Importing data from BMC Client Management

You can import data from BMC Client Management into BMC Remedyforce by using the Pentaho Data Integration tool. The BMC Remedyforce job files are applicable only if a Microsoft SQL Server data source is used in BMC Client Management.

The following sections are provided:

Before you begin

Before importing data from BMC Client Management, you must meet the following requirements:

Install JRE.
Download the Pentaho Data Integration tool.
Register at the BMC Communities website.

For more information about these procedures, see Prerequisites for importing data to BMC Remedyforce.

KJB and KTR files for importing data from BMC Client Management

In Pentaho, metadata is stored in XML format in the file system as KTR (transformations) or KJB files (jobs). For more information about the Pentaho packages applicable to Remedyforce CMDB 2.0, see Pentaho packages to import data into CMDB 2.0.

A KTR file contains a single transformation. The KTR files that are provided to you include the following transformations for all the CI types:

Step	Description
Delta timestamp	Reads the saved time stamp.
Asset Core input	An SQL query that fetches information from BMC Client Management based on the stored time stamp.
Transform Asset Core variables	Facilitates JavaScript transformations, such as appending or trimming fields.
Upsert into class <CI type name > or Update BE table with Asset Core <CI type name> information	Accepts the destination of the data, the credentials for the Salesforce organization where you want to save the imported data.
Salesforce Input[CMDB_Class]	Accepts the access details of the Salesforce organization to fetch the BMC Remedyforce CMDB classes details.
Success rows	Stores the rows that are imported successfully.
Failure rows	Stores the rows that are not imported, error code, error description, and error fields.

A job file contains a series of transformations. A KJB file that is provided to you includes the following steps:

Step	Description
Check If Delta Timestamp File Exists	Checks if any time stamp file exists. The Pentaho package utilizes a time stamp file to determine which records were added or modified since the last time the job was run. This step is used for incremental import. If a time stamp file does not exist, the Create the initial time stamp file step is executed; otherwise, the Update staging table with Asset Core <CI type name> information or *Update BE table with Asset Core <CI type name>* information** step.
Create the initial time stamp file	Creates the time stamp file to record the time of import. This step is executed only if you are importing for the first time or deleted the existing time stamp file.
Update BE table with Asset Core <CI type name> Information	Transfers data from BMC Client Management to the `Base Element` object of the BMC Remedyforce CMDB.
Store the current timestamp	If the importing of data is successful, the time of import is saved.

The KTR files contain mapping of the fields in the BMC Client Management database tables or views to the fields in the CMDB staging object. The CMDB staging object contains a flat structure of all the fields of the CMDB database as columns. The imported data is first saved into the CMDB staging object before being saved in the CMDB database.

List of KJB files for importing data from BMC Client Management

Different job files are provided for different jobs. These job files are bundled with related files and provided to you in folders. The following table provides the names of the folders and the description of the jobs for which the job files in these folders are used.

Folder name(CI Type)	Description	Job file
Computer System	Transfers information about the BMC_ComputerSystem CI type	TransferAssetCoreCS infotoCMDB.kjb
OS	Transfers information about the BMC_OperatingSystem CI type	TransferAssetCoreOS infotoCMDB.kjb
Processor	Transfers information about the BMC_Processor CI type	TransferAssetCoreProcessor infotoCMDB.kjb
LANEndPoints	Transfers information about the BMC_LANEndpoint CI type	TransferAssetCoreLANEndPoint infotoCMDB.kjb
Product	Transfers information about the BMC_Product CI type. Note: Depending on the organization size, running the Product job transfers large amounts of data to the Salesforce organization, which might lead to exceeding the organization storage limit.	TransferAssetCoreProduct infotoCMDB.kjb
Combined Jobs	There are two job files in the folder. The first job file (TransferAdvancedAssetCoreinfotoCMDB.kjb) transfers information related to the BMC_ComputerSystem, BMC_OperatingSystem, BMC_Processor, and BMC_LANEndpoint CI types. The second job file (TransferAssetCoreComputerSystemAnd ProductinfotoCMDB.kjb) transfers information related to the BMC_ComputerSystem and BMC_Product CI types.	TransferAdvancedAssetCore infotoCMDB.kjb and TransferAssetCoreComputerSystem AndProductinfotoCMDB.kjb

To import data from BMC Client Management by using Pentaho packages

Before importing data from BMC Client Management, perform all of the actions in Before you begin.

