Creating incidents from Azure Monitor alerts via BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit

As an administrator, you can integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Azure Monitor to create a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure alert.

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, along with BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit provides an out-of-the-box integration template to integrate BMC Helix ITSM and Azure Monitor. You configure the integration in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker and deploy the template to your BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit environment.

The following image gives an overview of the capabilities that this integration supports:

This integration provides the following capabilities:

Azure Monitor to BMC Helix ITSM data flow

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for creating a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure Monitor alert:

BMC Helix ITSM to Azure Monitor data flow

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for synchronizing status from a BMC Helix ITSM incident to an Azure Monitor alert:

Before you begin

You require the following items to successfully set up and use this integration: 

Task 1: To configure the integration

To integrate BMC Helix ITSM incidents with Azure alerts, you must first select the integration feature in Quick Configuration Guide, add vendor metadata, and configure a webhook for Azure alert.

Task 1.1: To perform the basic configurations

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
2. On Workspace, click Multi-Cloud Broker.

3. To launch BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, click Visit Deployed Application.
   

   Tip

   You can access BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker directly by entering the URL https://hostName:portNumber/helix/index.html#/com.bmc.dsm.mcsm/login and logging in as a tenant administrator.

4. Click Settings .
5. Select Start Here > Quick Configuration Guide.
   The Quick Configuration Guide page is displayed.

6. In the Step 1: Choose configuration tab, perform the following steps:

   Important

   In Choose Configuration, Helix iPaaS (powered by Jitterbit) is selected by default. Do not change this value.

   1. Under Notification, select Azure Alerts to ITSM Incident.
      
   2. Click Next.
7. In the Step 2: Perform configurations tab, perform the following steps:
   1. Add an operating organization, if you have not already done so.
   2. Add Microsoft as the vendor organization, if you have not already done so.
   3. To add vendor metadata, click Map vendors and perform the following steps:
      1. On the Map Vendors page, click Map Vendor.

      2. Complete the fields as described in the following table:

         Field	Action
         Description	Enter a description for the vendor metadata configuration.
         Ticketing Technology Provider	From the list, select Azure Alerts.
         (Optional) Instance Name	You do not need to enter any value in this variable.
         Add Mapping	After you select the ticketing technology provider, click Add Mapping. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker displays the default values in the Instance URL field and the Display Field Mapping section.
         Instance URL	If you have clicked Add Mapping, this field is auto-populated. You do not need to change the URL.
         Display Field Mapping	By default, the basic Azure Monitor fields are mapped in this section. If you want to map additional fields to display in the BMC Helix ITSM UI, add the relevant mappings by clicking .
         Enable Local ITSM Communication	By default, this toggle key is enabled.  If you want to use BMC Helix Integration Service as the underlying integration platform, disable this toggle key.
         Integration Platform	Select Jitterbit.

      3. Click Save.
         The following image shows the fields displayed in the Map New Vendor pane for Azure Monitor:
   4. To fetch incidents from BMC Helix ITSM, click Define filter criteria to fetch records from ITSM to Helix Multi-Cloud Broker for incident, and perform the following steps:
      1. To select the filter criteria, click Advanced filter.
         
      2. Select the filters from the available fields, and click Next.
         The query filter expression is displayed. By default, the AND qualifier is applied when you select multiple filter criteria.

      3. To change the qualifier for your filters, update the query, and then click Save.
         

         Important

         Make sure that you enter a valid query with available fields and values.

          

      4. Click Close.
         When an incident matches the operation and filter that you have selected, the system fetches that incident to BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
   5. In the Configure Azure integration section, refer to the configuration steps listed and select the check boxes as you complete each step. 
   6. Click Save.

Task 1.2: To configure a webhook for an Azure alert

1. Log in to Microsoft Azure.
2. Select Home > Alerts > Rules.

3. Based on the type of webhook that you want to configure, perform the following steps:

   Type of webhook	Steps
   Basic webhook	In the Webhook panel, set Secure webhook to No. In URL, enter the URL to the BMC Helix iPaaS API that you are using. Set Common Alert Schema to Yes. The following image shows a sample basic webhook action:
   Secure webhook	If you have not already done, register the app. After you have registered your app, you can find the Object ID in the Overview tab. You will also need Application ID and Tenant ID for configuration in the Azure Alerts connector. In the Overview tab, copy Object ID of your registered app. In the Webhook panel, set Secure webhook to Yes. Paste the Object ID that you copied from the registered app. In URL, enter the URL to the BMC Helix iPaaS API that you are using. Set Common Alert Schema to Yes. The following image shows a sample secure webhook action:

   To know more, see the Azure Monitor documentation.

Task 2: To download and import the integration template project file

1. Download the Create BMC Helix ITSM incident from Microsoft Azure alert Update 2022-10-01 file.
   This file contains the BMC Helix iPaaS Cloud Studio project Create BMC Helix ITSM incident from Microsoft Azure alert.

   Important

   Your ability to access product pages on the EPD website is determined by the license your company purchased.

2. As a developer, log in to BMC Helix iPaaS and navigate to the Cloud Studio.
3. Select your organization.
4. On the projects page, click Import.
5. Click Browse and then select the Create BMC Helix ITSM incident from Microsoft Azure alert.json you downloaded.
   The Project Name and Organization fields are automatically populated depending on the values defined. 
6. From the Environment list, select the environment to which you want to import this integration template, and click Import.
   The project opens after the integration template is imported.
7. To open the project file at a later time, select the environment where the integration templates are available, select the project name, and click View/Edit.

