Integrating with BMC Helix CMDB

Use the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations BMC Helix CMDB connector to collect topology data from BMC Helix CMDB and view the collected data and derive actionable insights.

BMC Helix application	Type of data collected or viewed	Benefits
BMC Helix Discovery	Topology	Collect all CIs from BMC Helix CMDBin BMC Helix Discovery. Collect services from BMC Helix CMDBin BMC Helix Discovery in a format that can be consumed by BMC Helix AIOps. For more information, see Managing your IT infrastructure.
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 BMC Helix CMDB, verify the connection, and view the collected data in various BMC Helix applications.

Supported versions

BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations supports version 22.1.01 of BMC Helix CMDB for data collection.

Task 1: To plan for the connection

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.

In the preceding list, third-party product refers to BMC Helix CMDB.

Task 2: To configure the connection with BMC Helix CMDB

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 Integrations on-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 BMC Helix CMDB tile.
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 CMDB_Host_PROD, CMDB_Host_TEST, and so on.
2. Specify the BMC Helix CMDB host name and port number (default value is 443).
3. Select the HTTPS check box to indicate that you plan to use an https connection to the BMC Helix CMDB host.
4. Specify the user name and password. Ensure that the specified user can access the BMC Helix CMDB REST API.
  Warning
  We recommend that you do not select the Allow Unsigned Certificate option in a production environment. You might want to select this option to allow unsigned certificates in a test environment. See the BMC Helix CMDB documentation to learn how to install SSL certificates.
5. Specify the number of maximum concurrent REST API requests that should be executed during a data collection schedule (default value is 5).
6. Specify the time, in seconds, after which no attempt should be made to establish the connection (default value is 30 seconds).
7. 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).
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.
Important
The destination host connection is created and configured when the source connection is created.

Expand BMC CMDB Topology and specify the configuration parameters in the Collectors section as described in the following table:

Parameter name	Description
Collection Schedule	Select one of the following options to specify the data collection frequency: Duration: When you select this option, data collection happens constantly. Specify the schedule in minutes, hours, or day. Default: 5 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected every 5 mins, first at 00:30 and next at 00:35, and so on. Cron schedule: When you select this option, data collection happens periodically. Specify the schedule by using a cron expression. A cron expression is a string consisting of five subexpressions (fields) that describe individual details of the schedule. These fields, separated by blank spaces, can contain any of the allowed values with various combinations of the allowed characters for that field. Default: /5 * * * (evaluates to 5 minutes) Format: Minutes *Hours (24-hour format)* Day of Month Month Day of Week** Example: If you specify 10 15 3 7 * , data is collected at 15:10 hours every third day in the month of July. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data collection schedule.
Data Collection Window	Specify the historical time period (in minutes) from the current time for which the data should be collected from BMC Helix CMDB . Default: 60 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Data Collection Window is set to 5 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected first at 00:30 for the interval, 00:25 - 00:30, and next at 00:35 for the interval, 00:30 - 00:35, and so on. For more information about this parameter, see Data collection window.
Data Latency	Specify the time (in minutes) by which the data time window should be shifted far back on the timeline. This parameter is useful in delayed data availability situations. Default: 0 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Data Collection Window is set to 10 mins. Data Latency is set to 2 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected first at 00:28 for the interval, 00:23 to 00:28 and next at 00:33 for the interval, 0:18 to 00:23, and so on. For more information about this parameter, see Data latency.
Extract these Business Processes	Select all or a subset of business processes from the list. Important: Choose to extract data only from one level: business process or business service (listed in the next row). This list is updated automatically from BMC Helix CMDB. You can add multiple business processes to the same connector or create a different connector for each business process.
Extract these Business Services	Select all or a subset of business services from the list. Important: Choose to extract data only from one level: business service or business process (listed in the previous row). This list is updated automatically from BMC Helix CMDB. You can add multiple business services to the same connector or create a different connector for each business service.
Dataset ID	Specify the BMC Helix CMDB dataset ID. Default is BMC.ASSET.
Namespace	Specify the BMC Helix CMDB namespace. Default is BMC.CORE.

Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data type.

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 seconds Example: 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 seconds Example: 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 minutes Example: 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 Management when 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 type. 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 instance 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. Important For 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.

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 light blue arrow ( ) 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 BMC Helix CMDB in multiple BMC Helix applications.

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 BMC Helix CMDB .
Important
- When configuring the connector if you have selected a business service, the business service and the hosts that have impact relationship with the business service are imported into the Business Services folder. Any other entities are imported into the Generic Elements folder.
- When configuring the connector if you have selected a business process, the associated business services and the hosts that have impact relationship with the business services are imported into the Business Services folder. The business process is imported into the Generic Elements folder.
For example, if you have collected topology for a business service, click the <count> Business Services link.
The <entity> List page shows the list of entity names and its other attributes received from BMC Helix CMDB . For information about entities in the infrastructure, see Managing your IT infrastructure..
Click the entity name to view its topology.

To view services in BMC Helix AIOps

Before you view services in , create a Business Service model (for example, Blackberry_Service) in BMC Helix Discovery for the topology. For information about creating models, see Managing models.

In , go to the Services page.
This page shows Blackberry_Service for which you have created the Business Service model.
To view the impact on the service, hover over the service.
The impact score in percentage and 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..

Troubleshooting

You might encounter the following issue when collecting data from BMC Helix CMDB.

Issue symptom

The following error occurs when collecting data from BMC Helix CMDB and CIs are not collected by BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations and hence, BMC Helix Discovery.

Request Header Fields Too Large

Issue scope

This issue occurs when collecting data from BMC Helix CMDB by using BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations and the BMC Helix IT Service Management on-premises deployment.

Resolution

Make sure that on the BMC Helix IT Service Management cluster, the proxy-add-original-uri-header parameter in the nginx-controller configuration is set to true.