Prerequisites for importing data to BMC Helix Remedyforce

Before importing data into BMC Helix Remedyforce by using Pentaho packages, you must perform the following configurations. Based on the external source from which you are importing data, all these configurations might not be required. Refer to the Applies to column to identify the prerequisites for the external source from which you are importing data.

Configuration	Applies to
Registering at the BMC Communities website	All
Installing the JDK	All
Downloading the Pentaho Data Integration tool	All
Connecting to Windows authenticated MS SQL server	Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager
Configuring BMC Helix Remedyforce to retain the original Instance Name value of CIs imported from an external source	All
Creating the KETTLE_HOME environment variable	All
Adding the MySQL connector file	Dell KACE

Registering at the BMC Communities website

You must register at the BMC Communities website to download the job files that are uploaded for you to use for importing data from various data sources.

Open https://communities.bmc.com.
Click Register.
Enter your email address. A confirmation email message from BMC Communities, containing a link to the registration page, is sent to your email address.
From the email message that you received from BMC Communities, click the link to validate your email address. You can also copy and paste the link to your browser. The Email Validation Successful page is displayed.
On the Create your account page, enter the required information.
Select the I agree to these terms and conditions check box, and click Create Account.
On the BMC Communities home page, from the Products list, select BMC Remedyforce.
On the BMC Helix Remedyforce page, click the Content tab and then click Technical Documentation.
Download the BMC Remedyforce Pentaho support ZIP files to your local computer.

Installing the JDK

You must install the Oracle JDK (Java Development Kit) to run the Pentaho Data Integration tool. You must perform the following steps to install the JDK on a Windows computer.

For Pentaho, the supported JDK version is Oracle Java 8.

Open http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html.
In the Software Downloads section, click Java SE.
In the Java Platform, Java Downloads section, click Download JDK.
In the Java SE Downloads section, select Accept License Agreement, and in the Download column, click the required .exe file.
In the File Download window, click Run.
Click Install.

Note

To enable you to use the Pentaho Data Integration tool, you must have the latest version of Java installed on your computer.

Downloading the Pentaho Data Integration tool

The Pentaho Data Integration tool is an open source integration tool that you can use to import data from various data sources to BMC Helix Remedyforce . For more information about using the Pentaho Data Integration tool, see http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/EAI/Spoon+User+Guide.

Prerequisite

You must check for the supported version for Pentaho Data Integration Tool.
For more information on Pentaho Data Integration Tool support versions, see Supported browsers, mobile devices, and integrations.

Open https://sourceforge.net/projects/pentaho/files/Data%20Integration/.
In the File Download window, click Save.
The ZIP file is saved in the location that you have specified.
Unzip the saved file.
In the unzipped folder, double-click the data-integration folder.
To open the Pentaho Data Integration tool, double-click the Spoon.bat file.

Connecting to Windows authenticated MS SQL server

For importing data from Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and BMC BladeLogic Client Automation, you must enable communication between the Pentaho Data Integration tool and the Windows authenticated Microsoft SQL server by connecting both.

Log on to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
Beside the Security folder, click the plus sign .
In the Security folder, right-click the Logins folder, and select New Login.
In the Login - New wizard, in the Login name text box, enter your Windows user name.
The format is <domain name >\<user name >. Enter the logon ID of the domain user of the computer on which the Pentaho Data Integration tool is running.
Click the Server Roles option and ensure that the public check box is selected.
Click the User Mapping option, select the row that has your SCCM or BMC BladeLogic Client Automation database name, and select the Map check box.
The Database role membership for <database name > section is displayed.
Select the db_datareader check box and ensure that the public check box is selected.
Click OK.

Note

By default, SCCM 2007 is installed in Windows authenticated mode. You must configure the steps mentioned in this section to enable communication between Pentaho Data Integration tool and SCCM 2007.

Configuring BMC Helix Remedyforce to retain the original Instance Name value of CIs imported from an external source

While importing data from an external source, BMC Helix Remedyforce generates a dateTimeStamp and appends it to the Instance Name value of each CI. The dateTimeStamp ensures that CIs imported to BMC Remedyforce CMDB are unique.

You can choose not to append the dateTimeStamp to the Instance Name values of CIs by configuring the Staging_SkipInstanceIDSuffix custom setting value. This custom setting is not available by default; you must create it and set its value to True.

Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
On the Home page, click the Application Settings tile, and from the menu, select Custom Settings.
Alternatively, navigate to the required path:
- For Salesforce Classic, go to Setup > Build > Develop > Custom Settings.
- For Salesforce Lightning, go to Setup > Platform Tools > Custom Code > Custom Settings.
In the Action column for Remedyforce Settings, click Manage.
On the Custom Setting Remedyforce Settings page, click New.
In the Name field, type Staging_SkipInstanceIDSuffix.
Skip the Sequence Id field, leaving it blank.
In the value field, enter True
Click Save.

Important

If you configure Staging_SkipInstanceIDSuffix custom setting to True, and the Instance Name values of CIs being imported from an external source to BMC Remedyforce CMDB are not unique, the import job does not complete successfully.

Creating the KETTLE_HOME environment variable

You must first create the KETTLE_HOME environment variable to store the location of the Kitchen.bat file.

On your desktop, right-click My Computer and select Properties.
In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab.
Click Environment Variables.
In the System variables section, click New.
In the Variable name field, enter KETTLE_HOME.
In the Variable value field, enter the complete path of the Kitchen.bat file in your computer, and click OK.
The Kitchen.bat file is available in the \<PentahoFolder>\data-integration folder.
For example, for version 6.1 of the Pentaho Data Integration Tool, the Kitchen.bat file is available in the \pdi-ce-6.1.0.1-196\data-integration folder.

Adding the MySQL connector file

For importing data from Dell KACE, you need the mysql-connector-java-5.1.43-bin.jar file to establish a connection between Dell KACE Pentaho packages and the Dell KACE server.

To add the mysql-connector-java-5.1.43-bin file to the package, complete the following steps:

Download the job files from https://downloads.mysql.com/archives/c-j/.
Select the following values:
a. Product Version 5.1.43
b. Operating system: Platform Independent
The TAR and ZIP files are displayed.
Select Platform Independent (Architecture Independent) Zip Archive option.
Unzip the downloaded ZIP file.
Copy the mysql-connector-java-5.1.43-bin.jar file to the \<PentahoFolder>\data-integration\lib folder.