Integrating with Micro Focus NNMi to collect events and topology

Micro Focus NNMi provides the ability to monitor the physical and virtual networks. By using NNMi, view the network fault, availability, and performance in your network infrastructure.

Configure an integration with  Micro Focus NNMi, to view the event and topology data from Micro Focus NNMi in BMC Helix Operations Management and BMC Helix Discovery and derive actionable insights.

As a tenant administrator, perform the following steps to configure a connection with Micro Focus NNMi , verify the connection, and view the collected data in various BMC products.

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 Micro Focus NNMi

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

2. Click the Micro Focus NNMi Events tile.
3. Specify the following details for the source connection:

   1. Specify a unique instance name.
      

      Important

      We recommend that you specify the instance name in the following format:

      <sourceType>_<sourceControllerServerName>{_<InstanceQualifier>}

      The instance qualifier helps you to distinguish the multiple instances configured from the same source server. For example, you can name your instances as NNMi_Host_PROD, NNMi_Host_TEST, and so on.

      
      

   2. Specify the Micro Focus NNMi host name.
   3. Specify the Micro Focus NNMi  HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol (default value is 10018).

   4. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the Micro Focus NNMi   host.

   5. Specify the number of maximum concurrent REST API requests that should be executed during a collection schedule (default value is 5).
   6. Specify the user name and password. Ensure that the specified user can access the Micro Focus NNMi REST API.
   7. Click Proxy and specify whether 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. Click a data type and specify the configuration parameters in the Collectors section as described in the following table:

   Parameter Name	Data Type
   	NNMi Events	NNMi Topology
   Collection Schedule Specify the data collection frequency (in minutes). Default: 5 minutes for events collection, 60 minutes for topology collection 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. 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.
   Nature Select all or a subset of natures from the list. This list of nature is updated automatically from Micro Focus NNMi .
   Source Select all or a subset of sources from the list. This list of source is updated automatically from Micro Focus NNMi.		Not Applicable
   Severity Select all or a subset of severities from the list. This list of severities is updated automatically from Micro Focus NNMi .
   Max Items Returned Specify the value for the maximum number of items returned. Default value: 1000.
   Excluded Security Groups Select all or a subset of groups for which you don't want to collect events. This list of security groups is updated automatically from Micro Focus NNMi.
   Source Node Name Allowlist Specify the source node name allowlist.

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

9. Click a data type and specify the configuration parameters in the Distributors section as described 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 type.
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 data streams, see Starting or stopping data streams.

To verify the integration

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

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

To view events in BMC Helix Operations Management

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

Incoming events from Micro Focus NNMi 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 the topology data in BMC Helix Discovery

In BMC Helix Discovery, select Explore > Data, and click <count> Import Records in the Miscellaneous section. The Import Record List page shows the CI records received from Micro Focus NNMi. For information about records, see Managing your IT infrastructure .

To view services and situations in BMC Helix AIOps

Before you view services and situations in BMC Helix AIOps, create a Business Service model in BMC Helix Discovery. For information about creating models, see Creating a model .  

In BMC Helix AIOps, on the Overview page to view the services and situations for the event and topology data received from Micro Focus NNMi.  For information about situations, see Monitoring and investigating situations .