CMDB Sync Preview

When the CMDB synchronization is configured, you can preview the synchronization results for a set of items using CMDB Sync Preview action. This action is available for hosts, network devices, printers, and some other nodes. You can model the graph of the CIs and relationships that will be populated into the CMDB after synchronization.

Launching the CMDB Sync Preview

You can open CMDB Sync Preview for a custom set of nodes by selecting them in the object list and then using CMDB Sync Preview action. By default, the CMDB Sync Preview is maximized.

The following example shows the CMDB Sync Preview of a host that was selected manually:

Choosing the CMDB connection and data model

You can choose the CMDB connection to preview using the Preview CMDB Connection selector. Choose from one of your configured connections, or choose None.

You can also choose that data mode using the Data Model selector. Choose either No impact details or Standard impact population.

Applying CMDB Filtering

As a part of CMDB Synchronization configuration for any CMDB connection, the data might be filtered to trim the unwanted elements that should not be synchronized to BMC Helix CMDB.

As there might be more than one CMDB connection, and filters might vary, CMDB Sync Preview shows data with no filters applied by default.

To see CMDB Sync Preview for the particular CMDB connection, select the necessary CMDB connection in the Apply CMDB Filtering list and click Refresh Filtering. The preview adjusts to mark the filtered data.

Explicitly/implicitly filtered objects

Some CIs might be implicitly filtered if they do not match a filtering condition directly, but have a relationship with a CI that does.

Implicitly and implicitly filtered objects are highlighted on the graph according to the following key:

The remaining controls are the same as those available for the Software and Infrastructure visualizations, though you cannot change away from drag mode, and the Model option is not provided.

Note

When viewing a large visualization, remember that it is still part of the node view page. Information which may be useful while working on a model is available by scrolling down. In full window mode, only the visualization is displayed, so you must exit full window mode using the minimize button. The Service Model Editor always occupies the full window; click Stop Editing to leave the editor.

Visualizations tools set

The following table lists the options you can use to manipulate a visualization and perform modeling tasks.

When you have saved the model, you can also export a model definition. Exported model definitions can be imported using the Model > Services & Applications page.

