Promoting changes from a Sandbox dataset to production

After you create new instances of CIs, modify instances, or delete instances in the Sandbox dataset, you must promote those changes to the production BMC.ASSET dataset.

CIs can be accessed by BMC Helix ITSM applications by using the following methods:

  • By using discovery applications and populating the CMDB.
  • By directly adding them to Smart IT or BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management.

If CIs are created or added directly in Smart IT or BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management, those CIs must be modified in the application from which they were added. If you modify the CIs that are directly created in Smart IT or BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management in CMDB Explorer, the modifications are added and retained the sandbox dataset. Modifications to these CIs, are not promoted to the BMC.ASSET dataset. 

The CIs that are displayed in the Sandbox view are the ones that will be promoted. Other CIs present in the Sandbox dataset will not be promoted.

To promote a CI, you must first pull the CI in CMDB Explorer view and then promote the CI.

BMC Helix CMDB automatically creates a personal Sandbox for every user, so that multiple users can edit configuration items (CIs) from the production dataset without interfering with each other. By using a Sandbox dataset to edit configuration items (CIs), you take advantage of a safety mechanism that prevents unintended changes to your production data. 

The Sandbox acts as a temporary staging area before promoting your changes to the production BMC Asset dataset. Because users have their own Sandbox, this safety mechanism prevents them from editing instances directly used in the production. The Sandbox dataset is an overlay dataset for the BMC Asset dataset and allows you to make changes in a separate partition without changing the production data and without duplicating the entire dataset.


Only new or edited CIs are present in the Sandbox view — all other CIs exist in the production dataset. You cannot directly edit data in the production dataset. You must use the Sandbox. This makes sure that your edits are reconciled and the production dataset continues to accurately represent your environment.

You must work in the Sandbox view instead of the BMC Asset view when you are making changes to CIs. When you click an instance in the display pane and select Edit,  you are prompted to convert the BMC Asset view into a Sandbox view.

Promotion process

After you finish editing instances in your Sandbox, you promote your changes to the production dataset. The Reconciliation Engine includes out-of-the-box rules to promote your changes from the Sandbox to the production dataset. Only the Reconciliation Engine can update the production BMC Asset dataset. For more information, see  Promoting-changes-from-a-Sandbox-dataset-to-production.

For example, the Sandbox (and the instances contained in it) that belongs to Allen Allbrook at Calbro Services is different from the Sandbox that belongs to Mary Mann. Allen cannot directly create, edit, or delete CIs in the BMC Asset dataset, which is reserved for production use. Instead, he would query for a CI, drag it to his Sandbox, edit the CI, and then promote his changes back to the BMC Asset dataset.

All changes you make in a Sandbox dataset are saved in the Sandbox dataset until you decide to promote those changes to the BMC Asset dataset by clicking Promote Sandbox Changes in the toolbar.

When you click Review Sandbox on the CMDB Explorer and then Promote, all of your CI changes are promoted. A reconciliation job reconciles your changes with the production instances in the BMC Asset dataset. Your edits in the Sandbox dataset are immediate. If you make a change that conflicts with an earlier change, your new change overwrites it.

While the promotion is running, all instances in Sandbox views are unavailable. Only one promotion can be running at any time for all the Sandbox users in BMC Helix CMDB. If another user has started a promotion, CMDB Explorer notifies you that a promotion is already running.

After the promotion has completed, any views with Sandbox instances that have been promoted now contain the production instances from the BMC Asset dataset.


To promote changes from a Sandbox dataset to production

The steps to promote a CI from the Sandbox dataset to production are as follows:

  1. In the CMDB Explorer, click Review Sandbox.
  2. From the Sandbox Promotion Review dialog box, review the list of instances and CIs to be promoted.

Your edits in the Sandbox dataset are immediate. If you make a change that conflicts with an earlier change, your new change overwrites it. 

CI_ReviewSandbox.png


Review the promotion details and click Promote.  A reconciliation job reconciles your changes with the production instances in the BMC Asset dataset. The Reconciliation Engine includes out-of-the-box rules to promote your changes from the Sandbox to the production dataset.  


Important

  • The changes that you made in the sandbox will remain in the sandbox until they are promoted or until you run a reconciliation job using the sandbox dataset.
  • The state of the sandbox just before the promotion happens is not stored in BMC Helix CMDB. Hence, you cannot retrieve the CIs after it has been promoted.
    After the CIs are promoted, they are destroyed in the sandbox.
    If you want to see the CIs that you just promoted, you must do a search for the CIs that you just created.
  • You get the error "Failed to get promotion entry: Form does not exist on server." when you try to promote the CI changes to the Sandbox. Check whether an Abstract Class without Data Replication and without any subclasses is created on the root level. If such a class exists, either create subclasses or delete the Abstract Class.


Promoting changes to CIs from the Sandbox to the BMC.ASSET dataset only works if the following conditions are met:

  • CIs that were created outside Smart IT and BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management
  • Attribute values that were never set or modified in either Smart IT or BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management.

Important

Promoting instances of categorization classes

While running reconciliation jobs in the Sandbox dataset, even though an attribute may be visible in the form field for a categorization class, reconciliation engine does not merge the attribute.

Example

The OtherTypeDescription attribute belongs to the ConnectivitySegment class which is a child of ConnectivityCollection.
The ConnectivitySegment is a categorization class and hence the storage for the OtherTypeDescription attribute is present on the parent form.

When a reconciliation job runs and is processing a CI of ConnectivityCollection class, the value of the OtherTypeDescription attribute for ConnectivityCollection class is not retained after promotion. This is because this attribute does not belong to the ConnectivityCollection class and is not reconciled for a CI of this class.

 

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