Note

 

This documentation supports the 20.15.02 version of BMC Remedyforce.

To view the latest or an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Managing CMDB classes

Remedyforce CMDB contains a set of out-of-the-box CMDB classes that store information about the configuration items (CIs). CMDB classes contain a default set of attributes and each attribute corresponds to a field in the Base Element object. Depending on the CI information you want to store, you can customize the CMDB class attributes. In BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0, if the out-of-the-box CMDB classes do not meet your requirements to store information about a CI, you can add a custom CMDB class from the UI. You can add custom CMDB classes for the CI classes only, and not for CI relationship classes. You can manage out-of-the-box and custom CMDB classes from the CMDB Classes list view page.

The following topics contain information about managing CMDB classes:

Before you begin

Before you can manage the attributes (field set and fields) of CMDB classes, you must have a remote site setting configured once. If no such setting exists, you must create one. Otherwise, you are required to perform additional manual steps to manage the CMDB class attributes.

To verify the remote site setting configuration

  1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
  2. On the Home page, click the Manage Objects tile, and from the menu select Create and Edit Objects.

To create the remote site setting configuration

  1. From the Create and Edit Objects tab, perform the following actions:
    1. Copy the value provided for Remote Site URL.
    2. Click Salesforce Remote Site Settings.
  2. On the All Remote Sites page, click New Remote Site.
  3. In the Remote Site Name field, enter a name for the remote site.
  4. In the Remote Site URL field, paste the URL that you copied.
  5. Click Save.

To reopen and close the Create and Edit Objects tab

  1. Click on the Remedyforce Administration tab.
  2. On the Home page, click the Manage Objects tile, and from the menu, select Create and Edit Objects
  3. Close the Create and Edit Objects tab.

To access the CMDB Classes list view page

You use the CMDB Classes list view page to manage the out-of-the-box and custom CMDB classes.

  1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
  2. On the Home page, click the Application Settings tile, and from the menu, select CMDB Classes.

    Field

    Description

    New

    Enables you to create a custom CMDB class.

    Delete

    Enables you to delete a selected custom CMDB class only. You cannot delete out-of-the-box CMDB classes
    Note: You cannot delete a custom CMDB classes that contains CIs or subclasses. To be able to delete that CMDB class, you must first delete the associated CIs or subclasses.

    Group by

    By default, this option is set to None. To group the CMDB classes list view, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

    Search

    Enables you to search for a CMDB class.

    Undo

    Enables you to undo the previously performed search results.

    Class

    Displays the class name and is a link to the corresponding CMDB Class page.
    Note: If you have entered a display label for a CMDB class, that label, instead of the class name, is displayed in the Class column.

    Superclass

    Displays the superclass (that is, the parent class) of the CMDB classes.
    Note: Because BMC_BaseElement is the highest superclass in the hierarchy, no superclass is displayed for it.

    Display in CMDB

    Displays whether the CMDB class on the Remedyforce CMDB tab is visible or remains hidden.
    For a visible CMDB class, the value is Yes; for a hidden CMDB class, the value is No.

    Abstract

    Displays whether or not the CMDB class is an abstract class.
    For an abstract class, the value is Yes; for a class that contains CIs, the value is No.

    Note: An abstract class organizes subclasses and enables you to add a layer of organization. It contains only attributes; it does not contain CIs.

    Custom

    Displays whether or not a CMDB class is a custom class.
    For a custom CMDB class, the value is Yes; for an out-of-the-box CMDB class, the value is No.

Adding a custom CMDB class

Adding a custom CMDB class involves the following tasks:

  1. Add the class details
  2. Add the class attributes

To add custom CMDB class details

  1. On the CMDB Classes list view page, click .

  2. Complete the following information for the custom CMDB class:

    Field

    Description

    Superclass

    Select the the superclass from the lookup field.
    Note: By default, the UI displays BMC_BaseElement as the superclass.

    Class Name

    Enter a unique class name. The system validates that this name is unique.
    Note: The class name can contain only uppercase and lowercase letters from A through Z, numbers 0 through 9, and the underscore (_) character. It must begin with a letter, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.

    Display Label

    Automatically displays the class name as the display label. You can update it with another unique display label.

    If you update the display label with another unique display label, the updated label is displayed in the Class column of the CMDB Classes list view page and on the Tile, List, and Tree views of the Remedyforce CMDB tab. 

    Note: If an existing configuration (such as, lookup filter, QuickView, validation rule, trigger, or service request definition) does a comparison between the hard coded value of the CMDB class name (for example, BMC_ComputerSystem) and the Class Name field of the base element object, and you update the display label of that CMDB class, that configuration will stop functioning. To make it functional, you must update the configuration in one of the following ways:

    • Instead of the Class Name field, use the Class field of the base element object for comparison.
    • Update the hard coded value of the CMDB class name to the display label of the class.

    For example, if an existing lookup filter compares between the hard coded BMC_ComputerSystem class name and the Class Name field of the base element object, and you update the display label of the class to My_Computer_System, the look up filter will stop functioning. To make it functional, you must perform one of the following actions in the look up filter configuration:

    • Instead of the Class Name field, use the Class field of the base element object for comparison.
    • Update the hard coded value of the BMC_ComputerSystem class name to the My_Computer_System display label.

    Display in CMDB

    By default, the check box is selected and the class is displayed in the Tile, List, and Tree views of the Remedyforce CMDB tab.

    If you clear the check box for a CMDB class, the results are as follows:

    • In the List and Tile views of the Remedyforce CMDB tab, that class is not displayed.
    • In the Tree view of the Remedyforce CMDB tab, that class is not displayed only if it does not have any subclasses. However, if that class has subclasses, the class is disabled.
    • If that class contains CIs, those CIs are still displayed in the List view and in the search results of the Remedyforce CMDB tab.

