Amazon Web Services - AWS API Extractor

Depending on your AWS account setup, select a tab and complete the steps:

In a firewall or a proxy-enabled environment, the following AWS services endpoints must be allowed:

• http://monitoring.<region>.amazonaws.com/
• http://ec2.<region>.amazonaws.com/
• http://autoscaling.<region>.amazonaws.com/
• http://sts.<region>.amazonaws.com/
• http://ec2.amazonaws.com/
• http://iam.amazonaws.com/
• http://rds.<region>.amazonaws.com/

where <region> is one of the regions in AWS. For more information about regions, see Regions and Availability Zones.

You must configure the ETL to connect to AWS for data collection. ETL configuration includes specifying the basic and optional advanced properties. While configuring the basic properties is sufficient, you can optionally configure the advanced properties for additional customization.

A. Configuring the basic properties

Some of the basic properties display default values. You can modify these values if required.

To configure the basic properties:

1. Navigate to Administration > ETL & System Tasks, and select ETL tasks.
2. On the ETL tasks page, click Add > Add ETL. The Add ETL page displays the configuration properties. You must configure properties in the following tabs: Run configuration, Entity catalog, and Amazon Web Services Connection
3. On the Run Configuration tab, select Amazon Web Services - AWS API Extractor from the ETL Module list. The name of the ETL is displayed in the ETL task name field. You can edit this field to customize the name.
   
   
    
4. Click the Entity catalog tab, and select one of the following options:

   • Shared Entity Catalog:

     Select if other ETLs access the same entities that are used by the AWS API ETL.

     • From the Sharing with Entity Catalog list, select the entity catalog name that is shared between ETLs.
   • Private Entity Catalog: Select if this is the only ETL that extracts data from the AWS resources.

5. Click the Amazon Web Services Connection tab, and configure the following properties:

    

6. (Optional) Override the default values of properties in the following tabs:

   Run configuration

   Object relationships

   ETL task properties

   Run configuration

   Property

   Description

   Execute in simulation mode

   By default, the ETL execution in simulation mode is selected to validate connectivity with the data source, and to ensure that the ETL does not have any configuration issues. In the simulation mode, the ETL does not load data into the database. This option is useful when you want to test a new ETL task. To run the ETL in the production mode, select No. BMC recommends that you run the ETL in the simulation mode after ETL configuration and then run it in the production mode.

   Object relationships

   Property

   Description

   Associate new entities to

   Specify the domain to which you want to add the entities created by the ETL. Select one of the following options: New domain: This option is selected by default. Select a parent domain, and specify a name for your new domain. Existing domain: Select an existing domain from the Domain list.  By default, a new domain with the same ETL name is created for each ETL.  Important: To create a shared project hierarchy, in Associate new entities to, for the first ETL configuration, select New domain, and for the second ETL configuration, select Existing domain. To create a private project hierarchy, in Associate new entities to, for the second ETL configuration, select an existing domain.

   ETL task properties

   Property	Description
   Task group	Select a task group to classify the ETL.
   Running on scheduler	Select a compatible scheduler for running the ETL. See following note on compatible scheduler.
   Maximum execution time before warning	Indicates the number of hours, minutes, or days for which the ETL must run before generating warnings or alerts, if any.
   Frequency	Select one of the following frequencies to run the ETL: Predefined: This is the default selection. Select a daily, weekly, or monthly frequency, and then select a time to start the ETL run accordingly. Start timestamp: hour\minute: Select the HH:MM start timestamp to add to the ETL execution running on a Predefined frequency. Custom: Specify a custom frequency, select an appropriate unit of time, and then specify a day and a time to start the ETL run. Custom start timestamp: Select a YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM timestamp to add to the ETL execution running on a Custom frequency.

   *Schedulers compatible with this ETL: Generic scheduler (the scheduler preconfigured in Helix, also referred as Cloud ETL Engine), Remote ETL Engine.
     

7. Click Save.
8. The ETL tasks page shows the details of the newly configured AWS API ETL.
   
   

(Optional) B. Configuring the advanced properties

You can configure the advanced properties to change the way the ETL works or to collect additional metrics.

While configuring these advanced properties, you will need to specify the path to the JSON files that contain the instance type configuration metrics and other additional metrics. For more information, see Collecting-EC2-instance-metrics-by-using-the-CloudWatch-agent.

