Importing data from BMC Discovery

Note

Starting with the 20.18.01 release, Remedyforce has replaced the older BMC Discovery integration, which required Pentaho, with an improved (API-based, no Pentaho required) integration. This improved integration offers many enhancements including additional classes, relationships and synchronization. It is recommended that you move to the new integration to take advantage of the many new features. To learn more about the differences between the old (Pentaho) integration and the new (API-based) integration, please refer to the Remedyforce and BMC Discovery FAQ documentation.

You can import data from BMC Discovery (known before version 11.0 as BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping) into BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0 by using the Pentaho Data Integration tool. The Pentaho packages for importing data from BMC Discovery are available on the BMC Communities website. For information about how configuration items (CIs) are imported and relationships are created in CMDB 2.0, see Overview-of-how-data-is-imported-into-BMC-Remedyforce.

The following topics provide information about importing data from BMC Discovery into BMC Remedyforce CMDB:

Note

For information about the BMC Discovery versions that BMC Remedyforce supports, see Supported-browsers-mobile-devices-and-integrations.

Before you begin

Before you can import data from BMC Discovery into BMC Remedyforce CMDB, you must perform the following tasks:

Install Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Download the Pentaho Data Integration tool.
Note: BMC Discovery 11.0 works with the existing Pentaho packages that are available on BMC Communities. However, there is a known issue with the Edit Mapping feature. For more information about the issue and the workaround, see issue 79517 in the Known and corrected issues topic.
Create the KETTLE_HOME variable to store the location of the Kitchen.bat file.
Register at the BMC Communities website.
(Optional) Configure BMC Remedyforce to retain the original Instance Name value of CIs imported from an external source.
If you have enabled the setting to access your Salesforce organization from limited IP addresses, ensure that you have the security token to log on to your Salesforce organization.
For more information about the security token, see Salesforce Help.
Download the appropriate Pentaho package from the BMC Communities website. The following table helps you to decide which package to download:
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For information about the KJB (job) and KTR (transformation) files that are included in the Pentaho package, see KJB and KTR files for importing data from BMC Discovery.
Best practice
BMC recommends that you do not change the folder structure because doing so can interfere with the running of the batch files provided in the CombinedJobs folder.

To import data from BMC Discovery

Navigate to the location where you downloaded and unzipped the Pentaho Data Integration tool, navigate to the data-integration folder, and make a backup copy of the Kitchen.bat file.
In the folder that you downloaded from the BMC Communities website, double-click the Common folder, copy the Kitchen.bat file, and paste it into the data-integration folder.
To launch the Pentaho Data Integration tool, navigate to the data-integration folder and double-click the Spoon.bat file.
In Pentaho Spoon, select File > Open, navigate to the folder where you downloaded the Pentaho package, and open the appropriate KJB file.
For example, to import LAN Endpoint CIs into BMC Remedyforce CMDB, open the TransferADDMLANEndpointInfotoCMDB.kjb file in the LANEndpoint folder.
In the Transformation step (transformation), provide your BMC Discovery server access details.
Click here to see the detailed steps.
1. Right-click the Transformation step, select Open referenced object, and then select Transformation.
2. On the GenerateCSVAPIFile tab, double-click the Create CSV URL step.
3. In the Script Values / Mod window, perform the following actions:
  Replace <Enter HostName> with the BMC Discovery server name or the primary IP address of BMC Discovery.
  Replace <Enter UserName> with the BMC Discovery user name.
  Ensure that you enter the user name and password of a BMC Discovery system administrator.
  Replace <Enter Password> with the BMC Discovery password.
  To save your changes and close the Script Values / Mod window,click OK.
  To save the KTR file, click Save.
Navigate to the KJB file that you opened in step 4.
In the Update BE Table With ADDM <CI type name> Information step (transformation), provide your Salesforce organization access details and, if required, customize the Pentaho package.

Click here to see the detailed steps.

Important
If you have enabled the setting to access your Salesforce organization from limited IP addresses, you must append the security token to your Salesforce organization password.
For example, if the password for your Salesforce organization is mypassword and your security token is XXXXXXXXX, specify mypasswordXXXXXXXXX in the Password fields.
To save the KTR and KJB files, click Save.
Close the Pentaho Data Integration tool.
For the imported records, the Source field is set to BMC Discovery. You can use the Source field to generate reports and also when you enable and configure reconciliation.
From the folder of the CI type for which you are importing data, double-click the .bat file provided in the folder.
For example, if you are importing data for Computer System, open the SchedulingComputerSystem.bat file.
Important
You must use the .bat file to avoid any errors while importing.

To schedule jobs to import data

On the BMC Communities website, the Pentaho packages for importing data from external data sources into BMC Remedyforce page contain a Scheduling Files folder. This folder contains a sample batch file that you can use as a base to create your batch files for scheduling data import. For more information about scheduling a job, see http://wiki.Pentaho.com/display/EAI/Kitchen+User+Documentation.

