Running an impact simulation

You can run an impact simulation from the BMC CMDB UI, from the Change Management console, or Asset Management console.

The results of the impact simulation can help you prioritize the issues that need to be addressed. For example, a simulation might reveal that if a server were to fail, email and payroll services may be unavailable. The computed priority for these services helps you decide the service that must be restored first.

Before you begin

Before using Impact Simulator, you should have an impact model of the CIs in place.
For information see, Creating-and-testing-impact-models.
To access the Impact Simulator through the CMDB Portal, you must configure the default web path of the Mid Tier server in AR System Administration Console. For information, see Configuring-the-default-web-path-of-the-Mid-Tier-server-in-AR-System-Administration-Console

Impact states

When you create a simulation, you can specify an impact state for each CI in the simulation.

When you run a simulation, Impact Simulator uses these states and the impact relationships defined between CIs to predict the corresponding impact on the CIs that it represents. For example, a simulation that includes a server with an impact state of Unavailable might return several related CIs that are predicted to be unavailable as a result of the unavailable server. However, a server with an impact state of Impaired in the same simulation might return impacted CIs that are predicted to be only slightly impaired.

The results of the impact simulation can help you prioritize which issues to address first as a result of the simulated changes.

For example, a simulation might reveal that if a server were to fail, email and payroll services may be unavailable. The computed priority for these services helps you decide the service that must be restored first.

To run an impact simulation

In the CMDB UI, select CIs > Simulate Impact to launch the Atrium Impact Simulator in the AIS:Main AR System form.
In the Impact Simulator, click Add CI to add a CI for which you want to simulate the impact.
In the Search dialog box, run a query that returns the CIs you want to include in the simulation.
From the results list, select one or more CIs, and then click OK.
The selected CIs appear in the CIs for Simulation section.
Select a CI, and then select an impact state from the list.
Repeat this step until every row in the CIs for Simulation section has the impact state that you want to simulate.
Click Simulate Impact.
View the results of the simulation in a topology view or a table view.
By default, the table view is displayed.
To view the results in a topology view, click the Results in Topology tab.
The topology view is as shown in the following figure:
To view the legend, click Indicators.
To view the service model graph in CMDB Explorer, click View in Explorer.
This view is useful for large service models when the graph may not fit in the topology view.
Important
When you click View in Explorer to view a service model graph, do not use the Edit Mode feature to create new CIs in that service model.

To trigger custom actions after simulation is complete

When you run an impact simulation, a simulation ID is generated on the CMDB:Activities form in the Data field. You can create filters on the CMDB:Activities form by using this ID and initiate custom actions in other applications without any delay. The Execution Action for the filter should be set to Merge.

CMDB Activities form_AIS.png

Note

When a service model has a large number of related CIs and relationships that need to be displayed, a pop-up window appears, which shows the progress of the simulation. When the simulation is complete, the progress window closes automatically. Closing the progress window before the simulation is complete does not cancel the simulation.
If the result contains more 750 CIs, you are prompted to view the results either in a table or a topology view.
For information, see CMDB-Impact-Simulator-performance-best-practices.

To save the simulation

To save a simulation, click Save Simulation.
In the Save Simulation dialog box, enter a name and description for the simulation.
Enter a description of the simulation.
Click Save.

To load a saved impact simulation

If you have saved an impact simulation, perform the following steps to load that simulation and refresh the simulation results.

To view a previously saved simulation, click Load Simulation.
In the Saved Simulation dialog box, select a saved simulation.
Click Load.
The simulation is loaded with its configuration items (CIs), simulated states, and the results from the last time that the simulation was saved.
If the impact model has changed, or the relationships between CIs in the data model have changed, the saved simulation results might not be accurate.
Running the simulation again makes sure that the results are current.
Click Simulate Impact to refresh the results table.

Where to go from here

Comparing-impact-simulations