Adding and viewing Hierarchy rules

To access the Hierarchy rules page via Administration tab, click Data Warehouse and then click Hierarchy rules. This page allows you to view the existing hierarchy rules and define new ones. To review the definition of hierarchy, see Hierarchies.

For more information, refer to the following sections:

Overview

A hierarchy rule is a condition that selects the set of entities to which a hierarchy template should be applied.

Hierarchy rules and hierarchy templates are used by BMC Helix Capacity Optimization to manage hierarchies, and can automatically update hierarchies when new entities and data series are loaded into the Data Warehouse.

For example, a hierarchy rule can dictate that the Virtual Machine template should be applied to all entities of type Virtual Host within the Virtualized Systems domain.

The Hierarchy rules table lists all the currently configured rules (excluding, by default, derived and aggregate rules) and their status, allowing you to perform the following tasks:

• Add / edit / delete
• Activate / deactivate
• Run the hierarchy rule
• Simulate execution
• Restore object relationship
• View the execution log

Example of the Hierarchy rules page

Adding a hierarchy rule

To add a new hierarchy rule, perform the following task:

1. Navigate to Administration > DATA WAREHOUSE > Hierarchy rules.

2. Click Add Rule.

3. Specify the following details in the Add hierarchy rule page:

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the new hierarchy rule.
   Description	Enter a brief description for this hierarchy rule.
   Hierarchy template	Select a hierarchy template from the list. For more information on templates, see Predefined hierarchy templates.
   Template description	By default, this field is populated based on the selected hierarchy template.
   Systems and Business drivers filter	Select All systems and business drivers, Limit to a domain, or Limit to a domain and its children. By default, Limit to a domain is selected. If you chose Limit to a domain or Limit to a domain and its children, specify a domain in the Domains field.
   Add created objects to	Select an object from Source and click >> to move it to Selection. Click Apply.
   Share lookup	Select a lookup from the list, if you want to share a lookup with the hierarchy rule.
   Datasource filter	Select a datasource filter.

4. Click Save.

Activating and deactivating a hierarchy rule

On the hierarchy rules detail page, perform one of the following actions to activate or deactivate a hierarchy rule:

• Click to activate the hierarchy rule. A notification regarding the activation is displayed at the top of the Hierarchy rules table.

• Click  and click OK to deactivate the hierarchy rule. A notification regarding the deactivation is displayed at the top of the Hierarchy rules table.

  Note

  Deleting a hierarchy rule deletes the defined relationships, but not the derived systems and their data. Deactivating a hierarchy rule stops the derivation of new samples, i.e. samples with a time stamp later than the disable date.

Running the hierarchy rule

On the hierarchy rules detail page, click Run hierarchy in the appropriate row to run the hierarchy rule. A notification regarding this operation is displayed at the top of the Hierarchy rules table. The notification contains a link that you can click to see a table containing the log details.

Simulating the hierarchy rule

On the hierarchy rules detail page, click Simulate in the appropriate row to simulate the execution of a hierarchy rule. A notification regarding this operation is displayed at the top of the Hierarchy rules table. The notification contains a link that you can click to see a table containing the log details.

The following video (2:48) describes how to restore a tree that is loaded by an ETL in workspace, after the tree is modified due to manual actions or reconciliation.

 https://youtu.be/lHKKXLvRIJU

Restoring relations for a hierarchy rule

You can restore the object relationship for the hierarchy rule to a restore date that you specify. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. On the hierarchy rules detail page, click Restore relations.
2. On the dialog box displayed, specify the restore date by selecting one of the following options:
   1. Yesterday (recommended): Select this option to specify the restore date from a day earlier than today.
   2. From date: Select this option and use the date picker to specify an appropriate day.
   3. Always: Select this option to set the restore date as always.

3. Click Confirm.
   By doing this, the analyses, models, and reports using historical information, use the current object relationship that is valid from the restore date.

   Notes

   • The Restore relations operation runs as follows:
     • Stops all object relationships at the restore date that you specify.
     • Substitutes the object relationship to the last relationship imported.
   • This operation does not affect the actual metrics or data collected except for the relationships between objects in the data warehouse.
   • Object relationships cannot be recovered once deleted.

Viewing the log details 

You can view the log details for the hierarchy rule by clicking Show log , in the corresponding row on the hierarchy rules detail page. A table containing log details like Timestamp, Reference date, Type, and Message is displayed, as shown in the following figure:

Example of execution log details page

In the table containing the log details, you can perform the following actions:

• Click << to view the log file for another hierarchy rule.
• Click Refresh to refresh the list of log details.
• Click Download log to download the log details displayed.
• Click Hierarchy Rule details to see the object relationships for the hierarchy rule.
  The page displays information like Id, ETL task name, Insert TS, Update TS, Status, Subset, Loaded rows, and Details () in the OBJREL transaction queue table. On this page, you can perform the following tasks:
  • Activate or deactivate the hierarchy rule by clicking Activate or Deactivate respectively.
  • Edit the hierarchy rule by clicking Edit.
  • Delete the hierarchy rule by clicking Delete > OK.
  • Run the hierarchy rule by clicking Run.
  • Simulate the hierarchy rule execution by clicking Simulate.
  • Restore relations by clicking Restore relations and providing the restore date.
  • Toggle back to the list of log details by clicking Show log.
  • View the change information for each entry by clicking . The Detected changes page displays Id, Timestamp, Type, Structureid Entity type, Objname, DSobjname, Description, Location, Parentship type, Visible in the tree, Structureid parent, and DSobjname parent details for a duplicate object relationship. You can also view the strong and weak lookup details by clicking Show lookup details. You can hide these details by clicking Hide lookup details.

Predefined hierarchy templates

The following table lists the readily available hierarchies available in BMC Helix Capacity Optimization.