Exploring asset relationships
As an Asset Manager, view and understand the relationships between different CIs and proactively manage your asset lifecycle.
You can directly perform the following actions on a selected CI from the asset console:
- View related people
- View related CIs
- Edit the CIs
Before you begin
To directly edit the asset, make sure you have the Asset Admin permission, or you are part of the support group related to the CI and have the Asset User permission.
Related topics
To view related people
- From the Console menu, select Asset console.
- Select the search filters and from the search result, click the asset that you want to view.
- In the Actions column, click the in-row Action menu
.
- Click View related people.
The Related people window displays a list of people relations. If you have the Asset Admin permission or if you are part of the support group related to the CI and have the Asset User permission, you can use the Related people window to directly delete the CI-People relationships.
To view related CIs
- From the Console menu, select Asset console.
- Select the search filters and from the search result, click the asset that you want to view.
- In the Actions column, click the in-row Action menu
.
- Click View related CIs.
The Related CIs window displays a list of CI relations.
You can perform the following actions from the Related CIs window:
- View the details of a CI in a new window by clicking CI name.
- View the graphical representation of CI relationships from BMC Helix Discovery and BMC Helix CMDB.
For more information, see Graphical visualization of CI relationships. - Delete the CI relationships.
If you have the Asset Admin permission, you can select the CIs listed in Related CIs window and delete the CI relationships.
Graphical visualization of CI relationships
BMC Helix Discovery and BMC Helix CMDB provide a graphical visualization of the relationships of a CI with other CIs. You can access these graphical visualizations directly from BMC Helix ITSM by clicking any of the following links available on the Related CIs window of the Asset console:
- Dynamic Service Model
- DSM Node Topology
- CI Explorer
You can also view these service models and the CI's relationships by using the links available in the Assets tab in Asset Progressive View screens.
BMC Helix Discovery discovers assets and their dependencies, and helps you to build service models for your business services. You can use BMC Helix Discovery to leverage AIOps and machine learning for performing anomaly detection, root cause analysis, cost optimization, and service management.
You can create service models by using service blueprints created in AIOps. Although BMC Helix Discovery integrates with BMC Helix CMDB, only limited service model information is available in CMDB. As a configuration manager or an asset manager, you can better understand the CIs, if you can access the service models created in BMC Helix Discovery. Use BMC Helix ITSM to access these service models in BMC Helix Discovery and BMC Helix CMDB and gain insights into service models in real time.
The Dynamic Service Model and DSM Node Topology links are visible in BMC Helix ITSM, only if the following conditions are met:
- The CI is created by syncing BMC Helix Discovery with BMC Helix CMDB. The CI data is pushed to BMC.ASSET dataset from BMC.ADDM dataset in CMDB.
- Either interoperability is configured on the instance, or Discovery URL is configured. For more information, see Enabling-and-configuring-the-Asset-console.
If interoperability is enabled, then by default the discovery system on the BMC Helix Innovation Suite is launched. If there is a different discovery system syncing data to CMDB, then you have to configure the Discovery URL.
To visualize the dynamic service model
Dynamic Service Model shows the service model created in BMC Helix Discovery. If the CI belongs to just one service model, the service model is directly displayed. If the CI belongs to multiple service models, a list of the business services is displayed. Click a business service to view the service model of that business service, with the node for the business service exploded and the other nodes collapsed.
To visualize the topology of node in the dynamic service model
DSM Node Topology shows a map of relationships across all service models from BMC Helix Discovery, with the Asset CI exploded. This is a dynamic view of the relationships of a CI with other CIs, in real-time. You can view the the CI node with first level dependent nodes in dynamic service model, with the CI node expanded and all other nodes collapsed. You can also traverse the view in dynamic service model by expanding or collapsing nodes as necessary.
To visualize CI relationships by using CMDB Explorer
CI Explorer gives you a visual representation of a CI and other CIs related to it, from CMDB. If you use CMDB to create your service models and not dynamic service modeling in BMC Helix Discovery, you can view the service model created in CMDB by clicking the CI Explorer link. It displays the CI’s relationships with other CIs as modeled in CMDB.
Instructions for classic interfaces