End-to-end drift management example

As a configuration manager with Drift Master permissions, understand how to access drift management and go through the sample scenario. The sample scenario gives a high-level overview of the drift management workflow and drift management components that detect drift.

Important

When accessing drift management for the first time, no data is displayed in the Drift Dashboard or the Drift Console.

To access drift management

  1. Log in to Mid Tier: http://<web_server>:<port>/arsys
    <web_server> is the fully qualified name of the Mid Tier server, specified in the format <server_name>.<company.com>.
    <port> is an optional port number, which is needed if the web server is not on the default port (port 80).
  2. In the navigation pane, select BMC Configuration Drift Management > Drift Console.
    Access Drift management.png

Scenario

As a configuration manager, you want to know whether your hardware or software assets (CIs) are the same today as they were in the last week and want to determine whether drift has occurred.

Create a snapshot of the BMC Asset dataset at a specific point in time that you consider to be the standard data, for example, Monday morning. This snapshot is used to create a baseline.

To know if drift has occurred in a week, create a target a week after the snapshot is created. Create a target using the latest state of your BMC Asset dataset in the following week.

Then, create and run a comparison job to compare the current state of your BMC Asset dataset (target) with the Monday morning snapshot (baseline) to determine whether changes occurred during the week (drift).

Important

For this quick start, unless otherwise specified, use the default options provided.


Task 1: Create a snapshot job

Use the Snapshot Job Wizard to make a copy (snapshot) of part of your BMC Asset dataset (source) and store it in a destination dataset. Apply a qualification set by using the Qualification Builder and reduce the number of CIs copied from the BMC Asset dataset source to the destination dataset. The Qualification Builder is included in the Snapshot Job Wizard workflow. At the end of this step, you will have a copy of your assets (CIs) at a given point in time.

For more information about creating snapshots, see Creating snapshots.

To create a snapshot

  1. In drift management console, select Management > Job Console > Create.
  2. In the Specify Type of Job box, select Snapshot Job.
    The Snapshot Job Wizard is displayed.
    Snapshot job wizard.png
  3. In the Specify General Information pane, specify a name (for example, MySnapshotJob) and description for the snapshot job.
  4. Click Next.
  5. In the Specify Destination Dataset pane, select Create to create a destination dataset (for example, MySnapshotDataset), and then click Next.
    This is the dataset to which you will copy your BMC Asset data.
  6. In the Specify Source Dataset pane, select BMC Asset as a source dataset and click Next.
  7. (Optional) From the Select Source Qualification Set pane, specify a qualification set to apply to the source dataset to narrow the number of CIs to be copied.
    If you do not have an existing qualification sets to select, follow the steps to create a qualification set:
    1. Click Create.
      The Qualification Builder is displayed.
    2. Specify a name.
      For example, MySnapshotQualification and description for the qualification set.
      Qualification Builder.png
    3. For Qualification Set, select Custom Qualification Set from the menu.
    4. From the Select Class Name menu, select BMC_ComputerSystem.

      Selecting a class for a qualification set
      100645-Drift7500UG-21.gif
      This narrows the data by selecting one class from BMC Asset.
    5. Click Save & Close.
      The Qualification Builder closes and the details of the qualification set you created are displayed on the Snapshot Job Wizard pane.
    6. Click Next.
  8. Click Done to skip setting a schedule for the job.
    You can start the job manually from the Job Console after the snapshot job is created.
    The Job Console is displayed and your newly created snapshot job is listed.
  9. Select the job and click Start Job.
  10. On the Job Console, click Refresh to view the status of the job in the Job Run History pane.
    Snapshot job.png

Snapshot is created with the specific CIs from BMC Asset into My Snapshot Dataset. You do not need to wait for the snapshot to complete before continuing to the next step.

Task 2: Create a baseline

When you use the Baseline Wizard, the snapshot of data you created becomes the source for the baseline you need for the comparison job.

In Qualification Builder, use Exclude Set and Include Set to refine the number of CIs by defining which CI attributes to compare.

For more information about creating a baseline, see Creating-baselines.

