Troubleshooting connections and configurations

As a BMC Helix ITSM administrator, you can identify the issues related to the connections and configurations of the following components and functions by using the BMC Helix ITSM Health Check URL:

  • AR System server and Chat server
  • Database read and write
  • Push notification of iOS and Android applications

HealthCheck.jpg

Related topics

General Troubleshooting

Enabling-and-analyzing-logs


To check connections and configurations by using the URL

You can check the connections and configuration of your BMC Helix ITSM environment by using the following URL:

SmartITHost:Port/smartit/app/#/healthcheck

Health check descriptions and corrective actions

The following table lists the checks run by the BMC Helix ITSM Health Check URL, provides possible reasons of failure, and suggests corrective actions.

Caution

Use the corrective actions with caution. This is not an exhaustive list of causes of failure, and there might be other reasons of failure that require in-depth analysis. For further help, contact BMC Support.

Check name

Description

Resolution

AR Connection

Verifies the connection with AR System serverand succeeds if the classic  Smart IT server is able to get the AR System version string.

Possible reason of failure—The AR System server port, password, or the host name have been changed, and the classic  Smart IT server is unable to connect to the AR System server.

  • Check if the AR System server is running and reachable over the network.

  • Configure your BMC Helix ITSM data store to point to the AR System server group load balancer. For more information, see KA 000101755  in the BMC Knowledge Base.

Chat Server Connection

Verifies whether the classic Smart IT server is able to create an Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) connection with the chat server, if configured.

Possible reason of failure—The chat feature is not configured or is incorrectly configured.

  • Check if the chat feature is disabled or configured incorrectly.
  • Enable the chat feature and update the configuration settings.

Database Read

Verifies whether the classic  Smart IT server is able to read and write data to the database.

Possible reason of failure—Read or write permissions are incorrectly set.

  • Check if the classic Smart IT database is reachable over the network. 
  • Check the database read and write permissions.

Database Write

BMC Helix ITSM iOS push notification configuration

Verifies the iOS PKCS12 certificate for the following points:

  • A certificate with the name mentioned in the PUSH_NOTIFICATION_CERT table in the database is present in the Tomcat Java class path in the \certification directory.
  • The password for the certificate mentioned in the PUSH_NOTIFICATION_CERT works for the certificate.
  • The current date is between the Valid From and Valid To dates in the certificate timestamp.
  • The certificate is issued by Apple

If the iOS certificate is valid and the check is successful, the check returns the UNKNOWN status, as the backend connectivity with Apple cannot be verified.

  • If you want users to use only the Universal Client, and do not require push notifications to be sent on mobile clients, disable the notifications in the $TOMCAT_FOLDER$/external-conf/smartit_config.properties file, by setting the property pushNotificationFeature.enabled = false.
  • If you have enabled push notifications, but the check fails for a specific reason, verify if the certificate name, password in the database is certificate and timestamp are correct. To do this, you must have access to the database.
  • If the check result is UNKNOWN, but push notifications still do not work, contact BMC Support for further help with the issue.

BMC Helix ITSM Android push notification configuration

Verifies the Android FCM API key for FCM validity. The check is successful when the FCM server accepts the request from BMC Helix ITSM backend, with the value of FCM_API_KEY taken from PUSH_NOTIFICATION_CERT table.

Important:

  • This check does not completely verify the validity of FCM_SENDER_ID from PUSH_NOTIFICATION_CERT.
    FCM_SENDER_ID is only verified to be an integer.
  • This health check applies to the BMC Helix ITSM 19.08 native mobile client.
  • If you want your users to use only the Universal Client, and do not require push notification to be sent on mobile clients, disable the notifications in $TOMCAT_FOLDER$/external-conf/smartit_config.properties file, by setting the property pushNotificationFeature.enabled to false.
  • Verify that the value of FCM_API_KEY from the PUSH_NOTIFICATION_CERT table is correct. To do this, you must have access to the database.
  • For further help with the issue, contact BMC Support.

Note

The BMC Helix ITSM Health Check URL does not check all servers in a group. It only checks the primary server.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*