Deploying BMC Helix Service Management

We provide a containerized architecture for the BMC Helix Service Management products. BMC Helix Service Management deployment includes deploying BMC Helix Platform Common Services, , and service management applications.

These components provide the following capabilities:

BMC Helix Platform Common Services includes the services and the data lake required to run the applications.
Warning
Important
- BMC Helix Platform Common Services is available on the BMC Helix Service Management EPD. On EPD, this package is called BMC Helix Platform Services for Service Management. It contains the common services and data lake that is a part of the BMC deployment manager. If you have already installed (), do not deploy BMC Helix Platform Common Services again.
- To install both and BMC Helix Service Management, see Deploying both BMC Helix IT Service Management and BMC Helix IT Operations Management.
consolidates the capabilities of and . This single-tenant environment leverages modern architecture, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) technologies and helps develop, build, deploy, and use applications. It also helps you to create and automate many business processes without learning a programming language or complex development tools.
Service management applications such as applications, , and that help you create, configure, customize, automate, deliver, and manage the Service Management requests and functions of your organization.

Deploy BMC Helix Service Management in your on-premises environment to leverage the product capabilities and container deployment benefits.

BMC Helix Service Management architecture

The following diagram depicts the container deployment architecture of BMC Helix Service Management:

Deployment infrastructure

The deployment infrastructure consists of the following components:

Component	Description
BMC DTR	BMC Docker Trusted Registry (DTR) that stores the container images.
Repository	We recommend that you set up a local repository, such as a Harbor repository. Synchronize the local Harbor repository with BMC DTR, and then access the container images from the repository. Important: To synchronize the container images with BMC DTR, you can choose any container repository solution that is compatible with the BMC Helix Service Management. We do not anticipate any issues with alternative repositories. However, we do not provide support for alternative container repositories.
BMC Deployment Manager	An entity that is used to deploy BMC Helix Platform Common Services.
BMC Deployment Engine	A logical entity that is used to deploy BMC Helix Innovation Suite and Service Management applications in your environment.
On-premises cluster	Consists of a Kubernetes cluster that includes the following artifacts: All relevant network and storage plugin and an Ingress controller Nodes in the cluster with internet access to fetch images from the Docker registry
NGNIX ingress controller (load balancer)	This component is a specialized load balancer for the Kubernetes environment. It distributes network traffic and scales workloads. NGINX is directly used as an ingress controller. The following features of NGINX are used: Authorization Module – Used to internally handle redirects to the correct service to authenticate and authorize the service Configuration Customization – Used to intercept calls between services based on authentication criteria Mergeable Ingress – Allows separate minion ingress objects per service with a single master ingress to handle all major configurations including multi-tenant support with server-alias annotation Rewrite Target – Is regex-based and flexible. Used to map incoming URL to paths within the micro-service
Domain Name System (DNS)	This component manages the naming system all the resources connected to your private network.
BMC Helix Innovation Suite database	Stores definitions and data for AR System server , Mid Tier, BMC Helix Digital Workplace, BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, and BMC Helix ITSM applications.
Block storage	We support a Bring-Your-Own-Storage-Class model, for any block storage supporting recommended IOPS. For more information about recommended IOPS, see Sizing and scalability considerations in the BMC Helix IT Operations Management documentation. We support ReadWriteMany file stores. The components of BMC Helix Operations Management, such as SmartGraph, and BMC Helix Continuous Optimization require ReadWriteMany storage-class.

BMC Helix Platform Common Services components

BMC Deployment manager deploys the service tier, and data tier components. These components have a hierarchical dependency on each other. The service tier and data tier components are together called the BMC Helix Platform Common Services.

Important

BMC Helix Platform Common Services is available on the BMC Helix Service Management EPD. On EPD this package is called BMC Helix Platform Services for Service Management. It contains the common services and data lake that is a part of the BMC deployment manager. If you have already installed , do not deploy BMC Helix Platform Common Services again.

Helix Logging tier

Helix Logging consists of the following components:

Component	Description
Fluent Bit	Enables you to collect critical logs from your pods running in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite namespace. For more information, see Fluent Bit documentation.
Kibana and Elasticsearch	These components facilitate you to use Kibana dashboard to view and collect the critical logs. For more information, see Viewing and collecting critical logs by using the Kibana dashboard.

Common services tier

The common services tier includes the services required for the functioning and management of the applications. It consists of the following components:

Component	Description
BMC Helix Portal	BMC Helix Portal is the launchpad for all your licensed BMC Helix services. BMC Helix Portal is built on a microservices-based architecture. For more information, see BMC Helix Portal .
BMC Helix Dashboards	BMC Helix Dashboards offers unified reporting and gives you a consolidated view of data from applications across your environment. The consolidated view of dashboards helps you perform tasks such as responding to issues quickly so that system downtime is minimized. For more information, see BMC Helix Dashboards .
BMC Helix SSO	BMC Helix Single Sign-On helps to present credentials for authentication only once in a multi software environment. For more information, see BMC Helix Single Sign-On .
Identity Management (IMS)	Identity Management Service (IMS) is a common service that helps you set up role-based access control and data-level access control. You can access IMS from the . These actions cannot be set up by end users.
Tenant Management Service (TMS)	Tenant Management Service (TMS) is a common service that enables onboarding and offboarding of tenants and associated actions; for example, configure an external identity provider, configure the data retention period for a tenant, and so on. You can access IMS from the .

Common data tier

The common data tier includes the various databases that store the data generated by the applications. This tier is also called the data lake.

