Setting configuration options for normalizing data

To access the normalization features, open the Atrium Core console and clicks the Normalization icon. On the Normalization page setup and configure Notification Engine (NE) rules using the Edit Configuration, Normalization Features, and Catalog Mapping pages.

Dataset, class, and system configuration

1. Click the Edit Configuration icon  to view the Configuration Editor.
2. Click the Dataset Configuration tab.

   1. Identify the dataset you are working with. 
      
      
      

      Select the BMC Configuration Import dataset which is the datatset related to the BBCA discovery.

   2. Select the following options:

      Normalization type	Name and CTI lookup. This option allows for normalization based on the Product Name and the Tier 1, 2 and 3.
      Inline Normalization	Do not select this option. Best practice: We recommend that you run Normalization in a Batch or Continuous mode when working with large amounts of data.
      Allow Unapproved CI	Select this option because on the initial load CI's should be loaded in CMDB even though the product does not exist in Product Catalog.
      Allow new Product Catalog entry	Select this option to allow the Product Catalog to be updated with additional products that do not exist, considering BBCA is the trusted data source
      Normalization Features	Select Suite Rollup. This option is required for SWLM especially when using Microsoft SCCM which discovers individual components of software. This option may not be required for BMC BladeLogic Client Automation (BBCA) as it discovers suites.
      Auto Impact Manual Edit	Select Preserve Edits. This allows preference of manual edits over discovered data.

3. Click the Class Configuration tab.
   Out of the box, a list of classes are already configured which are handled by Normalization. The classes that SWLM requires to be normalized are primarily BMC_ComputerSystem, BMC_Product and other software classes, which are already setup.
   1. Verify that the class for which data needs to be normalized is in the class configuration table.

   2. For any additional classes that need to be added, click the Add button at the bottom of the Class Configuration Screen. 
      

4. Click the System Configuration tab to define the system configuration options.
   These options are applied to all datasets. 
   

   1. Configure the following options:

      Normalize All Instances	Select this option to renormalize all the data that was previously normalized. For example, individual CI instances which were originally discovered as standalone applications can be re-normalized as components of a suite.
      API Log File Batch Mode Log File Continuous Mode Log File	Configure the path and other settings for the API, Batch, and Continuous mode log files. The Log File Location displays the default path of the log file. Updates this value only if the log files need to be created at a different location.

After updating the configuration settings, configure the Normalization Features options such as Version Rollup and Suite Rollup rules.

Normalization features configuration

1. Click the Normalization Features icon .
2. Configure Version Roll up options.

   1. On the Version Rollup tab verify that the rules for Version Roll up are set up for the products to be managed. If the rule for the product does not exist create a new Version Roll up rule using this UI. Select the product from the list, and click the Edit Selected Rule icon to update the MarketVersion attribute for the product. 
      

      If there is no product matching rule, a default rule, Rulename 98, sets the MarketVersion with VersionNumber. For example, if the Version Number is 2003 and MarketVersion is not defined, this default rule sets the MarketVersion to 2003.

      

      For Calbro System's requirement, for the Microsoft products the default out of the box rule could be sufficient. However, for an Adobe product they notice that the Market Version needs to be derived from Version Number. The VersionNumber discovered is 9.1.2.3, while as the MarketVersion should be set to the major version string which is 9. 
      

   2. Review the out of the box Adobe Acrobat rules. Since there is no existing matching rule, click the Create New Rule icon and create a new rule for Manufacturer = Adobe Systems Inc. AND Product Name = Adobe Acrobat as shown below: 
      

      
      This sets the MarketVersion with the Major Version number contained in the VersionNumber string.

3. Configure Suite Rollup options
   On the Suite Rollup tab select the rules for suite roll up. A few suites are already shipped with BMC Atrium CMDB. 

   Certain discovery sources like Microsoft SCCM discover individual components of a suite, while the licensing is based on the suite. For example, they discover Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel as individual products instead of Microsoft Office Suite. BBCA typically discovers suites, so suite roll up may not be required if the discovery source is BBCA.
   If required a rule can be setup for the Microsoft Office Professional 2007 suite which consists of Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Word.
   
   
   

Catalog mapping for normalizing data

The next step is to setup the mappings for name and CTI mappings.

1. Click the Catalog Mapping icon .
   The Catalog mapping dialog box allows you to normalize the discovered Names, CTI into common marketable names.

2. Setup rule such that Product Name of Microsoft Server Enterprise Edition 2003 is updated to Microsoft Server Enterprise Edition and Item is updated from Third Party to Software Development Software/Tool.
   

3. Similarly setup the rules for other Microsoft and Adobe products in the list above.