To configure the advanced properties:

1. On the Add ETL page, click Advanced.

2. Configure the following properties:

   Run configuration

   Property	Description
   Run configuration name	Specify the name that you want to assign to this ETL task configuration. The default configuration name is displayed. You can use this name to differentiate between the run configuration settings of ETL tasks.
   Deploy status	Select the deploy status for the ETL task. For example, you can initially select Test and change it to Production after verifying that the ETL run results are as expected.
   Description	A short description of the ETL module.
   Log level	Specify the level of details that you want to include in the ETL log file. Select one of the following options: 1 - Light: Select to add the bare minimum activity logs to the log file. 5 - Medium: Select to add the medium-detailed activity logs to the log file. 10 - Verbose: Select to add detailed activity logs to the log file. Use log level 5 as a general practice. You can select log level 10 for debugging and troubleshooting purposes.

   Collection level

   Property	Description
   Metric profile selection	Select the metric profile that the ETL must use. The ETL collects data for the group of metrics that is defined by the selected metric profile. Use Global metric profile: This is selected by default. All the out-of-the-box ETLs use this profile. Select a custom metric profile: Select the custom profile that you want to use from the Custom metric profile list. This list displays all the custom profiles that you have created. For more information about metric profiles, see Adding-and-managing-metric-profiles.
   Levels up to	Specify the metric level that defines the number of metrics that can be imported into the database. The load on the database increases or decreases depending on the selected metric level. To learn more about metric levels, see Adding-and-managing-metric-profiles.

   Amazon Web Services Connection

   Property	Description
   Default region	Specify the region where your AWS cloud resources are located. The default value is us-east-1.
   Regions whitelist (optional)	Specify the names of specific regions, separated by a semicolon, to import data only from these regions. For example, us-east-1;us-east-2.
   Instance type definition JSON file path	Browse to the file location where you have saved the JSON file that contains the instance type configuration metrics.. Upload the file.
   Additional CloudWatch metrics JSON file path	Browse to the file location where you have saved the JSON file that contains details of additional metrics that are to be collected by the ETL. Upload the file.

   Additional properties

   Property	Description
   List of properties	Specify additional properties for the ETL that act as user inputs during run. You can specify these values now or you can do so later by accessing the "You can manually edit ETL properties from this page" link that is displayed for the ETL in the view mode. Click Add. In the etl.additional.prop.n field, specify an additional property. Click Apply. Repeat this task to add more properties.

   In the List of Properties section, specify additional properties for the ETL that act as user inputs during the run. You can specify these values now or later by accessing the You can manually edit ETL properties from this page link that is displayed for the ETL in the view mode.

   To specify an additional property:

   1. Click Add.
   2. In the etl.additional.prop.n field, specify an additional property.
   3. Click Apply.
      Repeat this task to add more properties.

   The following table describes the properties that you can add:

   Property	Description	Value
   extract.aws.deny.asg	Filters auto-scale groups that are not required.	Enter a valid regular expression. For example, karpenter-asg..*
   extract.aws.deny.instances	Filters instances that are not required.	Enter a valid regular expression. For example, acme-b.*-.*; karpenter.sh
   extract.aws.deny.volumes	Filters volumes that are not required.	Enter a valid regular expression. For example, test-volumes.*

   While using the properties to filter auto-scale groups, instances, and volumes, consider the following information:

   • When you filter an entity, the associated child entities are also filtered.
     For example, if you filter an instance, the associated volumes are also filtered.
   • When you filter an entity, its parent is shown as an entity without a child.
   • You can use multiple comma-separated regular expressions for a property.
   • If the deleteOnTermination property is disabled for a volume, that volume is not filtered.
   • The following properties are deprecated:
     • extract.aws.blacklist.regex.volumes
     • extract.aws.blacklist.regex.instances
     • extract.aws.blacklist.regex.asg

   Loader configuration

   Property	Description
   Empty dataset behavior	Specify the action for the loader if it encounters an empty dataset: Warn: Generate a warning about loading an empty dataset. Ignore: Ignore the empty dataset and continue parsing.
   Maximum number of rows for CSV output	A numeric value to limit the size of the output files.
   Remove domain suffix from datasource name (Only for systems)	Select True to remove the domain from the data source name. For example, server.domain.com will be saved as server. The default selection is False.
   Leave domain suffix to system name (Only for systems)	Select True to keep the domain in the system name. For example: server.domain.com will be saved as is. The default selection is False.
   Skip entity creation (Only for ETL tasks sharing lookup with other tasks)	Select True if you do not want this ETL to create an entity and discard data from its data source for entities not found in . It uses one of the other ETLs that share a lookup to create a new entity. The default selection is False.

