Integrating with Entuity
You can view the collected data in various BMC Helix applications and derive the following benefits:
BMC Helix application | Type of data collected or viewed | Benefits |
---|---|---|
BMC Helix Operations Management | Events (Entuity incidents received as events) | Use a centralized event view to monitor and manage events, perform event operations, and filter events. Identify actionable events from a large volume of event data by processing events. For more information, see Monitoring events and reducing event noise. |
BMC Helix Operations Management | Metrics | Use alarm and variate policies to detect anomalies and eliminate false positives for more accurate results while monitoring the health of your system. For more information, see Detecting anomalies by using static and dynamic thresholds. |
BMC Helix Discovery | Topology | Collect all CIs from Entuity in BMC Helix Discovery. Collect services from Entuity in BMC Helix Discovery in a format that can be consumed by BMC Helix AIOps. For more information, see Managing your IT infrastructure. |
BMC Helix Dashboards | Metrics | Create dashboards to get a consolidated view of data collected from third-party products across your environment. Improve the efficiency of your system by monitoring the key performance metrics and r espond to issues quickly to minimize the down time. For more information, see Creating custom dashboards. |
BMC Helix AIOps | Situations (created from events) | Improve the mean time to resolve (MTTR) based on the situation-driven workflow. Lower the mean time to detect or discover (MTTD) and the time required for investigating tickets. For more information, see Monitoring situations. |
BMC Helix AIOps | Services (created from topology) | Monitor the overall health of a service. When the service gets impacted by any factor, view the events generated because of the impact, analyze the causes of the impact, and quickly remediate those events to restore the health of the impacted service. For more information, see Monitoring services. |
As a tenant administrator, perform the following steps to configure a connection with Entuity, verify the connection, and view the collected data in various BMC Helix applications.
Supported versions
The Entuity connector supports version 20.x of Entuity for data collection.
Planning for the connection
Review the following prerequisites to help you plan and configure a connection with Entuity.
Entuity prerequisites
If you plan to collect incidents data from Entuity via webhook mechanism and the Entuity and BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway servers are in different domains or sub-domains, import the on-premises gateway certificate into the Entuity server:
Back up the existing Entuity truststore:
$Entuity_HOME/ install/JRE/lib/security/cacerts $Entuity_HOME/ install/JRE/lib/security/cacerts1- Copy the certificate <IIGateway_INSTALL_DIR>/hii/conf/certs/<hostname>.crt from the on-premises gateway server to the Entuity server in a temporary directory.
Import the certificate into Entuity:
keytool -keystore cacerts -importcert <pathtoCertificate> -alias "iionprem"Enter Yes when prompted to trust the certificate during import.
BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations prerequisites
- Depending on the location of the third-party product (SaaS, on-premises), choose one or more BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations deployment modes and review the corresponding port requirements. For information about various deployment modes and port requirements, see Deployment-scenarios.
- Based on the deployment modes, use the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations SaaS deployment or the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway or both. For more information about the gateway, see Deploying-the-BMC-Helix-Intelligent-Integrations-on-premises-gateway.
- Plan to configure a separate connection for each third-party instance. For example, if you have three Entuity instances that discover various subnets in your environment and a fourth Entuity aggregator instance that shows the aggregated data from the three instances, we recommend that you configure individual connectors for these three instances . You do not need to configure any connector separately for the aggregator instance .
In the preceding list, third-party product refers to Entuity.
Configuring the connection with Entuity
Use the following procedures to configure connections with Entuity for collecting incidents, metrics, and topology data:
- To configure a connection with Entuity for collecting incidents data
Entuity incidents are received as events in BMC Helix Operations Management. - To configure a connection with Entuity for collecting metrics and topology data
To configure a connection with Entuity for collecting incidents data
- Access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
- BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations SaaS – Log on to BMC Helix Portal, and click Launch on BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
- BMC Helix Intelligent Integrationson-premises gateway – Use the following URL to access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
https://<hostName>:<portNumber>/swpui
- On the CONNECTORS tab, click
in the SOURCES panel.
- Click the Entuity Events tile.
Specify a unique instance name.
- Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the collector stream for the selected data type.