To download the job files from the BMC Communities website, click https://communities.bmc.com/docs/DOC-28436.
Note

If you have upgraded to CMDB 2.0 and you were using CMDB 1.0 packages, you can continue using the CMDB 1.0 packages. However, BMC recommends that you use packages for CMDB 2.0 for faster imports.

BMC recommends that you download the job files in the folder in which you have unzipped the Pentaho Data Integration tool.
Note

Do not change the folder structure because doing so can interfere with the running of the batch files provided in the CombinedJobs folder.
To launch the Pentaho Data Integration tool, in the \<PentahoInstallerFolder>\data-integration folder, double-click the Spoon.bat file, and open the required KJB file.
Note

If you are running a combined job, update the KTR files of each job with the required BMC Client Management database and Salesforce organization credentials.
To open the KTR file, right-click the Update BE table with Asset Core <CI type name> information step, select Open referenced object, and then select Transformation.
To provide details to access BMC Client Management database, perform the following actions:
1. In the Explorer pane, expand Database connections and double-click BMC Remedyforce Client Management Source.
2. In the Database Connection window, enter the host name and the BMC Client Management database name, user name, and password.
  The host name is the name of the computer where the BMC Client Management database is installed.
  If you have configured Windows authentication on the BMC Client Management database, the user name and password are not required when the following conditions are met:
  - The logged-on user must run the job from a Pentaho Data Integration tool that is installed on the BMC Client Management database server.
  - The logged-on user must have access to the BMC Client Management database.
3. (Optional) To verify the connection, click Test.
4. Click OK.
To provide your Salesforce organization access details, perform the following actions:
1. Double-click the Upsert into class <CI type name> step.
2. In the Salesforce Upsert window, enter your Salesforce organization user name and password.
3. (Optional) To update the predefined mapping between the BMC Client Management fields and the BMC Remedyforce CMDB, click Edit Mapping.
  For more information, see Overview of how data is imported into BMC Remedyforce CMDB.
  Note
  
  Starting from January 1, 2016, Salesforce is retiring www.salesforce.com as an API endpoint. To avoid connectivity issues (HTTP Status 404 error), update your Pentaho transformations that connect to https://www.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/<API version> to https://login.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/35.0 before the retirement date.
  If you are running the Pentaho package in a Sandbox environment, modify the Salesforce Webservice URL from https://test.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/<API version> to https://test.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/35.0 in the updated Pentaho transformation. For more information, see Salesforce API Endpoint Retirement.
4. (Optional) To verify the connection, click Test connection.
5. Click OK.
To provide Salesforce access details in the Salesforce Input[CMDB_Class] step, perform the following actions:
1. Double-click Salesforce Input[CMDB_Class].
2. In the Connection section, enter the Salesforce organization access details.
3. (Optional) To test the connection, click Test connection.
4. Click OK.
(Optional) If you have enabled the setting to access your Salesforce organization from limited IP addresses, to enable communication between Salesforce and the Pentaho Data Integration tool, perform the following actions:
1. In Salesforce, navigate to Setup > Reset My Security Token.
  Note
  
  If you have enabled the improved Setup user interface in your Salesforce organization, navigate to My Settings > Personal > Reset My Security Token. For more information, see http://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTViewHelpDoc?id=admin_setup_improved.htm&language=en_US.
2. Click Reset Security Token.
  An email message is sent to your email address stored in Salesforce.
3. In the Password field of the Upsert into class <CI type name> step, append the security token to the password.
  For example, if your password is mypassword and your security token is XXXXXXXXX, then you must enter mypasswordXXXXXXXXX in the Password field.
To save the KTR and KJB files, click .
In the KJB file tab, click .
Perform one of the following actions based on the Pentaho version that you are using:
Pentaho version Action
6.1 In the Run Options window, click Run.
5.4 In the Execute a job window, click Launch.
Data is imported into the appropriate CMDB class.

Transformation status is depicted by using the following icons:
- — Complete
- — Running
- — Unsuccessful
(Optional) To view logs, in the Execution results section, click the Logging tab.
All errors are displayed in red.
The relationship between the Computer System as a source and the Product as a destination is not displayed in the Configuration Items Explorer because the Configuration Items Explorer can display only a limited number of relationships (due to platform limitations). Displaying Computer System and Product relationships might hide other important relationships between the Computer System and other CIs.

The BMCServiceDesk_AssemblyId_c field is required to create a relationship between the computer system and various CIs. The source is the computer system and the destination can be operating system, processor, LAN End Points, or products.