   Scheduling options

   Property	Description
   Hour mask	Specify a value to run the task only during particular hours within a day. For example, 0 – 23 or 1, 3, 5 – 12.
   Day of week mask	Select the days so that the task can be run only on the selected days of the week. To avoid setting this filter, do not select any option for this field.
   Day of month mask	Specify a value to run the task only on the selected days of a month. For example, 5, 9, 18, 27 – 31.
   Apply mask validation	Select False to temporarily turn off the mask validation without removing any values. The default selection is True.
   Execute after time	Specify a value in the hours:minutes format (for example, 05:00 or 16:00) to wait before the task is run. The task run begins only after the specified time is elapsed.
   Enqueueable	Specify whether you want to ignore the next run command or run it after the current task. Select one of the following options: False: Ignores the next run command when a particular task is already running. This is the default selection. True: Starts the next run command immediately after the current running task is completed.

    

3. Click Save.
   The ETL tasks page shows the details of the newly configured AWS API ETL.

After you configure the ETL, you can run it to collect data. You can run the ETL in the following modes:

A. Simulation mode: Only validates connection to the data source, does not collect data. Use this mode when you want to run the ETL for the first time or after you make any changes to the ETL configuration.

B. Production mode: Collects data from the data source.

A. To run the ETL in the simulation mode

To run the ETL in the simulation mode:

1. Navigate to Administration > ETL & System Tasks, and select ETL tasks.
2. On the ETL tasks page, click the ETL. The ETL details are displayed.
   
    
3. In the Run configurations table, click Edit  to modify the ETL configuration settings.
4. On the Run configuration tab, ensure that the Execute in simulation mode option is set to Yes, and click Save.
5. Click Run active configuration. A confirmation message about the ETL run job submission is displayed.
6. On the ETL tasks page, check the ETL run status in the Last exit column.
   OK Indicates that the ETL ran without any error. You are ready to run the ETL in the production mode.
7.  If the ETL run status is Warning, Error, or Failed:
   1. On the ETL tasks page, clickin the last column of the ETL name row.
   2. Check the log and reconfigure the ETL if required.
   3. Run the ETL again.
   4. Repeat these steps until the ETL run status changes to OK.

B. To run the ETL in the production mode

You can run the ETL manually when required or schedule it to run at a specified time.

To run the ETL manually

1. On the ETL tasks page, click the ETL. The ETL details are displayed.
2. In the Run configurations table, click Edit  to modify the ETL configuration settings. The Edit run configuration page is displayed.
3. On the Run configuration tab, select No for the Execute in simulation mode option, and click Save.
4. To run the ETL immediately, click Run active configuration. A confirmation message about the ETL run job submission is displayed.
   When the ETL runs, it collects data from the source and transfers it to the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization database.

To schedule the ETL run in the production mode

By default, the ETL is scheduled to run daily. You can customize this schedule by changing the frequency and period of running the ETL.

To configure the ETL run schedule:

1. On the ETL tasks page, click the ETL, and click Edit task. The ETL details are displayed.
   
2. On the Edit task page, do the following, and click Save:
   • Specify a unique name and description for the ETL task.
   • In the Maximum execution time before warning field, specify the duration for which the ETL must run before generating warnings or alerts, if any.
   • Select a predefined or custom frequency for starting the ETL run. The default selection is Predefined.
   • Select the task group to which you want to assign the ETL task.
3. Click Schedule. A message confirming the scheduling job submission is displayed.
   When the ETL runs as scheduled, it collects data from the source and transfers it to the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization database.

Verify that the ETL ran successfully and check whether the AWS data is refreshed in the Workspace.

To verify whether the ETL ran successfully

1. Click Administration > ETL and System Tasks > ETL tasks.
2. In the Last exec time column corresponding to the ETL name, verify that the current date and time are displayed.
3. In the Last exit column corresponding to the ETL name, verify that the status is OK.
   In case of WARNING or ERROR, click in the last column of the ETL name row to review the log files.

If you see a Warning status in the Last exit column, see the AWS API ETL displays warning message in the ETL logs to troubleshoot the issue.

To verify that the AWS data is refreshed

1. In the Workspace tab, expand (Domain name) > Systems > AWS Cloud > Instances.
2. In the left pane, verify that the hierarchy displays the new and updated AWS instances that you have provisioned in the AWS cloud.
3. Click an AWS virtual machine instance, and click the Metrics tab in the right pane.
4. Check if the Last Activity column in the Configuration metrics and Performance metrics tables displays the current date.

The following image shows sample metrics data. To learn more about these metrics and other related concepts, see Entities-lookup-information-and-metrics-for-AWS-API-ETL.