Component	Description
Victoria Metrics	Used to store: Time series metrics and aggregations Custom dashboards
Kafka	Kafka is a messaging service that is used for: Asynchronous communication Ingestion queues related to metrics, events, or logs
Zookeeper	Zookeeper is a messaging service that is used for: Asynchronous communication Ingestion queues related to metrics, events, or logs
PostgreSQL	Used to structure data across the product and platform about organization, users, metadata, and so on.
MinIO	MinIO is a server-side storage stack that is used for file storage and backups.
Redis	Redis is a data structure store that is used for ephemeral data and caching. It is used to store: Events Logs
Elasticsearch	Elasticsearch is used to store: Events Logs
Dynamic Service Modeling	Dynamic Service Modeling (DSM) provides topology information for devices and resources. This data is available to all BMC Helix applications.

platform tier components

platform tier consists of the following components:

Component	Description
AR System	AR System enables you to automate business processes without learning a programming language or complex development tools.
BMC Helix Innovation Studio	BMC Helix Innovation Studio helps you develop, build, deploy, and use applications in your environment. It also helps you create and automate business processes without learning programming languages or complex development tools. For more information, see BMC Helix Innovation Suite .
Email Engine	The Email Engine enables communication between the AR System server and mail servers. It consists of multiple modules such as Monitor, Receiver, Execution, Creator, Sender, Logging, and Configuration. The Email Engine runs on a separate pod. For more information, see Email Engine architecture .
Plug-in services	The AR System plug-in server enables integration between the AR System and external programs or environments. The plug-ins are separated from the AR System and run on individual pods. For more information, see Enabling plug-ins .
Reconciliation Engine	The Reconciliation Engine eliminates duplicate data, retains only relevant information, and stores asset data that is correct and complete. The Reconciliation Engine runs on a separate pod. For more information, see Reconciliation .

Service Management application tier components

Service Management application tier consists of the following components:

BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog
BMC Helix ITSM	With BMC Helix ITSM suite of applications, you can create, configure, customize, deliver, and manage the Service Management requests and functions of your organization. BMC Helix ITSM streamlines and automates the processes around IT service desk, asset management, and change management operations. For more information, see BMC Helix ITSM .
BMC Helix CMDB	BMC Helix CMDB is used to store and manage the configuration items (CIs) that represent your IT environment. For more information, see BMC Helix CMDB .
Smart IT	Smart IT user interface makes it easier for you to perform basic BMC Helix ITSM processes by reducing the number of steps involved in performing the tasks. Smart IT provides modern, collaborative workplace with an intuitive, social, and mobile service desk experience to users. For more information, see BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT .
BMC Helix ITSM Insights	BMC Helix ITSM Insights is a module of BMC Helix that delivers value by providing AI Service Management capabilities to use in combination with your BMC Helix ITSM instances.
Mid Tier	Mid Tier provides access BMC Helix Innovation Suite from a browser. The Mid Tier contains components and add-in services that run on a web server, so users can view applications on the web. Mid Tier translates client requests, interprets responses from the server, handles web service requests, and runs server-side processes that provide BMC Helix Innovation Suite functionality to web and wireless clients. For more information, see AR System .
BMC Helix Digital Workplace	BMC Helix Digital Workplace and BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog helps you request IT, HR, and other company services through a social media-like interface. Administrators enable self-service features for end users. For more information, see BMC Helix Digital Workplace .
BMC HelixGPT	BMC HelixGPT is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) capability within the BMC Helix applications that empowers enterprises to capitalize on new generative AI-powered use cases to resolve problems faster, improve collaboration, and increase productivity. For more information, see BMC HelixGPT .
BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker	BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker is an add-on offering for BMC Helix ITSM that enables organizations to effectively manage IT services in a hybrid, multiprovider environment. It provides out-of-the-box integrations to address advanced service management challenges related to cloud services and to enable DevOps teams to work seamlessly with multiple applications. For more information, see BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker .
BMC Helix Business Workflows	BMC Helix Business Workflows is a case management application for all lines of business. It provides services to employees in a scalable, managed, and automated way. For more information, see BMC Helix Business Workflows .
BMC Helix Telco Extensions	BMC Helix Telco Extensions is an extension of the BMC Helix Service Management excellence into the CSP's (Communications Service Provider) Network Operations Center (NOC). The NOC is the essential nerve center for CSPs for delivering, monitoring, maintaining, and repairing all CSP services. For more information, see BMC Helix Telco Extensions .

Workflow to deploy BMC Helix Service Management

The following image shows the tasks to deploy BMC Helix Service Management:

Deploy ITSM.png

Product	User	Action	Reference
	System administrator	Review system requirements for BMC Helix Service Management installation. Make sure that you install the pre-requisite software such as Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, and Jenkins, and meet the hardware and software requirements.	Installing in deployment documentation
		Download the installation files and container images access key from Electronic Product Download (EPD).
		Create your Harbor repository and synchronize the repository with BMC Docker Trusted Registry (DTR).
		Prepare the database that you want to use.
		Set up the BMC Deployment Engine to call the relevant pipelines that deploy the platform and applications.
BMC Helix Platform Common Services		Deploy BMC Helix Platform Common Services. Important: BMC Helix Service Management uses the services and data lake provided by BMC Helix Platform Common Services. On the BMC Helix Service Management EPD, this package is called BMC Helix Platform Services for Service Management. It contains the common services and data lake that are a part of the BMC deployment manager. If you have already installed BMC Helix ITOM, do not deploy BMC Helix Platform Common Services again.
BMC Helix Service Management		Deploy BMC Helix Service Management.
		Perform the post installation tasks such as applying licenses and other configurations.
	Administrator	Perform basic configurations such as configuring and setting up users, and providing user permissions.