Adding, deleting, and updating CMDB classes

This section provides information about adding, deleting, and updating CMDB classes. Depending on the data that you want to store, you can use the available out-of-the-box classes, customize the attributes of the out-of-the-box classes, or add custom classes. For more information about the available out-of-the-box classes, see BMC Helix Remedyforce CMDB Common Data Model.

For more information on managing the CMDB classes, refer the following sections:

Considerations

• To  add, update, and delete Configuration Item (CI) classes, CI management must be enabled. For more information, see Enabling CI management.
• To to add, update, and delete asset classes, IT asset management must be enabled. For more information, see Enabling asset management.
• If the system administrator has enabled both CI and IT asset management, the CMDB Class form of a CI class displays the Rule Based Asset Classes section from which you can manage  the Rule Based Asset classes that are based on that CI class.
• By default, the out-of-the-box Rule Based Asset classes are activated in a new installation, and deactivated in an upgrade. After upgrading, when you enable IT asset management, you can choose to activate all out-of-the-box Rule Based Asset classes and synchronize existing CIs in BMC Remedyforce CMDB. If you do not activate the classes at this stage, you have to manually activate each of the required out-of-the-box Rule Based Asset class. For more information, see Activating Rule Based Asset classes.

Adding a class

Perform the following steps to add CI, Asset, Rule Based Asset class, or CI and Asset classes.

Adding the class details

Before you begin

Ensure that you have set up a remote site setting to be able to add and update the attributes of classes else you will need to manually navigate to the Base Element object to add or update the class attributes. For more information on setting up a remote site, see Managing CMDB classes.

To add the class details

1. Navigate to Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0 > Classes. 

2. On the CMDB Classes list view page, click .

3. Enter the details for the class that you want to create. For more information about the class details, see Class details parameters.

4. If you are creating a Rule Based Asset class, add a criteria. For more information about adding a criteria, see Adding a criteria for a Rule Based Asset Class.
5. Click . 
   Once you create the class, you must grant CRUD permissions. For more information about the class permissions, see Managing CMDB class permissions for permission sets and Managing CMDB class permissions for object and user level.
   Once the class is saved, if you created a CI class, the Manage Attributes and Rule Based Asset Classes sections are displayed. If you created an Asset or a CI and Asset class, only the Manage Attributes section is displayed.

Class details parameters 

Adding the class attributes

When you save the class details, the Manage Attributes section of the UI is displayed on the CMDB Class form.

You can use the section to perform the following actions:

• To add a field set for the class, click the Field Set link. While adding the field set, you must use the values that are provided for the Field Set Label and Field Set Name fields.
• To create the unique attributes of the class, click the Custom Fields link.
• To add custom atributes to the field set, click the Field Set link.

To add attributes for a custom class, peform the following tasks:

1. Add a fieldset for the custom class

2. Add fields for the custom class attributes

3. Add fields to the fieldset of the custom class

To add a fieldset for the custom class 

1. In the Manage Attributes section, click the Field Set link.

2. In the Field Sets section of the Base Element object page, click New.
3. In the Field Set Label text box, enter the field set label that is displayed on the Manage Attributes section.
4. In the Field Set Name text box, the field set name is automatically populated.
   Ensure that the field set name is the same as the one displayed in the Manage Attributes section.
5. In the Where is this used? text box, enter a brief description of where and how the field set is used.
6. Click Save.

 To add fields for the custom class attributes

1. In the Manage Attributes section, click on the Custom Fields link.

2. In the Custom Fields & Relationships section of the Base Element object that opens on a new tab, click New.
3. From the New Custom Field page, add custom fields for the class attributes.
   For more information, see Adding or removing fields on the Instance Editor in CMDB 2.0.

 To add fields to the field set of the custom class

1. In the Manage Attributes section, click on the Field Set link.
2. In the Field Sets section of the Base Element object page, navigate to the required field set label.
3. Click Edit.
4. From the object palette, drag the fields to the In the Field Set list.
5. Click Save.

Adding a criteria for a Rule Based Asset class  

1. From the <Field> list, select a field for setting the criterion.

2. From the <Operator> list, the only available operator is " = ". It is automatically populated when you select a field from the <Field> list.

3. Enter a value for the selected field in the corresponding text box.

4. Click Add to add the criterion.

5. To add more criterion, repeat from Steps 1 to Step 4. 

6. To remove a criterion, select the criterion and click .
7. To combine multiple rules using the logical operators, click Advanced Rule Logic and enter a condition. For example, (1 OR 2) AND 3.