- Configure the distributors for the selected data type by clicking the data type in the Distributors section and specifying the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:Parameter nameDescriptionMax Batching SizeSpecify the maximum number of data items to send in a single POST request to the destination API.
The batch size depends on the destination’s ability to buffer the incoming data.Default: 250Max Batching DelaySpecify the maximum time (in seconds) to wait before building and processing a batch.Default: 3 secondsBase Retry DelaySpecify the initial time (in seconds) for which to wait before retrying to build and process a batch.
The waiting time increases in the following sequence: n1, n2, n3, and so on, where n indicates the number of seconds.Default: 2 secondsExample:Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Retry is performed after 2, 4, 8, 16, ... seconds.Max Intra-Retry DelaySpecify the maximum limit for the base retry delay. Default: 60 secondsExample:Max Intra-Retry Delay is set to 60 seconds.
Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Retries are performed 2, 4, 8, 16, 32,... seconds later.Max Retry DurationSpecify the total time for retrying a delivery. For REST destinations, a delivery is a batch of data items in one POST request. Default: 5 minutesExample:Max Retry Duration is set to 8 hours.
Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Requests are sent for 2+4+8+16+32+64+132... until 8 hours in total duration is reached. After that, no subsequent attempts are made to retry the delivery.The assumption here is that if there is an outage or other issue with the destination tool, recovery should take less than the value of the Max Retry Duration parameter to be completed.Attributes To Be Dropped When Updating EventsSpecify the event attributes that you do not want to be updated in BMC Helix Operations Managementwhen events are updated. For example, if you do not want an event's severity, source address, source category, and subcategory to be updated in BMC Helix Operations Management , you need to specify those attributes in a comma-separated format: severity,source_address,source_category,source_subcategory .Important:You can obtain the event attribute names in BMC Helix Operations Management, by exporting any event data in JSON, BAROC, XML, or CSV format . The exported file contains all attributes of the event data, and from there you can identify the attributes to be dropped.
- Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor stream for the selected data type.
- Click VALIDATE AND CREATE and then click SAVE STREAM to save the stream.
After you save the stream, the connector that you just created is listed on the SOURCES panel.
- On the SOURCES panel, click Configure Mediator
for the source connection that you created and then expand ENTUITY EVENTS .
- Depending on whether you are using only SaaS deployment of BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations or BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway, perform the following steps:
- If you are using only SaaS deployment of BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, do the following:
- Click copy
to copy the auto-generated Entuity collector URL and save the URL in a temporary file.
For example, https://hostA/hii/api/mediator/v3/push/9mn-6c97-4c2e-8pc5-12c0asdf?token=API-KEY Log on to BMC Helix Portal and generate an access key.
For instructions, see Setting up access keys for programmatic access.- Copy the generated access key and save it in a temporary file.
The key is generated in the format: <accessKey>::<secretKey>::<tenantID>.
For example, Y40OSC49QZA11Q8A1H9H6::MnVLk69TNyCEponsthHJ1Hj1uKcjTB::385261281 - Change the format of the access key to <tenantID>::<accessKey>::<secretKey>.
For example, 385261281::Y40OSC49QZA11Q8A1H9H6::MnVLk69TNyCEponsthHJ1Hj1uKcjTB - In a temporary file, modify the auto-generated Entuity collector URL by replacing API-KEY with the access key that you formatted in the previous step.
For example, https://host.ab.com/hii/api/mediator/v3/push/9mn-6c97-4c2e-8pc5-12c0asdfd?token=385261281::Y40OSC49QZA11Q8A1H9H6::MnVLk69TNyCEponsthHJ1Hj1uKcjTB. - Configure Entuity to forward incidents data to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
- Click copy
- I f you are using the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrationson-premises gateway, do the following:
- Click copy
to copy the auto-generated Entuity collector URL and save the URL in a temporary file.
For example, https://hostA/hii/api/mediator/v3/push/9mn-6c97-4c2e-8pc5-12c0asdf. - Configure Entuity to forward incidents data to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
- Click copy
- If you are using only SaaS deployment of BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, do the following:
- On the SOURCES panel, move the slider to the right to start the data stream for the connector you created in step 7.
To configure Entuity to forward incidents data to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations
First create an action and then a trigger in Entuity .
