Automating the building and maintenance of a dynamic service model

You no longer need to manually create relationships between configuration items (CIs) if you have a business rule that you can apply in your IT infrastructure. For example, a business rule may require that you link servers to an application or to a cluster. Use the dynamic service model to map a query to any CI to automate the maintenance of service models supporting that CI.

In your service model, you can dynamically create a relationship technical service to the CIs delivering that service. You can create and associate one or more queries with a technical service from the 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.

For example, Allen Allbrook, a 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

You must associate a query with a technical service when creating a dynamic service model.

1. In BMC Atrium Explorer, open the BMC.ASSET dataset.
2. Search for a technical service CI and drag it to the display pane.
3. Select the technical service CI.

4. From the BMC Atrium Explorer toolbar, click Map IT Resources.

   Note

   Map IT Resources in BMC 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 is displayed. The Available Queries list shows the queries available for the selected service. 
    Map IT Resources dialog box 
   

5. Perform the following actions with CI queries:

   
   

   Action	Steps
   To use an existing query	Select a query from the Available Queries list Click the arrow to add the query to the Selected Queries list.
   To create a new query	Click New. In the Query - New dialog box, 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%. Click Save. For more information about creating queries, see Building queries in BMC Atrium Explorer.

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 and Close.
8. Wait for the queries to run in their specified time (for example, 30 hours).

9. Reopen the technical service and then expand the children in the hierarchy of the technical service.
   The related CIs returned by the queries appear under the technical service in BMC 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 edit a query associated with a technical service

1. Search for a technical service CI and drag it to the display pane.
2. Select the technical service CI.
3. From the BMC Atrium Explorer toolbar, click Map IT Resources.
4. In the Map Technical Services dialog box, select a query.

5. Click Edit.
   The Query - Edit dialog opens.
   

   Note

   We recommend that you keep the qualifier check box clear as the dynamic service model does not support queries that pass parameters. Dynamic service model is a continuously running process and it is not possible to pass parameters during runtime. Even if you pass any parameters for search, a blank query overwrites the parameters and fetches all CIs.

6. Edit the query to match your current needs for the technical service.
7. Click Save.

Related topics

Working with CIs and relationships

Creating a service catalog in the Atrium Core Console

Building a service model using BMC Impact Designer