Identifying changes to CIs by using the Compare activity

The Compare activity compares instances between two datasets and produces a detailed report with the differences.

For example, if you have a change request in progress, you can compare instances to verify that the configuration reaches its expected new state.

Before you begin

• Make sure the CIs that are being compared have an identity. 
  For running identification activity, see Identification activities to match instances across datasets.
• Create a qualification ruleset to restrict the instances and classes that are compared.
  For creating a qualification ruleset, see Creating qualification rules for reconciliation activities.

To create a reconciliation job to compare datasets

1. In the Reconciliation console, click Create Job or open an exist reconciliation job. 
   See Creating and editing a customized reconciliation job.
2. In the Activities area, click New to define a new Compare activity.

3. For Type, select Compare.

4. Enter the following information:

   Field	Description
   Name	Type a unique name. The name must contain only those characters that the operating system of your server allows for file names. For example, on a windows server, your job name cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |.
   Namespace	Select a Namespace from the list. Only classes in the selected namespaces can participate in the activity. For more information, see Namespaces and reconciliation.
   Status	Active - runs the compare activity when the reconciliation job runs. Inactive - Does not run the compare activity when the reconciliation job runs.
   Continue on Error	Defines whether the job continues if the activity has an error. Selected - The job continues to run even if an error occurs in this activity. Cleared - The job terminates if an error occurs in this activity.
   Sequence	Specify the order that want this activity to run in relation to other activities in a job. For example, if this activity has a value of 2 it runs before an activity with a value of 3. The sequence can be from 0 to 1000.

5. From the Dataset 1 and Dataset 2 lists, select the datasets to compare.

6. (Optional) Add a Qualification to select the classes and instances to compare. 

   1. Clear Use all classes and instances   to restrict the compare activity by using a qualification set .

   2. Click Select qualification rulesest to select a qualification set. 
      To create a qualification set, click New/Edit Qualification Set. For more information, see Using Qualification Sets in reconciliation activities.

7.  To execute a workflow from this activity instead of generating comparison reports, click Use Workflow Execution Ruleset and select a ruleset from the Workflow Execution Ruleset list.
   The ruleset specifies criteria for running workflow based on results of the comparison.

   Note

   If you select a Workflow Execution ruleset, no comparison report is generated by this activity. A Compare activity can either generate reports or execute workflow.

   To create a Workflow Execution ruleset, click New/Edit Workflow Execution Set. For more information, see Executing workflow against instances after a reconciliation Compare activity.

8. (Optional) To exclude attributes from being compared, click Add Rule.
   1. From the Class list, select the class containing the attribute to exclude from the comparison.
   2. From the Attribute list, select the attribute to exclude.
   3. Click Save. The exclusion rule appears in the Exclusion Rules table.
   4. Repeat step a through step c for each attribute to that you want to exclude.

9. Click Done.

10. 
    

11. In the Schedule area, select the the frequency and condition to run the job.
12. Click Save. 
13. (Optional) Click Start Job to run the job immediately.

You can view the job in the Reconciliation jobs dashboard. To see only the jobs that have compare activity, select Compare from the Activity Type list.

To view the Compare activity report

After the compare activity is complete, you can view the compare activity report from  reconciliation dashboard or by opening the job.

From the reconciliation dashboard, filter the jobs to show only jobs with compare activity and click Executed to view the completed jobs.

To open the comparison report from the dashboard

1. On the desired job row, click the arrow to expand the row.
   
2. Open the Events tab and click Show Comparison Report to view the report.
   
3. From the report window, click on Export To File.
4. Save a local copy of the text file.

To open the comparison report from the job

1. To open the job, click on the job with the compare activity that you created.
   
2. In the Job Run Statistics, click Show Comparison Report.
   
3. From the report window, click on Export To File.
4. Save a local copy of the text file.

Where to go from here

Editing CIs and relationships in BMC CMDB Explorer