- Log on to Entuity, and from the main menu, select Administration.
- On the Entuity Administration page, click Event Administration .
- Create the action to forward incidents data to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
- Select the Actions tab and then click Add.
- In the Add Action dialog box, enter the following information :
- Enter a name for the action, for example, Send incidents to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations .
- (Optional) Enter a description for the action.
- In the Parameters section, click Add and enter the following information in the New Parameters dialog box:
- Enter the parameter name as URL .
- (Optional) Enter a description for the parameter.
- Depending on whether you are using only SaaS deployment of BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations or BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway, perform the following steps:
- For SaaS deployment of BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, copy the Entuity collector URL that you modified in step 10 (e) and paste it as the default value of the parameter, enclosed in double quotes.
- For BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway, copy the Entuity collector URL that you saved in step 10 (b) or step 10 (c) paste it as the default value of the parameter, enclosed in double quotes.
- In the Action Steps section, click Add and enter the following information in the Add Action dialog box:
- From the Type list, s elect the Groovy Script option.
Copy the following script and paste it in the Script field:
- Click OK.
- Click OK to close the Add Action dialog box.
- Configure a trigger for the action you generated in the previous step:
- On the Event Administration page, select the Incidents tab and click Edit Global Triggers.
- In the Edit Global Triggers dialog box, click Add and enter the following information in the Create Trigger dialog box:
- Specify a name for the trigger, for example, Trigger to send incidents to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations .
By default, the enabled check box is selected, which indicates that this trigger is enabled. - (Optional) Enter a description for the trigger .
- Ensure that the Any Change option is selected in the On Transition To list.
The Any Change value indicates that the action will be triggered for any change in the incidents data. - Ensure that the None option is selected in the Condition list.
The None value indicates that the action will be triggered for all possible conditions. - Ensure that the None option is selected in the Delay list.
The None value indicates that the action will be triggered without any delay. - In the Action Steps section, click Add.
- In the Add Action dialog box, f rom the Type list, select the action you created for sending incidents data to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
The Parameters field shows the URL parameter that you created in step 3c . - Click OK to close the Add Action dialog box.
The Create Trigger dialog box shows the added action.
- Specify a name for the trigger, for example, Trigger to send incidents to BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations .
- Click OK to close the Create Trigger dialog box.
- Click Save and Deploy
.
To configure a connection with Entuity for collecting metrics and topology data
- Access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
- BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations SaaS – Log on to BMC Helix Portal, and click Launch on BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
- BMC Helix Intelligent Integrationson-premises gateway – Use the following URL to access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
https://<hostName>:<portNumber>/swpui
- On the CONNECTORS tab, click
in the SOURCES panel.
- Click the Entuity Metrics & Topology tile.
- Specify the following details for the source connection:
Specify a unique instance name.
- Specify the Entuity host name.
- Specify the Entuity HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol (default port number is 443).
- Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the Entuity host.
- Specify the number of maximum concurrent REST API requests that should be executed during a collection schedule (d efault value is 5).
- Enter the user name and password for the Entuity host.
- Click Proxy and specify whether you want to configure a proxy server.
If yes, specify the host name and port number (default value is 8888).
- Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list. Select the source connection that you created from the list if it is not selected already.
- Ensure that the options for the datatypes for which you want to collect data are selected.
Configure the collectors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Collectors section and specifying the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
The ✅️ symbol indicates that this field applies to the data type.The [confluence_table-plus] macro is a standalone macro and it cannot be used inline. Click on this message for details.
- Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
- Configure the distributors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Distributors section and specifying the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:Parameter nameDescriptionMax Batching SizeSpecify the maximum number of data items to send in a single POST request to the destination API.
The batch size depends on the destination’s ability to buffer the incoming data.Default: 250Max Batching DelaySpecify the maximum time (in seconds) to wait before building and processing a batch.Default: 3 secondsBase Retry DelaySpecify the initial time (in seconds) for which to wait before retrying to build and process a batch.
The waiting time increases in the following sequence: n1, n2, n3, and so on, where n indicates the number of seconds.Default: 2 secondsExample:Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Retry is performed after 2, 4, 8, 16, ... seconds.Max Intra-Retry DelaySpecify the maximum limit for the base retry delay. Default: 60 secondsExample:Max Intra-Retry Delay is set to 60 seconds.
Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Retries are performed 2, 4, 8, 16, 32,... seconds later.Max Retry DurationSpecify the total time for retrying a delivery. For REST destinations, a delivery is a batch of data items in one POST request. Default: 5 minutesExample:Max Retry Duration is set to 8 hours.
Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Requests are sent for 2+4+8+16+32+64+132... until 8 hours in total duration is reached. After that, no subsequent attempts are made to retry the delivery.The assumption here is that if there is an outage or other issue with the destination tool, recovery should take less than the value of the Max Retry Duration parameter to be completed.Attributes To Be Dropped When Updating EventsSpecify the event attributes that you do not want to be updated in BMC Helix Operations Managementwhen events are updated. For example, if you do not want an event's severity, source address, source category, and subcategory to be updated in BMC Helix Operations Management , you need to specify those attributes in a comma-separated format: severity,source_address,source_category,source_subcategory .Important:You can obtain the event attribute names in BMC Helix Operations Management, by exporting any event data in JSON, BAROC, XML, or CSV format . The exported file contains all attributes of the event data, and from there you can identify the attributes to be dropped.
- Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.
Click one of the following buttons:
- SAVE STREAM : Click this button if you want to edit the connector details before creating the instance. After you save the stream, the connector that you just created is listed on the SOURCES panel. Move the slider to the right to start the data stream later.
- SAVE AND START STREAM : Click this button if you want to save the connector details and start receiving data immediately.
For more information about the data streams, see Starting-or-stopping-data-streams.
Verifying 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 different colored moving arrows.
A moving blue arrow ( ) indicates that the event stream is running. Event data will be pushed as soon as incidents are available.
- A moving red arrow (
) indicates that the metrics stream is running. Metric data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.
- A moving light blue arrow (indicates that the topology stream is running. Topology data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval. )
Viewing data in BMC Helix applications
View data collected from Entuity in multiple BMC Helix applications.
To view events in BMC Helix Operations Management
- In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Events.
- Filter the events by the EntuityIncident class.
Incoming events from Entuity 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-suppression-and-closure-for-reducing-event-noise.
For more information about events, see Monitoring and managing events.
To view metrics in BMC Helix Operations Management
- In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Devices.
- Click the links for the required device.
- On the Monitors tab, click the required monitor.
The Performance Overview tab shows the metrics graph.
For information about metrics, see Viewing collected data.
To view topology in BMC Helix Discovery
- In BMC Helix Discovery, select Explore > Data.
Click the folder link corresponding to the entity for which you have collected data from Entuity .
For example, if you have collected topology for a network device, click the <count> Network Devices link.
The <entity> List page shows the list of entity names and its other attributes received from Entuity . For information about entities in the infrastructure, see Managing your IT infrastructure..- Click the entity name to view its topology.
The following figures show the topology for the NYC-Cisco-NEXUS9000-SWITCH device in the Entuity UI and in the BMC Helix DiscoveryUI:
Viewing services in BMC Helix AIOps
Before you view a service in BMC Helix AIOps, create a service model (for example, BackEnd_Model) for the NYC-Cisco-NEXUS9000-SWITCH topology collected in BMC Helix Discovery . For instructions, see Service and application modeling.
To view services in BMC Helix AIOps
- In BMC Helix AIOps, go to the Services page.
This page shows the business service for the BackEnd_Model business service model. - To view the impact on the service, hover over the service.
The impact score in percentage and the Situations, events, incidents, or configuration items (CIs) associated with a service are displayed. - Click the service to view the health summary, causal analysis, health insights, and other key metrics of interest.
For more information about services, see Monitoring services..
Mapping of attributes between Entuity and BMC Helix Operations Management
The following table shows the mapping between Entuity and BMC Helix Operations Management:
Attribute | Entuity | BMC Helix Operations Management |
---|---|---|
URI | hURI | originURI |
Incident source | Source | Host |
Incident name | Name | Message (<Name> on <Source>) |
Incident details | Details | Detailed Message |
Status | State | Status |
Severity | Severity | Severity |