Task 3: To update the project variables for the integration template

1.  Next to the Environment name, click the ellipsis ... and select Project Variables.
   
2. Update the project variables as described in the following tables:

   • BMC Helix iPaaS variables:
     

     Project variable	Action
     BHIP_API_NAME	Enter the name for API that is created in BMC Helix iPaaS to receive BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker webhook requests. The default value of this variable is set to BMCHelixAzureAlertsITSMIncident. If required, you can change the name.
     BHIP_API_User_Roles	Specify the organization roles that should have access to the new API. You can add multiple comma separated values. Important: If you do not specify any value, all the organization roles get access to the new API.
     BHIP_MCB_API_Profile_User_Name	Enter the user name that should be used while creating the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker API profile. The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     BHIP_MCB_API_Profile_User_Password	Enter the password that should be used while creating the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker API profile. The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type	Do not change this value. The default value of this variable is OAuth.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_User_Name	Do not enter any values in these variables.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_User_Password
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_ApiKey_Name
     BHIP_Host	Enter the BMC Helix iPaaS instance URL where you want to run this project. Important: Make sure that you do not enter any leading and trailing spaces.
     BHIP_User_Name	Enter the user name for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     BHIP_User_Password	Enter the password for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     Enable_BMC_Helix_To_Vendor_Integration	Perform any of the following actions: To enable the updation of the Azure Monitor alert status when the status of a BMC Helix ITSM incident is changed, enter true. To disable the updation of the Azure Monitor alert status when the status of a BMC Helix ITSM incident is changed, enter false.
     Enable_Vendor_To_BMC_Helix_Integration	Perform any of the following actions: To enable the creation of BMC Helix ITSM incidents from Azure Monitor alerts, enter true. To disable the creation of BMC Helix ITSM incidents from Azure Monitor alerts, enter false.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_OAUTH_PROVIDER	Enter the name of the authentication provider. The default value of this variable is Azure AD. If you use a different authentication provider, refer to the documentation of that provider to configure the variable.
     BHIP_Vendor_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID	Enter the client ID for your Azure Monitor instance only if you have provided the following values in the variables: BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type—OAuth BHIP_Vendor_API_OAUTH_PROVIDER—Azure AD
     BHIP_Vendor_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET	Enter the client secret for your Azure Monitor instance only if you have provided the following values in the variables: BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type—OAuth BHIP_Vendor_API_OAUTH_PROVIDER—Azure AD

     Important

     To configure the OAuth variables, see Azure AD OAuth 2.0 API Security Profile in the Jitterbit documentation.

   • BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker variables:

     Project variable	Action
     MCB_Host	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker host URL in the following format:  [http/https]://[hostname]:[port] Important: Make sure that you do not enter any leading and trailing spaces.
     MCB_User_Name	Enter the user name that enables users to interact with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     MCB_User_Password	Enter the password for the provided username.
     MCB_Vendor_Name	Do not change this value. This variable is autopopulated.
     MCB_Assigned_Group	Enter the name of the support group to which you want to assign the incident.
     MCB_Assigned_Support_Organization	Enter the name of the support organization to which you want to assign the incident.
     MCB_Assigned_Support_Company	Enter the name of the support company to which you want to assign the incident.
     MCB_Assigned_Company	Enter the name of the company for which you want to create the incident.
     MCB_Assigned_Company_Id	Enter the ID of the company for which you want to create the incident.
     MCB_Assigned_Business_Unit	Enter the name of the business unit to which you want to assign the incident.

     The following variables are inputs from BMC Helix ITSM. Either enter values for these variables or map the appropriate Azure Monitor fields if the data is available:

     Project variable	Action
     ITSM_Company_Name	Enter the company name for which the integration template needs to be run; for example, Apex Global.
     ITSM_Customer_First_name	Enter the first name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
     ITSM_Customer_Last_Name	Enter the last name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
     ITSM_Incident_Type	Enter any of the following incident types for which you want to create a corresponding Azure Alert: User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure Event Security Incident The default value of this variable is set to User Service Restoration.
     Reported_Source	Enter one of the following sources from which the BMC Helix ITSM incident is created: Direct Input Email External Escalation Fax System Management Phone Voice Mail Walk In Web BMC Impact Manager Event The default value of this variable is Other.

Task 4: To deploy and enable the project

Deployment is a one-time activity that initializes the integration configurations. The UI displays a message for the deployment status.

To deploy the project and then enable the integration:

1. To deploy the project, next to the project name, click the ellipsis ..., and select Deploy Project.
2. To enable the integration, next to the Enable Integrations operation, under 2.0 Integrations workflow, click the ellipsis ..., and select Run.

The following image shows the steps to deploy the project and enable it by deploying the workflow:

After you enable the integration, when an alert is created in Azure Monitor, a corresponding incident is created in BMC Helix ITSM. When the status of the BMC Helix ITSM incident is changed to In Progress, Resolved, or Closed, the status of the corresponding Azure alert is updated.

(Optional) Task 5: To set the time for API debug mode

By default, the debug mode is set to 2 hours after you run the integration. Debug logs are updated for the time set for the debug mode. To increase the debug mode for a longer period of time, perform the following steps:

1. In 

   BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit

   , select API Manager > My APIs.

2. Open any of the following APIs:
   • BMC_Helix_Azure_Alerts_ITSM_Incident_MCB_To_Vendor—This API is used to synchronize the status updates from a BMC Helix ITSM incident to an Azure alert.
   • BMC_Helix_Azure_Alerts_ITSM_Incident_Vendor_To_MCB—This API is used to create a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure alert.
3. Select Enable Debug Mode Until: and set it for the required date and time.
4. Save and publish the API.

Related topics

Getting-started-with-BMC-Helix-Multi-Cloud-Broker

Leveraging-integration-technologies-to-integrate-BMC-Helix-ITSM-and-third-party-applications