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BMC Helix Integration Service

With BMC Helix Integration Service, you can easily design and automate event-driven tasks across applications.

Release notes and notices

updated 21 Feb

This section covers new features, enhancements, and changes in BMC Helix Integration Service.

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If you are using or developing on-premises connectors, we recommend updating your production and development sites every time new features are released.

The following updates have been added since the release of the space:

Date	Release	Summary
February 22, 2019	20.02	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: Support for BMC Helix Operations Management in Proactive Service Resolution Improved usability in BMC Helix Integration Studio Conditional mapping enhancements Ability to use the same email for multiple users
November 22, 2019	19.11	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: Proactive Service Resolution (PSR) with BMC Helix Integration Service New options for designing flows Ability to restart connectors Improved usability in BMC Helix Integration Studio Ability to remove the BMC Helix Integration Service signature from Gmail notifications
August 22, 2019	19.08	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: An improved JIRA Service Desk connector to support attachments Ability to delete custom connectors from BMC Helix Integration Studio New transformation options to design flows Ability to apply custom schemes to existing flows Password reset option for end users in BMC Helix Integration Studio Enhanced BMC Helix Integration Service user interface
May 31, 2019	19.05	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: HTTP proxy support for custom connectors BMC command-line utility for testing connectors Validation utility for running Docker health checks Improved feedback for addressing connector-related errors New out-of-the-box Azure Alerts connector in BMC Helix Integration Studio Sandbox for testing Salesforce and Remedyforce connectors Debugger for troubleshooting flows Support for flows with long-running actions
February 28, 2019	19.02	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: Support for an attachment data type for connector development purposes The ability to initiate personal flows on demand Support for additional PUT, PATCH and DELETE API methods in BMC Helix Connector Designer Aggregation of system events in Flow Timeline Port parameters in general connector settings set to optional Best practices guidance for developers who create custom connectors in BMC Helix Connector Designer
November 28, 2018	18.11	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: The ability to create, configure, and manage tenant-level flows The ability to see the origin of a mapped field while creating flows with multiple actions Support for a string array data type for connector development purposes Various error messaging improvements that allow admin users to troubleshoot issues more efficiently
September 7, 2018	18.08	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: Integration Controller failover support for high availability The ability to create flows with multiple actions The ability to apply configuration-specific transformations in flows The ability to compare flows during an upgrade
June 6, 2018	18.05	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: The ability to copy a flow The ability to transform multiple source values to a mapped target value General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance (refer to BMC Support site) Support for custom schema fields for flows created from a catalog flow (flows created from scratch already support this feature) Error messaging improvements
March 26, 2018	18.02	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: The ability to publish a personal flow as a new catalog flow or an update to an existing catalog flow The ability to upgrade personal flows from an updated catalog flow or a newer copy of the same personal flow
February 28, 2018	17.11	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including: Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 7.3 and later) Connector error messaging improvements (notably, a new notification for retry timeouts)
November 30, 2017	17.08	This update to BMC Helix Integration Service includes various defect fixes and enhancements, including two new filters for Remedy ITSM and JIRA trigger fields: is one of is not one of
August 31, 2017	17.05	BMC Helix Integration Service released. The product consists of three components: BMC Helix Integration Studio, BMC Helix Connector Designer, and Integration Controller. End users and tenant administrators can use BMC Helix Integration Studio to design flows. Developers and integration specialists can use BMC Helix Connector Designer to create custom connectors for third-party services and applications. Tenant administrators can set up Integration Controller on an on-premises production server to allow connector integrations.

Getting started

Designing and maintaining flows

Start integrating connectors in a user-friendly interface

Developing connectors

Develop custom connectors for third-party products and services

Managing users

Administer user access

Configuring connectors

Configure connectors and set permissions, so that connectors can connect to third-party applications and services

Installing and configuring sites to run on-premises connectors

Manage sites for your on-premises connectors

Troubleshooting

Common issues and contacting Support

Communities

Get in touch with peers and experts.

Join the Integration Service group on BMC Communities.

PDFs and videos

This topic describes and links to PDFs and videos that support this product release. If the ready-made PDFs of this space do not satisfy your requirements, you can export a custom PDF.

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You can create a custom PDF for a specific topic, a topic and its children, or a group of topics with a specific label. For information about how you can export a custom PDF from this space, see Exporting to PDF and other formats.

Videos

Videos are available in the following areas:

Getting started videos

Getting started videos

The following topics in the Getting started section contain videos that supplement or replace the text-based documentation:

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Orientation

FAQs and additional resources

This topic provides information that supplements the BMC Helix Integration Service documentation.

Related topics

Getting started

PDFs and videos

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions about BMC Helix Integration Service

This section provides answers to the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about BMC Helix Integration Service.

Why do I use BMC Helix Integration Service?

BMC Helix Integration Service is a cloud-based solution that enables you to design and automate event-driven tasks across applications. You can connect multiple applications in a single flow, and configure the flow to accomplish a task or a set of tasks required for achieving your business goal.

You can integrate applications running in the cloud, on-premises, or a combination of both. If a particular connector does not exist, or an existing connector does not meet your specific business requirements, you can build it from scratch or customize it to fit your needs.

The BMC Helix Integration Service product set includes the following components:

BMC Helix Integration Studio to configure connectors and design flows
BMC Helix Connector Designer to develop, build, and deploy custom connectors
Integration Controller to connect with the applications or services that run on-premises

For more information about BMC Helix Integration Service, see Getting started.

What do I need to install to use BMC Helix Integration Service?

