Integrating with Micro Focus NNMi to collect metrics

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 metric data from Micro Focus NNMi in BMC Helix Operations Management 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 integrate 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 Metrics 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 metrics host name.
   3. Specify the Micro Focus NNMi SFTP port number depending on the connection protocol (default value is 80).
   4. Select the SFTP option to use an SFTP connection to the Micro Focus NNMi  host.
   5. Specify the directory in which metric files are stored on the Micro Focus NNMi  host. 
   6. Specify whether you want to skip the connection check to the Micro Focus NNMi host.
   7. Specify the user name and password. Ensure that the specified user can access the Micro Focus NNMi REST API.
   8. Specify the time (in minutes) after which connection should timeout and no further attempts should be made to connect to the Micro Focus NNMi host.
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 and description
   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.
   Metric Files Directory Specify the directory in which metric files are stored on the Micro Focus NNMi  host. Important: This path should be the same that you have provided in step 3(e) while configuring the source connection.
   Metric Files Done Directory The path in which processed metric files are to be moved to prevent reprocessing of the same data.
   Delete files when done Select this option if you want the processed files to be deleted rather than moving them to a new location.
   Metric Categories Select the categories for which you want to collect metric data. This list of categories is updated automatically from Micro Focus NNMi.
   Jobs Select all or a subset of jobs from the list. This list of jobs is updated automatically from Micro Focus NNMi.

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 metric stream is running. Metric data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.

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 .