Integrating with Microsoft SCOM

You can view the collected data in various BMC Helix application and derive the following benefits: 

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

Supported versions

This connector supports the following versions of Microsoft SCOM for data collection:

• 2022
• 2019

Task 1: To plan for the connection

Review the following prerequisites to help you plan and configure a connection with Microsoft SCOM:

Microsoft SCOM prerequisites

• The database user that you plan to use for the connection is assigned the read-only role to the Microsoft SCOM's OperationsManager database (default database name).
  
• If the database user is an Active Directory user, ensure that both the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises server and the OperationsManager database server belong to the same domain. No such restrictions are applicable if the database user is an SQL user.

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 mode, 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.

• The on-premises gateway must be able to reach the third-party product on the required port (default is 1433).

In the preceding list, third-party product refers to Microsoft SCOM.

Task 2: To configure the connection with Microsoft SCOM

1. Depending on the deployment mode, perform one of the following steps to 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
2. On the CONNECTORS tab, click in the SOURCES panel.

3. Click the 

   Microsoft SCOM

    tile.

4. Specify the source connection details:

   1. Specify a unique instance name.

      Best practice
      We recommend that you specify the instance name in the following format:

      <sourceType>_<sourceControllerServerName>_<InstanceQualifier>

      The instance qualifier helps you to distinguish the multiple instances configured from the same source server. For example, you can name your instances as MSSQLSERVER_PROD, MSSQLSERVER_TEST, and so on.

      
      

   2. Specify the OperationsManager database host name and SQL Server port number (default value is 1433).
   3. Specify the database user name and password.

   4. Select the Windows Authentication option if the specified database user is Service Account user. 
      If you don't select this option, the database user is an SQL Server user and SQL authentication is used as the connection method.

      Important

      • If you select the Windows Authentication option, make sure that the user can access the Microsoft SCOM REST API.
      • If you do not select the Windows Authentication option, make sure that the database user you want to use for the connection is assigned the read-only role for Microsoft SCOM's OperationsManager database (default database name).

   5. Specify the authentication domain name if you plan to use the Windows authentication.
   6. Specify the Microsoft SCOM database name.
   7. Specify the Microsoft SCOM database instance name.
   8. Specify the time, in seconds, after which no attempt should be made to establish a connection (d efault value is 30 seconds).
   9. Select the Encrypt Connection option to establish a connection with Microsoft SCOM database if it has TLS protocol enabled.
5. Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
   The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list.

6. 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.

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

8. Click a data type and specify the configuration parameters in the Collectors section as described in the following table:

   The [confluence_table-plus] macro is a standalone macro and it cannot be used inline. Click on this message for details.
   This macro generates standalone content. As a consequence you need to make sure to use a syntax that separates your macro from the content before and after it so that it's on a line by itself. For example in XWiki Syntax 2.0+ this means having 2 newline characters (a.k.a line breaks) separating your macro from the content before and after it.
   

9. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
10. Click a data type and specify the configuration parameters in the Distributors section as described in the following table:
    

    Parameter name	Description
    Max Batching Size	Specify 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: 250
    Max Batching Delay	Specify the maximum time (in seconds) to wait before building and processing a batch.Default: 3 seconds
    Base Retry Delay	Specify 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 Delay	Specify 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 Duration	Specify 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 Events	Specify 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.

11. Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.

12. Click one of the following buttons:

    • 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.

    ImportantFor a data stream, the Run Latency (max/avg), Items (Avg per Run), and Last Run Status columns on the Streams page might show the status as No Runs during the data collection process. After completion of the process, these columns are updated with an appropriate status.

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

Data collection scenarios 

The following table lists the data collection scenarios based on the specification in the ResourceGroups field, and the selecting or clearing of the  UseResourceGroups and Directly Impacted Resource Group Members Only checkboxes:

Task 3: To verify the connection

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

• A moving dark 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.
• A moving light blue arrow () indicates that the topology stream is running. Topology data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.

To view data in BMC Helix applications

View data collected from Microsoft SCOM 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 ScomEvent class.
   

Incoming events from Microsoft SCOM 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

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..

BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations identifies all the Microsoft SCOM KPI metrics. All the KPI metrics are prefixed with KPI in BMC Helix Operations Management. You can use these metrics for baselining.

To view the topology data in BMC Helix Discovery

In BMC Helix Discovery, select Explore > Data, and click <count> Import Records in the Miscellaneous section. The Import Record List page shows the CI records received from Microsoft SCOM.  For information about records, see Managing your IT infrastructure.

To view services and situations in BMC Helix AIOps

Before you view services and situations in BMC Helix AIOps, create a Business Service model in BMC Helix Discovery. For information about creating models, see Managing models.  

In BMC Helix AIOps, on the Overview page, view the services and situations for the event and topology data received from Microsoft SCOM. For information about situations, see Monitoring and investigating situations.

Marking devices for deletion in BMC Helix Operations Management

If the devices in BMC Helix Operations Management are not collecting any metrics data for a particular time period, you can mark them for deletion by using the shouldSupportTopologyLifecycle and itemExpiryDuration parameters.

For example, if you want to mark devices for deletion that do not collect any metrics data in 5 hours in BMC Helix Operations Management, set the shouldSupportTopologyLifecycle parameter to true and set the value of itemExpiryDuration parameter to 5 hours.

To mark the devices for deletion:

1. Click Configure Mediator adjacent to Microsoft SCOM.
2. Expand the MS SCOM METRICS (JDBC PULL) section.
3. Click COLLECTOR CONFIGURATION.
4. Enable the Edit JSON option to view the collection configuration parameters in JSON format.
   
5. Set the value of the shouldSupportTopologyLifecycle parameter to true and then click SAVE.
   By default, the value is set to false.
6. Click DISTRIBUTER CONFIGURATION.
7. Enable the Edit JSON option to view the distributer configuration parameters in JSON format.
   

8. Edit the itemExpiryDuration parameter as shown in the following example:
   

   "itemExpiryDuration":{
   "unit": "HOURS"
   "value": 5
   }

   • The valid values for unit are SECONDS, MINUTES, HOURS, and DAYS.
   • The default value for itemExpiryDuration is 30 days and the minimum value is 1 hour.
   • If itemExpiryDuration is set to less than 1 hour, BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations considers the value to be 1 hour.
     
9. Click SAVE to save the settings. 
10. Click SAVE & CLOSE.