Architecture

BMC Helix Discovery is a true SaaS offering with a single version and BMC-controlled product releases, updates to the supporting system and infrastructure, and monthly Technology Knowledge Updates (TKUs).

BMC Helix Discovery removes the requirement for customers to:

• Size, provision, and maintain hardware
• Configure clusters
• Apply TKUs
• Back up and maintain the datastore

BMC Helix Discovery Service Architecture

BMC Helix Discovery is divided into two major parts, the cloud-native service provided by BMC (BMC Helix Discovery instance), and the BMC Discovery Outpost application software that runs on a dedicated Windows server. You must install at least one Outpost but you could install multiple Outposts too–this diagram shows the potential to deploy an Outpost in your public cloud and also on-premise.

Each instance of BMC Helix Discovery has the following components:

• Container Instances – The following containers run in a cluster for each instance:
  • User interface
  • REST API
  • Reasoning and Discovery queues (collectively, the discovery process)
  • CMDB Sync
  • Security
• File system: Each BMC Helix Discovery instance has its own file system into which each container instance performs write and read operations.
• Datastore Instance: Each instance of BMC Helix Discovery needs a highly available and fault-tolerant datastore. This is achieved by creating a cluster of at least three instances, each in a different availability zone, and each one running multiple distinct datastore processes.

The BMC Helix Discovery service registers with the Outpost, and the Outpost in turn registers with the BMC Helix Discovery service. The process is manual, which ensures that registration between the two is always a positive action. For more information about the Outpost, see BMC Discovery Outpost. Communication between the Outpost and the BMC Helix Discovery service is always encrypted and sent over HTTPS. The registration process establishes the second level of encryption of the messages between the Outpost and the service, which means that we do not just rely on the security of HTTPS protocol. For more information, see Information-security.

CMDB synchronization provides a means of continuously synchronizing data in the BMC Helix CMDB with information discovered by BMC Helix Discovery. BMC Remedyforce connections and BMC Helix CMDB connections using the CMDB REST API are supported. For more information, see CMDB synchronization.