Managing sites

BladeLogic Portal considers a BMC Server Automation Application Server to be a site. Installing BladeLogic Portal establishes a connection to primary site. You can also set up connections to additional sites.

A user can only connect to one site at a time.

This topic includes the following sections related to sites:

Site administrators and the portal administrator

When you identify an additional site, a portal security group (PSG) is automatically created for a site administrator. Site administrators must belong to the same role as the portal administrator. However, unlike the portal administrator PSG, the site administrator PSG can only make modifications to its own site. The following table compares the capabilities of portal and site administrators.

Type of administrative action

Portal administrator group

Site administrator group

Sites

Able to add, edit, or delete all sites, except deleting the primary site

Able to edit only their own site

Portal security groups

Able to edit or delete any PSG except the portal administrator's PSG.

Portal administrators can only add PSGs for the primary site.

Able to add, edit, and delete PSGs for their own site except their own site administrator PSG.

Operations

Authorized to perform all types of operations. Portal administrators can only see, edit, or delete operations created by a user that belongs to their own PSG.

Authorized to perform all types of operations. Can only see, edit, or delete operations created by a user that belongs to their own PSG.

When you identify a new site and create a site administrator, the site administrator PSG is assigned a name using this format:

site_name__site_admin_role

where site_name is the name of the new site and site_admin_role is the name of the role that administers the site. Site administrators can modify the name of their PSG by updating site information.

BladeLogic Dashboard

While managing sites, you can enable a link from BladeLogic Portal to BladeLogic Dashboard.

BladeLogic Dashboard provides a view into your BMC Server Automation environment and offers tips for optimizing the BladeLogic installation. The dashboard is not a monitoring tool. Instead, it is a mechanism for quickly assessing the health of all BladeLogic system components.

Default values

While configuring a site, you can define default values for certain options. When users perform an action that creates job or depot items, the items are placed in these default locations. You can also define default values defined at the portal security group level. Those default values take precedence over defaults defined at the site level.

Setting default values for jobs and depot items means portal operators do not have to manually select a folder when they create operations, thus shielding them from some complexity. Advanced operators can be given the ability to override folder locations when they create a new operation.

Similarly, you can choose Deploy templates for the entire site. When users set up a Deploy operation or a Patching or Compliance operation (which automatically generate Deploy Jobs for remediation purposes), the Deploy Job uses the settings in a Deploy template. By specifying Deploy templates for a site, you can limit the number of Deploy templates that a user can choose from when they are defining an operation. When you run a remediation operation for a Patching operation, you can use a Deploy template based on an advanced Deploy Job, which lets you schedule the Simulate, Stage, and Commit phases of the job individually.

Note

When specifying a Deploy template, select a Deploy Job based on a BLPackage. You cannot use a Deploy Job based on an executable software package or a File Deploy Job.

BMC recommends using a job specifically designed to define deployment options. If you choose to use a live Deploy Job as a Deploy template, scheduling for that job could be changed inadvertently in BMC Server Automation, which could cause operations in the portal to use incorrect scheduling.

Before you begin

When adding a new connection to a BMC Server Automation Application Server, you must first:

Enable web services on the Application Server.
Set up a role and user for the site administrator.

Creating or updating a site

As portal administrator, click Administration (at top right).
The Administration page opens.
Click the Sites tab.
A list of existing sites opens.

Perform one of the following actions:

To set up a connection to a new site, click Add a new site .
To modify the connection to an existing site, click Edit the current site .

Depending on which action you select, the Create Site or the Update Site page opens.

Enter the following information.

Option	Description
Name	Name of the BMC Server Administration site.
Group Description	Optional descriptive text for the site.
Server Host	The Server Host option specifies the BMC Server Automation Application Server managing this site.
Port	Identifies the port used for web service communication with the Application Server. Typically, the Application Server is configured to use 9843 for its web service communication port. Tip If you have access to the Application Server, run the following `blasadmin` command to show its web service communication port: `show AppServer HttpsPortNumber`
Enable Dashboard	Indicates BladeLogic Portal provides access to BladeLogic Dashboard.
BSA Dashboard Port	Port on the BMC Server Automation Application Server that provides access to the BladeLogic Dashboard. This option is only available if you have selected Enable Dashboard.
Site admin BSA role name	The Site Admin BSA Role Name options specifies the role to which the site administrator belongs. The site administrator must belong to the same role as the portal administrator, who is identified during portal installation.
Default Depot Path	The Default Depot Path option specifies the location in BMC Server Automation where the portal stores depot items it creates automatically. When any portal user who belongs to this portal security group performs an operation that generates a depot item, the item is stored by default in this location. To specify a depot folder, click Browse and use the folder graphic to navigate to a location. Then click OK.
Default Job Path	The Default Job Path option specifies a location in BMC Server Automation where the portal stores jobs it creates automatically. When any portal user who belongs to this portal security group performs an operation that generates a job, the job is stored in this location by default. To specify a job folder, click Browse and use the folder graphic to navigate to a location. Then click OK.
Deploy Templates	The Deploy Templates options specifies Deploy jobs in BMC Server Automation that can be used to define settings for any Deploy jobs that the portal creates. To choose a template, click Add and browse to a job. Select it and click OK. Ctrl-click to select multiple jobs and then click OK. If you want to create Deploy operations that run advanced Deploy jobs in BMC Server Automation, use a deploy template that references an existing advanced Deploy job.

Click Update Site.

Testing the connection to a site

As portal administrator, click Administration (at top right).
The Administration page opens.
Click the Sites tab.
Click the Edit the current site icon .
Click Test Connection.
A message tells you whether a connection to BMC Server Automation is valid.

Removing a connection to a site

As portal administrator, click Administration (at top right).
The Administration page opens.
Click the Sites tab.
On the row for the site to be removed, click Delete the current site .
A confirmation message appears.
Click Yes to confirm the deletion.