Overview of how data is imported into BMC Remedyforce CMDB 1.0

BMC Remedyforce provides Pentaho packages for importing data from various external sources,such as BMC Discovery (known before version 11.0 as BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping), BMC BladeLogic Client Automation, BMC Client Management (known before version 12.0 as BMC FootPrints Asset Core), Dell KACE, and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. 

The following topics provide an overview of how data is imported into BMC Remedyforce CMDB 1.0:

For information about how data is imported into BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0, see Overview of how data is imported into BMC Remedyforce.

Overview of Pentaho packages

You can download the Pentaho packages from the BMC Communities website (https://communities.bmc.com). To import data into BMC Remedyforce by using Pentaho packages, you must also download the Pentaho Data Integration tool, which is an open source solution.

The Pentaho packages contain job (KJB) and transformation (KTR) files that are created in the Pentaho Data Integration tool. The KJB files (jobs) and KTR files (transformations) store metadata in XML format. A KJB file contains a series of transformations that are run in a sequence. A KTR file contains a single transformation. The job files retrieve data from external sources by using an SQL query (for example, to import data from System Center Configuration Manager and BMC BladeLogic Client Automation), an HTTP request (for example, to import data from BMC Discovery), or a web API request (for example, to import data from BMC Client Management).

For more information about Remedyforce CMDB 1.0, see BMC Remedyforce CMDB 1.0 architecture.

Overview of how CIs are imported in CMDB 1.0

You can import configuration items (CIs) from external sources to your CMDB objects. CIs are first imported into a staging table. A staging table is a flat table that is required to map external data before saving it to the CMDB objects. In the staging table, all of the fields of the CMDB are used as columns. From the staging table, data is saved in the CMDB objects. 

Data is fetched by using an SQL query (such as to import data from System Center Configuration Manager and BMC BladeLogic Client Automation) or an HTTP request (such as to import data from BMC Discovery). While importing data, each time a row is saved in the CMDB staging object, a trigger is activated that transfers data to the CMDB objects.

Field mapping in CMDB 1.0

Mapping between System Center Configuration Manager, BMC Discovery, BMC BladeLogic Client Automation, BMC Client Management, and Dell KACE database fields and the  BMC Remedyforce CMDB fields is predefined in the corresponding job files. If required, you can change the mapping while importing data. You can also map the System Center Configuration Manager, BMC Discovery, BMC BladeLogic Client Automation, BMC Client Management, Dell KACE database fields to custom attributes of a CI. For more information, see Importing data to custom attributes. 

If you are changing mapping, the following fields are mandatory:

• BMCServiceDesk__ClassName__c: Stores the class of the CI to which data is imported.
  For example, if you import data into the BMC_computersystem class of the CMDB hierarchy, then the value of the BMCServiceDesk__ClassName__c field must be BMC_COMPUTERSYSTEM. You can find class names in the CI list in BMC Remedyforce.
• BMCServiceDesk__UniqueCISourceID__c: Stores the unique ID of the CI that you import from data source. BMC recommends that you do not change the value of this field.

The BMCServiceDesk__AssemblyId__c field is required to create a relationship between the computer system and various CIs. A relationship helps you to identify the source and destination of data. The source is the computer system and the destination can be operating system, processor, IP end points, LAN end points, software server, product, or persons. 

You must map the fields of System Center Configuration Manager, BMC Discovery, BMC BladeLogic Client Automation, BMC Client Management, and Dell KACE database fields to only one CI type and its hierarchy at a time.

Pentaho packages to import data into CMDB 1.0

In the earlier versions of BMC Helix Remedyforce, we imported data into CMDB 1.0 using Pentaho packages. However, the Pentaho package to import data from the following packages is deprecated and will no longer be available after the BMC Helix Remedyforce Winter 20 release.

• BMC Discovery
• BMC BladeLogic Client Automation (BBCA)
• DELL KACE (older versions)
• BMC FootPrints Asset Core (older versions)
• Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) (older versions)

For more information about the supported and deprecated Pentaho packages, see Importing data by using Pentaho packages.

Importing data to custom attributes

If you have data in your System Center Configuration Manager, BMC Discovery (known before version 11.0 as BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping), BMC BladeLogic Client Automation, BMC FootPrints Asset Core, and Dell KACE database that is not mapped to the fields in the CMDB staging or Base Element object, you can import this data into custom attributes and define the mapping of the corresponding fields in the data source database to these custom attributes.

The following steps provide an overview of how to import data into the custom attributes of a CI:

1. Create the required custom attribute for a CI.
2. In Salesforce, make the custom attribute available in the CMDB staging object.
3. Import data into the custom attributes for the CI. For example, you want to import data into a text type custom attribute, Location, in the Computer System class in CMDB (BMC_ComputerSystem).

To import data to custom attributes

1. Create the required custom attribute for a CI.
   For the referred example, create the Location (text type) custom attribute for the Computer System class (BMC_ComputerSystem).
2. Perform the following steps to make the custom attribute available in the CMDB staging object:

   1. Navigate to the required path: 

      • For Salesforce Classic, go to Setup > Build> Create > Objects. 

      • For Salesforce Lightning, go to Setup > Platform Tools > Objects and Fields > Object Manager.

   2. Click CMDB Staging.
   3. In the Custom Fields & Relationship section, click New.
   4. Select the data type of the custom attribute that you have created, and click Next.
      For the referred example, you had created a custom attribute, Location, of data type Text, so select Text.
   5. In Field Label, enter the name of the custom attribute.
      For the referred example, enter Location.
   6. In Field Name, enter the CI acronym, an underscore character, and then enter the name of the custom attribute.
      For the referred example, you had created a Location custom attribute for the Computer System class (BMC_ComputerSystem), so enter CS_Location in Field Name. In CS_Location, CS refers to the acronym used for the BMC_ComputerSystem CI. The following table provides a list of valid acronyms for particular CIs.
   7. Click Next.
   8. On the Step 2. Enter the details page, click Next.
   9. On the Step 3. Establish field-level security page, click Next.
   10. On the Step 4. Add to page layouts page, click Save.
       You can now import data into the custom attribute.
3. Import data into custom attributes for the CI.

Valid list of acronyms for CIs 

Related topics

Use cases of importing data from automated discovery tools

Overview of how users are imported from LDAP servers

Overview of how data is imported into BMC Remedyforce in CMDB

Pentaho packages for importing data and users into BMC Remedyforce