consists of a collection of products and suites. Software products are composed of one or more files. Each product entry contains information, such as the name, the manufacturer, and the version number of the application.

Suites are composed of one or more products. A suite is technically a product that is identified as having a relationship to one or more other applications.

Each of these entities is represented by a staging form as presented in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1: Product Catalog elements

Before attempting to import the data, you must understand how the required data on each staging form is represented on the Product Catalog Console, as displayed in Figure 5-2 on page 149.

148 Administrator’s Guide

Page 153: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

Figure 5-2: Product Catalog Console

Table 5-2 lists the set of staging forms required for importing custom titles into the Product Catalog. Object refers to the item in Figure 5-1 on page 148. Console Area refers to Figure 5-2.

Table 5-2: Required forms (Sheet 1 of 2)

Object Form name Description Console area

Version Info PDL:ESIDversioninfoCustom This table contains information about the custom version of the data to be imported. An entry in this table is required and identifies the set of custom data being imported.

Version Info is not displayed on the Product Catalog console.

Manufacturer PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom This table contains information about the application manufacturers. An entry in this table is required.

The manufacturer name is displayed in Area 1 of the console. Specific information about a manufacturer can be found on the COM:Company form.

File PDL:ESIDfilesCustom This table contains information about each file.

File information is not displayed on the console, but can be viewed using the View button in Area 3.

Application PDL:ESIDappsCustom This table contains information about each application.

Application information is displayed in Area 1.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 149

Page 154: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Exporting data from the Product CatalogWhen migrating Product Catalog data, you must export the form data from the pre-production server. These staging forms are listed in Table 5-2 on page 149. When an alias is defined for the form, you must use the alias to open the form in your browser

Before you begin

Create a new report of AR System type for each staging form. When designing this report, include all the fields. You use this report to export the data in .arx format.

Application to File relationship

PDL:ESIDappsfilesCustom This table maps files to the applications they are associated with. Each application consists of a single main executable and zero or more support files.

Files that are related to an application are displayed in Area 3.

Suite PDL:ESIDsuitesCustom This table contains information about suites. Suites are collections of applications identified by a combination of the applications and an identifying GUID.

Suites are displayed in Area 1 where Suite = Yes.

Suite to Application relationship

PDL:ESIDsuiteappsCustom This table contains information that relates suites to applications.

Area 2 displays either of the following items:! The products that are part

of the Suite! The suite that the product

is part of.

Signature PDL:ESIDsignatureCustom This table contains information about a product signature.

Signatures are not displayed on the Product Catalog Console.

Signature to product relationship

PDL:ESIDsignatureProductCustom

This table contains information about signature product association records.

Signature data is not displayed on the Product Catalog Console.

Table 5-2: Required forms (Sheet 2 of 2) (Continued)

Object Form name Description Console area

150 Administrator’s Guide

Page 155: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

! To export data from the Product Catalog

1 With your web browser, log in to the BMC Remedy ITSM server as an administrator.

2 Use one of the following methods to open the appropriate form:

! Enter the direct access URL.

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/yourForm

For example, to open the PDL:ESIDversioninfoCustom form:

http://CalbroServer:8080/arsys/forms/SanJoseServer/ PDL:ESIDversioninfoCustom

! Open the Object List to search for the form.

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms

If the form has an alias, you must search for the alias. Otherwise, search for the form name. If you see two versions of the form listed, select the object listed as a Form, and not the Join Form.

For more information about creating reports and configuring the object list, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Mid Tier Guide.

3 Make sure the form is in Search mode.

4 Search for all records in the form—or for just the subset that you want to export.

To search for all records, leave the form blank and click Search.

If you get an error when performing an unqualified search or if your query hits the 1000-record query limit, perform the following steps:

a Open the IT Home page.

b Open the AR System Administration Console for the BMC Remedy ITSM server.

c Click System > General > Server Information.

d On the AR System Administration: Server Information form, click the Configuration tab.

e Select Allow Unqualified Searches.

f In the Server Table Field Chunk Size field, enter a different value (for example, 0, for unlimited records returned in the query). This setting can result in slower performance.

g Click OK.

You can then return to the form and perform the search.

5 Create reports to export the data from the staging forms.

a Select all the records returned in the search.

b Click the Report button.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 151

Page 156: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

When the Reporting Console opens, reports that are associated with the form and that you have permission to access appear in the list. The list can include reports of type AR System, BIRT, and Crystal. If no reports appear in the Reporting Console list, you must create a new report of type AR System.

c To generate .arx output, select an AR System type report, as identified in the Report Type field.

All the records that you selected are passed to the report.

If no reports appear in the Reporting Console list, then either there is no report associated with this form, or you do not have permission to access it. In that case, you must create a new report of type AR System.

d In the Destination field, select File.

e In the Format field, select AR Export.

f Enter a name for your report.

Change the file name to the form name, without using illegal characters.

g Click Run.

6 Repeat this procedure for each staging form that you are exporting.

Importing Product Catalog dataYou can import custom data into the Product Catalog by performing the following steps.

Step 1 Create the data by loading it into the appropriate staging forms. (See page 152.)

Step 2 Validate the data (See page 160.)

Step 3 Import the data from the staging forms to the Product Catalog forms. (See page 161.)

To import Product Catalog data provided by BMC, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Product Catalog and DML Guide.

Creating custom dataBefore creating the data, you must decide if you will import custom data on a regular basis. If you import custom data more than once, you must make sure that you are using a unique version number. However, if you clear all entries from the custom staging forms before starting a subsequent custom data import, then the unique version number is not required.

NOTE When you import custom data, the BMC_Product and BMC_OperatingSystem classes are populated with entries. No products exist for other classes.

152 Administrator’s Guide

Page 157: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

Data loading and staging formsYou can use BMC Remedy Data Import to load data from supported data sources, such as formatted files and spreadsheets, into the following custom staging forms:

! PDL:ESIDversioninfoCustom

! PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom

! PDL:ESIDfilesCustom

! PDL:ESIDappsCustom

! PDL:ESIDappsfilesCustom

! PDL:ESIDsuitesCustom

! PDL:ESIDsuiteappsCustom

! PDL:ESIDsignatureCustom

! PDL:ESIDsignatureProductCustom

NOTE To load data using spreadsheets, you also need to create mapping files that specify which spreadsheet fields map to the destination form fields.

You can manually create entries in each of the staging forms. The required fields and sample data are shown in the following tables.

Common fields on staging formsTable 5-3 lists fields that exist on all the staging forms. The Sample Data column shows the data values that produce the Product Catalog entries displayed in the Product Catalog Console.

Table 5-3: Common fields (Sheet 1 of 2)

Field name Description Maximum length

Values Sample data

dataStatus Status field used to track import progress. All entries should be created as "New."

! New! Validated! Inactive! Imported! Update

EventCommand Action field used to trigger import.

60

Status Additional status field used to track import status.

! New! Assigned! Fixed! Rejected! Closed

New

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 153

Page 158: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Table 5-4 through Table 5-12 list the fields in each of the staging forms.

PDL:ESIDversioninfoCustom staging formThis staging form contains information about the version of custom data that loaded into the Product Catalog. Use this data to keep track of which version of custom data is installed on your system.

PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom staging formThis staging form contains information about the manufacturers whose applications are loaded in the Product Catalog.

Short Description Stores error notes during import.

254 None or "."

None or "." Data version identifier. Used on all the forms to identify which custom version this entry belongs to.

50 Sample data version

Table 5-4: PDL:ESIDversioninfoCustom fields

Field name Description Maximum length

Sample data

component Component name 20 Sample

versionmajor Major version number 1

versionminor Minor version number 0

versionmaint Maintenance version number 0

versionbuild Build version number 1

description Complete version number in string format

20 Sample Custom Data

recver Not currently used 255

Table 5-5: DL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom fields (Sheet 1 of 2)

Field name Description Maximum length

Sample data

name Manufacturer name 254 Sample Manufacturer

mfgid Manufacturer ID - ID assigned to this manufacturer, as referenced in the COM:Company form

30 Mfgl

Table 5-3: Common fields (Sheet 2 of 2)

Field name Description Maximum length

Values Sample data

154 Administrator’s Guide

Page 159: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

Entries where the manufacturer country is not known can be marked with country = "UNKNOWN" and countrycode = "ZY."

address1 Manufacturer address 90 (address1 + address2)

1234 Main Street

address2 Manufacturer address

city Manufacturer city 60 Sunnyvale

state Manufacturer state 60 CA

zip Manufacturer zip 15 94086

country Manufacturer country 60 United States

businessphone Manufacturer phone 50 (408) 777-1234

techsupport Manufacturer technical support information

http://support.sample.com

customerservice Manufacturer support reference

45 (800) 777-1234

url Manufacturer web address

128 www.sample.com

comments Miscellaneous comments

254

countrycode Two-character ISO country code

2 US

Table 5-5: DL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom fields (Sheet 2 of 2)

Field name Description Maximum length

Sample data

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 155

Page 160: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

PDL:ESIDfilesCustom staging formThis staging form contains metadata about the files that are related to applications. Each entry contains the file name and file size of each file that is associated to an application.

Table 5-6: PDL:ESIDfilesCustom

PDL:ESIDappsCustom staging formThis staging form contains information about the applications that are loaded in the Product Catalog. Each entry contains the application name and references the manufacturer by manufacturer ID. The main executable file is referenced by file ID.

Field name Description Maximum length

Sample data

name File name 254 sample.exe

kbfileid Unique file ID 30 File1

filesize File size in bytes 50 9482

quickcrc CRC (ISO 3309) based on the first 1024 bytes of the file

50

timestamp DOS-style date/time stamp of the file

versionmajor File major version number 60 1

versionminor File minor version number 60 1

versionmaint File maintenance version number

60 1

versionbuild File build version number 60 1

Table 5-7: PDL:ESIDappsCustom Fields(Sheet 1 of 2)

Field name Description Maximum length Sample data

name Application name 254 Sample Application

kbappid Application ID 30 App1

filesize File size in bytes 50 9482

mfgid Manufacturer ID 90 (address1 + address2)

Mfgl

versionstring Application version in string format

240 1.0.0.1

versionmajor Application major version number

60 1

versionminor Application minor version number

60 0

versionmaint Application maintenance version number

60 0

versionbuild Application build version number

60 1

156 Administrator’s Guide

Page 161: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

PDL:ESIDappsfilesCustom staging formThis staging form relates applications to files.

NOTE Each application can have only one main executable file.

Table 5-8: PDL:ESIDappsfilesCustom

mainexe File ID of the application's main executable

60 File1

OpSys 0 = Not an Operating System1 = Operating System

0

Product Categorization Tier 1

Tier 1 Category 60 Software

Product Categorization Tier 2

Tier 2 Category 60 Application

Product Categorization Tier 3

Tier 3 Category 60 Sample

Origin 0 = Third Party1 = Custom

1

Suite Definition 0 = No1 = Yes

0

Operating System

Platform Description 254

Requires Contract

0 = Yes1 = No

0

Field name Description Maximum length Sample data

kbappid Application ID 60 App1

kbfileid Unique Field ID 60 File1

flags 1 = File is the main executable0 = File is not the main executable

1

AssignedTo Unique ID to identify this application-file entry

A1F1

Table 5-7: PDL:ESIDappsCustom Fields(Sheet 2 of 2)

Field name Description Maximum length Sample data

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 157

Page 162: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

PDL:ESIDsuitesCustom staging formThis staging form contains information about the suites that are loaded in the Product Catalog. Suites are named collections of applications. Each entry contains the suite name and references the manufacturer by the manufacturer ID. Table 5-9: PDL:ESIDsuitesCustom fields

Field name Description Maximum length Sample data

identityGuid GUID for the suite 254

kbsuiteid Unique Suite ID 30 Suite1

name Suite name 254 Sample Suite

versionstring Suite version in string format 240 2.0

mfgid Manufacturer ID 60 Mfgl

OpSys 0 = Not an Operating System1 = Operating System

0

licensesuiteID The ID of the grouping-level entry for this suite

254

Product Categorization Tier 1

Tier 1 Category 60 Software

Product Categorization Tier 2

Tier 2 Category 60 Application

Product Categorization Tier 3

Tier 3 Category 60 Sample

Origin 0 = Third Party1 = Custom

1

Suite Definition

0 = No1 = Yes

1

Operating System

Platform Description 254

Requires Contract

0 = Yes1 = No

0

158 Administrator’s Guide

Page 163: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

PDL:ESIDsuiteappsCustom staging formThis staging form identifies which applications are associated with a particular suite.

Table 5-10: PDL:ESIDsuiteappsCustom fields

PDL:ESIDsignatureCustom staging formThis staging form contains information about the signature file of a product.

NOTE If you have populated the signature, you must include this form for migrating Product Catalog data.

PDL:ESIDsignatureProductCustom staging formThis staging form contains information about the signature product association records.

NOTE If you have populated the signature, you must include this form for migrating Product Catalog data.

Field name Description Maximum length Sample data

kbappid Application Name 60 App2

kbsuiteid Unique suite ID 60 Suite1

AssignedTo Unique ID to identify this application-suite entry

SuiteApp2

Table 5-11: PDL:ESIDsignatureCustom

Field name Description Data type Maximum length

Signature ID Random unique string String 254

Version Signature version String 50

Grouping Signature group String 50

Type User-defined string used for data segregation

String 50

Signature file Location of the signature file String Not applicable

Table 5-12: PDL:ESIDsignatureProductCustom

Column Description Maximum length

kbappid Application ID 60

Signature ID Random unique string 254

Platform Name of the platform 254

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 159

Page 164: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Validating data in staging formsWhen all the data has been loaded into the staging forms, you must validate the data using the Data Import - Custom console.

! To validate the data

1 Open the PDL:ESIDImportConsole form.

Use the following direct access URL to open the PDL:ESIDImportConsole form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/PDL:ESIDImportConsole

2 Click the Validate tab.

3 Select the type of file to validate (in the left column), and then click the Validate Data button.

The dataStatus field in each entry is set to Validated after successful validation. If the dataStatus field is set to Invalid, check the short description field for the description of the violation.

Table 5-13 lists the integrity checks that are done during validation.