You cannot define a criteria on the following fields. Therefore, these fields are not shown in the list while defining a criteria:

• Record Id
• Autonumber fields
• Default Name field
• Instance Name
• Created Date
• Last Modified Date
• Created By Id
• Last Modified By Id
• Owner Id
• Asset Status
• CI Status
• Fields of type Long text area or Rich Text Area
• Non-Filterable fields
• Inactive
• Class Name field
• Formula Fields

Activating a Rule Based Asset class 

You must activate a Rule Based Asset class in the following scenarios:

• When you have added or updated a Rule Based Asset class.

• When you have upgraded from an earlier version and have chosen to manually activate the required out-of-the-box Rule Based Asset classes. 

Perform the following steps to activate Rule Based Asset class.

1. On the CMDB Class form of the Rule Based Asset class, click Activate.
   On activation, new CIs are automatically synchronized based upon the rules set on the CI Class.

2. When prompted to synchronize the existing CIs, perform one of the following actions:
   • To synchronize existing CIs, click Yes.
   • To synchronize existing CIs later, click No. If you choose to synchronize the existing CIs at a later stage, you must click Deactivate on the CMDB Class form and activate the class later to synchronize the CIs.

Updating a class

Considerations

• You can convert a class type of an existing class to CI, Asset or CI and Asset type.
• A CI class that has a Rule Based Asset class defined on it cannot be converted to any other class type.
• Rule Based Asset classes cannot be converted to any other class type.
• You can update the superclass of only custom classes, and not of any out-of-the-box classes. However, you cannot update the super class of a custom class that contains CIs, subclasses, or Rule Based Asset classes. To update the superclass, you must first delete the related CIs, subclasses, or Rule Based Asset classes.
• You cannot edit the Class Name field.

Perform the following steps to update CI, asset, Rule Based Asset class, or CI and Asset classes.

To update the class details

1. On the CMDB Classes list view page, in the Class column, click the class that you want to update.
2. Edit the required class details. For more information about the class details, see Class details parameters.

To update the class attributes

1. In the Manage Attributes section, click the Custom Fields link to add fields to the class. For more information about adding fields, see Adding fields for the custom class attributes.

2. Click the Field Set link. You can perform the follwoing actions:

   • • To add new fields, drag the fields from the object palette to the In the Field Set list.
     • To delete an existing field from the In the Field Set list, select the field and click .

3. Click .

To update Rule Based Asset class defined for the CI class

If the system administrator has enabled both CI and IT asset management, the CMDB Class form of a CI class displays the Rule Based Asset Classes section. The Rule Based Asset Classes section displays all Rule Based Asset classes that are defined on the CI class along with the rules defined on the Rule Based Asset classes. You can perform the following actions:

• • To add a new Rule Based Asset class, click .

  • To update an existing Rule Based Asset class, select that class and click . 

  • To delete an an existing Rule Based Asset class,  select that class and click .

To update the criteria

1. From the <Field> list, select a field for setting the criterion.

2. From the <Operator> list, the only available operator is " = ". It is automatically populated when you select a field from the <Field> list.

3. Enter a value for the selected field in the corresponding text box.

4. Click Add to add the criterion.

5. To add more criterion, repeat from Steps 1 to Step 4. 

6. To remove a criterion, select the criterion and click .
7. To combine multiple rules using the logical operators, click Advanced Rule Logic and enter a condition. For example, (1 OR 2) AND 3.

You cannot define a criteria on the following fields. Therefore, these fields are not shown in the list while defining a criteria:

• Record Id
• Autonumber fields
• Default Name field
• Instance Name
• Created Date
• Last Modified Date
• Created By Id
• Last Modified By Id
• Owner Id
• Asset Status
• CI Status
• Fields of type Long text area or Rich Text Area
• Non-Filterable fields
• Inactive
• Class Name field
• Formula Fields

Deleting a class

Considerations

You can delete only custom classes, and cannot delete any out-of-the-box classes. For the out-of-the-box classes, the  button is disabled. However, if a custom class contains CMDB instances (such as CIs, CIs and assets, and assets), subclasses, or Rule Based Asset classes defined on it, you cannot delete that class. To be able to delete that class, you must first delete the related CMDB instances, subclasses, or Rule Based Asset classes.

To delete a custom class

1. On the CMDB Classes list view page, select the custom class that you want to delete.
2. Click .

Reference

Managing CMDB classes