Editing CIs and relationships in BMC Helix CMDB Explorer
Changes to configuration items (CIs) and their relationships are reflected in BMC Helix CMDB instances automatically after discovery, normalization, and reconciliation processes have completed. However, you can also edit instances manually.
For example, if you reassign a computer system to a new employee, you might want to update the instance for that CI in BMC Helix CMDB to show the new owner.
Important
We recommend that you do not directly edit instances in the production (BMC.ASSET dataset). It is reserved for production use only. When you right-click an instance and click Edit Instance, the sandbox dataset opens. You must edit the CI in the sandbox dataset.
When you open a CI for editing, the AST form opens only if the following three conditions are fulfilled:
- If BMC ITSM is installed
- If the SHR:SchemaName form, the attribute
HasAssetUIhas the value Yes - If the CI is present in the BMC.ASSET dataset
The following video (02:18) gives an overview of the Quick Edit option in CMDB Explorer:
Before you begin
- An administrator must set the default web path to the Mid Tier server before you edit a CI or a relationship.
For details, see Configuring the default web path of the Mid Tier server in AR System Administration Console. - Make sure you have the necessary permissions to edit CIs and relationships.
To edit CIs and relationships
You can edit CIs and relationships by using the following methods:
- Quick Edit: Edit Name, Short Description, relationship impact direction.
- Edit Instance: Edit all attributes of a CI and relationship.
Quick Edit
View the following animated graphic to learn how to edit a CI:
View the following animated graphic to learn how to edit a relationship:
If you make the changes in the user sandbox, after editing, review and promote the changes.
Edit Instance
Perform the following steps to edit a CI:
- On the CMDB dashboard, use Quick Search to search for the CI that you want to view in CMDB Explorer.
- On the search results page, click the CI that you want to view in the CMDB Explorer.
To view only a CI or view a CI and its relationships in Explorer, see Searching and viewing CIs and relationships in the CMDB Explorer.
The CI opens in the default, view-only mode. - Switch to edit mode using the Edit Mode toggle switch.
To view the parent and children relationships of a CI, right-click the CI, select Expand, and select one of the following options:
- Expand Parent
- Expand Children
- Expand Both
- Right-click the CI and click Edit Instance.
The CI opens in its class form in Mid Tier if BMC Helix ITSM is not installed. If BMC Helix ITSM is installed, the CI opens in the AST form. For example, if you edit a database CI where BMC Helix ITSM is not installed, the BMC.CORE:BMC_DataBase class form is displayed. If BMC Helix ITSM installed and you edit a database CI on that server, AST:DataBase form is displayed.
The BMC_Databse class form is as shown in the following figure.
4. If prompted, login to Mid Tier.
If you are already logged into BMC Helix CMDB using Mid Tier, or your organization uses BMC Helix Single Sign-On, you are not prompted to login.
BMC_Database form in Mid Tier
5. Modify the attribute values as needed.
Warning
Do not edit the InstanceId or ReconciliationIdentity attributes. BMC Helix CMDB workflow requires that these values remain unchanged.
6. Click Save and then Close to save the changes and close the form.
After the Mid Tier URL is closed, you must refresh the CMDB dashboard to reflect the changes made to the CI.
Perform the following steps to edit the relationship between two CIs:
- Search for the CI that you want to edit on the CMDB dashboard.
- On the search results page, click the CI that you want to view in the CMDB Explorer.
The CI opens in the CMDB Explorer. You can edit a CI only in the edit mode.
Switch to edit mode using the Edit Mode toggle switch.
3. Right-click the relationship icon and click Edit Relationship. 
The relationship opens in its class form in Mid Tier as shown in the following figure.
4. If prompted, login to Mid Tier.
If you are already logged into BMC Helix CMDB using Mid Tier or your organization uses BMC Helix Single Sign-On, you are not prompted to login.
Relationship form in Mid Tier
5. Modify the values as needed, and then click Save.
6. Click Close to close the form.
After the Mid Tier URL is closed, you must refresh the CMDB dashboard to reflect the changes made to the CI.
Where to go from here
After you edit a CI or its relationship in the Sandbox dataset, you must promote those changes to the production (BMC.Asset) dataset. Your edits in the Sandbox dataset are immediate. If you make a change that conflicts with an earlier change, your new change overwrites it.
See Promotion of changes from a Sandbox dataset to production.
Comments
When I click on Edit Mode button in Explorer and It is throwing this client error for particular CI Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'id')
Hi Samy Velu,
We noticed that this query is answered on the BMC Community discussion here - https://community.bmc.com/s/question/0D53n00009mTpXYCA0/cannot-read-properties-of-undefined-reading-id-while-click-edit-mode-in-explorer.
For more information about this issue, we recommend you reach out to BMC Support.
Regards,
Maithili
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