Integrating BMC Helix CMDB with Microsoft SCCM by using an adapter

BMC provides an adapter for Microsoft SCCM that you can use to retrieve, transform, and import data from Microsoft SCCM into the BMC Helix CMDB. This imported Microsoft SCCM discovered data can then be used in end-to-end ITIL Asset, Incident, and Change management processes in the BMC Helix ITSM after you have merged your source data with the Asset dataset.

The is an Atrium Integrator based solution that provides a starting point for the SCCM integration. The solution can be modified and customized to suit your requirements.

When using the adapter for SCCM 1511 and later, verify if the SCCM Database structure has changed. If it has changed, you must modify the Database Tables and/or Views for some of the transformations. Contact the SCCM support person in your company who can help you with further steps.

Integrating BMC Helix CMDB with SCCM by using the BMC Helix CMDB adapter provides the following business values to the customers:

• Saves cost and speeds up time to value.
• Eliminates errors by prepackaging the following best practices:
  • Provides a complete integration package including Reconciliation Engine / Normalization Engine rules.
  • Offers end to end scenario for loading data to BMC CMDB from Microsoft SCCM.

For more details on integrating BMC Helix CMDB with Microsoft SCCM, see the following video (03:30):

 https://youtu.be/ftq1UDx5Yac

The adapter can be leveraged by BMC Helix ITSM and provides the following features:

• Imports both configuration items (CIs) and relationship data from Microsoft SCCM.
• Includes pre-defined mappings between SCCM tables and CMDB classes and relationships.
  • Mappings are configurable.
  • Supports both ‘full’ and ‘delta’ updates.
  • Includes default reconciliation and normalization jobs.
  • Provides modification/extension capabilities for out-of-the-box mappings for custom attributes/classes.
  • Supports compatibility with the latest version of BMC Helix ITSM.

• The adapter officially supports SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012, but it can be customized to connect and read data from any later versions.

For more information about the Installation and Configuration guide for SCCM, see Microsoft documentation.

The BMC Helix CMDB – SCCM integration package comprises the following installer components:

• New Dataset for Microsoft SCCM
• Atrium Integrator Jobs
  • Initial load/Update Job
  • Delete Job
  • 16 transformations
• Reconciliation Job
• Normalization Job
• CMDB Extension (creating attribute for SCCM integration ID). This is necessary for mapping the integration ID with the source system.

Installing BMC Helix CMDB adapter for Microsoft SCCM

The adapter must be installed only on a primary or an integration server, where you have configured Atrium Integrator, Normalization Engine, and Reconciliation Engine.

To install SCCM adapter by using silent installation

1. In the input Configuration File, set the value of the SCCM parameter to true:

   • SCCM="true"

2. Make sure that the following parameters have appropriate values in the input configuration file:

   Parameter	Description
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_TYPE	Type of integration (for example, SCCM)
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_SERVER_DB_TYPE	Database type used by the SCCM server
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_SERVER_DB_PORT	Port number for the SCCM database server
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_DB_SERVER_NAME	Host name or IP address of the SCCM database server
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_DB_USER_NAME	User name for connecting to the SCCM database
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_DB_NAME	Name of the SCCM database
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_SERVER_DB_INSTANCE	Database instance name
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_SERVER_DB_USER_PASSWORD	Password for the SCCM database user
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_AR_SERVER_NAME	Name of the AR System server for integration
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_AR_SERVER_PORT	Port number for the AR System server
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_AR_SERVER_RPC_PORT	RPC port for the AR System server
   SCCM_INTEGRATION_AR_USER_NAME	Username for connecting to the AR System server

3. Save the input configuration file after updating all required parameters.
4. Run the HELIX_NON_PLATFORM_DEPLOY pipeline in SERVICE_MODE.
   For more information, see KA000399948

To transform SCCM data into BMC Helix CMDB

The adapter has the following packages with built-in jobs and can be changed if needed. To make changes, see List of Transformations. The SCCM data can be used by BMC Helix ITSM from BMC Helix CMDB after it is normalized and reconciled.

The adapter runs the following jobs to transform the SCCM database into BMC Helix CMDB:

1. Atrium Integrator to create a transformation to import the classes and relationships.
2. Normalization job to normalize the SCCM data.
3. Reconciliation job with the identify and merge activities.

Atrium Integrator Integration Package

BMC Helix CMDBincludes Atrium Integrator (AI), an Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) based integration engine.

For the classes provided in the List of Transformations, a transformation is created to import the class as well as the relationships. Relationships can be included in the same transformation or in a different one based on the design decision. The AI job or AI transformation has both delta and initial load capabilities.

A single top level job is designed to call the lower level child jobs that deal with individual classes/relationships. The user interacts only with top level job which is used to monitor and manage the transformation through the Atrium User Interface (AUI) for AI. The following jobs are provided:

• SCCM Import Job
• SCCM Delete Job

SCCM Import Job

The SCCM Import job is responsible for loading data from the SCCM database to CMDB, The job pushes both new data and changes to existing data to CMDB.

The following image provides an illustration of a SCCM Import Job.

SCCM Delete Job

The SCCM Delete job sets the MarkedAsDeleted attribute to “Yes” in CMDB for data that no longer exists in the SCCM database.

The following image provides an illustration of a SCCM Delete Job.

Normalization Engine Integration Package

After SCCM – CMDB integration is completed, a Normalization job, along with rules, is automatically configured for the SCCM import dataset. The normalization engine job is configured as a continuous job by default, however, we recommend that you change the continuous job to a batch job and schedule the job to run a few minutes after the SCCM import is completed.

The following image shows an example of the configured normalization job:

Reconciliation Engine Integration Package

After SCCM – CMDB integration is completed, a standard Identification and Merge job, along with its rules, is automatically configured for SCCM import dataset. The Reconciliation Engine job runs in a Continuous mode. We recommend that you change the job to batch mode and trigger the Reconciliation job after the Normalization job is completed.

The following configurations are also available:

• Purge activity is added to the job.
• Reconciliation engine processes only normalized CIs. However, it is not mandatory and that option can be disabled.

The following image shows an example of the configured reconciliation job:

To uninstall the SCCM adapter

1. Navigate to <SCCMCMDBIntegration_HOME/UninstallBMCSCCMCMDBIntegration>.
2. Launch the uninstaller.
3. Complete the uninstallation steps to remove the file structure of SCCM adapter.
4. Open the Pentaho Spoon client and remove the SCCM package directory.
5. Remove the guid (OI-BS005056B5170DoDpHUQF4OR#gJngB1D) from the share application property form (SHARE:Application_Properties).
6. Remove the SCCMIMPORT_NE job from Normalization Jobs (BMC Atrium Core Console > Advanced > Normalization).
7. Remove the SCCM Identification and Merge RE job from Reconciliation Jobs (BMC Atrium Core Console > Advanced > Reconciliation).
8. (Optional) Remove the following attributes from the BMC_BaseElement class using Class manager Console or CMDB driver.

• 
  
  • SMSParentID  
  • SMSCheckViewName

  • SMSChildID

    Warning

    Important

    Removing the attributes may result in data loss.

List of Transformations

The following table lists the transformations available with SCCM.

Related topics

Troubleshooting-the-SCCM-Adapter

Atrium-Integrator

Knowledge Article number 000264236