Integrating with CA APM

Use the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations CA APM connector to collect alerts and metrics data from CA APM, and view the collected data in BMC Helix Operations Management and derive actionable insights.

As a tenant administrator, perform the following steps to configure a connection with CA APM, verify the connection, and view the collected event and metric data in various BMC Helix applications.

Supported versions

This connector supports the version 10.7 SP3 of CA APM for data collection.

Plan for the connection

• Choose the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations deployment mode and review the corresponding port requirements. For information about various deployment modes and port requirements, see Deployment scenarios.
• Based on the deployment mode, either use BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations or deploy the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway. For more information, see Deploying the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway.

To configure a connection with CA APM

1. In BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, on the CONNECTORS  tab, click in the SOURCES panel.

2. Click the CA APMtile.
3. Specify the following details for the source connection:
   1. Specify the CA APM host name.
   2. Specify the CA HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol. The default port number is 8081.
   3. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the CA APM host. Select this option when the protocol is https.
   4. Enter the user name and password for the CA APM host.
   5. Enter the token.
      For more information about tokens, see APM REST API .
   6. Click Proxy and specify if you want to configure a proxy server. If yes, specify the host name and port number (default value is 8888).
4. Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
   The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list.

5. Select the source connection that you created from the list if it is not selected already.
   

   Important

   The destination host connection is created and configured automatically for each tenant when the source connection is created.

6. Ensure that the options for the datatypes for which you want to collect data are selected.

7. Configure the collectors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Collectors section. Specify the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
   Note: The  symbol indicates that this field is applicable to the data type.
   

   Parameter name and description	Data Type
   	CA APM Alerts	CA APM Metrics
   Collection Schedule Specify the data collection frequency (in minutes). Default: 5 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins.  Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected every 5 mins, first at 00:30 and next at 00:35, and so on. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data collection schedule.
   Data Collection Window Specify the historical time period (in minutes) from the current time for which the data should be collected from Microsoft SCOM.  Default: 5 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Data Collection Window is set to 5 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected first at 00:30 for the interval, 00:25 - 00:30, and next at 00:35 for the interval, 00:30 - 00:35, and so on. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data collection window.
   Data Latency Specify the time (in minutes) by which the data time window should be shifted back on the timeline. This parameter is useful in delayed data availability situations. Default: 0 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Data Collection Window is set to 10 mins. Data Latency is set to 2 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected first at 00:30 for the interval, 00:18 to 00:28 and next at 00:35 for the interval, 0:23 to 00:33, and so on. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data latency.
   Extract alerts for agents Select one or more agents for which you want to collect alerts.
   Host Contains Specify a string to select the hosts containing that string in their names for alert collection. For example, if you specify pun as the string, alerts are collected from the following hosts: austin-pun, hou-pun
   Severity Select one or more severity levels from the following list: Caution Danger No Data Ok This list of severities is updated automatically from CA APM.
   Extract metrics from these hosts Select one or more hosts from the list from which you want to collect metrics. This list of metrics is updated automatically from CA APM.
   Agents, Host Regex Specify a | (pipe)-separated regular expression for agents and hosts. Metrics from the agents and hosts that match the regular expression are collected. For example, if you specify *clm*|.*., the metrics from all agents containing clm in their names are collected. Note: If you have selected a set of hosts from the Extract metrics from these hosts field and specified a regular expression in this field, metrics are collected from the hosts that are selected from the field and the hosts that match the regular expression.
   Metrics Regex Specify a regular expression for metrics. The metrics that match this regular expression are collected. For example, if you specify Available Threads.*|.*Bytes In Use in this field, the data will be collected for the Available Threads and Bytes In Use metrics.

8. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.

9. Configure the distributors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Distributors section. Specify the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
   

   Parameter name and description
   Max Batching Size Specify the maximum number of data items to send in a single POST request to the destination API. The batch size depends on the destination’s ability to buffer the incoming data. Default: 250
   Max Batching Delay Specify the maximum time (in seconds) to wait before building a batch and processing. Default: 3 seconds
   Base Retry Delay Specify the initial time (in seconds) for which to wait before retrying to build a batch and processing. The waiting time increases in the following sequence: n1, n2, n3, and so on, where n indicates the number of seconds. Default: 2 seconds Example: Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds. Retry is performed after 2, 4, 8, 16, ... seconds.
   Max Intra-Retry Delay Specify the maximum limit for the base retry delay.  Default: 60 seconds Example: Max Intra-Retry Delay is set to 60 seconds. Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds. Retries are performed 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64,... seconds later again.
   Max Retry Duration Specify the total time for retrying a delivery. For REST destinations, a delivery is a batch of data items in one POST request.  Default: 5 minutes Example: Max Retry Duration is set to 8 hours. Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds. Requests are sent for 2+4+8+16+32+64+132... until 8 hours in total duration is reached. After that, no subsequent attempts are made to retry the delivery. The assumption here is that if there is an outage or other issue with the destination tool, recovery should take less than the value of the Max Retry Duration parameter to be completed.

   
   
10. Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.
11. Click one of the following buttons:
    
    • SAVE STREAM : Click this button if you want to edit the integration details before creating the instance. After you save the stream, the connector that you just created is listed in the SOURCES panel. Move the slider to the right to start the data stream.
    • SAVE AND START STREAM : Click this button if you want to save the integration details and start receiving data immediately.

          For more information about the data streams, see Starting or stopping data streams.

To verify the connection

From BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, on the SOURCES panel, confirm that the data streams for the connection you created are running. Data streaming is indicated by moving colored arrows.

• A moving blue arrow (  ) indicates that the event stream is running. Event data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.
• A moving red arrow ( ) indicates that the metric stream is running. Metric data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.

To view data in BMC Helix applications

View data collected from CA APM in multiple BMC Helix applications.

To view events in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Events.
2. Filter the events by the CA_APM_Alert class.
   

Incoming events from CA APM are processed in BMC Helix Operations Management through a set of deduplication rules to determine whether the incoming event is a duplicate event or a new event. For more information, see Event deduplication and suppression for reducing event noise.

For more information about events, see Monitoring and managing events .

To view metrics in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Devices.
2. Click the links for the required device.
3. On the Monitors tab, click the required monitor.
   The Performance Overview tab shows the metrics graph.
   
   

For information about metrics, see Viewing collected data.

Mapping between CA APM and BMC Helix Operations Management

The following table shows the mapping between CA APM and BMC Helix Operations Management: