Creating service models by using blueprints

As a configuration manager, use the blueprints in BMC Helix Service Modeling to quickly build service models. These blueprints are predefined templates that you can use to create service models for your IT infrastructure. Set additional qualification criteria to automatically update the service model whenever there is a change in your IT environment.

Important

Use the BMC Helix Service Modeling application for using blueprints only if you are a BMC Helix ITSM subscriber. 

If you have subscribed to BMC Helix Discovery or BMC Helix AIOps, see the following documentation to use the blueprint templates to build your service models:

For information about blueprints in BMC Helix Discovery , see Service modeling with blueprints in BMC Helix Discovery.
For information about blueprints in BMC Helix AIOps , see Building service models by using blueprints in BMC Helix AIOps.

Related topics

BMC Helix Service Management service - License
BMC Helix ITSM Suite service - License
BMC Helix ITSM Service Optimization service

In your IT environment, multiple topology discovery sources collect data about your IT assets and help you gain visibility into your technology ecosystem. Solutions like AppDynamics, Dynatrace, and SolarWinds help you identify critical infrastructure components and generate the topology data needed to manage and optimize your IT operations effectively.

Use the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations connectors to import this topology data into BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only). After the topology data is successfully transferred to BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only), use the blueprints in BMC Helix Service Modeling to create the service models and synchronize these service models with BMC Helix CMDB. After the topology data is normalized and reconciled in BMC Helix CMDB, the processed data is consumed by the BMC Helix ITSM applications.

Process overview

The following image provides a high-level overview of the process of creating service models by using blueprints in the BMC Helix Service Modeling application:

Process overview _serviceModeling.png


The following table provides high-level information about the different steps in the process for creating service models by using blueprints:

Steps

Task

Product user interface

Reference

1

Import topology data into BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only)​ from multiple sources such as AppDynamics, Entuity, or Dynatrace.

BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations

2

Access BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only) by logging in to BMC Helix Service Modeling and view the imported topology.

BMC Helix Service Modeling

3

Create service models by using service blueprints.

BMC Helix Service Modeling

4

After you create the service models, use BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only) to synchronize them with BMC Helix CMDB. 

BMC Helix Service Modeling

5

Process the CIs in the service models by running the normalization and reconciliation jobs in BMC Helix CMDB.

BMC Helix CMDB

6

After normalizing and reconciling the CIs in the product dataset (BMC.ASSET), use the CI data through different BMC Helix ITSM applications such as Incident Management and Change Management.

BMC Helix ITSM

Before you begin

  • In BMC Helix Portal, make sure you assign the following administrator role permissions.
    1. Log in to BMC Helix Portal and navigate to User access > Roles and permissions .
    2. Click Add Role.
    3. In the Role name field, enter Service Modeling Admin.
    4. From the Role type list, select Role.
    5. (Optional) In the Description field, enter the description.
    6. In the Select permissions pane, under dsm, use the All permissions toggle key to enable all permissions.

    7. Click Confirm.
      Verify that 71 permissions are assigned to the Service Modeling Admin role.
      For information about permissions in BMC Helix Portal , see Roles and permissions . 

  • Make sure the topology data from different topology sources is imported into BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only) by using the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations connectors. See Integrating by using BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations. 

  • Understand the CIs and their relationships that are present in the infrastructure for which you want to create a blueprint. For example, if you want to create a blueprint for a Kubernetes-based application, understand the namespaces, clusters, deployments, and their relationships.
  • Identify the starting node for a blueprint. 
    Identify whether you want to create a service model starting with nodes such as the hosts, applications, ESXi servers, and network devices.

To access BMC Helix Service Modeling

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Portal . See, BMC Helix Portal.

  2. Click the BMC Helix Service Modeling tile.
    Tile on Helix Portal.jpg

To view the imported topology data in BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only)

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Portal and open BMC Helix Service Modeling.
  2. In BMC Helix Service Modeling, click CMDB Sync to access BMC Helix Discovery.

  3. In BMC Helix Discovery , select  Explore  >  Data.

  4. In the Miscellaneous panel, click Import Datasets to view the topology data populated by using the Integrating by using BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations connectors.
    Import TPL runs on the Import dataset records and converts them to nodes in BMC Helix Discovery (DSM only).

BMC Helix Service Modeling interface

The following image gives an overview of the key user interface elements of BMC Helix Service Modeling:

Service modeling UI.jpg



Where to go from here

Creating-a-service-blueprint


 

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