Integrating with CA APM

As a tenant administrator, perform the following steps to configure a connection with CA APM, verify the connection, and view the collected event and metric data in various BMC Helix applications.

Supported versions

This connector supports the version 10.7 SP3 of CA APM for data collection.

Plan for the connection

• Choose the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations deployment mode and review the corresponding port requirements. For information about various deployment modes and port requirements, see Deployment-scenarios.
• Based on the deployment mode, either use BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations or deploy the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway. For more information, see Deploying-the-BMC-Helix-Intelligent-Integrations-on-premises-gateway.

To configure a connection with CA APM

1. In BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, on the CONNECTORS  tab, click in the SOURCES panel.

2. Click the 

   CA APM

   tile.

3. Specify the following details for the source connection:
   1. Specify the CA APM host name.
   2. Specify the CA HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol. The default port number is 8081.
   3. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the CA APM host. Select this option when the protocol is https.
   4. Enter the user name and password for the CA APM host.

   5. Enter the token.
      For more information about tokens, see APM REST API.

   6. Click Proxy and specify if you want to configure a proxy server. If yes, specify the host name and port number (default value is 8888).
4. Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
   The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list.

5. Select the source connection that you created from the list if it is not selected already.

   Important

   The destination host connection is created and configured automatically for each tenant when the source connection is created.

6. Ensure that the options for the datatypes for which you want to collect data are selected.

7. Configure the collectors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Collectors section. Specify the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
   Note: The ✅️  symbol indicates that this field is applicable to the data type.
   
8. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
9. Configure the distributors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Distributors section. Specify the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
   

1. Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.
2. Click one of the following buttons:

1. • SAVE STREAM : Click this button if you want to edit the integration details before creating the instance. After you save the stream, the connector that you just created is listed in the SOURCES panel. Move the slider to the right to start the data stream.
   • SAVE AND START STREAM : Click this button if you want to save the integration details and start receiving data immediately.

          For more information about the data streams, see Starting-or-stopping-data-streams.

To verify the connection

From BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, on the SOURCES panel, confirm that the data streams for the connection you created are running. Data streaming is indicated by moving colored arrows.

• A moving blue arrow (  ) indicates that the event stream is running. Event data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.
• A moving red arrow ( ) indicates that the metric stream is running. Metric data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.

To view data in BMC Helix applications

View data collected from CA APM in multiple BMC Helix applications.

To view events in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Events.
2. Filter the events by the CA_APM_Alert class.
   

Incoming events from CA APM are processed in BMC Helix Operations Management through a set of deduplication rules to determine whether the incoming event is a duplicate event or a new event. For more information, see Event-deduplication-and-suppression-for-reducing-event-noise.

For more information about events, see Monitoring and managing events.

To view metrics in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Devices.
2. Click the links for the required device.
3. On the Monitors tab, click the required monitor.
   The Performance Overview tab shows the metrics graph.
   
   

For information about metrics, see Viewing collected data.

Mapping between CA APM and BMC Helix Operations Management

The following table shows the mapping between CA APM and BMC Helix Operations Management: