Virtual Machine Lifecycle Management use cases

The goals of the Virtual Machine Lifecycle Management use cases are:

• Full virtual machine (VM) lifecycle management
• A unified approach for physical and virtual servers
• Process-driven decommissioning
• Automatic policy association

Self-Service Provisioning

This use case describes the process that a user might follow to request provisioning of a new server, as illustrated in the following diagram. Capacity management is not currently integrated in this IT capability. Future releases will address the provisioning of services that might span multiple servers, and might also include capacity monitoring out of the box.

This use case has the following steps:

1. Using the BMC Service Request Management Request Console, a user selects a service request for provisioning a system. Depending on how the service request has been configured, the user might be asked a series of questions about things such as server capacity or software to be deployed. (The console will reference the BMC Atrium Service Catalog in upcoming releases.)
2. When the user submits the service request, it is passed to the BMC Service Request Management Fulfillment Engine.
3. The Fulfillment Engine invokes a BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflow, passing all required information. The Service Request Definition specifies the workflow to invoke.
4. BMC Atrium Orchestrator creates a change request in BMC Remedy Change Management, using a predefined change template. The template might be preapproved (standard change), or it might require approval.
5. After the change request is approved, BMC Remedy Change Management passes the approval back to BMC Atrium Orchestrator.
6. BMC Atrium Orchestrator then manages interactions with BMC Server Automation (BSA), BMC Network Automation (BNA), and third-party storage automation providers as necessary.
7. The BMC Server Automation integration with NGP enables monitoring via NGP in two ways.
   • After provisioning the operating system, BMC Server Automation can install the NGP agent.
   • After deploying software, BMC Server Automation can register monitors for the software with the NGP server using an NSH script job.
8. After all the steps have been completed, BMC Atrium Orchestrator updates the change request in BMC Remedy Change Management to indicate completion. BMC Atrium Orchestrator can enable monitoring for new virtual network infrastructure. BMC Atrium Orchestrator also can be customized to register new machines with capacity management.
9. BMC Atrium Orchestrator also pushes basic information about the new server into the CMDB. For customers with BMC Atrium Discovery (ADDM), the workflow can be customized to perform a targeted scan to update the CMDB instead.
10. Optionally, the BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflows can be customized to invoke a targeted discovery via BMC Atrium Discovery, which in turn can update the CMDB.
11. BMC Server Automation provides more detailed information about the new server as part of the standard integration with BMC Atrium CMDB, in scheduled batch updates.
12. If a targeted scan in step 10 was not performed, BMC Atrium Discovery will see the new VM on its next scan and update the CMDB. The discovered information will be reconciled with the information provided by BMC Server Automation.
13. BMC Remedy Asset Management can reference the CMDB for information about the new server.

Operator-Initiated Process-Driven Server Decommissioning

This use case describes how a user is notified that a server for which that user is the functional owner is approaching its expiration date and how the user can request that the date be extended. Only server decommissioning is available out of the box. Future releases will handle decommissioning of applications distributed across multiple servers.

The flow in this interaction is virtually identical to that of Self-Service Provisioning. This use case has the following steps:

1. BMC Remedy Asset Management raises an escalation to notify the user of an upcoming expiration, usually via email.
2. The user can use the BMC Service Request Management Request Console to request an extension.
3. When the user submits the service request, it is passed to the BMC Service Request Management Fulfillment Engine.
4. The Fulfillment Engine invokes a BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflow, passing all required information. The Service Request Definition specifies the workflow to invoke.
5. BMC Atrium Orchestrator creates a change request in BMC Remedy Change Management, using a predefined change template. The template might be preapproved (standard change), or it might require approval.
6. After the change request is approved, BMC Remedy Change Management passes the approval back to BMC Atrium Orchestrator.
7. BMC Atrium Orchestrator then manages interactions with BMC Server Automation (BSA), BMC Network Automation (BNA), and third-party storage automation providers as necessary.
8. After all the steps have been completed, BMC Atrium Orchestrator updates the change request in BMC Remedy Change Management to indicate completion.
9. BMC Atrium Orchestrator pushes the updated expiration date into the CMDB.

If the server owner does not need to extend the expiration, the server is automatically decommissioned.

Automated Process-Driven Server Decommissioning

This use case describes an alternative flow in which server decommissioning is done via an automated process.

1. BMC Remedy Asset Management raises an escalation that invokes a BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflow.
2. BMC Atrium Orchestrator creates a change request in BMC Remedy Change Management, using a predefined change template. The template might be preapproved (standard change), or it might require approval.
3. After the change request is approved, BMC Remedy Change Management passes the approval back to BMC Atrium Orchestrator.
4. BMC Atrium Orchestrator then manages interactions with BMC Server Automation (BSA), BMC Network Automation (BNA), and third-party storage automation providers as necessary. Storage adapters for NetApp Provisioning Manager, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, and HP Storage Essentials are currently available. Support for EMC storage arrays via Navisphere management integration is currently in development.
5. After all the steps have been completed, BMC Atrium Orchestrator updates the change request in BMC Remedy Change Management to indicate completion.
6. BMC Atrium Orchestrator updates the CMDB with the decommission date.