Creating BMC Helix ITSM incidents from alerts in Azure Monitor by using BMC Helix iPaaS

As an administrator, you can integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Azure Monitor to create a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure alert. You can also update the status of an alert from the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM incident. 

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, along with BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit provides an out-of-the-box integration template that you use to integrate BMC Helix ITSM and Azure Monitor. You configure the integration in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker and deploy the template to your BMC Helix iPaaS environment.

This integration provides the following capabilities:

The following image gives an overview of the capabilities that this integration supports:

Before you begin

Make sure that you have the following items:

• A valid  BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit  subscription.
• Administrator access to the Azure Monitor service.
• BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker and BMC Helix ITSM users have the administrator permissions to run this integration.
• Configure webhooks for Azure alerts.

• From the Electronic Product Distribution site, download the Create_BMC_Helix_ITSM_incident_from_Microsoft_Azure_alert.json project file to your system.

Azure Monitor to BMC Helix ITSM data flow

BMC Helix ITSM to Azure Monitor status change flow

Task 1: To perform configurations in Quick Configuration Guide

To integrate BMC Helix ITSM incidents with Azure alerts, you must first select the integration feature in Quick Configuration Guide, add vendor metadata, and configure a webhook for Azure alert.

Task 1.1: To perform the basic configurations

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
2. On Workspace, click Multi-Cloud Broker.

3. To launch BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, on the top-right corner of the page, click Visit Deployed Application.
   

   Tip

   You can access BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker directly by entering the URL https://hostName:portNumber/helix/index.html#/com.bmc.dsm.mcsm/login and logging in as a tenant administrator.

4. Click Settings .
5. Select Start Here > Quick Configuration Guide.
   The Quick Configuration Guide page is displayed.

6. In the Step 1: Choose configuration tab, perform the following steps:

   Important

   In Choose Configuration, Helix iPaaS (powered by Jitterbit) is selected by default. Do not change this value.

   1. Under Notification, select Azure Alerts to ITSM Incident.
   2. Click Next.
7. In the Step 2: Perform configurations tab, perform the following steps:
   1. Add an operating organization, if you have not already done so.
   2. Add Microsoft as the vendor organization, if you have not already done so.
   3. To add vendor metadata, click Map vendors and perform the following steps:
      1. On the Map Vendors page, click Map Vendor.

      2. Complete the fields as described in the following table:

         Field	Action
         Description	Enter a description for the vendor metadata configuration.
         Ticketing Technology Provider	From the list, select Azure Alerts.
         (Optional) Instance Name	You do not need to enter any value in this variable.
         Add Mapping	After you select the ticketing technology provider, click Add Mapping. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker displays the default values in the Instance URL field and the Display Field Mapping section.
         Instance URL	If you have clicked Add Mapping, this field is auto-populated. You do not need to change the URL.
         Display Field Mapping	By default, the basic Azure Monitor fields are mapped in this section. If you want to map additional fields to display in the BMC Helix ITSM UI, add the relevant mappings by clicking .
         Enable Local ITSM Communication	By default, this toggle key is enabled.  If you want to use BMC Helix Integration Service as the underlying integration platform, disable this toggle key.

      3. Click Save.
         The following image shows the fields displayed in the Map New Vendor pane for Azure Monitor:
         

Task 1.2: To configure a webhook for an Azure alert

1. Log in to Microsoft Azure.
2. Select Home > Alerts > Rules.

3. Based on the type of webhook that you want to configure, perform the following steps:

   Type of webhook	Steps
   Basic webhook	In the Webhook panel, set Secure webhook to No. In URL, enter the URL to the BMC Helix iPaaS API that you are using. Set Common Alert Schema to Yes. The following image shows a sample basic webhook action:
   Secure webhook	If you have not already done, register the app . After you have registered your app, you can find the Object ID in the Overview tab. You will also need Application ID and Tenant ID for configuration in the Azure Alerts connector. In the Overview tab, copy Object ID of your registered app. In the Webhook panel, set Secure webhook to Yes. Paste the Object ID that you copied from the registered app. In URL, enter the URL to the BMC Helix iPaaS API that you are using. Set Common Alert Schema to Yes. The following image shows a sample secure webhook action:

   To know more, see the  Azure Monitor  documentation.

Task 2: To download and import the integration template project file

1. Log in to BMC Helix iPaaS and navigate to the Cloud Studio.
2. Select your organization.
3. On the projects page, click Import.

