Working with the CMDB Explorer

The CMDB Explorer is the BMC Remedyforce data visualization tool. When you launch the CMDB Explorer for a Configuration Item (CI) or asset, it displays its related CIs and assets and their interrelationships in an easy-to-understand graphical manner.

The CMDB Explorer displays related CIs and assets based on the CI and IT asset management configurations in the General CMDB Settings page:

• If both CI and IT asset management are enabled: By default, the CMDB Explorer displays the related CIs and assets and the available CI to CI, CI to asset, asset to asset, and asset to CI relationships. In the Filter by list on the toolbar, All is selected by default. From the Filter by list, you can select CI to display only CIs and their corresponding relationships, and Asset  to display only assets and their corresponding relationships. For more information, see Using the CMDB Explorer toolbar. 
• If only CI management is enabled: It displays only related CIs, and CI to CI relationships. The Filter by list on the toolbar is not displayed.
• If only IT asset management is enabled: It displays only related assets; and asset to asset relationships. The Filter by list on the toolbar is not displayed.

 The following topics are provided for the default version of the CMDB Explorer that uses HTML5 and JavaScript technology:

Launching the CMDB Explorer

You can launch the CMDB Explorer from the Remedyforce CMDB tab (Remedyforce CMDB), CMDB Instance Editor form, and from the console tabs (Remedyforce Console, Incident Console, and Task Console tabs).

To launch the CMDB Explorer from the Remedyforce CMDB tab

1. Click the Remedyforce CMDB tab.
   Classes are displayed on Remedyforce CMDB based on CI and IT asset management configurations on the General CMDB Settings page and the Remedyforce CMDB permissions assigned to you. For more information, see Overview of the Remedyforce CMDB tab.

2. On Remedyforce CMDB, perform the following actions:
   1. From the left panel, select the class corresponding to the CI or asset for which you want to launch the CMDB Explorer.
   2. From the right panel, select the CI or asset for which you want to launch the CMDB Explorer.

   To search for a CI or an asset, type the initial characters of the name or the full name of that CI or asset in the Search box and click the Search icon.
   For example, to search for "Email Service CI", type "Email" or "Email Service" in the Search text box and click the Search icon.
   You can also search for a CI or an asset by using data in the Instance Name, Description, Class Name, Asset #, Token ID, and Serial # fields as search key words.

   Note

   If you select a CMDB class in the left panel, only CIs and assets of that class are searched. To search for a CI or an asset in all the CMDB classes, select the Base Element class on the left panel of Remedyforce CMDB.

3. Click the Launch CMDB Explorer icon.

To launch the CMDB Explorer from the Instance Editor form

1. On the right panel of Remedyforce CMDB, select the CI or asset for which you want to launch the CMDB Explorer.
2. Click Edit.
3. On the Instance Editor form, click the Launch CMDB Explorer icon.

To launch the CMDB Explorer from the console tabs

1. On the console tab (Remedyforce Console, Incident Console, or Task Console tab), open a record.
   Record are incidents, service requests, tasks, problems, change requests, or releases.
2. From the Agent Tools menu of the record, click CMDB Explorer.

Viewing CIs and assets and their relationships

On the CMDB Explorer, each CI and asset is represented by an image. When a CI or asset is related to other CIs or assets, arrows connect the images of the related CIs and assets.

The number of levels of relationships displayed is based on the configured CMDB Explorer settings. Double-click a related CI or asset to view its related CIs and assets. You can move to other related CI or assets and view relationships at all the available levels. If a CI or asset is linked to an open incident or problem, it is considered to be impacted. The CMDB Explorer displays impacted CIs and assets as follows:

• If the class of the impacted CI or asset uses the default class and class impacted icons, the impacted CI or asset is displayed with the default class impacted icon.
  Typically, the default class impacted icon is same as the class icon with  on it.
• If the system administrator has customized the class and class impacted icons, the impacted CI or asset is displayed with the customized class impacted icon.

When the linked incident or problem is closed, or the impacted CI or asset is unlinked from the incident or problem, the class impacted icon is replaced with the class icon. Each CI or asset represents a node. When you move the mouse over a CI or asset, its details and whether it is impacted, are displayed. If you mark a CI or asset as deleted by selecting the Mark As Deleted check box, that CI or asset is not displayed. For more information, see Creating and updating configuration items and Creating and updating assets.

Using the CMDB Explorer

The following image shows the options that are displayed in the CMDB Explorer.

To analyze the impact

For a selected source CI or asset, when you click the Analyze Impact button, the CMDB Explorer displays the list of all the CIs or assets that will be impacted when a change occurs on the source CI or asset.

Note: To enable display of impacted CIs or assets, ensure that the following selections have been made on the relationship editor of that CI or asset:

• The relationship type is Source-Destination.
  
• The HasImpact field is set to Yes.

To view the impact of a change on the source CI or asset:

1. On the CMDB Explorer window, click the source CI or asset.
2. Click Analyze Impact.

A new Impact Analysis window opens and, by default, displays all the CIs and assets that will be impacted by change to the selected source CI or asset. If you want to display only the impacted business service CIs or assets, select the Business Services Only radio button.

To link a CI or an asset with an existing or a new change request

The CMDB Explorer allows you to link CIs and assets with new or existing change requests. For example, to apply a patch on all servers that are related to an instance, you just have to select the corresponding nodes in the CMDB Explorer and link them with change requests. This ability helps CMDB users in performing their tasks much faster through the CMDB Explorer.

Perform the following steps to link CIs or assets with change requests:

1. Launch the CMDB Explorer. For instructions, see Launching the CMDB Explorer.
2. Select a CI or an asset. You can select multiple CIs or assets too.

3. From the Actions menu, select one of the following options:
   
   
   
   

   Action	Description
   Link with existing change request	If you select this option, all open change requests including the ones related to other CIs and assets are displayed. Select the required change request and click Link. The selected change request is linked with the CI or the asset and a message is displayed. Click the change request number mentioned in the message to view its details. Note: The Include list is disabled because this window displays open change requests only.
   Link with new change request	If you select this option, a new change request is created. Click the change request number to view its details.

Configuring the CMDB Explorer

You can configure the type and color of connecting lines and the number of levels to which you want to expand relationships in the CMDB Explorer.

To configure the CMDB Explorer

1. On the CMDB Explorer toolbar, click Settings.
2. On the Line Settings tab of the CMDB Explorer Settings window, you can perform the following actions:
   • From the Expand CI Relationships to <n> levels list, select the number of levels to which you want to expand relationships between CIs or assets.

   • In the Relationship section, click the type of relationship that you want, and then configure its properties.

     Note

     For Line Color, you can enter the hexadecimal color code, if you prefer.

3. In the Field Settings tab of the CMDB Explorer Settings window, perform the following actions:
   1. From the Fields for list, select one of the following CMDB Explorer components:
      • Tool Tip – The selected fields and their values appear as a tool tip when you move your mouse over a node in the CMDB Explorer. There is no limit to the number of fields that you can select for the tool tip.
      • Label – The selected fields display their values in the label of the node in the CMDB Explorer. You can select up to three fields for the label of the node.
        
   2. From the Available Fields list, select the fields you want to display, and click the right arrow to move them to the Selected Fields list.
      In CMDB 2.0, the Available Fields list displays the out-of-the-box and custom fields of the Base Element field set. 
   3. To move the selected fields to the Available Fields list, click the left arrow.
   4. Click Save.
4. Click Close.