    Abstract

    By default, the check box is cleared. To create an abstract class, select the Abstract check box.

    Class Icons

    (Optional) By default, the Use Default radio button is selected and the default class and class impacted icons are displayed in the following locations:

      • Tile and List views of the Remedyforce CMDB tab
      • Relationships tab of the Instance Editor
      • CI Explorer

    To replace the default class icon and the class impacted icon with custom images, perform the following steps:

      1. Click the Select Custom radio button.
      2. Next to the Class Icon field, click Browse.
      3. From the Add Image window, select the class icon image file.
      4. Next to the Class Impacted Icon field, click Browse.
      5. From the Add Image window, select the class impacted icon image file.

    Note: The custom image file recommendations are: Format (.JPG, .JPEG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG), Image size (32x32 pixels), and Maximum image file size (5 MB).

  3. Click .

Add the custom CMDB class attributes

When the custom CMDB class record is saved in the adding custom CMDB class details procedure, the Manage Attributes section of the UI appears.

The Managed Attributes section displays the field set label and field set name for the custom CMDB class. When you add the field set to the class, ensure that the field set label and field set name are the same as displayed on the UI. The UI also displays the Field Set and Custom Fields links to add the custom CMDB class attributes.

Note

If you have not completed the instructions in the Before you begin section, the Manage Attributes section of the UI displays the following message instead of the Field Set and Custom Fields links:

You can add the custom fields from Remedyforce Administration -> Manage Objects -> Create and Edit Objects -> Custom Fields and Relationships for Base Element object. 

You can add the Field Set for the class from Remedyforce Administration -> Manage Objects -> Create and Edit Objects -> Field Sets for Base Element object.

You must manually perform the steps mentioned in the message to add the custom CMDB class attributes.

Adding custom CMDB class attributes involves the following tasks:

To add a field set for a custom CMDB class

  1. From the Manage Attributes section of the UI, click the Field Set link.

  2. In the Field Set section of the Base Element object page that opens on a new tab, click New.
  3. In the Field Set Label text box, enter the field set label that is displayed on the Manage Attributes section of the UI.
    In the Field Set Name text box, the field set name is automatically populated. Ensure that the field set name is the same as the one displayed in the Manage Attributes section of the UI.
  4. In the Where is this used? text box, enter a brief description of where and how the field set is used.
  5. Click Save.

To add fields for a custom CMDB class attributes

  1. From the Manage Attributes section of the UI, click the Custom Fields link.

  2. in the Custom Fields & Relationships section of the Base Element object that opens on a new tab, click New.
  3. From the New Custom Field page, add custom fields for the class attributes.
    For more information, see Adding or removing fields on the Instance Editor in CMDB 2.0.

To add fields to a field set for a custom CMDB class

  1. From the Manage Attributes section of the UI, click the Field Set link.
  2. In the Field Set section of the Base Element object page that opens on a new tab, navigate to the corresponding field label.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. From the object palette, drag the fields to the In the Field Set list.
  5. Click Save.

To update an out-of-the-box or custom CMDB class

  1. On the CMDB Classes list view page, click on the CMDB class you want to update.
  2. Update the class details as follows:

    Field

    Details

    Superclass

    To update the superclass of a custom CMDB class:

    1. Click the Superclass lookup.
    2. From the Select From CMDB Classes window, click the required superclass.
      When you select a superclass, its class hierarchy starting from the BMC_BaseElement class is displayed in the UI. 

    Note: You cannot update the superclass of a custom CMDB classes that contains CIs or subclasses. To be able to update the superclass of that custom CMDB class, you must first delete the associated CIs or subclasses. You cannot update the superclass of out-of-the-box CMDB class.

    Class Name

    Displays the CMDB class name and cannot be updated.

    Display Label

    Enter the display label for the class.

    The display label appears on the CMDB Classes list view page and on the Tile, List, and Tree views of the Remedyforce CMDB tab. 

    Note: When you update the display label of a class, it may impact existing configurations that does a comparison between the hard coded value of the CMDB class name and the Class Name field of the base element object. For more information, see this note.

    Display in CMDB

    Select the check box to display the CMDB class in the Remedyforce CMDB tab. If you want to hide the CMDB class from appearing in the Remedyforce CMDB tab, clear the check box.

    For the BMC_BaseElement class, the check box is selected by default and cannot be cleared.

    Note: Even if you hide a CMDB class that contains CIs, those CIs are displayed in the List view and in the search results of the Remedyforce CMDB tab.

    Abstract

    The check box is enabled only for custom CMDB classes; it is disabled for out-of-the-box CMDB classes. Select the check box to assign a custom CMDB class as an abstract class.

    Note: You can update a custom CMDB class to an abstract class only if that class does not contain any CIs.

  3. (Optional) To replace both the default class icon and class impacted icon with custom images, click the Select Custom radio button.

    For more information, see the procedure about replacing the default class and class impacted icons.

  4. To add custom fields for the class attributes, click the Custom Fields link.

    For more information, see the procedure for adding fields for the CMDB class attributes.

  5. To update the field set of the class, perform the following actions:

    1. Click the Field Set link.

    2. In the Field Set section of the Base Element object page, click Edit for the corresponding field label, and then perform one or both of the following actions:
      • To add new fields, drag the fields from the object palette to the In the Field Set list.
      • To delete existing fields from the In the Field Set list, click  next to the fields.
    3. Click Save.
  6. Click .

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