Table 5-13: Integrity checks

Form name Validation

PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom ! Manufacturer is associated with an application or suite

! Manufacturer Country exists in the CFG:Geography Country form

PDL:ESIDfilesCustom File is referenced in the app/files table

PDL:ESIDappsCustom ! Files are associated with this application! Main.exe file exists in the File table! Manufacturer exists in the Manufacturer table

PDL:ESIDappsfilesCustom ! Application exists in Application table! File exists in File table

PDL:ESIDsuitesCustom Suite is referenced in Suite/Apps table

PDL:ESIDsuiteappsCustom ! Application exists in Application table! Suite exists in the Suite table

160 Administrator’s Guide

Page 165: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migration of Product Catalog data

Performing post-validation on the PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom staging formThis step applies to an installation of DML with a BMC Remedy IT Service Management application, and not a stand-alone installation with other BMC products.

Search the PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom form, where country = " ". Modify any matching entries manually. Use the following direct access URL to open the PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/PDL:ESIDmanufacturerCustom

! To perform the post-validation step

1 From the CFG:GeographyCountry file, locate the entry that corresponds to the country code.

2 Change the status for that entry to ENABLED.

3 For the matching entry, copy the country name, and enter in the PDL:ESIDmanufacturer entry, where country = " ".

Importing the data into the BMC Atrium Product Catalog formsAfter the data is successfully validated, you are ready to import the data into the BMC Atrium Product Catalog forms.

! To import the data

1 Open the PDL:ESIDImportConsole form.

Use the following direct access URL to open the PDL:ESIDImportConsole form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/PDL:ESIDImportConsole

2 Click Import Data.

After the import completes, you can check to see if the data has been imported correctly. Open each of these forms in search mode where datastatus = imported. All records have datastatus = imported when they are imported correctly.

! PDL_ESIDversioninfoCustom

! PDL_ESIDmanufacturerCustom

! PDL_ESIDfilesCustom

! PDL_ESIDappsCustom

! PDL_ESIDappfilesCustom

! PDL_ESIDsuitesCustom

! PDL_ESIDsuiteappsCustom

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 161

Page 166: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Migrating normalization jobs and settingsWhen migrating (for example, from a development to production environment), you can export and import the following normalization settings:

! Dataset normalization settings

! CMDB class and attribute settings

! Job schedules

! Product Catalog alias mapping

The settings for Normalization System Configuration are not exported, including logging, RPC Queue, and Threads and Connections settings.

The normalization configuration is saved as XML to your computer’s clipboard, which you can then paste into a file.

! To export normalization settings

1 In the Normalization console, click Export Configuration.

2 In Select Export Options, click options to exclude or include in the XML.

The XML is generated automatically.

3 Click Save to copy the XML configuration information to your system clipboard.

4 Open or create a file in a text editor, and paste the copied XML data.

! To import normalization settings

1 From a saved file or from the Export Normalization Configuration dialog box, copy the XML configuration data.

2 In the Normalization console, click Import Configuration.

3 In the XML input for Import area, paste the XML data.

4 Click Import.

5 When the import message appears, click Close.

Table 5-14: Import options for duplicate entries

import option Description

Discard Duplicate Entries Any configuration settings in the imported data that match existing settings are not imported. All other imported settings overwrite existing ones.If settings are the same in the imported and existing configurations, the existing settings are used.

Replace Duplicate Entries If settings are the same in the imported and existing configurations, the imported settings are used.

162 Administrator’s Guide

Page 167: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating reconciliation jobs and dataset settings

Migrating reconciliation jobs and dataset settings

You can export reconciliation definitions from one server and import them on another server.

Exporting reconciliation definitionsYou can export reconciliation definitions from one server and import them on another server. The settings are saved in an .arx structure to the clipboard, which you must save to a text file. You can export two types of information:

! Reconciliation job definitions—You must save each job to a separate file. This data includes all the settings for the jobs, activities, and qualifications.

! Dataset—For each dataset, you can export the accessibility, account ID, security settings, dataset type, creation and modification data, normalization status, identification status, reconciliation ID, and other information.

To import the settings and jobs to a Reconciliation Engine on another server, you must use the dataimport.bat command. For more information, see “Importing reconciliation definitions” on page 164.

NOTE Do not save the file using Microsoft Notepad because it does not save the carriage returns and line feeds (CR+LF) properly. Use a plain text editor that retains CR+LF. Otherwise, importing the definitions fails.

! To export reconciliation jobs

1 From the Reconciliation console, click Export.

2 In the Export Jobs tab, select a job.

3 Click Save to Clipboard.

4 In a text editor, paste the copied job settings.

5 Save the file with an .arx extension.

! To export reconciliation datasets

1 From the Reconciliation console, click Export.

2 Click the Export Datasets tab.

3 From the list of datasets, select one.

4 Click Save to Clipboard.

5 In a text editor, paste the copied job settings.

6 Save the file with an .arx extension.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 163

Page 168: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Importing reconciliation definitionsYou import reconciliation definitions by using the BMC Remedy Data Import command-line interface (CLI).

NOTE Before using the CLI on UNIX for the first time, you must add an entry to your library path. The CLI also has several other options not described in the following procedure, some of which might be necessary depending on your AR System server environment. For more information about these topics, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Integration Guide.

! To import reconciliation definitions

1 Open a command prompt.

2 If using Windows, change to the directory where BMC Data Import tools are installed.

The default directory is:

BMCInstall\AR System\dataimporttool

3 Enter the command:

dataimport.bat -x ServerName -u UserName -p Password -a Port -o ImportFile -l LogFile -e 179 -D 4

For ImportFile, specify the full path to the file containing the exported definitions from the procedure “Exporting reconciliation definitions” on page 163. Specifying a log file is optional, but recommended in case there are any errors with the import. If you are not using portmapper, you can specify the port for the server with the optional -a parameter.

The -e 179 option enables you to verify whether a definition you are importing already exists. This check is performed based on the globally unique identifier (GUID) values. Specifying the -D4 option updates an entry if a match is found. If no match is found, a new entry is created. For more information about the various options for the dataimport.bat utility, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Integration Guide.

164 Administrator’s Guide

Page 169: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium Integration Engine data

Migrating BMC Atrium Integration Engine dataWith the export utility, you can export data exchanges, data mappings, and the configuration information from your development environment to the production environment. You can also import the data exchanges, data mappings, and configuration information from the development environment to the production environment using this utility.

Exporting BMC Atrium Integration Engine dataYou can export data exchanges directly from a server running BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.6.04 to another server running 7.6.04. You can also export data exchanges from version 7.6.04 to version 7.1.00. However, you cannot export data from BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.1.00 to 7.6.04. You can also export data to a configuration file.

! To export data exchanges to a server

1 In BMC Remedy User, open the AIE Console.

2 In the Data Exchange Console menu bar, choose AIE > Export Configuration.

NOTE The AIE menu is not available for other BMC Atrium Integration Engine consoles, such as CI Class Mappings, Relationship Class Mappings, and AR System Form Mappings.

3 In the Source Server Details area, review or enter the following information:

4 In the Target Server Details area, enter the following information.

Server Name The server on which the data resides. (The value for this field is automatically populated and you cannot modify it.)

TCP Port The TCP port if you are not using the default port. (The value for this field is automatically populated and you cannot modify it.)

Admin Login Name The BMC Remedy AR System administrator user.Admin Password (optional) The BMC Remedy AR System password.

Server Name The server to which data is to be transferred.TCP Port (optional) The TCP port if you are not using the

default port.Admin Login Name The BMC Remedy AR System administrator user.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 165

Page 170: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

5 For the Export All Exchanges option, accept the default option of Yes or select No - Only Selected Ones.

6 If you select the No - Only Selected Ones option, a list of data exchanges appears in the table.

7 Select the data exchanges you want to export.

8 Click Export.

The label of the Export button changes to Get Results.

9 Click Get Results.

One of the following messages appears.

! Export in progress.

! Export completed.

! Export failed.

A detailed log is available in the result field.

! To export data to a file

1 In the Data Exchange Console, choose AIE > Export Configuration in the menu bar.

NOTE The AIE menu is not available for other BMC Atrium Integration Engine consoles, such as CI Class Mappings, Relationship Class Mappings, and AR System Form Mappings.

2 In the Export Configuration to File area, enter a valid directory path in the Output Directory field.

3 Click Export.

Password (optional) The BMC Remedy AR System password.Data File Location (optional) The location on the destination server to

which the data file is to be saved.

If you do not specify the file location, the location of the data file in the source server is retained in the destination server. Make sure that you specify the directory path till the \data directory.

For Windows, specify AIEInstallDir\\service\\data\\. For example: C:\\Program Files\\BMC Software\\AtriumCore\\aie\\service\\data\\

For UNIX, specify AIEInstallDir/opt/service/data.

Errors might occur if you use the source location directory.

166 Administrator’s Guide

Page 171: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Migrating BMC Atrium Integration Engine data

The AIE_Configuration.arx file is created in the directory path that you specified. This file contains configuration information for all data exchanges as well as data mappings.

Importing BMC Atrium Integration Engine dataAfter exporting your data to the AIE_Configuration.arx file, you can import it using BMC Remedy Data Import or the BMC Remedy Data Import Command-Line Interface (CLI).

NOTE If BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.5.00 or later is installed on BMC Remedy AR System 7.1.00 and BMC Atrium CMDB 2.1.00, use the BMC Remedy Import utility or BMC Remedy Import CLI to import data. On other hand, if BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.5.00 or later is installed on BMC Remedy AR System 7.5.00 and BMC Atrium CMDB 7.5.00, you must use the BMC Remedy Data Import utility or BMC Remedy Data Import CLI.

! To import data

1 Open the AIE_Configuration.arx file to edit it.

2 Make the following changes in the AIE_Configuration.arx file:

! Remove the configuration definition for the following forms:

! EIE:BackupLoadFlag

! EIE:ApplicationSettings

! EIE:VendorConfiguration

NOTE The form names in the AIE_Configuration.arx file use the EIE: prefix.

! In the EIE:DataExchange form information, change the instance name to the name of the destination BMC Atrium CMDB instance.

! In the EIE:Data form information, change all paths for the flat file and .csv file adapter-based data exchanges and database-related information.

Make similar changes in the EIE:DataMapping, EIE:CMDBDataMapping, and EIE:CMDBRelMapping form information. In the EIE:VendorFieldNames form information, change the Table Name.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 167

Page 172: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

3 Perform one of the following actions:

Versions Using Steps or Procedure

! BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.5.00 or later

! BMC Remedy AR System 7.5.00 or later

! BMC Atrium CMDB 7.5.00 or later

! BMC Remedy Data Import CLI

! BMC Remedy Data Import utility

1 Run the following command from the command line:BMCRemedyARSystemInstallationDir\datamimporttool\dataimporttool.exe -x serverName -u loginName -p loginPassword -o pathOfTheAIE_Configuration.arxFile -l destinationPath

For example:C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\datamimporttool\dataimporttool.exe -x "pramteke-pun-01" -u "Demo" -p "" -o "D:\AIE_DataExchange_Windows\AIE_DataExchange_Windows.arx" -l "D:\log”

For information about using the BMC Remedy Data Import CLI, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Integration Guide.

2 If you use BMC Remedy Data Import, follow the steps to import data to a destination form. For information about using BMC Remedy Data Import, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Configuration Guide.

! BMC Atrium Integration Engine 7.5.00 or later

! BMC Remedy AR System 7.1.00

! BMC Atrium CMDB 2.1.00

! BMC Remedy Import CLI

! BMC Remedy Import utility

3 Run the following command from the command line:BMCRemedyARSystemInstallationDir\arimportcmd.exe -x serverName -u loginName -p loginPassword -o pathOfTheAIE_Configuration.arxFile -l destinationPath

For example:C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\Admin\arimportcmd.exe -x "pramteke-pun-01" -u "Demo" -p "" -o "D:\AIE_DataExchange_Windows\AIE_DataExchange_Windows.arx" -l "D:\log”

For information about using the BMC Remedy Import CLI, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.1.00 Integration Guide.

4 If you use BMC Remedy Import, follow the steps to import data to a destination form. For information about using BMC Remedy Data Import, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.1.00 Configuration Guide.

168 Administrator’s Guide

Page 173: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Manually configuring federated data on your production server

Manually configuring federated data on your production server

You must manually configure federated data on your production server. Make sure you configure the following components on your production server:

! Federation plugins and adapters—includes editing the pluginsvr_config.xml file with the various plugins (for example, JDBC) for the federated data

! Data stores

! Retrieval methods

! Launch methods

For more information, see “Configuring federated data” on page 71.

Chapter 5 Migrating BMC Atrium Core data 169

Page 174: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

170 Administrator’s Guide

Page 175: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

6

Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

You can package and install BMC Atrium CMDB class and attribute extensions.

The following topics are provided:

! Overview of BMC Atrium CMDB extensions (page 172)! Manually creating BMC Atrium CMDB extensions (page 172)! Accessing the Extension Loader (page 175)! Installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions (page 175)! Verifying your installed extensions (page 179)! Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions (page 181)

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 171

Page 176: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Overview of BMC Atrium CMDB extensionsThe Extension Loader feature enables you to install BMC Atrium CMDB classes from one server to another. Use the Extension Loader either to extend the BMC Atrium CMDB or to install an extension pack. The Extension Loader can also install objects other than the data model extensions. However, this section covers only the instructions for installing class and attribute extensions.

You can generate class extensions by using the following methods:

! Create installer action files manually (see page 172) and install new extensions (see page 175). BMC recommends that you use this method.

! Package the extension files (see page 181). These files are not in the proper format and you must use the Extension Loader to convert them.

For more information about extending the CDM, see “Creating or modifying classes with the Class Manager” on page 36. For information about installing and configuring the Extension Loader, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Installation Guide. If you encounter errors when using the Extension Loader to install the extensions, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Troubleshooting Guide.

Manually creating BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

You can create the new extension manually in an XML file, which has several sections that correspond to the installer action files in “Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions” on page 181.

When you have defined the XML file for the new extension, see “Installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions” on page 175.

Extension registration and dependencyThis section of the XML file defines the registration and dependency information for the extension. The registration information defines the extension that you are creating. When the extension loader runs, it stores the extension registration values that you specify in the package.xml file, such as the extension name, version, and GUID in the SHARE:Application_Properties form.

A GUID is a unique ID for the extension. This ID is used by the extension loader program to determine if an extension is already installed. After you create an extension with a specific GUID, you can only change the version number to update the extension. The GUID remains the same for the life span of an extension.