Icon		Description
Drag and select modes	Toggles the mode in which the visualization can be displayed. In both docked (maximized) and floating (minimized) views, use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out, and drag on the background to move around. On a touch device, pinch to zoom. Double-click inside the view to recenter and zoom the display to fit the window.
	Drag mode	Drag the background to move the whole diagram. Drag individual icons to rearrange the view.
	Select mode	Click a node to select it alone. Previously selected nodes are deselected. Shift-click a node to add it to previously selected nodes. Control-click a node to deselect an icon where multiple icons are selected. Click the background and drag around nodes to lasso-select a group of nodes. Hold Shift while dragging the background to add to the current selection with a lasso-select. Hold Control while dragging the background to remove from the current selection with a lasso-select.
Display	Enables you to change the following: Focus of the visualization Background shading to indicate locations and cloud regions Indicators and labels for model definitions and manual groups
	Focuses Enables you to change between the Software - Connected, Software - Local, Infrastructure, IP Network, All Directly Connected Nodes, and Service and Application views. You can also change between the views using the drop-down selector in the header bar of the software context popup view. In each view, the node that represents the object you are looking at is highlighted. Click a node to view the object page of that node.
	Software - Connected	The Software-Connected view focuses on software and communication between items of software and shows some details of the hosts and load balancers involved. When you select the Software-Connected view, its entry is highlighted. Click the arrow to show all categories. You can display or hide individual categories of the visualization, for example, you can remove load balancing software: Arrows in the visualization show how nodes impact each other, with the arrow pointing at the impacted node. For each category you can filter the direction of impact that you want to follow. Choose between: in - impact into the visualized element out - impact out of the visualized element in-out - impact into and out of the visualized element Select the category that you want to add or remove, and direction of impact, and click Apply.
	Software - Local	In the Software-Local focus, the node that represents the object you are looking at is highlighted. The Software-Local view focuses on software and communication between items of software running on a host, and is particularly useful for understanding what is running on a host. When you select the Software-local view, its entry is highlighted. The view has no sub-categories. You can also filter the direction of impact that you want to see. Select in, out, or in-out, and click Apply.
	Infrastructure	In the Infrastructure focus, the node that represents the object you are looking at is highlighted. The Infrastructure view focuses on the connectivity to network and storage components. It shows the switches a host is connected to, underlying storage for host filesystems, VMs on VM servers, or if the given host is a VM, the server on which it is hosted. When you select the Infrastructure view, its entry is highlighted. Click the arrow to show all categories. You can display or hide individual aspects of the visualization, for example, you can remove storage infrastructure: You can also filter the direction of impact that you want to see. Select in, out, or in-out, and click Apply.
	IP Network	In the IP Network focus, the node that represents the object you are looking at is highlighted. The IP Network view focuses on the IP networking, including subnnets. You can also filter the direction of impact that you want to see. Select in, out, or in-out, and click Apply.
	All Directly Connected Nodes	In the All Directly Connected Nodes focus, the node that represents the object you are looking at is highlighted. The All Directly Connected Nodes view shows all nodes directly connected to the starting nodes. When you select the All Directly Connected Nodes view, its entry is highlighted. Click the arrow to show all categories. You can display or hide individual categories of the visualization, for example, you can view all directly connected nodes, either with or without provenance information. Directly Connected - shows all nodes directly connected to the starting nodes, not including provenance information. Provenance - shows provenance nodes and maintaining Patterns. Provenance includes the actual command that was executed, the output, patterns used, and the DDD resulting from that command. You can also filter the direction of impact that you want to see. Select in, out, or in-out, and click Apply.
	Service and Application	When viewing an Business Service, Business Application, or Technical Service, the Service and Application focus shows the contents of the application model, and no other nodes.
	Background shading Displays or hides the background shading around nodes.
	No shading	Do not show any background shading.
	Locations and Cloud Regions	Show shaded backgrounds of differing colors for locations or cloud regions. For location or cloud region nodes, if you set a `color` attribute, that color is used to display that node. Otherwise, the colors are selected from a built-in color palette. The `color` attribute is set using CSS color values.
