Setting up integration with Smart IT to automate incident generation

Integrating BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT with BMC Client Management enables administrators to automate incident generation in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT based on events defined in BMC Client Management. An event in BMC Client Management is a significant action or occurrence in a system or application that needs to be reported to administrators. When an event occurs that administrators need to know about, an alert is generated in BMC Client Management console. Such alerts cause BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT to automatically generate incidents and notify administrators about these incidents. An incident is a type of ticket that is generated in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT.

For example, a BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator can subscribe to an event when an error happens on BMC Client Management agent. When this event occurs, BMC Client Management generates an alert which causes a new incident to be created in the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT application. The application notifies Smart IT service desk technicians about these incidents.

It is a two-way integration between BMC Client Management and BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT applications.

This section lists the necessary steps required to integrate BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT in BMC Client Management.

Before you begin

As a BMC Client Management administrator who is integrating BMC Client Management with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT, you need to have the following information:

Login credentials of the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator.
BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT server URL to integrate with
BMC Client Management
.
Identify notification events that the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator wants to monitor in
BMC Client Management
.

Providing Smart IT user access to BMC Client Management

BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT users must provide BMC Client Management login credentials once per Smart IT session. Each Smart IT user, who handles BMC Client Management-managed assets, should be provided with individual BMC Client Management administrator credentials or a single BMC Client Management administrator account should be created for use by all Smart IT users. To perform BMC Client Management actions, Smart IT users must have BMC Client Management administrator read access to each asset, as well as appropriate capabilities, such as Device View. For more information about this topic, see Integrating Smart IT with BMC Client Management.

To identify events for monitoring assets in BCM

If you are a Smart IT administrator for your organization, you need to identify events that can be monitored by BMC Client Management. To identify events that can be monitored by BMC Client Management, see Events-defined-for-notification.

Request a BMC Client Management administrator to define these events when integrating these applications.

To create an integration with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT

To create a new integration with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT:

From the
BMC Client Management
console, select Global Settings > right-click External Integration > Create Integration.

In the BMC Client Management Integration wizard, enter data into the following fields:

Parameter	Description
Instance Name	Enter a name to identify the integration. For example, Remedy with Smart IT integration.
Application Type	Select Remedy with Smart IT.
User name	Enter a valid BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator name.
Password	Enter the administrator password.
Application URL	Enter the URL to access the Remedy with Smart IT web server. http://<midtier_server>:<port>/arsys/services/ARService?server=<servername> To verify that the URL is valid, click Check Connection.
Language	Select the language in which incidents will be created. All console languages are available.

Note

If Check Connection action fails, BMC Client Management cannot integrate with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT and the Next button is not enabled.

Click Next to view the Event Subscriptions window.
From the available event types, click an event type and select alert notifications for which you want an incident ticket to be created in the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT application.
You will receive an event notification by email for each incident ticket that is created in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT.
Repeat step 4 to change alert notifications.
Click Finish.

After you integrate BMC Client Management with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT, the integration details are populated as a new integration link in Global Settings > External Integration.

To verify the integration

The integration results in one of the following possibilities:

A successful integration is created under the Global Settings > External Integration.
Connection tests do not pass because of incorrect web server URL, incorrect URL syntax, incorrect server names. Contact the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator.
Cannot complete integration because BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator credentials is incorrect. Contact the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator.
An integration is created without enabling any notification events for BCM.

To track notification events and alerts in BMC Client Management

BMC Client Management administrators can track all the events and alerts generated for other products. For example, if you subscribe to an event that detects an error on BMC Client Management agent, the Alerts and Events window in the BMC Client Management console captures the alert generated for this event. For more information on tracking events and alerts, see Tracking-shared-events.

To update notification events in BMC Client Management

Events are classified into different functional areas managed by BMC Client Management, such as BCM Application, Discovery and Inventory, Applications and Application Licensing, Compliance, and Agent-based Monitoring. Based on your organization needs, you can change notifications.

To update notification events:

On the console menu, select Global Settings > External Integration > Remedy with Smart IT integration.
On the Notification Events tab, double-click an event to open the Event Subscriptions window.
Select new or clear existing notification events.
Click Finish. The Notification Events tab refreshes to show latest updates.

To create an assignment record in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT

As a BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator, you must ensure that an assignment record is created in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT. Also ensure that auto-assignments are configured so that the system automatically assigns records, such as problem investigations or change requests, to the appropriate support group.

For more information, see Creating assignments and Assigning requests with the Assignment Engine.

Troubleshooting

The following table lists possible issues when integrating with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT.

Issue	Cause(s)	Solution(s)
Cannot connect to BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT server	The URL to access BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT is incorrect. The server instance cannot be accessed. The server is down. The user name and or password is incorrect.	Possible solutions: If the URL is incorrect, ensure that URL follows this format, http://<midtier_server>:<port>/arsys/services/ARService?server=<servername> If the server instance cannot be accessed or credentials are incorrect, check with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator.
Incidents are not generated in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT	Notification events are not defined in BMC Client Management Assignment configuration and auto-assignments are not configured correctly in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT	Contact BMC Client Management administrator to verify whether the required notification events are defined in BMC Client Management . Contact a BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT administrator to verify whether ITSM is configured to automatically generate incidents in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT
Cannot integrate BMC Client Management with BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT	Integration issues in BMC Client Management	Review the mtxagent.log file that can be accessed from C:\Program Files\BMC Software\Client Management\Master\log

Where to go from here

When setting up an integration between BMC Client Management and BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT, you need to configure both the applications. As a Smart IT administrator or a Smart IT service desk technician, you need to perform specific configurations in BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT. For more information on integration steps on Smart IT, see Integrating Smart IT with BMC Client Management.