Configuring BMC Helix ITSM connector for Proactive Service Resolution

As an administrator, you have the choice to use the cloud or on-premises deployment of BMC Helix ITSM while configuring Proactive Service Resolution. Depending on your organization's choice of the application, the steps to configure the solution change.

For connecting to an on-premises deployment, you download and install the remote plugin provided by BMC Helix Intelligent Automation. 

Before you begin

Before you configure the on-premises connector, ensure that you the following conditions are met: 

• The server where you want to run and install the remote plugin matches the minimum requirements. 
  For more information, see System requirements.

• (For Linux) The GCC G++ compiler version is 5.4.0 or later. 

   Click here to do the steps before you run the plugin

  1. Install and update GCC version 5.4.0 or later.

  2. Run the following command to unlink the current version.

     sudo unlink /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6

  3. Run the following command to copy the new version.

     sudo cp /usr/local/lib64/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/lib64

Task 1: To create a plugin key

1. Click Connectors > Plugin Keys tab.
2. Click Create Plugin Key and do the following steps: 
   1. (Optional) Enter a new name for the plugin with which you want to associate the plugin key.

   2. (Optional) Update the expiry date for the plugin key.
      By default, a plugin key expires in 90 days. To ensure that the connector is running, you can extend the date before it expires.

   3. Click Download Plugin Key.
      A creds.json file gets downloaded. 

      Warning

      If you close the Create Plugin Key panel before downloading the key, you cannot download and use the plugin key. Instead, you need to create a new plugin key.

3. Click Save.
   The plugin and the associated plugin key appear on the Plugins page.

Task 2: To download the plugin

You can download and run a plugin on a Linux or a Microsoft Windows server. This server should be accessible from the computer where the automation tool or application is installed. 

1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and click Configure.
2. Select BMC Helix ITSM and click the download & install link to download the remote-restapi-plugin.zip file.
   
   
   
3. Continue with the next steps.

Task 3: To create credentials

A plugin requires credentials to authenticate and execute various actions on the target applications that are defined in an automation policy. The credential CLI utility enables you to create, search, update, and delete credentials for a plugin. 

This server should be accessible from the server where the on-premise application is installed.

1. Navigate to the directory where you have extracted the remote-restapi-plugin.zip file.
   The remote-restapi-plugin directory contains credential.sh/credentials.bat file.
2. Ensure that the credentials file has execute permissions.

3. Run the following command to create credentials for the BMC Helix ITSM connector.

   Sample command for Microsoft Windows

   credential.bat create -n <connectorName> -i <itsm_rest_api_root_url> -p <providerName> -a cookie

   Example command for Microsoft Windows

   credential.bat create -n helix_itsm -i https://itsm.bmc.com -p HELIX_ITSM -a cookie

   Sample command for Linux

   /credential.sh create -n <connectorName> -i <itsm_rest_api_root_url> -p <providerName> -a cookie

4. Enter the values for the following parameters when prompted:
   

   Parameter	Value
   api key	Enter Authorization
   login required (y/n)	Enter y
   login url	Enter the BMC Helix ITSM REST API login URL Example: https://itsm.bmc.com/api/jwt/login
   username	Enter the administrator username, which also has permissions to create incidents in BMC Helix ITSM
   password	Enter the password that matches the username.
   authentication parameter	Enter AR-JWT
   location ("header", "query" or "cookie")	Enter cookie

   If the credentials are created successfully, a message appears.

5. (Optional) If you want to create credentials in a single step, skip step 4, create a JSON file, which contains all the credentials required for configuring the connector, and run the following command:
   

    Click here to view the sample JSON file

   {
       "auth": {
           "access_token": "Authorization",
           "bearer_parameter": "AR-JWT",
           "login_action": {
               "https://itsm.bmc.com/api/jwt/login": {
                   "post": {
                       "parameters": [],
                       "body": {
                           "content": {
                               "application/json": {
                                   "username": "admin",
                                   "password": "******"
                               }
                           }
                       }
                   }
               }
           }
       }
   }

   Sample command for Microsoft Windows

   credential.bat create -n <connectorName> -i <hostname> -p <providerName> -a cookie -f <locationforJSONfile>

   Example for Microsoft Windows

   credential.bat create -n itsm123 -i https://itsm.bmc.com -p HELIX_ITSM -a cookie -f C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Downloads\\auth_json_file_itsm.json

   If the credentials are created successfully, a message appears.

Task 4: To start and run the plugin as a service

If a remote plugin is installed as a service, you can start, stop, or restart it as any other service. BMC recommends that you run the plugin as a service as against running it as a batch or shell process. You can run remote plugin as a service only on Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Enterprise and CentOS 7 operating systems.

Before running a plugin as a service, ensure that the following prerequisites are fulfilled:

• You have administrative or root privileges on the host where the plugin is extracted.

• The host where the plugin is available is also accessible from the host where the application is installed.

To run plugin as a service:

1. Navigate to the directory where you have extracted the remote-restapi-plugin.zip file.
2. Run the install.bat (for Microsoft Windows) or install.sh (for Linux) command.
   You can also use the install.bat install command. The plugin now runs as a service.

If a service is installed successfully, in the list of services available in the Microsoft Windows Service Manager, the remote restapi plugin service is displayed. On Linux servers, if you run the install.sh status command, a system process with the name BMC remote-restapi-plugin appears.

After the connector is set up, the status on the Proactive Service Resolution page is shown as Connected.

Where to go from here

Now that you have successfully configured the connection with BMC Helix ITSM, perform the next steps to complete configuring  Proactive Service Resolution. See Configuring Proactive Service Resolution for incidents