BMC Helix CMDB API architecture

BMC Helix CMDB provides an application programming interface (API) suite that allows you to work with class definitions, instance data, federation, reconciliation, audit, and other functions.

The BMC Helix CMDB API suite is composed of the Java, web services, and RESTful APIs.

As shown in the following figure, most of the CMDB core components, use the REST API to control the flow of data, and some external data consumers and data providers communicate by using CMDB web services API and Java API:

The Java, and web services APIs provide similar data structures and functions to encapsulate information and functionality. Additionally, the web services API provides a set of platform-independent operations that communicate with your applications to retrieve and send data.

CMDB Java API is a collection of Java classes and methods that provide the C API functionality in a Java development environment. For example, use the Java API if you write server-side web applications that you access through the Java Server page (JSP) or Java servlets web tier layer. The Java API provides an object model of BMC Helix CMDB. Because the Java APIs provide classes and methods that are similar to the C API functions and data structures, you will find it easier to use the Java API if you are already familiar with the C API.

For more information about the CMDB Java API, see BMC Atrium CMDB Javadoc Help.

BMC Helix CMDB Web Services conforms to Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Services Description Language (WSDL) standards. It provides a standard interface for interacting with BMC Helix CMDB. Use the web services API to integrate BMC Helix CMDB data with other applications, for example, BMC Helix Discovery, BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management, or any other third-party application.

CMDB Web Services APIs consist of operations and data structures.

For more information about web services APIs, see Web-Services-API-data-structures and CMDB-Web-Services-API-functions.