172 Administrator’s Guide

Page 177: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Manually creating BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

"<stage level=""RegisterExtensions""> <rik_command> <subcommand>appinfo</subcommand> <log_dir>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$</log_dir> <log_name>BMCCMDBExtensionLoader</log_name> <guid>ID00C04FA081BAg7YTQwYNXncALwcA</guid> <property_name>Name</property_name> <mode>ITSM-CMDB extension #1</mode> <property_status>0</property_status> <server_info_parameter>set</server_info_parameter> <no_output_to_console/> <no_new_log/> <note>Installing ITSM-CMDB extension #1</note> </rik_command> <rik_command> <subcommand>appinfo</subcommand> <log_dir>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$</log_dir> <log_name>BMCCMDBExtensionLoader</log_name> <guid>ID00C04FA081BAg7YTQwYNXncALwcA</guid> <property_name>Version</property_name> <mode>7.0</mode> <property_status>0</property_status> <server_info_parameter>set</server_info_parameter> <no_output_to_console/> <no_new_log/> <note>Installing ITSM-CMDB extension #1</note> </rik_command></stage>"

Define the version of BMC Remedy AR System:

<ar_version_condition operation="GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUALS_TO" version_operand="7.6"/>

Define the minimum and maximum version of BMC Atrium CMDB:

"<version_condition guid=""OB00C04FA081BABZlxQAmyflAg1wEA"" operation=""GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUALS_TO"" version_operand=""1.0""/><version_condition guid=""OB00C04FA081BABZlxQAmyflAg1wEA"" operation=""LESS_THAN_OR_EQUALS_TO"" version_operand=""9.0""/>"

Extension Loader instructionsDefine the instructions for the Extension Loader to perform an action.

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 173

Page 178: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Workflow command commands" <rik_command> <subcommand>loadapp</subcommand> <log_dir>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$</log_dir> <log_name>BMCCMDBExtensionLoader</log_name> <file_name>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$600-CDMExtensions$/$100-workflow-RIK.xml</file_name> <component_mask>0</component_mask> <mode>newall</mode> <output_to_console/> <no_new_log/> <note>Installing ITSM-CMDB extension #1</note> </rik_command>"

cmdbdriver commands" <cmdb_driver_command> <file_name>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$600-CDMExtensions$/$200-CDMExtensions-OSD.txt</file_name> <output>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$DriverLog</output> <note>Installing ITSM-CMDB extension #1</note> </cmdb_driver_command>"

BMC Remedy AR System driver script commands" <driver_command> <file_name>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$800-SIM-Workflow$/$800-SIM-Workflow-ARD.txt</file_name> <output>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$DriverLog</output> <note>Installing SIM: CMDB Workflow</note> </driver_command>"

Commands for importing data into BMC Remedy AR System forms" <rik_command> <subcommand>dataimp</subcommand> <log_dir>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENDION_LOADER_OUTPUTDIR$</log_dir> <log_name>BMCCMDBExtensionLoader</log_name> <file_name>$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$502-TDONLY$/$501-tdonly-datasets-IMP.arx</file_name> <mode>newall</mode> <server_info_parameter/> <output_to_console/> <no_new_log/> <note>Installing TD ONLY for Reconciliation Engine</note> </rik_command>"

174 Administrator’s Guide

Page 179: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Accessing the Extension Loader

Extension order commands<stage_group dir="$BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_DIRECTORY$$/$600-CDMExtensions" env="$BMC_UTILITY_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE$" name="600-CDMExtensions">

Accessing the Extension LoaderThe Extension Loader is part of the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database Maintenance Tool, which is installed with BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database.

! To access the extension loader

1 Depending on your environment, perform the following steps to access the Extension Loader:

! On Windows

! From BMCInstall\BMC Software\AtriumCore\atriumcore\, double-click AtriumCoreMaintenanceTool.cmd.

! On UNIX

! Navigate to your installation directory and run ./AtriumCoreMaintenanceTool.sh.

2 Click the Configuration tab to install the extensions.

Installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensionsYou can install CDM extensions in the following ways:

! From the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database Maintenance Tool (see page 176)

! With the silent installer (see page 177)

When you have completed installing the extensions, see “Verifying your installed extensions” on page 179.

Possible outcomes of extension installationsWhen you install an extension, the following outcomes are possible:

! Passed—The execution of XML was successful.

! Failed—The execution of the extension caused an error.

! Extension upgraded—The version of the extension in the file is greater than that found in the BMC Remedy AR System server, the extension in the file is executed and installed.

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 175

Page 180: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! Extension already exists—The version of the extension in the file is same as that found in the BMC Remedy AR System server.

! New Version of Extension already exists—The version of the extension in the file is smaller than that found in the BMC Remedy AR System server.

! Extension already failed—An installation of the extension you are trying to install has already failed. You are unable to complete the extension installation. Contact BMC Customer Support to resolve the problem.

! Extension in running state—A previous installation of the extension is already running, such as when you stop the extension installation before it has completed. You are unable to complete the extension installation. Contact BMC Customer Support to resolve the problem.

! Dependency Failure—The version conditions mentioned in the XML file (such as the <ar_version_condition> and <version_condition> tags) do not comply with that of BMC Remedy AR System server.

Installing extensions with the Extension LoaderYou can install extension of BMC Atrium CMDB classes created on another server or install an extension pack from a valid XML file. The extension file is validated before it is executed.

Before you begin

! You must have a valid XML extension file (for example, ExtensionLoader.xml).

! You must have server and administrative login information to BMC Remedy AR System.

! To install extensions

1 From the Configuration tab, select Run Extensions.

2 Click Browse to locate and select the ExtensionLoader.xml XML file with the extension data.

3 Click Next.

4 Provide the following BMC Remedy AR System information, and then click Next:

User Name Specify an administrator user name. Password Type the password for the administrator user

name.Port Number If you specified a port number when installing the

BMC Remedy AR System server, type that number in this field. If the server uses a portmapper to automatically select a port to use, leave this field blank.

AR Server Host Name Type the BMC Remedy AR System server on which you want to install the extensions.

176 Administrator’s Guide

Page 181: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

5 Click Run.

An installation summary indicates if the generation succeeded or failed, including a brief reason for the failure, such as “The structure of the XML is not proper. Please ensure tags are closed properly.

6 For a failure, click View Log to find details.

a In the atriumcore_configuration_log.txt window, sort by Severity.

b Look for SEVERE messages highlighted in red.

c Select a message to display the details at the bottom of the window.

7 To return to the initial generation view, click Done.

Installing extensions with silent installer (command line)For installing extensions, an alternative to the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database Maintenance Tool is a command-line interface. Installed with BMC Atrium CMDB, cmdbExtLoader.jar is a file to use with Java, and it requires an .ini file which specifies the parameters for connecting to BMC Remedy AR System and for installing extensions.

You can perform the following procedures:

! Creating and editing an initialization file that sets the installation parameters.

! Running the installation command.

Before you begin

! You must have JRE 1.5 or later installed, which is included with the BMC Atrium CMDB.

! You must have a valid XML extension file (for example, ExtensionLoader.xml).

! You must have BMC Remedy AR System login and server information.

! To create and edit the initialization file

1 In a text editor, copy the content provided in “Initialization file template for the silent installation of extensions” on page 178.

2 To specify the BMC Remedy AR System user name, remove the # for the following line, and replace <AR System Admin User> with the user name.

BMC_AR_USER=<AR System Admin User>

3 To specify the password for the user name, remove the # for the following line, and replace <AR System User Password> with the user password.

BMC_AR_PASSWORD=<AR System User Password>

4 To specify the name of the BMC Remedy AR System server, remove the # for the following line, and replace <Server Alias> with the server name.

BMC_AR_SERVER_NAME=<Server Alias>

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 177

Page 182: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

5 To specify the port for the BMC Remedy AR System server, remove the # for the following line, and replace <AR System TCP Port> with the port number.

BMC_AR_PORT=<AR System TCP Port>

6 Remove the # for the following line.

#BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_FILE=<full_path_ to_ the_extension_loader_xml_file_including_the_file_name>

7 Replace the <full_path_to_the_extension_loader_xml_file_including_the_file_name> line with the path and name of the XML file with the extensions.

NOTE On Windows, you must use double slashes in the path.

For example:

C:\\Program Files\\ExtLoader\\ExtensionLoader.xml

8 Save the file with a .ini extension.

! To run the silent installation

1 If needed, create a directory for the log file.

2 Run the following command and parameters:

java -cp BMCInstallDirectory/cmdb/sdk/bin/cmdbExtLoader.jar com.bmc.install.product.atriumfoundation.ExtLoaderRunTaskCmdLine -input_file FullPathToiniFile -outputlog FullPathToDirectory

3 To review the status messages when the installation is complete, open the summary.txt log file in the specified directory.

For more information about the status information you can find in the summary.txt file, see “Possible outcomes of extension installations” on page 175.

Initialization file template for the silent installation of extensionsThe following text is a template for the initialization file that is required for the silent installation of extensions.

################################################################### Options File## Product Name: Atrium Core# Product Version: 7.5.00## Utility: cmdbExtLoader# To invoke the utility in silent mode with an options file:# 1. You need to have JRE version 1.5 or above installed on the machine# java -jar cmdbExtLoader.jar -input_file <input_file> -outputlog <output_logs_folder>####################################################################################################################################

178 Administrator’s Guide

Page 183: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Verifying your installed extensions

# AR Server Properties################################################################### AR user. Uncomment the below line and replace the <AR System Admin User> with the AR Username#BMC_AR_USER=<AR System Admin User># AR password. Uncomment the below line and replace the <AR System User Password> with the AR Password#BMC_AR_PASSWORD=<AR System User Password># AR server Name. Uncomment the below line and replace the <Server Alias> with the AR Server Name#BMC_AR_SERVER_NAME=<Server Alias># AR port. Uncomment the below line and replace the <AR System TCP Port> with the AR Server Port No:#BMC_AR_PORT=<AR System TCP Port>################################################################### Extension Loader Properties################################################################### Extension Loader XML File.Uncomment the line with BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_FILE and replace the # <full_path_ to_ the_extension_loader_xml_file_including_the_file_name> with the Extension Loader XML file# Please note that the windows file path must be specified as C:\\Program Files\\ExtLoader\\extLoader.xml"#BMC_CMDB_EXTENSIONS_FILE=<full_path_ to_ the_extension_loader_xml_file_including_the_file_name>

Verifying your installed extensionsIf your extensions are successfully installed on the server, you can view an entry for the application that added the extensions in the SHARE:Application_Properties form (Figure 6-1).

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 179

Page 184: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 6-1: SHARE:Application_properties form—Installed extensions

! To verify installed extensions

1 Log on to the BMC Remedy AR System server on which you installed the extensions using BMC Remedy User.

2 In your browser, open the SHARE:Application_Properties form.

Use the following direct access URL:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/SHARE:Application_Properties

3 Make sure that the form is in Search mode.

4 Click Search.

A list of entries for various applications that are installed on the server is displayed in the result section of the SHARE:Application_Properties form.

5 Click the entry that pertains to the application for which you installed the extension.

6 Verify the details of the extension such as Name and Version.

180 Administrator’s Guide

Page 185: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensionsPackaging your BMC Atrium CMDB extensions requires the following high-level steps:

Step 1 Export the class definitions with cmdbdriver (see page 181).

Step 2 Create the package.xml file (see page 182).

Step 3 Create an installation activity file (see page 184).

Step 4 Convert the extension files (see page 186).

Step 5 Validate the extension files (see page 187).

When you have completed packing the extensions, see “Installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions” on page 175.

Exporting class definitions by using cmdbdriver Before you create the extension package, you must export your class or attribute definitions by using the cmdbdriver expdf command. The expdf command creates several XML files that contain the class definition information for the specified class.

! To export class definitions

1 Create an extension subdirectory.

This directory will contain all the extension loader files.

2 Start the cmdbdriver program and specify your user credentials.

! Windows

! Navigate to C:\Program Files\AR System Applications\BMC Atrium CMDB\sdk\bin.

! Double-click cmdbdriver.exe.

! UNIX

! Navigate to /usr/arsystem/ServerName/cmdb/sdk/bin.

! Type the command cmdbdriver.

3 Type the command init to initialize the driver.

4 Type the command log to log into your server.

You are prompted to specify several parameters one at a time. You must enter the following parameters:

! Type a valid user name and password.

! Type the name of your server.

You can leave the other parameters blank. After you specify the login parameters the command prompt appears.

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 181

Page 186: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

5 Type the xexpdf command.

6 At the Export all class? (F): prompt, type T to export all class definitions from BMC Atrium CMDB.

If you press Enter to accept the default value of F, you need to specify the namespace, class, and attribute details for the class definitions you want to export.

7 At the Export all attributes with classes? (T): prompt, press Enter to accept the default value of True.

8 At the Filename for exported data: prompt, specify the file name in which to save the exported definitions.

Make sure you specify the exact path for the file name, for example, c:\ExportedClassDefinitions\CoreClassDefinitions.xml. If you specify a file name that already exists, the existing file is overwritten.

Creating the package.xml fileAfter you export class definitions, you create the package.xml file. The package.xml file contains the registration and dependency information for the extension. The registration information defines the extension that you are creating. When the extension loader runs, it stores the extension registration values that you specify in the package.xml file, such as the extension name, version, and GUID in the SHARE:Application_Properties AR System form.

A GUID is a unique ID for the extension. This ID is used by the extension loader program to determine if an extension is already installed. After you create an extension with a specific GUID, you can only change the version number to update the extension. The GUID will remain the same for the life span of an extension.

Example: package.xml

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes" ?> <package> <!-- This extension adds a class.--> <name> ComSys Hardware Component</name> <guid>OS005056C0000898YWQgUsMLAAKwAA</guid> <version>1.0</version> <dependencies> <applications> <list>cmdb</list> <!-- Requires CMDB --> <cmdb> <guid>OB00C04FA081BABZlxQAmyflAg1wEA</guid> <name>BMC Atrium CMDB</name>

</cmdb> </applications> </dependencies></package>

This package.xml example instructs the extension loader program to install the ComSys Hardware Component class extension version 1.0. The first line of code is an XML version tag that is required for all XML files.

182 Administrator’s Guide

Page 187: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

NOTE When you specify a GUID for the BMC Atrium CMDB dependency in your package.xml file, make sure you use the same GUID as shown in the example. This is the GUID stored in the SHARE:Application_Properties AR System form for the BMC Atrium CMDB.

