Preparing BMC CMDB for synchronization
At the time of its release, integration of the current version of BMC Discovery was supported with the following versions of BMC CMDB:
- 20.02
- 19.02, 19.08
- 18.05, 18.08
- 9.1.03, 9.1.04
- 9.1, 9.1.02 (limited support)
- 9.0, 9.0.01 (limited support)
And
- BMC Helix Remedyforce – Requires BMC Helix Remedyforce 20.19.02 or later.
For more information, check the BMC Solution and Product Availability and Compatibility utility (SPAC) (support login required).
Support for cloud discovery
A new class, BMC_CloudInstance is added in BMC Core 9.1.03: Service Pack 3 to support cloud discovery. To synchronize cloud nodes to the CMDB, you must have this service pack installed. Service Pack 3 also provides a REST API which you can use as an alternative access mechanism to use to connect to the CMDB.
Starting with BMC Discovery 11.2, a separate BMC_VirtualSystemEnabler is created for each virtual machine running on a physical computer system, where previously a single CI was created.
Note
Significant mapping change since previous releases
If you are upgrading from a previous release, note that the default data mapping has a significant change. Cloud data is synchronized to the BMC_CloudInstance class that was introduced in CMDB 9.1 SP3. Synchronization to earlier CMDB releases will skip the cloud data due to the absence of the class.
Note
Do not change the CMDB synchronization configuration at the same time as changing the cluster configuration.
- Changing the CMDB sync configuration means, adding connections, removing connections, and starting or stopping a resync.
- Changing the cluster configuration means adding members, removing members, moving the coordinator, or changing fault tolerance.
Before you begin
Before you can synchronize data to a supported BMC CMDB version, you must complete the following required tasks in the given order:
Integrating with earlier versions of BMC Atrium CMDB
BMC CMDB versions earlier than 7.6.04 are no longer supported and are not recommended for use. Synchronizing data to these earlier versions required you to complete some additional tasks. For more information, see the BMC Discovery 8.3 documentation.
- Create the BMC.ADDM dataset: The BMC.ADDM dataset must be manually created in the CMDB before a synchronization is attempted.
- Create the Job to merge the BMC.ADDM dataset with BMC.ASSET: After the BMC.ADDM dataset has been created, you must then create the job to reconcile it with the BMC.ASSET dataset.
- Check the BMC.ADDM dataset configuration: When using ITSM 7.0 with a backwards compatibility patch, you also need to ensure that the BMC.ADDM dataset is trusted.
After completing the preceding tasks, you can start synchronizing BMC Discovery data to BMC CMDB.
Performance considerations
To obtain the maximum synchronization performance when using CMDB synchronization with BMC Discovery, you should consider tuning the database which BMC CMDB (or BMC Remedy AR System) is using. For more information, see the performance tuning documentation corresponding to your product version. The following information should be of particular interest:
To create the BMC.ADDM dataset
Creating a BMC.ADDM dataset provides a dataset into which BMC Discovery is exported before being taken into the BMC CMDB. You create the dataset by using the BMC CMDB Reconciliation console. It is recommended that you create the BMC.ADDM dataset on the primary AR System server.
Warning
The dataset you are creating is intended to receive data from only one BMC Discovery appliance. If your deployment architecture requires that several scanners or consolidator synchronize to the same CMDB, then you must create a separate dataset for each. For example, BMC.ADDM1
, BMC.ADDM2
, and associated reconciliation jobs.
Once created, do not make any changes to any CMDB synchronization dataset.
From the Identify activity, click Add Dataset Identification Group Association,
and then click Create Dataset.From the Mid Tier, Open Core Console > Applications > Reconciliation console, and then click Create Dataset.
Complete the following fields:Field
Description
Name
The name for the dataset. Usually set to
BMC.ADDM
.ID
The system identifier for the dataset. This must match the ID used in the configuration in BMC Discovery. The default is
BMC.ADDM
.Accessibility
Set to "Writable".
DatasetType
Set to "Regular".
Click Save.
To create the Identification, Merge and Purge Job
BMC Discovery exports its data to a staging dataset in BMC CMDB. The content of this dataset should then be reconciled into the BMC.ASSET dataset. To accomplish this, a new Job must be added in the BMC CMDB Reconciliation Console. It is recommended that you create the Identification, Merge and Purge Job on the primary AR System server.
- From the Mid Tier, Open BMC CMDB Core Console > Applications > Reconciliation Application.
- Select the Create Standard Identification and Merge Job Icon
- Give the job a meaningful name (for example, "BMC ADDM - Identification, Merge and Purge").
- Set the Source Dataset to be "BMC.ADDM".
- After the job is Created, select BMC ADDM - Identification, Merge and Purge Job.
- Click the Edit Job icon.
- From the Job Editor window, in the Activities pane, select the New tab.
- In the New Activity pane, select Type as 'Purge', Sequence as '700' and Name as BMC ADDM - Purge.
- In the Datasets option, select Datasets as BMC.ADDM.
- Click Done.
- Click Save in the Job Editor.
Note
The recommended practice is to create a precedence group that specifies a precedence for the BMC.ADDM dataset. The value depends on your relative preference for data populated by BMC Discovery and other data providers to the CMDB. For more information about how precedence groups are configured, see the documentation on defining a precedence association set corresponding to your product version.
Comments
Were the four bullet points under "Performance considerations" intended to include links? These are very broad topics, so specific links may be very helpful.
Hi Fred,
Thanks for your query. We've provided links on tuning the Oracle server and SQL server database. We'll look into information on the other two as well but note that the current links do have some 'best practices' as well in them.
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