	Visited Impact Direction	The background shading shows how the data was collected. For each node, it shows one of the following states: in-out – both incoming and outgoing impacts were considered for the node in – only incoming impacts were considered out – only outgoing impacts were considered no-visit – the node was not "visited", meaning that none of its relationships were considered.
	Node colors	Show user specified colors for background shading around nodes. If you have specified `color` attributes on nodes in the visualization, the Node colors menu option is displayed. Select Node colors to display the visualization using the colors you have specified. The `color` attribute is set using CSS color values.
	Model Updates	When viewing a service or application model, shows which nodes were in the model when the user last saved it, which nodes were automatically added by the system by SAM, and which nodes were added by blueprint rules.
	Model Definitions and Manual Groups Provides options for viewing information node membership of manual groups and model definitions. When you choose to show indicators or labels, the Groups icon is displayed next to the help icon in the top right of the visualization. Click this to see a key to reconcile labels, indicators and groups.
	Do not show	Do not show any group or model definition labels or indicators.
	Show indicators	Show indicators. Indicators are small color-coded shapes next to the node icon, a different colored one for each group. Model definitions are shown as triangles; manual groups are shown as circles. Hover the mouse pointer over an indicator to see the name of the model definition or group.
	Show labels	Show colored labels containing the group name.
Layout	Displays the ways in which the object nodes can be arranged. Once a layout has been calculated, you can further manipulate the view by dragging nodes, and by expanding and collapsing collections. Choosing the same layout again recalculates the layout, and can lead to a clearer view. The following options are available under Layout:
	Rotate view	Choose a wide or tall layout depending on the shape of the nodes you have selected.
	Layout Provides options for laying out the nodes. Experimenting with the layouts can reveal structure in the model.
	Force-directed	Spreads nodes using a balance of attracting and repelling forces.
	Impact	Shows impacting nodes at lower levels on the view than impacted nodes. For example, a host container impacts a contained host, which impacts a software instance. Arrows on the view show the direction of impact.
	Root at top	Arranges nodes into a tree view with a root node at the top.
	Relationship routing Provides graphical options for routing the relationships between nodes.
	Direct	Gently curved lines link nodes. The nodes are arranged for clarity, subject to the selected layout.
	Orthogonal	Lines link nodes using horizontal and vertical section joined by right angle curves.
	Avoid nodes	Straight lines link nodes where possible. The lines are curved to avoid crossing nodes.
	Choose the node kinds to show. Select the node kinds to show or hide from the list of node kinds shown in the model. Depending on the application that you are modeling, you may see the structure more clearly by hiding certain nodes such as hosts. Note You cannot hide Collections. Rather, when all node kinds held in a collection are hidden, the collection itself is no longer displayed.
	You can export or print the current view for review at any stage. The images are produced without the associated tools and menus. When you have saved the model you can export it as a model definition
	Print Visualization	To print an image of the current view, click Print Visualization and select a paper size from the drop-down list. The browser print dialog is displayed. You must choose the same paper size in the print dialog.
	Export as SVG	To export an SVG image of the current view, click Export and choose SVG.
	Export as PNG	To export a PNG image of the current view, click Export and choose PNG.
	Export Model Definition	When you have saved the model, you can also export a model definition. Exported model definitions can be imported using the Model > Services & Applications page.
	Provides a list of removed nodes and a list of unsaved removal rules. A count of removed nodes and unsaved removal rules is shown on the Removed Nodes icon. Removed Nodes: Removed nodes are grouped by time of removal or node kind. Choose the most useful grouping using the Time/Kind selector. Once a model has been saved, not all nodes that have been removed are displayed here. For example, if a group of nodes are connected to the main visualization by one "joining point", it is only those nodes acting as "joining points" that are listed. You can restore any of the removed node groups to the view by clicking the Restore button against that node grouping. You can expand any of the removed node groups by clicking the + icon preceding the group name. You can restore any of the individual removed nodes to the view by clicking the Restore button against that node. Removal Rules: Unsaved removal rules are grouped by rule type. You can cancel removal rule creation by clicking the undo arrow next to the rule. To save all unsaved removal rules, click Save Rules at the top right of the visualization. If you save the removal rules, they are applied to all visualizations on the appliance.
	Opens the current view in the modeling editor. You can choose to: Start a new model. Add to an existing model. This option is not available in the All Directly Connected Nodes focus.