For example, the value of the BMCServiceDesk_AssemblyId_c field is 1 for a computer system record and a processor record has a Assembly ID value as 1, a relationship is automatically created between the computer system (source) and processor (destination).

User scenarios for importing data from BMC Client Management

David is a member of the Infrastructure team for Downtown Bank, responsible for managing the laptops for ABC project. He signs up for BMC Remedyforce and expects to use the pre-configured, ITIL based incident and problem management processes for managing CIs. Also, David wants to use the CMDB to represent the physical, logical, and conceptual items and to track the relationships between the different CIs.

Charlotte, a BMC Remedyforce administrator, helps David to import details of the laptops provided to the team members of ABC project from BMC Client Management to BMC Remedyforce CMDB.

The following table provides user scenarios for importing data from BMC Client Management.

Data to be imported	Steps to follow
Operating System Processor LAN Endpoint	Run the \CombinedJobs\TransferAdvanced AssetCoreinfotoCMDB.kjb file. Go to Remedyforce CMDB and verify whether the entries are correct in the Relationships Editor of the following classes: Operating System Processor LAN Endpoint Note: In BMC Remedyforce versions earlier than Summer 15 Patch 1, when you import LAN endpoint data from BMC Client Management, duplicate LAN endpoint entries may be created on the Remedyforce CMDB. This was because of the following factors: In BMC Client Management, a LAN endpoint may periodically obtain multiple IP addresses using DHCP. In BMC Remedyforce versions Summer 15 and earlier, the Network Interface IP address is used as the unique source identifier for LAN endpoints imported from BMC Client Management. In BMC Remedyforce Summer 15 Patch 1 and later versions, instead of the Network Interface IP address, the MAC address is used as the unique source identifier for the LAN endpoints imported from BMC Client Management, and new duplicate LAN endpoint entries are not created on the Remedyforce CMDB. However, you must manually delete any existing duplicate LAN endpoint entry on the Remedyforce CMDB.
Operating system details of the laptops	Run the \ComputerSystem\TransferAssetCoreCSinfotoCMDB.kjb file. Run the \OS\TransferAssetCoreOSinfotoCMDB.kjb file. Go to Remedyforce CMDB and open the Operating System class. Verify whether the entries are correct in the Relationships section in the Instance Editor of the Operating System class.
Processor details of the laptops	Run the \ComputerSystem\TransferAssetCoreCSinfotoCMDB.kjb file. Run the \Processor\TransferAssetCoreProcessorinfotoCMDB.kjb file. Go to Remedyforce CMDB and open the Processor class. Verify whether the entries are correct in the Relationships Editor of the Processor class.
Product details of the laptops	Run the \CombinedJobs\TransferAssetCoreComputer SystemAndProductinfotoCMDB.kjb file. Go to Remedyforce CMDB and open the Product class. Verify whether the entries are correct in the Relationships Editor of the Product class.

Upgrade considerations

In BMC Remedyforce versions earlier than Summer 15 Patch 1, when you import LAN endpoint data from BMC Client Management, duplicate LAN endpoint entries may be created on the Remedyforce CMDB. This was because, in BMC Client Management, a LAN endpoint may periodically obtain multiple IP addresses using DHCP, and BMC Remedyforce uses the Network Interface IP address as the unique source identifier for the imported LAN endpoints. In BMC Remedyforce Summer 15 Patch 1 and later versions, the MAC address is used as the unique source identifier for the LAN endpoints imported from BMC Client Management and duplicate LAN endpoint entries are not created.

In a new installation of BMC Remedyforce Summer 15 Patch 1 or later, if you are using the latest Pentaho package for BMC Client Management, duplicate LAN endpoint entries are not created.
If you have upgraded to BMC Remedyforce Summer 15 Patch 1 or later, you must additionally perform the following actions:
1. Stop using the previously installed Pentaho package for BMC Client Management.
2. Install the latest Pentaho package for BMC Client Management released with the BMC Remedyforce Summer 15 Patch 1 or later.
  The latest Pentaho package has been released along with the BMC Remedyforce Summer 15 Patch 1 and is available at https://communities.bmc.com/docs/DOC-28436
  Note
  
  Any customizations that you may have created in the previously installed Pentaho package for BMC Client Management will not be available in the latest Pentaho package that you must install. You must create those customizations again in the latest Pentaho package.
3. Manually delete any existing duplicate LAN endpoint entry on the Remedyforce CMDB.

For more information, see Deleting configuration items and Deleting assets.