Configuring the access method to view CIs in Discovery by using Federation Manager

The attributes of a CI may not have all the details of the item that it represents. To view additional properties of an item that was sourced through BMC Discovery, you can open that item in BMC Discovery to view all its properties by using the steps described in the following procedure.

The Federation Manager lists the following options out of the box so that users can select CIs from the CMDB Explorer and view their information other applications or interfaces:

You must enter the BMC Discovery server name in the access string to specify the location where the CI information can be opened.

Example of cross launch settings for selecting a CI from the Explorer and opening it in BMC Discovery 

Based on the settings in Federation Manager, users can select a CI of a specific class in the CMDB Explorer and view its information in a specific interface or application.  You can customize these settings in Federation Manager to open the CIs from the Explorer in any other location specified by a URL.

To configure access method to view CIs in Discovery by using Federation Manager

You can add definitions in the federation manager to open a CI of a certain class in a location of your choice. The following examples demonstrate how to use federation links to open a CI in BMC Discovery.

1. Log in to CMDB with your credentials using the URL provided by your administrator. 
   Your administrator would have configured a URL of the following type: 
   http://<aRServer>:<jettyPort>/cmdb/index.html or https://<arServer>:<jettyPort>/cmdb/index.html, where the Jetty port is typically 8008.
   For example, http://localhost:8008/cmdb/index.html or https://localhost:8008/cmdb/index.html
   The CMDB dashboard is displayed.
2. Select Configurations > Federation Manager.
3. From the list of definitions in the left pane, select BMC Discovery.
   The Name, Description, and Access Method options are prepopulated.
   The Access String field has the default entry
   http://<DiscoveryServer>/ui/Search?query=search * where key = $ADDMIntegrationId$
4. In the Access String field, replace <DiscoveryServer> with the Discovery server name.
5. From the Link From list, select CLASS.
   This is the class for which the option to open the CI in another location appears in CMDB Explorer. 
6. In the Class Name field, search and select the class for which you want the CIs to be cross launched in BMC Discovery.
   Enter ComputerSystem to cross-launch the CIs belonging to this class in BMC Discovery.
7. In the Qualification field, add a qualification that identifies instances with specific criteria. 
   For example, all CIs with reconciliation identity equal to zero.
8. Click Save.
   

Related topics

Making external data available to CMDB by using cross-launch links in the Federation Manager

Searching and viewing CIs and relationships in CMDB Explorer

Service Context for BMC Remedy ITSM applications