! To create the package.xml file

1 Depending on whether you are creating a new extension or modifying an existing extension, perform one of the following steps:

! If you are creating a new extension, generate a GUID using the cg command of the cmdbdriver program.

! If you are modifying an existing extension, skip to step 2.

2 Specify values for the following elements in the package.xml file:

! Registration information—Specify the following registration information for the extension:

! Dependencies—Specify the following dependency information for the extension:

<name> The name of the extension.<guid> The GUID of the extension. For new extensions,

specify the GUID that you created in step 1. For existing extensions, specify the currently existing GUID.

<version> The version number of the extension. Modify the version number only if you are modifying an extension.

<applications> The applications that the extension depends upon. The applications specified here can be other extensions, BMC Remedy AR System applications, or the BMC Remedy AR System Server on which you want to install the extension.

<version> The version number of the application specified in the <application> element. You can either specify a value for the <version> element, which indicates the exact version number required for the application, or you can specify values for the <minversion> and <maxversion> elements, which indicate the range of permissible version numbers for the application.

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 183

Page 188: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

NOTE The <minversion> and <maxversion> elements are optional. Use them to restrict the extension up to a specific existing application version, and do not use version numbers that do not exist, such as BMC Atrium CMDB 99.99.9.

3 Save the package.xml file under the extension subdirectory you created in “Exporting class definitions by using cmdbdriver.”

Creating an installation activity fileAfter you create the package.xml file, you create an installation activity file. The installation activity file contains information about the type of activity that you want to perform with the extension loader program, such as importing or exporting class definitions. Based on the activity description provided in the activity file, the extension loader performs a specified task.

An installation activity file uses the following naming convention:

<install-order>-<name>-<type>.<suffix> where:

! <install-order> is a three-digit number from 000 to 999. The install-order instructs the extension loader to install the objects in the Extensions directory in ascending order. Therefore, you must specify a lower install-order for the object that you want to install first. For example, if you have two extension subdirectories, 650-EXClass and 655-EXClass, the 650-EXClass subdirectory will be installed first.

! <name> is an alphanumeric name for the extension. Do not use spaces, quotation marks, or wildcard characters in the <name> element.

! <type> instructs the extension loader to perform an action based on a specific value. The options for the <type> parameter include:

! IMP—Import data into an BMC Remedy AR System form

! ARD—BMC Remedy AR System driver script

! OSD—cmdbdriver script

! RIK—Remedy Installation Kit

! <suffix> is the file extension for the installation activity file. The file extensions for the activity file include:

! XML—The file extension for the RIK file must be of type XML.

! Other types—The file extension for all other activities (IMP, ARD, and OSD) can be of any type such as txt.

An example of an activity file name is 500-CLASS-OSD.txt.

Every installation activity file you create must contain the oout and cout commands. The oout command instructs the extension loader to log the script actions. You must specify the OSDriver.out output filename with the oout command, as illustrated in the example, to save the script actions.

184 Administrator’s Guide

Page 189: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

After the script stops executing the activity file, the extension loader reads these log comments to verify whether the script execution was successful. The cout command closes the log entry file.

Example: Activity file

ooutOSDriver.outimp //activity type1 // Number of class or instance defintions to importTEST // Class nameSampleClass // Namespace1 // metadata or instance data choice. 1 indicates metdata.

.couttermq

When the extension loader executes the activity file shown in this example, the class definitions for the Test class will be imported. You can specify multiple cmdbdriver commands in your activity file, for example, your script file can contain both export and import commands.

! To create an installation activity file

1 Open an empty file in a UNIX text editor, such as the vi text editor.

You must create the activity file in UNIX format for running it on the UNIX platform.

NOTE If you create the activity file in Windows format, make sure you use the DostoUnix command to convert the file from Windows format to UNIX before you run it.

2 Type oout and OSDriver.out output file name in the beginning of the file as shown in the previous example.

You must specify the oout command and the OSDriver.out output file for the activity script. The extension loader program generates an error if you skip this line in the activity file.

NOTE You must name the output file for the oout command as OSDriver.out. If you specify any other file name, the extension loader program generates an error.

3 Specify the type of activity the extension loader must perform, such as ARD or OSD.

4 Specify the number of class definitions or instance data objects you want to export or import.

5 Specify the class name and namespace for the OSD activity.

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 185

Page 190: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

6 Specify if you want to export or import the metadata or instance data.

You can use the cmdbdriver program for the import and export function parameters.

7 Save the activity file under the extension subdirectory you created in step 1 with an xml, txt, or any other type of extension, depending on the activity type.

For more information about the activity file extensions, see “Creating an installation activity file” on page 184.

The Extensions subdirectories will now contain a package.xml file, an installation activity file, and the XML files, which were created when you exported your classes using the cmdbdriver program.

Converting the extension filesAfter you create an installation activity file, you convert the extension files. After exporting the class extensions and creating the required files, you must convert them to the new format, which creates the ExtensionLoader.xml file. This file contains the commands and parameters needed to install the extensions. The generated file is saved as ExtensionLoader.xml in the specified directory.

Before you begin

You must have exported the class extensions and created the package.xml and installation activity files.

! To convert the extension file

1 From the Configuration tab, select the Generate Extensions XML File tab.

2 Click Browse to locate and select a directory in which to save the generated XML file.

3 Click Next, and then click Generate.

A generation summary indicates if the generation succeeded or failed, including a brief reason for the failure, such as “The structure of the XML is not proper. Please ensure tags are closed properly.”

4 For a failure, click View Log to find details.

a In the atriumcore_configuration_log.txt window, sort by Severity.

b Look for SEVERE messages highlighted in red.

c Select a message to display the details at the bottom of the window.

5 Click Done to return to the initial generation view.

186 Administrator’s Guide

Page 191: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Packaging BMC Atrium CMDB extensions

Validating the extension fileAfter you convert the extension file, you validate the extension file. Perform this step before installing extensions or after generating an extension file to find the following errors:

! The file has no unmatched XML tags, such as a missing </stage> tag.

! The file does not have more than one stage group with the same name.

! The extension files exist with the proper command arguments for each.

Before you begin

You must have an XML extension file and the directories with the exported class and attribute definitions.

! To validate the extension file

1 From the Configuration tab, select the Validate Extensions XML File tab.

2 Click Browse to locate and select the XML file with the extension data.

3 Click Next, and then click Validate.

A validation summary indicates if the validation succeeded or failed, including a brief reason for the failure, such as “The structure of the XML is not proper. Please ensure tags are closed properly.”

4 For a failure, click View Log to find details.

a In the atriumcore_configuration_log.txt window, sort by Severity.

b Look for SEVERE messages highlighted in red.

c Select a message to display the details at the bottom of the window.

5 Click Done to return to the initial validation view.

Chapter 6 Managing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 187

Page 192: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

188 Administrator’s Guide

Page 193: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Chapter

7

Other administrative tasks

You can perform various BMC Atrium CMDB administrative tasks, including configuring Atrium Explorer.

The following topics are provided:

! Notification of BMC Atrium CMDB events (page 190)! Atrium Explorer configuration (page 194)! Control of the layout of class forms (page 194)! Setting the cache refresh interval (page 201)! Setting the DSO option for BMC Atrium CMDB (page 201)! Changing the default CI editor in Atrium Explorer (page 202)! Modifying or deleting datasets (page 203)! Configuring how layers are displayed in Atrium Explorer (page 205)

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 189

Page 194: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Notification of BMC Atrium CMDB events BMC Atrium CMDB can notify users when instances are created, deleted, or modified. You can create a BMC Remedy AR System filter to push an entry to the CMDB:Events form when a particular change occurs, and then query the form at intervals to monitor for those events.

The CMDB:Events form stores the following information for each event instance:

! Event Type—A value that you define for the purpose of categorizing the events that you publish.

! Event Name—A name that you give the event.

! Event ID—A globally unique identifier (GUID) for the event instance.

! Change Type—The BMC Remedy AR System operation run against the BMC Atrium CMDB instance that triggered the event instance. It can be CREATE, SET, or DELETE.

! Instance ID—The ID of the BMC Atrium CMDB instance that triggered the event instance.

! Class ID—The ID of the class for the BMC Atrium CMDB instance that triggered the event instance.

! Reconciliation Identity—The reconciliation identity of the BMC Atrium CMDB instance that triggered the event instance.

! Last RE Job Run ID—The ID of the most recent reconciliation job that processed the BMC Atrium CMDB instance that triggered the event instance.

! Attribute Values—A list of attribute names and values for the BMC Atrium CMDB instance that triggered the event instance. You define which attributes are included.

Publishing an event An event is a type of change to instances of a specified class or classes. For example, you can publish an event that occurs whenever an instance of BMC_Printer is modified. You can also further restrict an event so that it occurs only if attribute values match a specified qualification. For example, you can publish an event that occurs only when an instance of BMC_Printer is modified and its Availability is Low. An event is inherited by all subclasses of the class on which it is published.

When an event is published, any instance of it that occurs is written to the CMDB:Events form.

190 Administrator’s Guide

Page 195: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Notification of BMC Atrium CMDB events

NOTE A sample filter named CMDB:EventGenerator is included with BMC Atrium CMDB. This filter creates event instances when the Availability attribute is set to Low. You can modify it to fit your needs or save a copy to use as a template. The sample filter is disabled and attached to a sample form named CMDB:Sample:EventNotification that has fields identical to those on the class form for BMC_BaseElement. You must attach the filter to a BMC Atrium CMDB class form and enable it.

For more information about filters, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Workflow Objects Guide.

! To publish an event

1 In BMC Remedy Developer Studio, select File > New Filter.

2 In the New Filter dialog box, select the server where BMC Atrium CMDB is installed, and then click Finish.

3 In the Untitled Filter window, enter the following information:

Associated Form The form or forms corresponding to the class or classes for this event. For example, to publish an event for BMC_Account and its subclasses, select the BMC.CORE:BMC_Account form.

Execution Options The operations that you want to trigger this event. Choose one or more of Submit, Modify, and Delete.

Run If Qualification Any BMC Remedy AR System qualification that you want to put on this event. For example, to generate an event instance when the Availability attribute value is Low, type the qualification 'Availability' = "Low".

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 191

Page 196: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

4 In the If Action section, create an If action with the following characteristics:

5 Create another If action with the following characteristics:

Filter field name Value

New Action Set Fields

Server Name CURRENT TRANSACTION

Read Value for Field From CURRENT TRANSACTION

Field Name zTmpOSCharl

Field Value "$FieldID1$[;$FieldID2$]..."This is a semicolon-delimited list of the field IDs of each attribute for which a value should be logged with an instance of the event. The entire string must be enclosed in double quotes so that the IDs are not expanded into values. For example, to log the Item and NameFormat attributes, this string is:"$200000005$;$301089100$"

Filter field name Value

New Action Push Fields

Server Name The current server name

Push Value To CMDB:Events

Push Field If 1 = 0

If No Requests Match Create a New Request

If Any Requests Match Modify All Matching Requests

Custom Selected

Matching Ids Not selected

Field Name: Field Value:

EventAction $OPERATION$

EventName The name that you give this event

Event_Type The type that you give this event

Event ID $PROCESS$ Application-Generate-GUID EVT

ClassID $ClassId$

Event_InstanceID $InstanceId$

Event_AttributeValues "["

ReconciliationIdentity $ReconciliationIdentity$

Event_LastREJobRunId $LastREJobrunId$

zTempFormName $SCHEMA$

192 Administrator’s Guide

Page 197: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Notification of BMC Atrium CMDB events

6 Click Save.

7 Open the filters named CMDB:Event_SeparateListOfValues and CMDB:Event_SeparateListOfValuesCallGuide.

8 In both windows, select Enable and save the filters.

When the new filter runs, these two filters convert the attribute field IDs to field names and format those in pairs with their values, placing the resulting string into the Event_AttributeValues field. Here is an example Event_AttributeValues value for the sample filter:

[Item, My item ; NameFormat, This format ]

Notifications by polling for instances of an event To be notified when an event occurs, you must poll the CMDB:Events form. You can poll with a web browser, BMC Remedy AR System client, or a BMC Remedy AR System API program at any interval. Query the form for events that match specific criteria, and use the results as you want.

Use the following direct access URL to open the CMDB:Events form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/CMDB:Events

Figure 7-1 on page 194 shows the results of a sample query and the values for one entry.

zTempAttributeValues $FieldID1$ [+ " ;" + $FieldID2$...] + " "This is a semicolon-delimited list of the field IDs of each attribute that should be included in the event. While the string of these IDs used in the Set Fields action passes the IDs themselves, in this case the IDs are expanded into field values. In our sample filter, which includes the Item and NameFormat attributes, this string is:$Item$ + " ;" + $NameFormat$ + " "

zTemp $zTmpOSChar1$

Filter field name Value

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 193

Page 198: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure 7-1: Results of a query on CMDB:Events form

Atrium Explorer configurationYou can configure Atrium Explorer in several ways. You can restrict the relationships that are displayed by number of levels and other criteria, show specific icons and tooltips for a given CI class, determine which attributes appear for the Quick Edit option, and set the number of CIs that cause an instance-group icon to appear. For more information, see the following topics:

! “Defining custom icons for a class instance” on page 59

! “Defining tooltips for a class” on page 63

! “Defining Quick Edit attributes for a class” on page 64

! “Defining instance group thresholds for a class” on page 65

Control of the layout of class formsThe default view in the join form for a new regular class is generated by using the form for its superclass as a basis. The forms for CDM classes also have more usable views, using panel fields to organize content instead of placing all attribute fields in one column.

194 Administrator’s Guide

Page 199: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Control of the layout of class forms

BMC Atrium CMDB provides the following layout algorithms:

! Built-in CMDB logic that controls the default layout for all CMDB forms and extensions.

! Utility that updates third-party application forms.

These application forms are not actually CMDB forms but can mirror them by mapping to the CMDB form. For example, BMC Remedy Asset Management has its own form for a Computer System class. This utility can automatically update the BMC Remedy Asset Management form to reflect any changes to the CMDB BMC_ComputerSystem class.

Both of these algorithms place new attributes in a custom tab. When a custom tab runs out of space to hold more attributes, CMDB creates additional custom tabs. For CMDB forms, the maximum number of custom tabs is 20. For cmdb2asset forms, the maximum number of custom tabs is 50.