4. Click Browse to navigate to and select the JSON file that you downloaded from the Electronic Product Distribution site.
   The Project Name and Organization fields are automatically populated depending on the values defined. 

5. From the Environment list, select the environment to which you want to import this integration template, and click Import.
   The project opens after the integration template is imported. The default project name is displayed. You can change the project name.
6. To open the project file at a later time, select the environment where the integration templates are available, select the project name, and click View/Edit.

Task 3: To update the project variables for the integration template

1. Click ... next to the Environment name and select Project Variables.
2. Update the project variables as described in the following tables:

   • BMC Helix iPaaS variables
     

     Project variable	Value
     BHIP_API_NAME	The default value of this variable is set to BMCHelixAzureAlertsITSMIncident. If required, you can change the name.
     BHIP_API_User_Roles	Specify the organization roles that should have access to the new API. You can add multiple comma separated values. Important: If you do not specify any value, all the organization roles get access to the new API.
     BHIP_MCSM_API_Profile_Username	The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker. Enter the user name that should be used while creating the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker API profile.
     BHIP_MCSM_API_Profile_Password	The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker. Enter the password that should be used while creating the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker API profile.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type	The default value of this variable is OAuth. You must not change the value.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Username	You do not need to enter any values in these variables.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Password
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_ApiKey_Name
     BHIP_Host	Enter the BMC Helix iPaaS instance URL where you want to run this project.
     BHIP_Username	Enter the user name for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     BHIP_Password	Enter the password for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     Enable_BMC_Helix_To_Vendor_Integration	By default, this variable is enabled. Important: This variable updates the status of an alert when the corresponding incident status is changed to In Progress, Resolved, or Closed.
     Enable_Vendor_To_BMC_Helix_Integration	By default, this variable is enabled. Important: This variable enables the creation of a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure alert. It also updates the status of the alert from the incident.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_OAUTH_PROVIDER	The default value of this variable is Azure AD. If you use a different authentication provider, refer to the documentation of that provider to configure the variable.
     BHIP_Vendor_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID	Enter the client ID for your Azure Monitor instance only if you have provided the following values in the variables: BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type—OAuth BHIP_Vendor_API_OAUTH_PROVIDER—Azure AD
     BHIP_Vendor_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET	Enter the client secret for your Azure Monitor instance only if you have provided the following values in the variables: BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type—OAuth BHIP_Vendor_API_OAUTH_PROVIDER—Azure AD

     Important

     To configure the OAuth variables, see Azure AD OAuth 2.0 API Security Profile in the Jitterbit documentation.

   • BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker variables

     Project variable	Value
     MCSM_Host	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker host URL in the following format:  [http/https]://[hostname]:[port]
     MCSM_Username	Enter the user name that enables users to interact with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     MCSM_Password	Enter the password for the provided username.
     MCSM_Vendor_Name	This variable is autopopulated. You must not change the value.

     The following variables are inputs from BMC Helix ITSM. Either enter values for these variables or map the appropriate Azure Monitor fields if the data is available:

     Project variable	Value
     ITSM_Company_Name	Enter the company name for which the integration template needs to be run. For example, Calbro Services
     ITSM_Customer_First_name	Enter the first name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
     ITSM_Customer_Last_Name	Enter the last name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
     ITSM_Incident_Type	Enter any of the following incident types that you want to create: User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure Event Security Incident

Task 4: To deploy and enable the project

1. To deploy the integration after you update the project variables, on the project page, click . 
   Deployment is a one-time activity that initializes the integration configurations. The UI displays a message for the deployment status.

2. After successfully deploying the integration, select the Enable Integration workflow.
3. Click ...  next to the Enable Integration element and select Run.

(Optional) Task 5: To set the API debug mode

By default, the debug mode is set to 2 hours after you run the integration. Debug logs are updated for the time set for the debug mode. To increase the debug mode for a longer period of time, perform the following steps:

1. In BMC Helix iPaaS, select API Manager > My APIs.

2. Open any of the following APIs:

   • BMC_Helix_Azure_Alerts_ITSM_Incident_MCSM_To_Vendor—This API is used to synchronize the status updates from a BMC Helix ITSM incident to an Azure alert.
   • BMC_Helix_Azure_Alerts_ITSM_Incident_Vendor_To_MCSM—This API is used to create a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure alert.

3. Select Enable Debug Mode Until: and set it for the required date and time.

4. Save and publish the API.

Related topics

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker overview

Reference of integration between BMC Helix ITSM and Azure Monitor by using BMC Helix iPaaS