Integrating BMC Helix CMDB with Microsoft SCCM by using an adapter

BMC provides an adapter for Microsoft SCCM that you can use to retrieve, transform, and import data from Microsoft SCCM into the BMC Helix CMDB. This imported Microsoft SCCM discovered data can then be used in end-to-end ITIL Asset, Incident, and Change management processes in the BMC Helix ITSM after you have merged your source data with the Asset dataset.

The is an Atrium Integrator based solution that provides a starting point for the SCCM integration. The solution can be modified and customized to suit your requirements.

Integrating BMC Helix CMDB with SCCM by using the BMC Helix CMDB adapter provides the following business values to the customers:

• Saves cost and speeds up time to value.
• Eliminates errors by prepackaging the following best practices:
  • Provides a complete integration package including Reconciliation Engine / Normalization Engine rules.
  • Offers end to end scenario for loading data to BMC CMDB from Microsoft SCCM.

For more details on integrating BMC Helix CMDB with Microsoft SCCM, see the following video (03:30):

 https://youtu.be/ftq1UDx5Yac

The adapter can be leveraged by BMC Helix ITSM and provides the following features:

• Imports both configuration items (CIs) and relationship data from Microsoft SCCM.
• Includes pre-defined mappings between SCCM tables and CMDB classes and relationships.
  • Mappings are configurable.
  • Supports both ‘full’ and ‘delta’ updates.
  • Includes default reconciliation and normalization jobs.
  • Provides modification/extension capabilities for out-of-the-box mappings for custom attributes/classes.
  • Supports compatibility with the latest version of BMC Helix ITSM.

• The adapter officially supports SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012, but it can be customized to connect and read data from any later versions.

For more information about the Installation and Configuration guide for SCCM, see Microsoft documentation.

The BMC Helix CMDB – SCCM integration package comprises the following installer components:

• New Dataset for Microsoft SCCM
• Atrium Integrator Jobs
  • Initial load/Update Job
  • Delete Job
  • 16 transformations
• Reconciliation Job
• Normalization Job
• CMDB Extension (creating attribute for SCCM integration ID). This is necessary for mapping the integration ID with the source system.

Installing BMC Helix CMDB adapter for Microsoft SCCM

The adapter must be installed only on a primary or an integration server, where you have configured Atrium Integrator, Normalization Engine, and Reconciliation Engine.

Before you begin

• Ensure that the user has access permissions to the SCCM Database Tables and/or Views. You can use any user login privileges. 
• Install the following applications before installing the adapter:

• • File transfer tools such as WinSCP or FileZilla to access the FTP location to download the adapter.
  • Microsoft SQL JDBC driver .
    
  • Microsoft SCCM Application
    Microsoft SCCM 2007 or Microsoft SCCM 2012.
  • BMC Applications
  • Action Request System 9.0 or later
  • BMC Helix CMDB 9.0 or later
  • Atrium Integrator 9.0 or later

To install the SCCM adapter

1. Download the SCCM installer files from the following location: ftp://ftp.bmc.com/pub/BSM/AtriumCore/9.1/Integrations/SCCM/.
   Perform the following steps to access the FTP location:
   1. Open the file transfer tool, for example, WinSCP.
   2. Select FTP from the File Protocol list.
   3. In Host name, enter ftp://ftp.bmc.com/pub/BSM/AtriumCore/9.1/Integrations/SCCM/.
   4. Select Anonymous login. 
      The User name and Password fields are auto-populated after you select Anonymous login.
   5. Click Login. 
2. Extract the SCCM installer files.
3. Run the SCCM installation.
   • (Windows) Run setup.exe
   • (UNIX) Run setup.bin
4. In the Copyright panel, select a language, and click OK.
5. In the Welcome panel, click Next.
6. Accept the license agreement, and click Next.

7. Enter the database settings, and click Next.

   Field name	Description
   Machine Name or IP Address	The IP address of the server where Microsoft SCCM is installed.
   Database Name	instance\databaseName or databaseName This depends on how MS SCCM database is installed.
   Database Port	Specify the exact port number. This depends on how MS SCCM database is installed.
   Administrator User	Database administrator user
   Password	Database administrator password

   
   

8. Enter details of the server where AR System is installed, and click Next.
   
   
9. Click Install.
10. Verify the Installation Summary and click Done.
    You can view a log file of the installation in the following folder:
    <USERPROFILE>/AppData/Local/Temp/sccmcmdintegration_install_log.txt

To install SCCM adapter by using silent installation

1. In the following Options File, make the modifications required to run the silent installation.

   Note

    To edit the options.txt file, remove the comment (#) markers. In UNIX environments, ensure that no Ctrl+M characters appear in the options.txt file.