In addition, the position of the attributes within the custom tab might be reshuffled by the CMDB layout. One notable difference between the two algorithms is how the custom tab appears. For CMDB forms, the custom tab is visible by default when you add a new attribute. For cmdb2asset forms, they are hidden. If you change the visibility, in the next data model change the visibility might revert to the default.

For more information about BMC Remedy AR System views, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Form and Application Objects Guide.

WARNING Do not modify the ObjectStoreView view (ID 399999100) of the class form for any class in the BMC.CORE or BMC.CORE.CONFIG namespaces. Your changes could be overwritten by future releases of patches to the BMC Atrium CMDB. Instead, copy ObjectStoreView to a new view for that form and modify the new view. There is no risk to modifying the ObjectStoreView view of class forms in other namespaces.

Modification of the views of forms in BMC Atrium CMDB You can modify the view of any class form by using BMC Remedy Developer Studio.

How class form modification affects subclasses Modifying the view of a class form does not affect views for its existing subclasses, but the new view becomes the default view for new subclasses.

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 195

Page 200: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Algorithm for adding attributes to views When you create a new attribute for a class, it is added to the class form’s view using the following algorithm:

1 The field is placed on the panel field named Custom0, following the last existing field on the page. If this panel field does not exist, it is created on the page holder field that has field ID 300025400. If no page holder field with this ID exists, the panel field cannot be created.

2 If no space remains on the Custom0 page for the new field, a Custom1 page is created and the field is placed at the top of it. This automatic creation of panel fields can continue up to a maximum of 50 panel fields.

3 If 50 panel fields are full, or if a page holder with field ID 300025400 does not exist, fields are stacked in the upper left corner of the view. Stacked fields might be obscured by each other.

NOTE Panel fields created by this process, and any attribute fields placed in the upper left corner of the view, are created as Hidden. This prevents users from seeing the new attributes until you have had the opportunity to place them in the location that you want. To allow users to see the new attributes, move them off the panel field or make hidden fields visible.

Views for new base classes If you create a new class that has no superclass, it cannot inherit a view template. The new class form is arranged according to the default view template.

Figure 7-2: Default view template for new base classes

196 Administrator’s Guide

Page 201: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Control of the layout of class forms

Attributes represented by BMC Remedy AR System core fields are placed in a single column at the top of the view, and attributes that you create are placed in panel fields below. As with any other class form, you can modify the view to suit your needs, and any subclasses of this class that you create inherit that modified view.

Modifying views of forms in BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications

If you have BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 or later applications installed and want their forms to reflect changes that you have made to the BMC Atrium CMDB data model, perform this procedure.

! To duplicate data model changes in BMC Remedy ITSM forms

1 Log in to the server where BMC Atrium CMDB and BMC Remedy ITSM are installed.

2 Open the BMC Remedy AR System Administration Console.

3 Select User Preferences > My User Preferences.

4 Change the mode of the AR System User Preferences form to New request.

5 Click the Advanced tab.

6 In the Default Form View field, type CMDB2ASSET, and then click OK.

7 Open the SHR:SchemaNames form in Search mode (which appears as Schema Names in the Object List), and then query for the form for which you want to generate a new view.

For example, the BMC Remedy Asset Management form corresponding to the BMC_ComputerSystem class is AST:ComputerSystem.

Use the following direct access URL to open the SHR:SchemaNames form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/SHR:SchemaNames

8 Select the record for the form that you need, and then click Update Asset UI.

The BMC Atrium CMDB generates a new version of the form that you selected.

If you extend the BMC Atrium CMDB and the parent class has categorization subclasses, you can ignore any warnings in the log files that certain fields could not be created or found. For example:

[Tue Apr 14 2009 12:38:26.6834] [WARNING] [TID: 000002] : Could not create Field: SubnetMask on form: AST:DLCI on server: myserver[Tue Apr 14 2009 12:38:26.6836] [WARNING] [TID: 000002] : Message: Field does not exist on current form - 260140107

You see these warnings because the BMCSynchronizeUI process finds fields on the parent form for categorization subclasses. But since these attributes are not derived from the class in question, they should not be created on the UI forms.

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 197

Page 202: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Generating forms for other applicationsSome BMC Remedy AR System applications, such as BMC Remedy Asset Management, use their own forms as an interface to BMC Atrium CMDB data. These forms are typically self-joins, where a BMC Atrium CMDB class form is both the primary and secondary form. If you have developed such an application, you can let BMC Atrium CMDB generate those forms for you. This method of generation keeps them synchronized with extensions that you make to the data model.

You must configure the generation of forms in advance to specify how you want them created, and then, after modifying the data model, launch form generation.

! To configure form generation for another application

1 Using BMC Remedy Developer Studio, create a companion form for each class in the data model for which you want to generate forms.

2 Create a form to specify information about the classes for which you want to generate forms.

Each entry in the form corresponds to one class. The form must have the following character fields, all with a maximum input length of 80 characters:

! Class Keyword

! Form Name

! Primary Join Form

! Secondary Join Form

3 Create entries in the new form for each class for which you want to generate a form, entering this information:

Class Keyword The class ID of the class for which a form is generated. This field is required. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

Form Name The name of the companion form that your application uses for the class. This form is modified if it exists and created if it does not exist. This field is required.

198 Administrator’s Guide

Page 203: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Control of the layout of class forms

Forms are not necessarily generated for every entry in this form when the form generation utility runs. You specify the forms that are generated for each run of the utility with parameters explained in the following procedure.

NOTE If you do not specify a primary join form or secondary join form, the form generated is a self-join of the BMC Atrium CMDB class form as both the primary and secondary join forms. Unless you have other data you want to display with BMC Atrium CMDB data, you should leave both fields blank.

! To launch form generation

1 Wait until synchronization completes and no classes are in the Change Pending state.

If any classes are still in the Change Pending state, the form generation utility aborts with an error.

2 Create an entry in the Application Pending form, specifying the following field values:

! Category—CMDB

! Command—Sync-UI

! Other Short—CommandSyntax

CommandSyntax must include these required parameters:

Primary Join Form (optional) If you specify a form name here, the form generated is a join of this form as the primary join form and the BMC Atrium CMDB class form as the secondary join form. This field must be blank if a secondary join form is specified.

Secondary Join Form (optional) If you specify a form name here, the form generated is a join of the BMC Atrium CMDB class form as the primary join form and this form as the secondary join form. This field must be blank if a primary join form is specified.

Parameter Description

-f ConfigFormName The name of the form created in step 2 on page 198.

-g FormNameFieldID The field ID of the Form Name field on the form created in step 2 on page 198.

-c ClassKeywordFieldID The field ID of the Class Keyword field on the form created in step 2 on page 198.

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 199

Page 204: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

CommandSyntax can also include these optional parameters:

Log messages for each form generation are written to one of the following locations:

! On Windows: ARServerInstall\Arserver\Db\CMDBSynchronizeUI.log

! On UNIX: ARServerInstall/Db/CMDBSynchronizeUI.log

NOTE You can use workflow to create these Application Pending entries, but as mentioned in step 1 on page 199, it cannot be executed while any classes are in Change Pending state.

-C ClassID The class ID of the class for which a form is generated. You must provide either this parameter or -t, but not both.

Note: The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

-t TimeStamp A UNIX epoch time value. Forms are generated only for classes modified after this time and all of their subclasses. You must provide either this parameter or -C, but not both.

Parameter Description

-R Specifies that forms are also generated for all subclasses of the class specified with -C.

-p PrimaryJoinFormNameFieldID The field ID of the Primary Join Form field on the form created in step 2 on page 198. If you populated the Primary Join Form field, you must specify this parameter.

-s SecondaryJoinFormNameFieldID

The field ID of the Secondary Join Form field on the form created in step 2 on page 198. If you populated the Secondary Join Form field, you must specify this parameter.

-D Enables debugging for this operation. Debugging increases the details that are written to the log file.

Parameter Description

200 Administrator’s Guide

Page 205: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Setting the cache refresh interval

Setting the cache refresh intervalThe BMC Atrium CMDB caches metadata to provide faster performance. This data includes classes, attributes, indexes, datasets, and federated links.

Updates that you make to datasets and federated links by using their BMC Remedy AR System forms or the BMC Atrium Core Console are not available in BMC Atrium CMDB until the cache is refreshed.

Updates that you make to classes, attributes, and indexes by using the Class Manager are automatically cached when updates finish synchronizing with the BMC Remedy AR System.

Updates that you make to any of these types of metadata by using API calls are automatically cached and available immediately.

By default, the cache is refreshed every five minutes. You can set this interval by editing a line in the BMC Remedy AR System configuration file, as described in the following procedure. When one server in a server group is updated, other servers in the group are not updated until the refresh interval is reached.

! To set the cache refresh interval

1 Open for editing the configuration file for the BMC Remedy AR System server where BMC Atrium CMDB is installed.

! On Windows, this file is ARServerInstall\CONF\ar.cfg.

! On UNIX, this file is ARServerInstall/conf/ar.conf.

2 On the CMDB-Cache-Refresh-Interval line, set the value in seconds for the interval at which the cache is refreshed.

For example, to refresh the cache every two minutes, set the line to read

CMDB-Cache-Refresh-Interval: 120

If this line does not exist, create it.

Setting the DSO option for BMC Atrium CMDBAfter you have installed BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04, perform the following steps to import the DistributedCMDBTemplates to set the Distributed Server Option (DSO) for BMC Atrium CMDB.

For more information about distributed BMC Atrium CMDB, see the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Installation Guide.

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 201

Page 206: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! To set the DSO option for BMC Atrium CMDB

1 Apply the DSO license to the source and destination servers.

2 Set the DSL Local Password on the DSO Server tab in BMC Remedy AR System (Administration Console > System > General > Server Information > Connection Settings).

3 Uncomment the following lines in the armonitor.cfg file:

"C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\serverds.exe" -i"C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem" –m

4 Restart the BMC Remedy AR System server.

5 From the BMC Software\AtriumCore\MachineName\cmdb\en\workflow\DistributedCMDBTemplates directory, open the src_distcmdb.def file.

6 Replace all instances of the DESTINATION-SERVER string with the destination server name.

7 Save and close the file.

8 Using BMC Remedy Developer Studio, import the workflow from the src_distcmdb.def file to the source and destination servers.

Changing the default CI editor in Atrium Explorer

The default CI editor in Atrium Explorer depends on which BMC applications are installed on your system.

! If the BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications are installed, Atrium Explorer opens the Asset view of the instance. For example, if you edit a computer system CI, the Computer System form (AST:ComputerSystem) is displayed.

! Otherwise, Atrium Explorer opens the instance in its class form. For example, if you edit a computer system CI and no BMC Remedy IT Service Management application is installed, the BMC.CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem class form is displayed.

If you have BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications installed, you can change the default CI editor that appears in Atrium Explorer.

202 Administrator’s Guide

Page 207: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Modifying or deleting datasets

! To change the default CI editor

1 In the Atrium:Explorer form, you can create Set Fields active link workflow in BMC Remedy Developer Studio to set the values of the Default attribute in the Precedence field.

2 To specify the default CI editor for your environment, set the Default attribute in the Precedence field to ITSM or CMDB.

3 If you created a new class in the Class Manager that has been synchronized with with the BMC Remedy AR System forms and workflow, set the Has Asset UI field in the SHR:SCHEMANAMES form to Yes.

This enables you to edit the instance of that class in an Asset view.

Modifying or deleting datasets As an BMC Atrium Core administrator, you might need to modify the dataset configuration settings or delete a dataset. The following tasks might be necessary:

! Modifying the accessibility or client list of a dataset that you created in the Reconciliation Engine.

! Restricting the default ability to directly create CIs in the BMC.ASSET dataset.

! Creating a dataset that you must later delete.

WARNING Be careful how you modify the dataset—especially datasets created by an installer (for example, BMC.ASSET)—because your new settings might render it unusable. Do not modify the DatasetType, Name, ClassId, or CoreDatasetId settings.

! To modify the dataset settings

1 Open the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_Dataset form and search for the dataset record.

2 Change the configuration settings to restrict users from creating CIs directly in the BMC Asset database with a back-end form (for example, BMC.CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem or AST:ComputerSystem).

IMPORTANT The BMC best practice is creating, modifying, or deleting CIs in the Sandbox dataset and only then promoting them to the BMC.ASSET dataset.

a Change the Accessibility setting from Writable to Writable by client only.

b In the ClientTypeList field, enter a client ID (for example, 32 is the Reconciliation Engine).

If you add any client IDs in this field, only those clients can create, modify, or delete instances in the dataset. Client IDs are integer values and must be delimited by semicolons.

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 203

Page 208: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

The following are the allowable client values:

! BMC Impact Publishing Server: 28

! BMC Impact Service Model Editor: 29

! Reconciliation Engine: 32

! Web browser: 9

! BMC Remedy User: 3

3 Click Save.

4 To test the changes:

a Open BMC.CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem in a web browser.

b Create a new CI.

c Set the DatasetId to BMC.ASSET.

d Save the record.

If you correctly modified the dataset, the server returns the following error message:

You don't have proper access to this dataset. :Dataset ID: BMC.ASSET. Current client type: 9 (ARERR 120124)

Deleting a datasetBefore deleting a dataset, you must run a reconciliation job to purge or delete CIs from the dataset. Otherwise, the server returns an error when you try to delete the dataset.

For more information on all these normalization and reconciliation activities, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Normalization and Reconciliation Guide.

! To delete a dataset

1 To produce good identification results in reconciliation, use the Normalization Engine to normalize the CI attributes between the two datasets.

You perform this step to make it easier to determine which CIs represent the same object. If you do not intend to preserve the CIs, you can ignore this step.

2 For CIs that you want to preserve from the dataset that you intend to delete, create a standard Identification and Merge job to merge the CIs into the BMC.ASSET dataset.

If you do not intend to preserve the CIs, you can ignore this step.

3 To remove all instances from the dataset, create and run a manual reconciliation job with a Delete or Purge activity to remove all the CIs from the dataset.

4 Open the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_Dataset form and search for the dataset record that you want to delete.

5 Delete the dataset record.

The dataset is now removed from the server.

204 Administrator’s Guide

Page 209: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Configuring how layers are displayed in Atrium Explorer

Configuring how layers are displayed in Atrium Explorer

To make the graphical map more predictable in Atrium Explorer, the Layered view follows pre-defined best practices when displaying your service model.

