Discovering database content

This section provides the following information about discovering database content.

What is an integration point?

An integration point is a container for information used to query centralized databases that contain information relating to many hosts in the network. For each host, the integration point can query the database and extract useful information to populate attributes on the host node in the BMC Discovery model. For example, the name and contact details of people responsible for a particular server is valuable data but is not generally held on that server. BMC Discovery enables you to extract such data from a central database by means of integration points.

An integration point contains one or more of each of the following components:

Connection—Provides the information (for example, database credentials, driver, IP address) to create a connection from BMC Discovery to the target database.
Query—The SQL query that is passed to the target database to extract the required information. The query is specified in the pattern used to query the target database.

Integration points and queries are created automatically when a pattern that defines them is uploaded. The two are matched up by the integration point name and the name attribute of a Pattern Definitions block. See the Pattern Language Guide for details of Pattern Definitions. After an integration point is created, you must populate it with at least one connection and one query before it can be used.

Viewing integration points

You view integration points from the Discovery page.

From the main menu, select Manage > Integrations.
Click the name of an integration point to view it.
The Details tab on the Integration Point window contains the following sections:
- Details—Contains a basic description of the integration point.
- Related Patterns—Lists any patterns on the appliance that use the integration point.
- Results—Lists results for each pattern.

The Connections tab on the Integration Point window shows a list of connections configured for the integration point.
The Queries tab on the Integration Point window shows a list of queries configured for the integration point.

Row colors in integration points

The rows have colored backgrounds according to the status of the integration point. The following scheme is used:

Green—All successful outcomes each time the integration point is called from a pattern.
Amber—Some successful outcomes and some failures when the integration point is called from a pattern.
Red—All failures each time the integration point is called from a pattern.
Blue—The integration point has not yet been called from a pattern.

This color scheme is also used for connections and queries.

Viewing a connection

The Connections tab on the Integration Point window shows a list of connections configured for this integration point.

To view a connection, click its name on the Connections tab.

Viewing a query

The Queries tab on the Integration Point window shows a list of queries configured for this integration point.
To view a query, click its name on the Query tab.

Creating a connection

An SQL discovery connection provides the information to create a connection from BMC Discovery to the target database. After a connection has been made, the database can be queried. A connection can be represented as a URL that should be immediately familiar to a database administrator. This is shown in the preview section of the window. An example TPL call using the connection is also shown.

To create a connection in an integration point:

On the Integration Point screen, click the Connections tab.
At the top right of the Integration Point screen, click Create.

Enter details for the connection.
Which fields are displayed and whether they are required depends on the database driver selected.

Field Name	Details
Name	Enter a name for the connection. You can use only numbers, letters, or the underscore character (_). This name is used in TPL to call the connection. An example TPL call using the connection name is shown in the Useful Information section.
Description	A free-text description of the connection.
Username	The database user name that will be used to connect to the database server.
Password	The password corresponding to the database user name.
Database Driver	The driver to use to connect to the database server. Select the appropriate driver from the drop-down list. BMC Discovery ships with a limited number of database drivers due to licensing restrictions. See adding new drivers for information about how to add drivers.
Database IP Address	The IP address of the database server.
Port	The port to use to connect to the database server.
Database	The database to connect to in the database server.
Additional Parameters	Any additional parameters that you want to supply to the database driver, specified as `key=value` pairs in a semicolon-separated list. For example, you might want to specify that a driver that supports it should connect using SSL and with a nondefault timeout: `useSSL=true;timeout=60` For information about the parameters that you can specify for each driver, consult the driver documentation on the internet. Links are provided on the JDBC drivers page.

To save the connection, click Apply.
The Connection window is displayed showing the details of the connection, including the example URL and TPL call, and an empty results section. The results section is updated when the connection is used.

Testing a connection

After you create a connection, test it by clicking Test in the Connection window.

The screen is refreshed to show a Test Results section below the Connection Details section.

Testing a query

After you create a query, test it.

From the Query window, click Test.
From the Test Query dialog, select a connection from the list to use to test the query.
Click Next.
Enter the parameters to be passed with the query.
The example above shows a query requiring the hostname parameter.
To perform the test, click Test.
The screen is refreshed to show a Test Results section below the Query Details section.