   
   ################################################################################
   # Options File
   #
   # Product Name: BMC SCCM-CMDB Integration
   # Product Version: 9.1.00
   #
   # To invoke the installer in silent mode with an options file:
   #   setup -i silent -DOPTIONS_FILE=Options.txt
   ################################################################################
   ################################################################################
   # Available Features
   #
   # add a line to the options file
   #    -A featureName
   # 
   #
   # --featureSCCMCMDBIntegration
   #  
   #
   ################################################################################
   #-A featureSCCMCMDBIntegration
   ################################################################################
   # Product Install Location
   #
   # The install location of the product. Specify a valid directory into which the
   # product should be installed.
   #
   # Default value if not set:
   #   - %ProgramFiles%\\BMC Software\\SCCMCMDBIntegration (Windows)
   #   - /opt/bmc/SCCMCMDBIntegration (UNIX)
   ################################################################################
   #-P installLocation=C:/Program Files/BMC Software/SCCMCMDBIntegration
   #-J SCCM_CMDB_HOME=C:/Program Files/BMC Software/SCCMCMDBIntegration
   #-J SQL_SERVER_NAME_IP=<SQL Server Host Name>
   #-J SQL_SYSADMIN_USER=<SQL Server Admin User Name>
   #-J SQL_SYSADMIN_PASSWORD=<SQL Server Admin Password>
   #-J SQL_DATABASE_NAME=<SQL Server Database Name>
   #-J SQL_DATABASE_PORT=<SQL Server Port Number>
   ################################################################################
   # Authentication Properties
   #for Windows Authentication:
   #BMC_SQLSERVER_WINDOWSAUTH_OR_SQLAUTH=WINDOWSAUTH
   #
   #for SQL Authentication:
   #BMC_SQLSERVER_WINDOWSAUTH_OR_SQLAUTH=SQLAUTH 
   ################################################################################
   #-J BMC_SQLSERVER_WINDOWSAUTH_OR_SQLAUTH=<SQLAUTH/WINDOWSAUTH>
   #-J BMC_AR_USER=<AR System Admin User>
   #-J BMC_AR_PASSWORD=<AR System User Password>
   #-J BMC_AR_PORT=<AR server Port>
   #-J BMC_AR_SERVER_NAME=<AR server name>

   
   

2. Run the installer with the -i silent option.
   
   • (Windows) setup.exe -i silent -DOPTIONS_FILE=<path_to_txt_file_with_installation_options>
   • (UNIX) sh setup.bin -i silent -DOPTIONS_FILE=<path_to_txt_file_with_installation_options>

To transform SCCM data into BMC Helix CMDB

The adapter has the following packages with built-in jobs and can be changed if needed. To make changes, see List of Transformations. The SCCM data can be used by BMC Helix ITSM from BMC Helix CMDB after it is normalized and reconciled.

The adapter runs the following jobs to transform the SCCM database into BMC Helix CMDB:

1. Atrium Integrator to create a transformation to import the classes and relationships.
2. Normalization job to normalize the SCCM data.
3. Reconciliation job with the identify and merge activities.

Atrium Integrator Integration Package

BMC Helix CMDB includes Atrium Integrator (AI), an Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) based integration engine.

For the classes provided in the List of Transformations, a transformation is created to import the class as well as the relationships. Relationships can be included in the same transformation or in a different one based on the design decision. The AI job or AI transformation has both delta and initial load capabilities.

A single top level job is designed to call the lower level child jobs that deal with individual classes/relationships. The user interacts only with top level job which is used to monitor and manage the transformation through the Atrium User Interface (AUI) for AI. The following jobs are provided:

• SCCM Import Job
• SCCM Delete Job

SCCM Import Job

The SCCM Import job is responsible for loading data from the SCCM database to CMDB, The job pushes both new data and changes to existing data to CMDB.

The following image provides an illustration of a SCCM Import Job.

SCCM Delete Job

The SCCM Delete job sets the MarkedAsDeleted attribute to “Yes” in CMDB for data that no longer exists in the SCCM database.

The following image provides an illustration of a SCCM Delete Job.

Normalization Engine Integration Package

After SCCM – CMDB integration is completed, a Normalization job, along with rules, is automatically configured for the SCCM import dataset. The normalization engine job is configured as a continuous job by default, however, we recommend that you change the continuous job to a batch job and schedule the job to run a few minutes after the SCCM import is completed.

The following image provides an illustration of the the configured Normalization job.

Reconciliation Engine Integration Package

After SCCM – CMDB integration is completed, a standard Identification and Merge job, along with its rules, is automatically configured for SCCM import dataset. The Reconciliation Engine job runs in a Continuous mode. We recommend that you change the job to batch mode and trigger the Reconciliation job after the Normalization job is completed.

The following configurations are also available:

• Purge activity is added to the job.
• Reconciliation engine processes only normalized CIs. However, it is not mandatory and that option can be disabled.

The image below provides an illustration of the the configured Reconciliation job.

To uninstall the SCCM adapter

1. Navigate to <SCCMCMDBIntegration_HOME/UninstallBMCSCCMCMDBIntegration>.
2. Launch the uninstaller.
3. Complete the uninstallation steps to remove the file structure of SCCM adapter.
4. Open the Pentaho Spoon client and remove the SCCM package directory.
5. Remove the guid (OI-BS005056B5170DoDpHUQF4OR#gJngB1D) from the share application property form (SHARE:Application_Properties).
6. Remove the SCCMIMPORT_NE job from Normalization Jobs (BMC Atrium Core Console > Advanced > Normalization).
7. Remove the SCCM Identification and Merge RE job from Reconciliation Jobs (BMC Atrium Core Console > Advanced > Reconciliation).
8. (Optional) Remove the following attributes from the BMC_BaseElement class using Class manager Console or CMDB driver.

• • SMSParentID  
  • SMSCheckViewName

  • SMSChildID

    Important

    Removing the attributes may result in data loss.

List of Transformations

The following table lists the transformations available with SCCM.

Related topics

Troubleshooting the SCCM Adapter

Atrium Integrator

Knowledge Article number 000264236