Figure 7-3: CIs in service model displayed by layers

Out-of-the-box, CI layers are displayed according to their relative type in Atrium Explorer. You can customize how layers are displayed by updating the ComponentString attribute in the BMC_UIComponent form. The ComponentString attribute for the layers of CIs is defined in multiples of 10. The top layer is 10, the second layer is 20, the third layer is 30, and so on. As a result, if you want to move BMC_ApplicationInfrastructure from the third layer to the second layer, set the ComponentString attribute to 20.

! To configure how layers are displayed in Atrium Explorer

1 Use the following direct access URL to open the BMC_UIComponent form:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/forms/arSystemServer/BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent

2 Create or modify an instance of BMC_UIComponent, entering values for the following attributes:

! ClassId—Type BMC_UICOMPONENT.

! ComponentType—Select GraphLayer.

! ComponentRelatedClassId—Type the class ID of the class that this layer represents. The class ID is case sensitive, and might not be the same as the class name. For example, the class with a name of BMC_ComputerSystem has a class ID of BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. For more information about the class ID of a specific class, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 Data Model Help.

Layered layout control

CIs in service model in pre-defined layers

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 205

Page 210: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

! ComponentString—(required) Type a number to designate the relative position of the layer.

Table 7-1: Attributes that define relative position of the layer

ComponentRelatedClassId Component (under Base Class in Atrium Explorer)

ComponentString ID

BMC_BUSINESSSERVICE Business Service

Note: This component has a special function in CI layers. Business Services are always at the top, automatically arranged in layers based on their relationship to other Business Services. Changing its value here makes no difference in the graph display.

10

BMC_ACTIVITY ! Activity! Transaction! Business Process

20

BMC_APPLICATION Application 20

BMC_OFFERING BMC_ServiceOffering

Note: Not currently used in Atrium Explorer

20

BMC_WAN WAN 20

BMC_ADMINDOMAIN ! Admin Domain! NT Domain

30

BMC_APPLICATIONINFRASTRUCTURE Application Infrastructure 30

BMC_APPLICATIONSYSTEM Application System 30

BMC_LAN LAN 30

BMC_LOGICALCOMPONENT Logical System Component 30

BMC_PHYSICALLOCATION Location 30

BMC_SERVICELEVELTARGET ! BMC_Cost! BMC_Price! BMC_Service_Offering_Instance

30

BMC_SYSTEMSERVICE Application Service 30

BMC_CLUSTER Cluster 40

BMC_DATABASE Database 40

BMC_DOCUMENT Document 40

BMC_GENERICGROUP ! Concrete Collection! Connectivity Segment! IP Connectivity Subnet! IPX Connectivity Network! LNs Collection! Organization! Role! User Community

40

206 Administrator’s Guide

Page 211: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Configuring how layers are displayed in Atrium Explorer

BMC_OPTION BMC_Option 40

BMC_SOFTWARESERVER Software Server 40

BMC.CORE:BMC_TAG BMC_Tag 50

BMC_ASSETBASE Base Element 50

BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM ! BMC_StorageSubsystem! Computer System! Mainframe! Printer

50

BMC_EQUIPMENT Equipment 50

BMC_IPENDPOINT IP Endpoint 50

BMC_OPTIONCHOICE BMC_OptionChoice 50

BMC_SYSTEM ! Admin Domain! Application System! Cluster! Computer System

50

BMC.CORE:BMC_SETTINGS ! Resource Allocation Settings Data! Virtual System Setting Data,

60

BMC_ACCESSPOINT ! Communication Endpoint! IP Endpoint! LAN Endpoint! Protocol Endpoint

60

BMC_ACCOUNT Account 60

BMC_LOGICALSYSTEMCOMPONENT ! BIOS Element! BMC_LogicalDisk! BMC_MFCouplingFacility! Database Storage! Disk Partition! File System! Local File System! Logical Component! Operating System! Package! Product! Remote File System! Resource Pool! Share! Storage Extent! Storage Volume! System Resource! System Software! Virtual System Enabler,

60

Table 7-1: Attributes that define relative position of the layer

ComponentRelatedClassId Component (under Base Class in Atrium Explorer)

ComponentString ID

Chapter 7 Other administrative tasks 207

Page 212: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

3 Save your changes.

New and changed layers are available to Atrium Explorer within ten minutes. To make them available sooner, restart the mid tier. After waiting ten minutes or restarting the mid tier, reopen Atrium Explorer.

BMC_PERSON Person 60

BMC_HARDWARESYSTEMCOMPONENT Hardware Package 70

BMC_PATCH Patch 70

BMC_SYSTEMCOMPONENT ! Card! CDROM Drive! Chassis! Diskdrive! Floppy Drive! Hardware Component! Keyboard! Media! Memory! Monitor! Network Port! Pointing Device! Processor! Rack! Tape Drive! UPS

70

Table 7-1: Attributes that define relative position of the layer

ComponentRelatedClassId Component (under Base Class in Atrium Explorer)

ComponentString ID

208 Administrator’s Guide

Page 213: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Appendix

A

Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications

You can integrate BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications, including launching them from or embedding them in applications.

The following topics are provided:

! Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications (page 210)! Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from BMC Remedy AR System

applications (page 210)! Embedding BMC Atrium Core widgets in BMC Remedy AR System

applications (page 212)! Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from non-BMC Remedy AR System

applications (page 214)

Appendix A Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications 209

Page 214: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications

BMC Atrium Core widgets are modules in the BMC Atrium Core Console that you can integrate with other applications. These widgets are the Atrium Explorer and Atrium Query, which you can integrate with other applications using the following methods:

! BMC Remedy AR System applications

! Launch the BMC Atrium Core widgets from BMC Remedy AR System applications. This is a quick and easy way to integrate BMC Atrium Core widgets with your BMC Remedy AR System application. In this method, you can launch the widget, which is hosted on a BMC Remedy AR System form shipped with CMDB, using BMC Remedy AR System workflow (see page 210).

! Embed BMC Atrium Core widgets in BMC Remedy AR System applications. In this method, the widget is hosted on one or more forms in a BMC Remedy AR System Application (see page 212).

! Non-BMC Remedy AR System applications

! Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from non-BMC Remedy AR System applications. In this method, you can launch BMC Atrium Core widgets directly using a browser. (see page 214).

Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from BMC Remedy AR System applications

When you launch the Atrium:Explorer and Atrium:Query forms from other BMC Remedy AR System applications, the BMC Atrium CMDB performs the initialization function for these forms.

For Atrium Explorer, you must specify the initialization parameters, such as Namespace, Class Name, Dataset ID, CI ID, and Filters of the CI for which the relationship data is displayed. Table A-1 lists the parameters required to launch Atrium Explorer from other BMC Remedy AR System applications.

Table A-1: Atrium Explorer parameters—ARSystem applications

Parameter name Description

Namespace The namespace to which the instance belongs.

Class Name The class name to which the instance belongs.

CI ID The Instance ID of the CI for which the relationship data is displayed.

210 Administrator’s Guide

Page 215: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from BMC Remedy AR System applications

Table A-2 lists the parameters required to launch the Atrium Query form.

! To launch a BMC Atrium Core widget from BMC Remedy AR System applications

1 With BMC Remedy Developer Studio, log in to the BMC Atrium CMDB server and create a new active link for launching the Atrium Explorer or Atrium Query widget.

The properties for the active link are displayed in a tab form. For more information about creating active links, see the BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Workflow Objects Guide.

2 For the Associated Forms panel, click Add, and select Atrium:Explorer or Atrium:Query.

3 For the Execution Options panel, specify details, such as the Execute On criteria.

4 For the Run If Qualification panel, specify the appropriate condition as needed.

5 For the If Actions panel, right-click and select Add Action > Open Window.

Dataset ID The ID of the dataset where the instance resides.

Note: In the BMC Asset dataset, values for CI attributes set in BMC Remedy Asset Management take precedence over Atrium Explorer changes to those CIs. When you integrate the Atrium Explorer widget with another application, the widget cannot use a personal dataset (for example, the user's Sandbox) to updates values from attributes already in BMC Atrium CMDB if they come from BMC Remedy Asset Management. To guarantee data integrity, instead use Asset forms to modify these values directly in BMC Remedy Asset Management instead. For more information about promoting changes to CIs to the BMC Asset dataset from the Sandbox, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04 User's Guide.

Filter Name The filter name for the Atrium Explorer. These filters enable you to specify qualifications for the instances you want to view. The BMC Atrium CMDB application ships with one or more default filters. You can also create additional filters to suit your needs.

Table A-2: Atrium Query parameters—ARSystem applications

Parameter name Description

ResultSet Location The location of results list (bottom, right, none) within query widget.

Table A-1: Atrium Explorer parameters—ARSystem applications

Parameter name Description

Appendix A Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications 211

Page 216: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

6 For the Open Window panel, specify the following details:

Figure A-1: Open Window parameters for Atrium Explorer

7 Select the Active Link, and, in the Permissions tab, specify permissions for the active link.

8 On the BMC Remedy Developer Studio toolbar, click Save.

Your active link is now saved.

Embedding BMC Atrium Core widgets in BMC Remedy AR System applications

You can embed BMC Atrium Core widgets in a BMC Remedy AR System form.

! To embed a BMC Atrium Core widget in a BMC Remedy AR System form

1 In BMC Remedy Developer Studio, open the form in which you want to embed the widget.

2 Right-click the form, and choose Create a new Field > Data Visualization.

Window Type SearchTarget Location New

Note: Launching the Atrium Explorer from BMC Remedy AR Systems does not support the Current option for the Target Location list.

Form View Name Default Admin ViewSet Fields to Defaults In the table, specify the parameters listed in

Table A-2 on page 211.

212 Administrator’s Guide

Page 217: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Embedding BMC Atrium Core widgets in BMC Remedy AR System applications

3 Select the Data Visualization field.

4 In the Properties tab, expand Database, and specify a name for the Data Visualization field in the Name text box.

5 In the Properties tab, set the following Display properties:

! From the Module Type list, select AtriumWidget.

NOTE The AtriumWidget value in the Module type list does not appear if you have not installed the BMC Atrium CMDB application on your system.

! From the Definition list, select the Atrium Query or Atrium Explorer.

! From the Server list, select the server hosting the widget.

6 On the Database tab, specify a name for the Data Visualization field in the Name text box.

7 Create an active link that executes when the Data Visualization field is initialized and specify the following details for the active link:

! On the Basic tab:

! Specify a name for the active link.

! From the Form Name list, select the form name.

! On the If Action tab:

! From the New Action list, select Set Fields.

! From the Read Value for Field From list, select the form name on which the data visualization field is placed.

! From the Name list, select the name of the Data Visualization field you created.

! In the Value field, set the required parameters for launching the widget.

Atrium Explorer:

(((((((( "namespace=" + $Namespace$) + ",classname=") + $Class Name$) + ",datasetid=") + $Dataset ID$) + ",instanceid=") + $CI ID$) + ",filtername=") + “Components and Dependencies”

Atrium Query:

(( "resultsetLocation=" + $Resultset Location$) + ",datasetid=") + $Dataset ID$

In the examples, the field names, such as $Namespace$ and $Class Name$ are based on the field names of a form. You must provide these field names as you have specified in your form. You might also specify string values as shown in the example.

NOTE The namespace, classname, datasetid, instanceid, and filtername parameters are Atrium Explorer-defined keywords.

Appendix A Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications 213

Page 218: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

8 Click Add Action to save the settings for the action.

9 Click Save to save the active link.

Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from non-BMC Remedy AR System applications

You can launch the Atrium Query or Atrium Explorer directly from any non-BMC Remedy AR System applications using a browser. To launch the Atrium Query or Atrium Explorer, you must specify the initialization parameters for the widget in the URL format.

In the URL for launching a widget, constants (such as F490001100) indicate the field ID on the Atrium:Explorer or Atrium:Query form. These IDs are fixed values for the initialization parameters. Table A-3 lists the parameters and field ID mappings that you can use to launch the Atrium:Explorer form.

Table A-4 lists the parameters and field ID mappings that are required to launch the Atrium:Query form.

Table A-4: Atrium Query parameters—non-AR System applications

Table A-3: Atrium Explorer parameters—non-AR System applications

Field ID Parameter name Description

F490001100 Namespace (required) The namespace to which the instance belongs.

F400109900 Class Name (required) The class name to which the instance belongs.

F431400000 CI ID (required) The Instance ID of the CI for which the relationship data is displayed.

F431400001 Dataset ID (required) The dataset from which the instance data is selected.

F431400003 Filter Name (optional) The filter name for the view in Atrium Explorer. These filters enable you to specify qualifications for the instances that you want to view.

Field ID Parameter name Description

F431400002 ResultSet Location The location of the results list (bottom, right, none) within the widget.

214 Administrator’s Guide

Page 219: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Launching BMC Atrium Core widgets from non-BMC Remedy AR System applications

! To launch Atrium Explorer from a browser

1 Open a browser and type the following URL in the address field:

http://midTierServer:portNumber/arsys/apps/arSystemServer/AtriumCMDBConsole/ Atrium:Explorer?F490001100=NameSpace&F400109900=ClassName&F431400000=CIID&F431400001=DataSetID&F431400003=FilterName

Make sure that you specify appropriate values for placeholders, such as midTierServer, arSystemServer, NameSpace, ClassName, CIID, DataSetID, or FilterName. For example, the following URL includes all the required and optional parameters (Name Space, Class Name, CI ID, Dataset ID, and Filter Name) to launch the Atrium Explorer widget:

http://BMC_MIDTIER:8080/arsys/apps/BMC_ARSERVER/AtriumCMDBConsole/Atrium:Explorer?F490001100=BMC.CORE&F400109900=BMC_ComputerSystem&F431400000=OI-C39698B55D9A4EB5B66A776C7A82E964&F431400001=BMC.AE.SB.Demo.1&F431400003=CalbroFilterView

NOTE Launching the widgets requires that you log in to the BMC Remedy Mid Tier. You can supply a login ID and password in a POST command as part of the URL.

2 Press Enter.

The BMC Remedy Action Request System login screen appears.

3 Type a user name and password in the login screen, and click Log In.

The specified widget opens in the browser.

Appendix A Integrating BMC Atrium Core widgets with other applications 215

Page 220: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

216 Administrator’s Guide

Page 221: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Appendix

B

Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model

This section explains how to deprecate classes and attributes in your data model. You might need to deprecate one or more objects in your data model to adapt to your changing business needs, and evolving technology and services.