Information, zoom and undo/redo controls

Information, zoom and undo/redo controls are provided at the top right of the screen.

Icon	Description
Undo/Redo	Enables you to undo or redo recent operations. Where no operation can be undone, the undo icon is disabled. Where no operation can be redone, the redo icon is disabled. Using the keyboard, Control-Z is undo; Control-Y is redo. When you save removal rules, the Undo/Redo queue is cleared.
Models and Groups	Provides information on any application models and manual groups to which nodes in the view belong. The Models and Groups icon is only displayed when show indicators or show labels is selected.
Key	Shows a key for the symbols used in views.
Zoom slider	Click + to zoom in and - to zoom out. Or drag the slider up or down respectively. The mouse scroll-wheel can be used to zoom in and out. To zoom using the keyboard, press '+' or '=' to zoom in, and '-' to zoom out.
Zoom to fit	Click the zoom to fit control to fit the image to the window.

Context sensitive menu options

The following options are available from the context sensitive menu, accessed by right-clicking in the visualization window. When you right-click on a node, the context sensitive menu displays a header with counts of related, removed, and suppressed nodes. See Related, removed, and suppressed nodes in the context sensitive menu for more information.

Menu option	Description
Stop layout updates	Prevents any further layout updates. Sometimes with a large or complex model, the layout may take a long time to stabilize. Select this option to stop the updates.
Select all	Selects all nodes in the view.
Select all 'review suggested' nodes	Selects all nodes in the view that are in the 'review suggested' status. When BMC Helix Discovery detects that an update would cause a large change, it suppresses most of the change, and sets the application model into a state of Review Suggested. See Lifecycle of a start anywhere model for more information.
Clear selection	Deselects all selected nodes.
Invert selection	Inverts the current selection. Nodes previously not selected are selected, and the reverse.
Keep only selected	Keep the selected nodes and remove all nodes that are not selected.
Remove selected	Remove the selected nodes.
Undo action	For example, Undo extend model. If you have performed an action, undo it and return to the previous state. You can also use the Undo arrow at the top right of the visualization, or via the keyboard with Control-Z.
Redo action	If you have undone an action, redo it. You can also use the Redo arrow at the top right of the visualization, or via the keyboard with Control-Y.
Open in new tab/window	Opens the visualization, centered on the selected node, in a new browser tab or window.
Select node	Select a selected node. Available when right-clicking a node that is not selected.
Deselect node	Deselect a selected node. Available when right-clicking a selected node.
Add to selection	Add the node to the current selection. Available when right-clicking a node which is not currently selected.
Remove node	Remove the node from the view or model definition. Once a node is removed, it is added to the removed nodes list. You can see the removed nodes list by clicking Removed Nodes. The node itself is not affected.
Show impact flow / Show selection impact flow	Shows the impact flow into and from the selected node. Nodes whose outage would affect the selected node, and nodes that would be affected by an outage of the selected node are highlighted by dimming other connections. The arrows show the direction of impact. Also operates on multiple node selections (Show selection impact flow). See Impact flow for an illustration of the use of the impact flow controls.
Show outgoing impacts / Show selection outgoing impacts	Shows the impact flow from the selected node. Nodes that would be affected by an outage of the selected node are highlighted by dimming other connections. The arrows show the direction of impact. Also operates on multiple node selections (Show selection outgoing impacts).
Show incoming impacts / Show selection incoming impacts	Shows the impact flow into the selected node. Nodes whose outage would affect the selected node are highlighted by dimming other connections. The arrows show the direction of impact. Also operates on multiple node selections (Show selection incoming impacts).
Keep only impact flow	The nodes and relationships that are not highlighted are discarded from the visualization.
Clear impact display	Clears the highlighting to show the rest of the visualization,
Force to shared	The system automatically identifies software nodes that are likely to be shared by multiple applications, and visualizations do not follow relationships out of these nodes, so the view is simpler. If the system does not automatically identify a software node which you consider shared, use this option to force it to be considered shared.
Force to not shared	If the system has decided that a node is shared, but you do not wish to consider it shared, use this option to force to to be not shared.
Let the system decide if shared	If you have forced a node to be shared or not shared, you can change that behavior and let the system decide whether software is shared or not.
Node kind or group • Never show • Do not follow any connections • Do not follow connections to ...	Never show—Never show the selected node kind or group in visualizations and models. You can cancel the never show removal rule by clicking Removed Nodes and deleting the Exclude node kind or Exclude group rule from the Removal Rules tab. You can save the never show removal rule by clicking the Save Changes button. If you save the rule, it is applied to all visualizations and model definitions. Do not follow any connections—Creates a rule to prevent following any connections from this node kind or group. Do not follow connections to ...— Highlights the selected (source) SI and prompts you to to select a destination. Nodes that the selected SI is not communicating with are dimmed and cannot be selected. When you select the destination node, it is highlighted, and a rule is created which prevents that type of relationship being followed. Preventing particular types of relationship being followed is typically used to prevent a large number of relationships being followed from a server to agents running on the server. This operation is not required frequently as TKU patterns suppress known occurrences of "over-linking". If you choose not to follow a connection to a node, that node is not suppressed, but that route to the node is suppressed. If the node is reached through another connection, it is displayed. These options affect visualizations and application model definitions, but they do not affect the underlying data in BMC Helix Discovery. The nodes are still created and maintained as usual. You can show the suppressed connections using the plus control described in Additional controls or the context menu header described in Related, removed, and suppressed nodes in the context sensitive menu.
Create Software Instance	Shown when right-clicking a Candidate Software Instance. Opens a dialog to create a rule to create an SI from a candidate SI. See Modeling a software instance from a candidate for more information.
Do not create candidate SI node kind	Shown when right-clicking a Candidate Software Instance. Opens a dialog to create a rule preventing creation of this kind of candidate SI in the future and deleting any existing candidate SIs of this kind. The deletion of candidate SI is not limited to the current visualization or application model, it operates on the entire datastore. Creating a rule to delete candidate SIs may affect other existing models. For more information, see Modeling a software instance from a candidate.
Expand collection	A collection is an automatically created group of closely related items. Expand collection expands the selected collection so that the individual nodes are visible in the view. The nodes from the expanded collection are highlighted. You can see what is contained in the collection using Preview collection.
Preview collection	Shows a pop-up window with the expanded contents of the selected collection. There is an Expand Collection control in the popup window which enables you to expand the collection.
Collapse back into collection	Collapses the nodes from an expanded collection back into the collection. Available when right-clicking a node that was expanded from a collection.
Hide highlighting of collection	Hides the highlighting of the named expanded collection.
Hide all highlighting	Hides all highlighting that shows the nodes from an expanded collection.
Remove link	Deletes the selected link. Available when you right-click a link between two nodes.