To create a baseline

  1. In the drift management console, select Authoring > Baselines.
    The Baselines List of Items is displayed. This pane is empty until you create and save some baselines. After you create a baseline, it is saved in a baseline library, available for use in other comparison jobs.
  2. Click Create.
    The Baseline Wizard is displayed.
    Baseline wizard.png
  3. Specify a name and description, and click Next.
    For example, MyBaseline.
  4. Select a dataset to use as source dataset for the baseline and click Next.
    Use the My Snapshot Dataset you created in Task 1: Create a snapshot job.
  5. Provide a qualification set to apply to My Snapshot Dataset.
    1. Click Create.
      The Qualification Builder is displayed.
    2. Provide a name and description for the qualification set.
    3. Accept all defaults, including All Objects.
    4. Click Save & Close.
      The Qualification Builder closes and the details of the qualification set you created are displayed on the Baseline Wizard pane.
    5. Click Next.
  6. Click Next to skip Specify an Include Set.
  7. Click Done to skip Specify an Exclude Set.
    The Baselines List of Items is displayed and your newly created baseline is listed.

Task 3: Create a target

Use the Target Wizard to create a target set of CIs of your configuration data in its current state. This target is later used in the Comparison job.

Use the Qualification Builder in the Target Wizard workflow to refine the data used in the Target.

For more information about creating a target, see Creating-targets.

To create a target

  1. In the drift management console, select Authoring > Targets.
  2. The Targets List of Items is displayed. This pane is empty until you create and save some targets. After you create a target, it is saved here in a target library, available for use in other comparison jobs.
  3. Click Create.
    The Target Wizard is displayed.
  4. Provide a name and description for your target, and then click Next.
  5. Specify a source dataset, and then click Next.
    Select the BMC Asset dataset to compare your configuration data in its current state to a prior state (the snapshot data created in a previous step that is now your baseline).
  6. Provide a qualification set for the target.
    1. Click Select.
      The Qualification Sets List of Items is displayed.
    2. Highlight MySnapshotQualification, and then click Select Item.
      Details of the qualification set you selected are displayed on the Target Wizard pane.
  7. Click Done. The Targets List of Items pane is displayed and your newly created target is listed. 

You are now ready to compare your two sets of CIs, using a comparison job, your target (MyTarget) to your baseline (MyBaseline).

Task 4: Create a comparison job

Use the Comparison Job Wizard to create a comparison job to compare MyBaseline and MyTarget. If the comparison job detects any additions, deletions, or modifications of the target CIs, as compared to the baseline CIs, a Drift Report is generated and displayed on the Drift Console. If no drift is detected, a Drift Report is not generated.

For more information about creating jobs and the comparison types, see Creating and managing comparison jobs.

Before you begin

If you are using drift management for the first time, you might not see a drift in the data. For this example, simulate a CI change by manually making modifications to a CI to view the drift. Let's modify a CI instance in the BMC_ComputerSystem class. 

To modify a computer system CI

  1. In the CMDB Portal search widget, search for a ComputerSystem CI.
  2. Open the CI in CMDB Explorer.
    For information about searching and viewing CIs in CMDB Explorer, see Searching-and-viewing-CIs-and-relationships-in-CMDB-Explorer
  3. Switch to Edit Mode to make changes to the CI in CMDB Explorer.
  4. Right-click the CI, select Quick Edit, and modify the CI Name and Short Description.
  5. Save the changes.
  6. Promote the sandbox changes.

To create a comparison job

  1. In the drift management console, select Management > Job Console > Create. 
  2. In the Specify Type of Job box, select Comparison Job.
    The Comparison Job Wizard is displayed.
  3. In the General Information pane, perform the following steps:
    1. Enter a job name such as MyComparisonJob, and a description.
    2. Verify that the Comparison Type options are not selected.
      The default values, which are not visible on the pane, are one-to-one and Compare regular.
    3. Click Next.
  4. Select a target for the comparison job by performing the following steps:
    1. In the Specify a Target pane, click Select Target.
    2. From the Targets List of Items, select MyTarget and click Select Item.
      The target pane is displayed with the details of MyTarget.
    3. Click Next.
  5. Select a baseline for the comparison job by performing the following steps:
    1. In the Specify a Baseline pane, click Select Baseline.
    2. From the Baseline List of Items, select MyBaseline and click Select Item.
      The baseline pane is displayed with the details of MyBaseline.
    3. Click Next.
  6. Click Next to skip Specify an Incident Template.
  7. Click Done to skip Schedule.
    The comparison job you created is displayed on Job Console under Jobs.
  8. Select the comparison job and click Start Job.
  9. On the Job Console, click Refresh to view the status of the job in the Job Run History pane.
    The Status Description column displays the current status of the job. After the job is successfully completed, a message is displayed to indicate that a drift report is generated and the number of CIs that are affected.
  10. To view the drift report, click View Drift.
    The Drift Console is displayed with the drift details.

Step 5: View detected drifts

When the comparison job detects a difference between the baseline and target CIs, it indicates a drift. All detected drifts are displayed in the Drift Console.

To view drifts


 

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