The following topics are provided:

! Overview of the deprecation process (page 218)! Use cases for deprecating your data model (page 219)! Identifying the metadata to deprecate (page 224)! Creating deprecation mappings (page 224)! Installing the updated data model (page 228)

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 217

Page 222: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Overview of the deprecation processWhen you deprecate a class or an attribute in your data model, you remove it or replace it with another class or attribute. To deprecate data model objects, you must first create deprecation mappings in the Atrium Explorer and then run the Deprecation utility, which is located in the following directories depending on the installation version:

! 32-bit version—cmdb/sdk/bin

! 64-bit version—cmdb/sdk64/bin

On Windows, the Deprecation utility uses the deputil7604.jar file and the deputil.cmd script file to run the utility. On UNIX, the utility uses the deputil.sh script file.

When you create a deprecation mapping, you mark a class and its attributes for deprecation. Whether you delete a class or mark a class for deprecation, the changes are not replicated in the data model until you run the Deprecation utility. This mechanism enables applications with older versions of the data model to function smoothly until they are ready for the upgrade.

The Deprecation utility does not allow you to transform data values when deprecating a class and migrating its data. You must correct your data before deprecating its class.

NOTE BMC recommends that only the user or the application that creates a class deprecates it. For example, if a discovery application extends the BMC_SoftwareServer class, which ships with BMC Atrium Core, and creates an OracleAppServer class, only the discovery application should deprecate the OracleAppServer class.

You deprecate classes and attributes in your data model in the following steps:

Step 1 Identify the metadata to deprecate, as described in the procedure on page 224.

Step 2 Create the deprecation mappings, as described in the procedure on page 224.

Step 3 Install the updated data model, as described in the procedure on page 228.

218 Administrator’s Guide

Page 223: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Use cases for deprecating your data model

Use cases for deprecating your data modelIf the data model has changed or if modeling guidelines have changed between releases, you no longer have to upgrade the dependent consuming applications (such as BMC Remedy ITSM) or providers (such as BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping) at the same.

To reduce the total cost of ownership, BMC Atrium CMDB contains a deprecation model for complete backward compatibility from CDM changes. Coupled with API backward compatibility, this deprecation model now allows for phased upgrades to the CDM.

The Class Manager includes a Deprecation Class Editor to deprecate classes and attributes in your data model. The Deprecation Class Editor (Figure B-4 on page 225) is useful for deprecating one or more objects in your data model to adapt to your changing business needs, and evolving technology and services. For example, you might want to deprecate a class and its attributes to improve the performance of BMC Atrium CMDB or to update your data model to adjust to changing technology and business needs.

The scenarios for deprecating your data model that are supported by the Deprecation utility are limited to:

! Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its superclass

! Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its sibling

! Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its superclass sibling

Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its superclassYou can deprecate any subclass in your data model and replace it with its superclass. Andy Admin at Calbro Services has decided that the company no longer needs to track BMC_Impact relationships as separate instances. So he decides to deprecate the BMC_Impact class and replace it with its superclass, BMC_BaseRelationship, in the data model.

Figure B-1 illustrates the data model after the BMC_Impact subclass is replaced with the BMC_BaseRelationship superclass.

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 219

Page 224: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure B-1: Replacing a subclass with its superclass

Limitations to replacing a subclass with its superclassYou cannot deprecate a subclass in a legacy application that uses a workflow to query its superclass for the deprecated instances. In this scenario, the data is not returned by the query because the superclass is not a deprecated class. This issue occurs because BMC Atrium CMDB cannot differentiate between a request for data from a legacy application and one from a new application.

Deprecating a subclass and replacing it with its sibling You can deprecate any subclass and replace it with another class at the same level in the data model hierarchy. To improve the performance of the BMC Atrium CMDB application, Andy Admin at Calbro Services has decided to store the pointing device information in the BMC_Keyboard class.

Figure B-2 illustrates the data model after the BMC_PointingDevice subclass is replaced with the BMC_Keyboard subclass.

BMC_Impact

BMC_BaseRelationshipHasImpact = ySource.InstanceIDDestination.ClassIDImpact Direction = source.instanceIDName = ImpactOnly

220 Administrator’s Guide

Page 225: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Use cases for deprecating your data model

Figure B-2: Replacing a subclass with its sibling

Limitations to replacing a subclass with its sibling classThe Deprecation utility does not support the following transactions after you replace a subclass with its sibling class:

! If you query instances of the replacement class, the query results will also include the instances that are migrated from the deprecated class. For example, at Calbro Services, if Andy Admin queries the instances of the BMC_Keyboard class, the results will also include the migrated instances of the BMC_PointingDevice class. This issue occurs because BMC Atrium CMDB cannot determine the version of the client requesting the data.

! If you initiate a query from the superclass (for example, BMC_HardwareSystemComponent), the result will contain instances of the replacement subclass (BMC_Keyboard) instead of the deprecated subclass (BMC_PointingDevice).

BMC_SystemComponent

BMC_PointingDevice

BMC_HardwareSystemComponent

Layout

BMC_Keyboard

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 221

Page 226: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Replacing a subclass with its superclass siblingYou can replace any subclass in your data model with a sibling class of its superclass. Figure B-3 illustrates the data model after the BMC_J2EEApplicationServer subclass is replaced with its superclass sibling BMC_SoftwareServer.

Figure B-3: Replacing a subclass with its superclass sibling

Because the BMC_SoftwareServer subclass already contains all the attributes that might be required to model a J2EE application server, Andy Admin decides to deprecate the BMC_J2EEApplicationServer subclass. Andy sets the Type attribute of the BMC_SoftwareServer subclass with a value of ‘J2EE’ to differentiate between the software servers.

Limitations to replacing a subclass with its superclass siblingThe Deprecation utility does not support the following transactions after you replace a subclass with its superclass sibling:

! If you initiate a query from the superclass that had the subclass before deprecation, the data that is returned will not include the subclass instances. For example, as shown in Figure B-3, if you query the BMC_ApplicationInfrastructure class, the results that are returned will not include the instances of BMC_J2EEApplicationServer.

BMC_SoftwareServerBMC_ApplicationInfrastructure

BMC_J2EEApplicationServer

Type = J2EE

BMC_ApplicationSystem

222 Administrator’s Guide

Page 227: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Use cases for deprecating your data model

! If you initiate a query from the superclass that has the subclass after deprecation, the results returned will also include the instances that are migrated from subclass. For example, as shown in Figure B-3, if you query the BMC_SoftwareServer class, the results will also include the instances of BMC_J2EEApplicationServer.

Deprecating relationship classesYou can deprecate a relationship class in the same way as you can deprecate a CI class. If a relationship instance R exists between the instances A and B, where A and B are endpoint classes of relationship R, then you can migrate the relationship class to R1 (A1, B1). You can only migrate relationship R to R1 if A1 and B1 are subclasses of A and B, respectively, and have the same or more permissive cardinality. For example, you can migrate a relationship class with a cardinality of 1:1 to a relationship class where the cardinality is 1:1, 1:many, or many:many.

Best practice

Although you can migrate a relationship class to another relationship class with more permissive cardinality, the best practice is to migrate the relationship class to another relationship class with the same cardinality. All the use cases for CI classes explained in this section will also be applicable to relationship classes.

Deprecating federation and abstract classes, and federation and abstract relationships

For federation classes and relationships, and abstract classes, the Deprecation utility only sets the deprecated class property to “deprecated.” Because the federated data is not contained in BMC Atrium CMDB, the Deprecation utility cannot perform any data migration.

Because federated relationships do not have any underlying data, the Deprecation utility sets the metadata property for such relationships regardless of whether it is deprecated. Although you can deprecate federation and abstract classes, you cannot specify a replacement class for them.

Deprecation scenarios not supportedThe following scenarios are not supported when deprecating a class in the data model:

! Moving a class to another hierarchy

! Replacing a superclass with its subclass—You can replace a subclass with its superclass as a workaround for this scenario.

Deprecating attributesYou can deprecate the attributes of a class to rename or increase the data length of the attribute. You cannot deprecate any System attributes of a class (for example, ClassId and InstanceId).

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 223

Page 228: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

IMPORTANT You must map an attribute of a class with another attribute in the same class to qualify the operation as an attribute deprecation. If you map an attribute of a class with an attribute of another class, the operation is considered a class deprecation.

Identifying the metadata to deprecateWhen deprecating objects in your data model, the first step is to identify the class or attribute to deprecate. Decide whether you want to delete a class or replace a class with another class. When you replace a class, you must map the required attributes in the source class (class to deprecate) to the attributes in the destination class (replacement class).

Before you migrate a class or its attributes to another class, review the data model planning section of the BMC Atrium Core 7.6.04 Concepts and Planning Guide. For the scope and limitations of the deprecation process, see “Use cases for deprecating your data model” on page 219.

Creating deprecation mappingsTo deprecate a class and replace it with another, you must define class and attribute mappings. These mappings are required to migrate data to the replacement class.

A class mapping is used to delete a class or migrate a class and its data to another. An attribute mapping is used to delete an attribute or migrate data from one attribute to another attribute within the same class.

The Deprecation utility enforces the following rules when deprecating classes and attributes. Make sure you observe the following rules when creating deprecation mappings:

! You can map a class to only one class.

! You can only map a relationship class to another relationship class. Cardinality rules are enforced for relationship classes.

! You cannot map federation classes and relationships. They can only be marked for deprecation.

! You can map an attribute to only one attribute. The field types must be identical on each side of the mapping, and the field length of the replacement attribute must not be less than the attribute to deprecate.

! You cannot map an attribute or class to deprecate to an attribute or class that is deprecated.

! You must create attribute and class mappings based on the relationship cardinality rules and endpoint class rules defined in BMC Atrium CMDB.

224 Administrator’s Guide

Page 229: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating deprecation mappings

! To create deprecation mappings

1 Open Class Manager.

2 In the toolbar, click the Deprecation Mapping button.

3 In the Class and Attribute Deprecation window, click the Deprecate Classes tab.

4 Click Create.

The Deprecate Class Editor opens.

TIP To edit an existing class mapping, click on the appropriate class mapping row and click Edit.

Figure B-4: Deprecate Class Editor

5 From the Deprecate Action section, specify whether you want to delete or deprecate the class.

! Delete—Deprecates the class without a mapping. The class property is set to Deprecated, indicating that the class and its data are to be deleted in a future version of the data model.

! Replace—Deprecates the class and uses a mapping to replace it with a different class. Data is moved to the class that you specify in the Replacement Class selection list, and the class is to be deleted in a future version of the data model. When you click Replace, the Replacement Class field is enabled.

Add Attribute Mappings button

Select appropriate Replacement class to match attributes in Deprecated class

Character types of attributes must match

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 225

Page 230: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

6 From the Class to Deprecate menu, select the class to deprecate from the selection list.

7 In the Application field, type or select the application that wants to deprecate the class or attribute.

The application is usually the owner of the class or attribute that wants to deprecate the class or attribute (for example, BMC Atrium CMDB or BMC Remedy Asset Management).

8 In the Version field, type or select the version number of the application in which to deprecate or replace the class (for example, 7.6.04).

9 From the Replacement Class menu, select an appropriate replacement class to which you want to migrate the data from the deprecated class.

The Attribute Mapping section is enabled.

10 In the Attribute Mapping section, click Map Attributes.

Complete the following steps for deprecating a class and its attributes:

a From the Attribute to Deprecate list, select the attribute that you want to deprecate.

b From the Replacement Attribute list, select the attribute on the target class that you want to replace it with.

c Click the Add Attribute Mapping button.

The attribute is then mapped to deprecate.

Figure B-5: Mapping attributes to deprecate

NOTE Make sure that the datatype of the replacement attribute matches with the datatype of the attribute to deprecate. For example, map a Character field only to a Character field. Otherwise, an error might occur when migrating data to the replacement class.

226 Administrator’s Guide

Page 231: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Creating deprecation mappings

11 Click Specify Default Value.

Complete the following steps when transferring data from the deprecated class to the replacement class:

a From the Replacement Attribute list, select the attribute for which you want to specify a default value.

b In the Default Value field, select the default value from the list or type a value of your choice.

This field is used to specify constant values that are used when migrating data. The value specified in this field overrides the values in the attribute to deprecate and the replacement attribute.

c Click the Add Attribute Mapping button.

12 Click Qualify Queries.

Complete the following steps when modifying attribute values to determine whether the data belongs to the replaced class or the deprecated class:

a From the Attribute list, select an attribute on the replacement class.

NOTE Make sure that you select an attribute for which data exists in the class to deprecate. Otherwise, data migration errors might occur.

b Select an operator.

c Select a keyword or type a value. If you type a value, enclose it in double quotation marks.

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 227

Page 232: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Figure B-6: Query qualifier for class mappings

13 Click OK.

You are prompted that you successfully created a class mapping.

14 Click OK.

The new mapping appears in the Class and Attribute Deprecation window.

Installing the updated data modelAfter you create the class and attribute mappings, you must run the Deprecation utility to update your data model. You can run this utility from the command line or automatically trigger it from the BMC Atrium Core installer.

As part of migrating data after the classes are deprecated, the Deprecation utility updates the relationship instances to point to the class that replaced the original endpoint. For example, if you are replacing the BMC_PointingDevice class with the BMC_Keyboard class, the relationships for the BMC_PointingDevice class will now point the BMC_Keyboard class as one of its endpoints.

228 Administrator’s Guide

Page 233: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

Installing the updated data model

If you want to update the data model on your local computer, run the utility from the command line. If you want to update the data model on several computers, run it with the installer.

Table B-1 lists the command-line parameters for the Deprecation utility.Table B-1: Deprecation utility command-line parameters

Parameter Description Default values

-u User name (required) Demo

-p Password (required) ““

-s Server name (required) localhost

-t TCP port 0

-q AR RPC queue 0

-qCMDB CMDB RPC queue 0

-a Authentication string ““

-n Number of threads 2

-l Location of the log files (required)

c:\program files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\atrium core\cmdb\sdk\bin\deputil.log

-trace Flag which turns on the debug logging. If the -trace option is not used, then it is set to off.

By default, the logging is for INFO level.

