Integrating with Entuity via API

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

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 the following versions of Entuity for data collection.

• 22.x
• 20.x

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.

• 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.

Task 2: To configure a connection with Entuity for collecting metrics and topology data

1. Depending on the deployment mode, perform one of the following steps to access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
   1. BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations SaaS – Log on to BMC Helix Portal, and click Launch on BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
   2. BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-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 Entuity Metrics & Topology tile.
4. Specify the following details for the source connection:

   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 Entuity_Host_PROD and Entuity_Host_TEST.

   2. Specify the Entuity host name.
   3. Specify the Entuity HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol (default port number is 443).
   4. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the Entuity host.
   5. Specify the number of maximum concurrent REST API requests that should be executed during a collection schedule (default value is 5).
   6. Enter the user name and password for the Entuity host.
   7. 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).
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. 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.

   Parameter name	Description	Data Type
   		Entuity Metrics	Entuity Topology
   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. Default: 5 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 how this parameter affects data collection, see Data collection window.	✅️	❌️
   Data Latency	Specify the time (in minutes) by which the data time window should be shifted 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 00:30 for the interval, 00:18 to 00:28 and next at 00:35 for the interval, 0:23 to 00:33, and so on. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data latency.	✅️	❌️
   Views	Select one or more views from the list.  By default, the All Objects option is selected and data for all the objects (assets) is extracted. This list is automatically updated from Entuity.	✅️	✅️
   Collect metrics including entity hierarchy	Select this option to collect and view Entuity entity data in a hierarchical manner. If you select this option, each device associated with a server is displayed as an individual monitor in BMC Helix Operations Management. Otherwise, each device is displayed as an individual server. Important: Before using this option, raise a request with BMC Support for device cleanup in BMC Helix Operations Management. After you upgrade to version 25.1.01, the existing connection instances in BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations and devices in BMC Helix Operations Management are not updated with this option automatically. You need to either create a new connection instance or stop the existing data stream and create a new data stream.	✅️	❌️

9. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
10. 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 name	Description	Entuity Metrics	Entuity Topology
    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.	✅️	✅️
    Device Filters and Metrics filtersDevice and Metrics filters help remove unwanted data and send only the required data to BMC Helix applications. The data is filtered by using the regular expression (regex) provided for device name, monitor name, monitor type, and metrics, and is sent to BMC Helix applications.
    Device Name Regex	Specify the regex for the device name. Metrics for devices whose names match the regex are sent to BMC Helix applications. Examples: To send data for the devices that contain the string Linux in their names, specify the regex as .*Linux.*. To send data for the devices that contain the string Cisco and Linux, specify the regex as (?=.*Cisco)(?=.*Linux).*. To send the data for the devices whose names start with the string Linux, specify the regex as ^Linux.*.  Important: If you are using multiple regex, make sure that the regex do not conflict. For example, do not enter .*Linux.* and ^(?!.*Linux).* together. The former regex sends metrics for the devices whose names contain the string Linux, while the latter regex sends metrics for the devices whose names do not contain the string Linux.	✅️	❌️
    Monitor Name Regex	Specify the regex for the monitor name. Metrics for the monitors whose names match the regex are sent to BMC Helix applications. Examples: To send data for the monitors that contain the string system in their names, specify the regex as .*system.*. To filter out the data for monitors that contain system in their name, specify the regex as ^(?!.*system).*. To send the data for monitors whose names start with the string system, specify the regex as ^system.*. Important: If you are using multiple regex, make sure that the regex do not conflict. For example, do not enter .*system.* and ^(?!.*system).* together. The former regex sends metrics for the monitors whose names contain the string system, while the latter regex sends metrics for the monitors whose names do not contain the string system.	✅️	❌️
    Monitor Type Regex	Specify the regex for the monitor type. Metrics are sent to BMC Helix applications for the monitor type that matches the regex. Examples: To send data for the monitor type that contains the string health, specify the regex as .*health.*. To send data for the monitor type that starts with the string health, specify the regex as ^health.*. To filter out the monitor type that contains the string health, specify the regex as ^(?!.*health).*. Important: If you are using multiple regex, make sure that the regex do not conflict. For example, do not enter, ^health.* and ^(?!.*health).* together. The former regex collects metrics for the monitor type whose names contain the string health, while the latter regex collects data for the monitor types whose names do not contain the string health.	✅️	❌️
    Metrics Regex	Specify the regex for the metrics. Metrics are sent to BMC Helix applications whose names match the regex. Examples: To send metrics that contain the string avg in their names, specify the regex as .*avg.*. To filter out the metrics that contain the string avg, specify the regex as ^(?!.*avg).*. To send metrics whose names start with the string avg, specify the regex as ^avg.*. Important: If you are using multiple regex, make sure that the regex do not conflict. For example, do not enter, .*avg.* and ^(?!.*avg).* together. The former regex sends metrics whose name contains the string avg, while the latter regex sends metrics whose name does not contain the string avg.	✅️	❌️

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 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.

    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 the data streams, see Starting-or-stopping-data-streams.