Navigate to the folder where you have extracted the Pentaho package for which you want to schedule import jobs.
Open the Scheduling Files folder and create a copy of the sample batch file, such as SchedulingComputerSystem.bat.
Open the batch file that you created in step 2, perform the following actions, and save the file:
1. Update the path of the Kitchen.bat file based on your version of the Pentaho Data Integration tool:KETTLE_HOME="<path>\<PentahoFolder>\data-integration"
2. Update the path of the Kitchen.bat file and the KJB file:<path>\<PentahoFolder>\data-integration\kitchen.bat /file:"<JobFile>\<JobFileName>.kjb"/level:Detailed
In these steps, the following definitions apply:
- <path> is the location where you have extracted the Pentaho installer ZIP file.
- <PentahoFolder> is the extracted root folder for your version of the Pentaho Data Integration tool.
  For example, for version 6.1 of the Pentaho Data Integration Tool, the extracted root folder is pdi-ce-6.1.0.1-196.
- <JobFile> is the location where you have extracted the job files.
- <JobFileName> is the KJB file that you want to run at the scheduled interval.
- The level option specifies the level of logging for the job. The values that you can specify for the level option are Minimal, Basic, Detailed, Debugging, and Row Level. The log files are saved in the same folder where KJB files are saved.
See an example of the updated batch file.

The following figure shows an example of the updated SchedulingComputerSystem.bat file.
Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > TaskScheduler.
In the Task Scheduler window, in the Actions area, click Create Basic Task.
In the Create Basic Task Wizard, type the name and description of the task, and click Next.
Select the appropriate option for starting the task, and click Next.
For example, you can select Daily or When the computer starts as the option for starting the task.
Configure the additional options for starting the task, and click Next.
The additional options are displayed based on the option that you selected in step 7. For example, if you select the Daily option for starting the task, you must configure the start date and frequency at which you want to run the batch file.
Select the Start a program radio button, and click Next.
Click Browse to locate the batch file that you have created to schedule the job, and click Next.
Select the Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish check box, and click Finish.

User scenario for importing data from BMC Discovery

David is a member of the Infrastructure team for Downtown Bank, responsible for managing the laptops for ABC project. He signs up for BMC Remedyforce and accepts to use the preconfigured, ITIL based incident and problem management processes for managing CIs. Also, David wants to use the CMDB to represent the physical, logical, and conceptual items and to track the relationships between the different CIs.

Charlotte, a BMC Remedyforce administrator, helps David to import details about ABC team member laptops from BMC Discovery to BMC Remedyforce CMDB. Charlotte imports the laptop data into BMC Remedyforce CMDB by running multiple jobs from the Pentaho package in the following sequence:

To import the operating system, processor, IP EndPoint, and LAN Endpoint data, Charlotte navigates to the CombinedJobs folder and runs the TransferAdvancedADDMinfotoCMDB.bat file.
After running the job, she opens the Operating System, Processor, IP EndPoint, and LAN Endpoint classes in the Instance Editor and verifies that the entries are correct on the Relationships tab.
To import the laptop OS details, Charlotte navigates to the ComputerSystem folder and runs the SchedulingComputerSystem.bat file. Next, Charlotte navigates to the OperatingSystem folder and runs the SchedulingOperatingSystem.bat file.
After running the jobs, she opens the Operating System class in the Instance Editor and verifies that the entries are correct on the Relationships tab.
To import the laptop software-server details, Charlotte navigates to the CombinedJobs folder and runs the TransferComputerSystemAndSoftwareADDMinfotoCMDB.bat file.
After running the job, she opens the Software Server class in the Instance Editor and verifies that the entries are correct on the Relationships tab.

KJB and KTR files for importing data from BMC Discovery

The Pentaho packages contain job (KJB) and transformation (KTR) files that are created in the Pentaho Data Integration tool. The KJB files (jobs) and KTR files (transformations) store metadata in XML format. A KJB file contains a series of transformations that are run in a sequence. A KTR file contains a single transformation. The KJB (job) files retrieve data from external sources into BMC Remedyforce CMDB.

For information about the KJB and KTR files in the Pentaho packages for BMC Discovery, see KJB files in the Pentaho packages and KTR files in the Pentaho packages.

KJB files in the Pentaho packages

Each Pentaho package includes different KJB (job) files for importing different types of configuration items (CIs), such as computer systems and LAN endpoints. These job files are bundled with related files and provided to you in folders. The folder names correspond to CI types in BMC Remedyforce CMDB.

The following table provides information about the job files that you must run to import specific CI types into BMC Remedyforce CMDB:

KTR files in the Pentaho packages

All job (KJB) files for importing data from specific CI types contain a series of transformations that are run in a sequence. Each transformation maps to a KTR file that is available, along with the KJB file, in the folder for each CI type.

The following table provides information about the KTR files and the corresponding transformations that the KJB file for each CI type contains:

For example, the ComputerSystem folder contains the CreateInitialTimeStampedFileForADDM(CS).ktr, TransferADDM(CS)InfoToCMDB.ktr, and StoreADDM(CS)Timestamp.ktr files.

The following table provides information about the steps that are included in the TransferADDM<CIType>InfoToCMDB.ktr file (Update BE Table With ADDM <CI type name> Information transformation). The Pentaho package runs these steps to transfer data from BMC Discovery into BMC Remedyforce CMDB. You can view these steps only when you open the KTR file in the Pentaho Data Integration tool.

Troubleshooting

The following table describes the troubleshooting tips that you can use to resolve common issues that you might face when importing data.