Monitoring BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations for streaming interruptions by using events

Monitor BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations for any interruptions in events or metrics data streaming from third-party sources by using heartbeat and notification events. 

Overview of the monitoring process

When events or metrics data is being streamed from a source via a connector instance, BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations sends a heartbeat event, with Information severity, to BMC Helix Operations Management.

If streaming stops for any reason, a notification event, with Warning severity, is generated in BMC Helix Operations Management, containing a message that streaming has stopped for events or metrics for that source. The notification event indicates that there is an issue with the data collection. You can start troubleshooting the issue from that point onwards.

When a new heartbeat event is received, all the old heartbeat or notification events that have been received in the past via the same connector instance are closed.

Important

In certain cases, you might see more than one open heartbeat or notification event in BMC Helix Operations Management. These events are closed in the next collection cycle when data is collected by BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.

Frequency of heartbeat events

(Version 25.2.01 and later) The frequency of heartbeat events depends on the scheduler interval specified in the connector instance configuration. The default interval is 5 mins. You can modify the interval by updating the connector configuration.

(Version 25.2.00) BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations sends a heartbeat event to BMC Helix Operations Management for every batch of events or metrics received in BMC Helix Operations Management. When events or metrics are collected via REST API, the default batch size is 250 and when collected via a webhook mechanism, the batch size is considered as 1. 

Frequency of notification events

A notification event is generated in BMC Helix Operations Management when a heartbeat event is not received for the duration that is defined in the Update Old Heartbeat Events to Notification Events - BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations policy. The default duration is 15 mins. You can update this interval by modifying the policy in BMC Helix Operations Management.

Classes and policies

When BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations sends the first heartbeat event to BMC Helix Operations Management, the IISelfHealthMonitorEvent class is created under the IIMonitorEvent class in BMC Helix Operations Management. In addition, the following policies are created: 

  • Close Old Heartbeat and Notification Events - BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations: Closes the old heartbeat and notification events if an incoming event has the same source ID as an existing event.
  • Update Old Heartbeat Events to Notification Events - BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations: Checks whether the existing heartbeat events are closed after 15 mins (default) of receiving a heartbeat event. If the status of the heartbeat event is Open, the policy performs the following tasks:
    • Updates the message in the last received heartbeat event to a message indicating that streaming stopped for events or metrics for a particular source.
    • Updates the severity of the last received heartbeat event from Information to Warning.

Heartbeat and notification events are processed according to the rules defined in these policies.

Task 1: To configure the connector in BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations

  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 Integrations on-premises gateway – Use the following URL to access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
      https://<hostName>:<portNumber>/swpui
  2. On the SOURCES panel, click Configure Mediator adjacent to the connector instance that you want to monitor.
    For example, you want to monitor an AppDynamics connector instance. 
  3. Depending on the data stream for which you want to enable notification events, expand EVENTS or METRICS.
  4. On the DISTRIBUTION CONFIGURATION tab, enable the Edit JSON option.
  5. Locate the enableNotifications parameter and set its value to true.
    enableNotifications_252.png
  6. (Optional) Locate the notificationSchedulerInterval parameter and update its value if required (default value is 5 mins).
    enableNotifications_25201.png
  7. (Optional) Locate the sourceName parameter and set its value to a source name with which you want to receive the heartbeat and notification events in BMC Helix Operations Management. For example, AppDynamics Prod Instance.
    This name helps you identify the source in BMC Helix Operations Management from which a heartbeat or notification event is received.
    sourceName_252.png
  8. Click SAVE.
  9. Click SAVE & CLOSE.

Task 2: To monitor events in BMC Helix Operations Management

  1. Log on to BMC Helix Operations Management.
  2. On the Events page, type IISelfHealthMonitorEvent in the search box.
  3. Select the Information and Warning checkboxes if not selected.
    The Events page shows the heartbeat events received from a source if events or metrics data is being streamed.
    HeartbeatEvents_25200.png
    If data streaming stops for some reason, the page shows a notification event for that source.
    NotificationEvent_25200.png

FAQs

What if I have multiple third-party sources and for all of them, I don't want to wait for the same time period for the notification event?
  1. Log on to BMC Helix Operations Management.
  2. On the Events page, open a heartbeat or notification event that you have received from the third-party source for which you want to update the notification event interval.
  3. On the Events Details pahe, click the Others tab.
  4. Note down the value of the source_id attribute.
  5. Select Configuration > Event Policies.
  6. Create a copy of the Update Old Heartbeat Events to Notification Events - BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations policy.
  7. (Optional) Update the policy name and description.  
  8. Under Event Selection Criteria, click add selection criteria.
  9. Add the following clause:
    AND source_id = sourceId
    Replace sourceId with the value of the source_id attribute that you noted down in step 4, as shown in the following example:
    EventSelecttionCriteria_252.png
  10. Under Policy Configuration, click Edit for configurations.
  11. Click the Duration box.
  12. Edit the default duration (15 mins) to the required value.
  13. Click Apply.
  14. Select the Enable Policy checkbox. 
  15. Click Save.
What should I do if I need an email to be sent in addition to the notification event?
  1. Log on to BMC Helix Operations Management.
  2. Select Configuration > Event Policies.
  3. Create a copy of the Update Old Heartbeat Events to Notification Events - BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations policy.
  4. Click Edit to open the policy. 
  5. Under Policy Configuration, click Add Configuration and select Notification.
  6. Enter the details for the notification email. 
    For more information, see Event-based notifications for alerting users.
  7. Click Save.
When I come back after a break, how would I know if there was an issue in my absence?
  1. Log on to BMC Helix Operations Management.
  2. On the Events page, check whether you can see a closed notification event and after that event, you see heartbeat events.
    The Closed notification event indicates that there was an issue with data collection during the break. The issue got resolved automatically and heartbeat events resumed.

 

 

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