-L Maximum log file size 10 MB

-c Clean up the deprecated classes and attributes

-cp The classpath environment variable to set for Java

-Xms512m JVM memory setting for Java

-d Deprecate classes and attributes using the mapping file (required)

-fm Executes the data migration again, post-deprecation, in case of system failure

-mid Deprecates or migrates the data selectively for a particular mapping.If the -mid option is omitted or its value is blank, then the Deprecation utility deprecates or migrates data for all mappings.

Appendix B Deprecating classes and attributes in your data model 229

Page 234: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

BMC Atrium CMDB 7.6.04

Examples of command-line syntaxThis section provides examples of executing the Deprecation utility from the command line.

Example 1: Deprecating class and attributes (-d option) and logging the activities in a file (-l option):

C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\works\cmdb\sdk\bin> deputil.cmd -s Scavenger1 -u Demo -p "" -d -l c:\temp\deputil.log -trace

Example 2: Deprecating class and attributes with four threads running at a time (-n option):

C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\works\cmdb\sdk\bin> deputil.cmd -s Scavenger1 -u Demo -p "" -d -l c:\temp\deputil.log -n 4

Example 3: Deleting the deprecated class and attributes (-c option):

C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\works\cmdb\sdk\bin> deputil.cmd -s Scavenger1 -u Demo -p "" -c -l c:\temp\deputil.log -trace

Example 4: Deprecates class with specific deprecation class mapping (-mid option):

C:\Program Files\BMC Software\AtriumCore\works\cmdb\sdk\bin> deputil.cmd -u "Demo" -s "localhost" -p "" -d -fm -mid "deprecationClassMappingInstanceID"

230 Administrator’s Guide

Page 235: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Index

Aabstract classes

deprecating 223with data replication 39without data replication 39

Active status 58adapters

about 73custom 84registering 84

AIE Definitions Admin role 16AIE User role 16application roles

AIE Definitions Admin 16AIE User 16Atrium Foundation Admin 17Atrium Foundation Viewer 16Atrium Impact Simulator User 15CMDB Console Admin 12, 15CMDB Console User 15CMDB Data Change 14CMDB Data Change All 14CMDB Data View 13CMDB Data View All 14CMDB Data Viewer 15CMDB Definitions Viewer 15CMDB RE Definitions Admin 16CMDB RE Manual Identification 16CMDB RE User 12, 16General Access 17NE Administrator 16NE User 16Unrestricted Access 17

applicationsgenerating forms for 198groups 11roles 13

assigning permissions roles 18

Atrium Explorerassociating queries with a technical service 125BMC Remedy AR System and 210configuring 194default CI editor, changing 202launching from browsers 214layers, configuring how displayed 205

Atrium Foundation Admin Computed group 12Atrium Foundation Admin regular group 12Atrium Foundation Admin role 17Atrium Foundation Viewer Computed Group 12Atrium Foundation Viewer regular group 12Atrium Foundation Viewer role 16Atrium Impact Simulator

BMC SIM 112cells in server group environments,

implementing 113User role 15without BMC SIM 113

attribute permissions 22, 43attribute substitution 100attributes

adding to views 196audit options 56creating 50deleting 46deprecating 217, 219, 223editing 93namespaces 41propagating for weak relationships 51

auditingattribute options 56configuring for classes 56overview 55

author, setting 39

Index 231

Page 236: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Bbase classes, views 196best practices

multitenancy instance permissions 24BMC Atrium Core widgets

embedding in BMC Remedy AR System forms 212

launching 210launching from browsers 214

BMC Remedy Action Request System. See BMC Remedy AR System

BMC Remedy AR SystemAtrium Explorer and 210field permissions 22form permissions 22groups 10licenses 21roles 18users 10

BMC Software, contacting 2BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions form 26browsing data model 34

Ccache refresh interval 201Calbro Services

data model 32federated data example 72users, creating 19

categorization classes 39cdm2html utility 66cdm2html.bat file 68Change Pending status 58changing attribute permissions 22CI labels, defining for classes 61, 62CI Relationship Viewer. See Atrium ExplorerCIs. See configuration itemsclass descriptions, setting 39class forms 194, 195Class Manager

creating classes 36deleting classes 57display pane 33modifying classes 36navigation pane 34Permissions tab 22viewing classes 34

class names, setting 39class permissions 43class status 39

class types 39classes

abstract with data replication 39abstract without data replication 39adding attributes to forms 196categorization 39CI labels 61, 62configuring auditing 56controlling layout of forms 194creating 36default instance permissions 25deleting 57deprecating 217, 219final 39forms for base 196generating help for 66icons 59instance group thresholds 65linking to federated instances 102, 103migrating 144modifying 34, 36namespaces 41permissions 21properties 38Quick-Edit attributes 64regular 39roles 42singleton 39status 58tooltips 63types 39

CMDB Console Admin Group computed group 12CMDB Console Admin role 12, 15CMDB Console User Group computed group 12CMDB Console User role 15CMDB Data Change All role 14CMDB Data Change Group computed group 12CMDB Data Change role 14CMDB Data View All role 14CMDB Data View Group computed group 12CMDB Data View role 13CMDB Data Viewer role 15CMDB Definitions Viewer Group computed

group 12CMDB Definitions Viewer role 15CMDB RE Definitions Admin role 16CMDB RE Manual Identification role 16CMDB RE User Group computed group 12CMDB RE User role 12, 16CMDB Write Security dynamic group 12CMDB:EventGenerator filter 191CMDB:Events form 190, 193

232 Administrator’s Guide

Page 237: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

CMDB:Sample:EventNotification form 191cmdb2asset utility 194cmdbdriver utility 146, 174cmdbExtLoader utility, starting 175CMDBf data types 89CMDBRowLevelSecurity permission 23CMDBWriteSecurity permission 23command-line interface

configuration files 138difference files 138instruction files 138metadata mapping files 138object type 140package files 138XML files used in 137

computed groups 18configuration files 138configuration items

default editor in Atrium Explorer, changing 202linking to federated interfaces 102

configurations, normalization, importing and exporting 162

configuringauditing 56federated data 72form generation 198

Copy auditing 55creating

CI classes 36federated links 103forms for applications 198forms for ITSM 197instance permissions 24, 26options for services 117requestable offerings 124service offerings 119services 118

custom data, importing and exporting 148custom properties of class 40customer support 3

Ddata

custom, importing and exporting 148exporting custom 150importing custom 152

data modelbrowsing 34deprecating classes and attributes 217, 219deprecating use cases 219generating help for 66saving as image 58updated, installing after deprecation 228

data storage method 39data stores

creating and modifying 85defined 85

Data Type attribute fields 47datasets, modifying or deleting 203default instance permissions 25defining

icons for classes 59tooltips for classes 63

deprecatingattributes 223classes and attributes 217, 219limitations to replacing subclasses 220, 221, 222overview process 218scenarios not supported 223subclass and replacing with sibling 220subclass and replacing with superclass 219subclass with subclass sibling 222updated data model, installing 228use cases 219

Deprecation utilitymappings, creating 224overview 218updated data model, installing 228using 224

difference files 138display pane 33documentation 5DSO

CMDB option 201setting 201

dynamic service model 125dynamic service modeling 125

Eevents

notifying users of 190polling for instances 193publishing 190

Index 233

Page 238: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

exportingBMC AIE data 165class instances 146custom data 150data 165normalization configurations 162Product Catalog data 150reconciliation definitions 163

Extension Loader 172extensions

creating manually 172installing 175overview 172packaging 181verifying installation 179

Ffederated data classes

attributes 93creating 89deprecating 223editing 92

federated data, manually configuring on production server 169

federated interfaces See launch interfacesfederated links See launch linksfederated relationship classes

creating 93deprecating 223editing 96

federationadapters 73attributes 93class-level links 102CMDBf data types 89concepts 74configuring 72data types, supported 88federated data classes 89federated relationship class 93JDBC data types 88launch interfaces 98launch links 103launch method 97plugins 73, 75, 79retrieval method 87

Federation Manager 72filters, CMDB:EventGenerator 191final classes 39foreign key substitution 100form name 140

formsadding attributes to views 196base class 196BMC Atrium CMDB class 195BMC Remedy IT Service Management

applications 197BMC_DefaultAccountPermissions 26CMDB:Events 190, 193CMDB:Sample:EventNotification 191controlling layout of class 194embedding widgets in forms 212generating for applications 198generating for ITSM 197intermediate 141launching generation 199many-to-many 141many-to-one 141one-to-many 140one-to-one 141permissions 22self-joins 198staging 153subclass 195

GGeneral Access role 17generating help for data model 66groups

access 10application 11Atrium Foundation Admin 12Atrium Foundation Admin Computed 12Atrium Foundation Viewer 12Atrium Foundation Viewer Computed Group 12BMC Atrium CMDB permissions 11CMDB Console Admin Group 12CMDB Console User Group 12CMDB Data Change Group 12CMDB Data View Group 12CMDB Definitions Viewer Group 12CMDB RE User Group 12CMDB Write Security 12computed 18permissions 11RE Definition Author (Reconciliation Engine

Definition Author) 12RE Manual Identification (Reconciliation Manual

Identification) 12RE Operator (Reconciliation Engine

Operator) 12

234 Administrator’s Guide

Page 239: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Hhelp, generating 66hidden class permissions 21HTML help, generating 66

Iicons

CI label 61, 62class status 59defining for classes 59display pane 33

impact modeldescribed 112services, manually creating 128using with BMC Service Impact Manager 112

impact simulations, described 112import data

using BMC Remedy Data Import 168using BMC Remedy Import command line 168

importingBMC AIE data 167class instances 147custom data 152normalization configurations 162Product Catalog data 152reconciliation definitions 164

Indexes tab 53installation activity file, creating 184installing BMC Atrium CMDB extensions 175, 181instance group thresholds, defining for classes 65instances

auditing history 55CMDBRowLevelSecurity permissions 23CMDBWriteSecurity permissions 23default permissions 25linking to federated data 102notifying users about 190permissions 23polling event 193specifying permissions 24

instruction files 138interfaces, federated 98intermediate form 141interval, setting cache refresh 201ITSM applications, generating forms for 197

JJDBC data types 88

Llabels 61, 62launch interfaces

about 98access methods 99creating 98linking 102, 103

launch linksabout 102, 103creating 103

launch method of federationdefined 97launch interfaces 98launch links 103linking by class 102linking by instance 102using 105

launching form generation 199layers, configuring how to display 205licenses (BMC Remedy AR System) 21linking federated interfaces 102, 103Log auditing 55

Mmany-to-many forms 141many-to-one forms 141mapping metadata 138meta name 139metadata, mapping

migrations 138-y parameter to specify mapping document 145

methods, federated interface access 99migrating

BMC AIE data 165BMC Atrium CMDB 137BMC Atrium Core, overview 136BMC Remedy AR System data 136class definitions 138class instances 146, 147federated data on production server,

manually 169forms 140, 141normalization data 162Product Catalog data 148reconciliation data 163

migratorcli utilitydescribed 138examples 144

Index 235

Page 240: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

modifyingclasses 34instance permissions 24, 26

multitenancy 24, 25

Nnamespaces 39, 41navigation pane 34NE Administrator role 16NE User role 16normalization, importing and exporting

configurations 162notifying users about events 190

Oone-to-many form 140one-to-one form 141

Ppackage files 138package.xml file, creating 182permissions

AIE Definitions Admin role 16AIE User role 16AR System field 22AR System form 22assigning roles 18Atrium Foundation Admin role 17Atrium Foundation Viewer role 16Atrium Impact Simulator User role 15attribute 21change attribute 22class 21classes, configuring default 26CMDB Console Admin 12, 15CMDB Console Admin role 12, 15CMDB Console User role 15CMDB Data Change 14CMDB Data Change All 14CMDB Data Change All role 14CMDB Data Change role 14CMDB Data View All 14CMDB Data View All role 14CMDB Data View role 13CMDB Data Viewer role 15CMDB Definitions Viewer role 15CMDB RE Definitions Admin role 16CMDB RE Manual Identification role 16CMDB RE User 12, 16

CMDB RE User role 12, 16default instance 25General Access role 17groups 11hidden class 21instance 23NE Administrator role 16NE User role 16roles 13row-level security 23scenarios 28setting 43Unrestricted Access role 17view attribute 22visible class 21write security 23

Permissions tab 21, 22plugins

administering 73AR 81CMDBf 79JDBC 75

polling event instances 193Product Catalog

creating data 152exporting data 150importing data 152validating data 160

product support 3properties, class 38publishing events 190

QQuick-Edit attributes, defining for classes 64

RRE Definition Author regular group 12RE Manual Identification regular group 12RE Operator regular group 12reconciliation and namespaces 41refresh interval, setting cache 201regular classes 39relationships

deprecating 223properties for 41

retrieval method of federationattributes 93defined 87federated data classes 89, 92federated relationship classes 94, 96

236 Administrator’s Guide

Page 241: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

rolesAIE Definitions Admin 16AIE User 16application 13assigning 18assigning permissions 18Atrium Foundation Admin 17Atrium Foundation Viewer 16Atrium Impact Simulator User 15BMC Atrium CMDB permissions 13CMDB Console Admin 12, 15CMDB Console User 15CMDB Data Change 14CMDB Data Change All 14CMDB Data View 13CMDB Data View All 14CMDB Data Viewer 15CMDB Definitions Viewer 15CMDB RE Definitions Admin 16CMDB RE Manual Identification 16CMDB RE User 12, 16General Access 17in relationships 42NE Administrator 16NE User 16permissions 13Unrestricted Access 17

row-level security 23

Sself-join forms 198Service Catalog

creating options 117creating requestable offerings 124creating service offerings 119creating services 118described 115dynamic service model 125editing queries 125

service impact model, manually creating 128service model

dynamic service modeling 125service model, described 112SHR:SchemaNames form 197singleton classes 39staging forms for importing data 153status

Active 58Change Pending 58class 39

subclasses, form views 195

superclasses, setting 39support, customer 3

Ttabs

Indexes 53Permissions 21, 22

technical servicesqueries, editing 128

technical support 3tooltips, defining for classes 63

UUnrestricted Access role 17users

access 10creating 19

utilitiescmdb2asset 194cmdbdriver 174migratorcli 138

Vvalidating custom data 160views 195, 196visible class permissions 21

Wwidgets. See BMC Atrium Core widgetswrite security 23

Index 237

Page 242: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

238 Administrator’s Guide

Page 243: Administrator’s Guide.pdf
Page 244: Administrator’s Guide.pdf

*176783**176783**176783**176783*

*176783*