BMC Helix Integration Studio is a cloud application and does not require to be installed. After you receive your access credentials, you can start using BMC Helix Integration Studio to configure out-of-the-box connectors and design flows with these connectors. However, if you want to develop custom connectors, you must set up the connector development environment by installing Docker, BMC Helix Connector Designer, and Integration Controller. For more information, see Installing and setting up the connector development environment.

What type of flows can I design in BMC Helix Integration Studio?

In BMC Helix Integration Studio, you can design multiple flows for automatically performing various business tasks by using the required combinations of triggers and actions of the available connectors.

You can design personal, tenant-level, and catalog flows. Additionally, you can design flows with multiple actions. For more information, see Designing and maintaining flows.

Who can view and use the flows that I design?

The visibility of the flows depends on the flow type:

If you design a personal flow, only you can view and use the flow.
If you convert your personal flow to a tenant-level flow, all administrators in your tenant can view, use, and manage the flow.
If you publish your personal flow to the catalog, a copy of your personal flow is created, and all users in your tenant can use the catalog flow as a template for designing their personal flows. Your original personal flow remains visible only to you.

For more information, see Adding or copying flows and Publishing or using flows.

How often do the flows run?

The frequency of flow runs depends on the connector configuration. While configuring a connector, you can specify how often you want the connector triggers to be checked. For example, if you configure the setting to check a trigger every 30 minutes, a flow that contains this trigger will be triggered every 30 minutes (if the triggering conditions are met). For more information, see Adding throttling controls.

Additionally, you can initiate a flow on demand for testing purposes. For more information, see Activating or enabling flows.

If I face any issues with a flow, how can I know what exactly is wrong?

To resolve the issues related to flows, you can use the flow debugger and review the common troubleshooting scenarios. For more information, see Troubleshooting flow issues.

What logs can I access in BMC Helix Integration Service?

For troubleshooting purposes, you can view connector logs and Integration controller logs. For more information, see Troubleshooting BMC Helix Connector Designer issues and Troubleshooting Integration Controller issues.

Frequently asked questions about connector development and configuration

This section provides answers to the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about connector development and configuration in BMC Helix Integration Service.

What connectors are available in BMC Helix Integration Studio?

BMC Helix Integration Studio includes the default connectors, such as JIRA, GitHub, or Gmail, which you can use out of the box. To view the full list of these connectors, see Out-of-the-box connectors. Additionally, you can develop custom connectors. For more information, see Developing connectors.

Can I develop my own connectors and use them in BMC Helix Integration Studio?

Yes, you can develop custom connectors by using BMC Helix Connector Designer or by coding them manually. After developing custom connectors, you can deploy them to BMC Helix Integration Studio and use them to design flows. For more information, see Developing connectors and Best practices for connector development.

What programming language should I use to develop custom connectors?

BMC Helix Connector Designer currently supports Java and JavaScript. You must use one of these programming languages to develop custom connectors. You can also use any helper node modules or JAR files.

Is it possible to connect my on-premises applications to the cloud applications?

Yes, you can connect on-premises applications to the cloud by using Integration Controller.

Integration Controller safely and securely communicates with the BMC Helix Integration Service cloud by establishing an outbound connection on port 61600. The connection from Integration Controller to the BMC Helix Integration Service cloud is encrypted via Transport Layer Security (TLS). You do not need to open any inbound ports in your corporate firewall.

For more information, see Installing and configuring sites to run on-premises connectors.

How do I verify my connector development environment?

You must review the system requirements for all required components. For more information, see Installing and setting up the connector development environment.

After you set up the environment, use the validation utility to run health checks and ensure that the environment is set up correctly. For more information, see Validating the connector development environment.

Can I test my custom connectors before deploying them to production?

Yes, you can test newly built or existing custom connectors to check the generated code for errors. Run the BMC command-line utility before deploying the connectors to production instances. For more information, see Testing connectors.

I have developed a custom connector. How do I configure it?

Although you develop, build, and deploy custom connectors in BMC Helix Connector Designer, you must configure the connectors in BMC Helix Integration Studio. For more information, see Configuring connectors.

Why do I see different configuration parameters for different connectors?

This is the expected behavior since the connection details might differ for different third-party or BMC application to which you are connecting. If a connector does not need additional connection details to connect to a third-party system, no additional connection details are requested in BMC Helix Integration Studio. For example, some connectors do not require authentication to connect to a third-party system; therefore, you do not need to create a connector account.

Configuration settings that are not required for a particular connector are not displayed for the connector in the BMC Helix Integration Studio UI.

Frequently asked questions about using BMC Helix Integration Service with other BMC products

How is BMC Helix Integration Service related to BMC Helix Platform?

As a customer or a partner, if you use BMC Helix Platform or a supported product, and you sign up for the developer program , an integration account is created for you. With this account, you can use the BMC Helix Integration Service tools.

In BMC Helix Platform, you can use the connectors available in BMC Helix Integration Studio to create processes and rules to enable integrations between applications without coding.

How do I use BMC Helix Integration Service to set up Proactive Service Resolution (PSR)?

You can use the out-of-the box TrueSight Ops Mgmt for PSR and ITSM for PSR connectors. Additionally, you can use the PSR catalog flows that are available in your BMC Helix Integration Studio instance by default.

For more information about PSR, see Proactive Service Resolution with BMC Helix Integration Service and Use case: Automatic incident management.

For more information about setting up PSR, see Setting up Proactive Service Resolution to enable automatic incident management.

Additional resources from BMC

The following BMC sites provide information outside the BMC Helix Integration Service documentation that you might find helpful:

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Last modified by Lisa Greene on Nov 23, 2019

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