Impact flow

The show impact flow controls enable you to visualize the root causes of outages and understand outage chains by highlighting the impact flow into or from a selected node. The following sequence of screenshots demonstrates the impact flow controls.

	Description	Example
1	A visualization.
2	Select the show impact flow controls and choose Show selection impact flow.
3	The visualization now shows upstream and downstream impacts.
4	Select Clear impact display to show the rest of the visualization, and then select Show selection outgoing impacts.
5	The visualization now shows outgoing (downstream) impacts.
6	Select Clear impact display to show the rest of the visualization, and then select Show selection incoming impacts.
7	The visualization now shows incoming (upstream) impacts.
8	Select Keep only impact flow.
9	The other nodes and relationships are discarded from the visualization.

Removing nodes and creating rules in visualizations

See this video (03:26), which provides information on how to remove nodes and create rules in visualizations.

https://youtu.be/Y8ayBxJve30

Additional controls

When a node is likely to have additional related nodes that have not been displayed, a plus icon is shown at the top left of the node icon. When you mouse over the icon, it expands. Click the icon to show the related nodes. The plus icon is only a guide that there may be some related nodes, but there may not be anything new to show. If there is not, the system displays the message, "No more related nodes".

When you right click on a node, the context sensitive menu shows counts of related nodes (+ icon), suppressed nodes (struck through circle icon), and removed nodes (trash can icon). Click the item in the header to display those nodes in the visualization.

Show more related nodes—show nodes that are connected to the selected node, but are not included in the visualization. Click the icon to show the related nodes.
Show nodes that are suppressed due to exclusion rules and shared nodes—show nodes that are connected to the selected node, but have been suppressed by exclusion rules or because the node is considered shared. Click the icon to show the suppressed nodes.
Show currently removed nodes—show nodes that are connected to the selected node, but have been removed. Click the icon to restore the removed nodes.

See this video (02:15), which demonstrates how to manage related, removed, and suppressed nodes in visualizations.

https://youtu.be/qZdQb3cd4nA

Limits on number of nodes displayed

There are a number of limits in the visualizations, there to prevent overwhelming the display with too many nodes. If you start a visualization from a search result, selecting more than 100 nodes, only the first 100 in the results are used as the starting points for the visualization.

The visualization works by starting from one of more nodes, then performing a number of rounds of relationship traversal. Each round, it performs one traversal hop from the current nodes to find all the nodes one hop away from them. If during a round of traversal the number of visible nodes exceeds 100, the round is completed, thus adding more nodes, but no more traversal rounds are performed; if the number of visible node exceeds 150, the traversal stops mid-round. A "visible node" corresponds to an icon displayed in the visualization – it can be a single datastore node, or a group of nodes that are presented as a single icon.

Keyboard Controls

The following keyboard controls are available when manipulating the visualizations:

Key	Description
+ =	Zoom in
-	Zoom out
Escape	In select mode, return to drag mode When viewing the context menu, close the menu When viewing a dialog, close the dialog
Control-Z	Undo the previous action
Control-Y	Redo the previous action