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

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

This integration provides the following capabilities:

The following image is an example of the SolarWinds alert details displayed in the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM incident:

SolarWinds to BMC Helix ITSM data flows (incident per alert)

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for creating a BMC Helix ITSM incident per SolarWinds alert:

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for updating a BMC Helix ITSM incident per SolarWinds alert:

SolarWinds to BMC Helix ITSM data flows (incident per server)

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for creating a BMC Helix ITSM incident per SolarWinds server:

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for updating a BMC Helix ITSM incident per SolarWinds server:

BMC Helix ITSM to SolarWinds data flow

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for updating a SolarWinds alert from a BMC Helix ITSM incident:

Before you begin

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

Task 1: To configure the integration

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. On the Step 1: Choose configuration tab, under Events and SecOps, select SolarWinds Alert to ITSM Incident.

   Important

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

   

7. On 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 the 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 SolarWinds.
         (Optional) Instance Name	If you are using multiple instances of SolarWinds, enter the name of the instance that you are using for this integration.
         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 and Vendor Field Mapping sections.
         Instance URL	Enter the URL of your SolarWinds instance.
         Display Field Mapping	By default, the basic SolarWinds 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 .
         Vendor Field Mapping	To perform a direct data synchronization between BMC Helix ITSM and SolarWinds, only update the mappings in the Remedy to Vendor Sync Fields and Vendor to Remedy Sync Fields sections. You must not update any other sections.
         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.
   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 SolarWinds integration section, refer to the configuration steps listed and select the check boxes as you complete each step.
   6. Click Save.

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

1. Download the Sync Solarwinds Alert With ITSM Incidents 2022-10-01 file.
   This file contains the BMC Helix iPaaS Integration Studio project Sync Solarwinds Alert With ITSM Incidents.

   Important

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

2. Log in to BMC Helix iPaaS and navigate to Integration Studio.
3. Select your organization.
4. On the projects page, click Import.

5. Click Browse and then select the Sync Solarwinds Alert With ITSM Incidents.json file you downloaded.

   The Project Name and Organization fields are automatically populated. The default project name is displayed. You can change the project name.

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

   • BMC Helix iPaaS project 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 BMC_Helix_ITSM_Incident_And_Solarwinds_Alert. Important: Do not 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	The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker. Enter the user name that should be used while creating the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker API profile.
     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_ApiKey_Name	Enter the APIKEY name for the security profile that you want to use with the Solarwinds API.  Important: Provide a value for this variable only if you select the APIKEY option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type	The integration template creates APIs to accept requests from a vendor. Enter one of the following API authentication mechanisms that you want to use with this Solarwinds API: BASIC ANONYMOUS APIKEY The default value of this variable is ANONYMOUS.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_User_Name	Enter the user name for the security profile that you want to use with the Solarwinds API.  Important: Provide a value for this variable only if you select the BASIC option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_User_Password	Enter the password for the security profile that you want to use with the Solarwinds API.  Important: Provide a value for this variable only if you select the BASIC option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Host	Enter the BMC Helix iPaaS instance URL where you want to run this project. Important: Make sure 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	Enable the updates of SolarWinds alerts from BMC Helix ITSM incidents. By default, this variable is set to true. If you want to disable updates of SolarWinds alerts, set the default value to false.
     Enable_Vendor_To_BMC_Helix_Integration	Enable the creation and updates of BMC Helix ITSM incidents from SolarWinds alerts. By default, this variable is set to true. If you want to disable updates of BMC Helix ITSM incidents, set the default value to false.

   • SolarWinds variables:

     Project variable	Action
     SolarWinds_Host	Enter the host URL of your SolarWinds instance.
     SolarWinds_Port	Enter the port number to access the SolarWinds API endpoints.
     SolarWinds_User_Name	Enter the user name that has access to the SolarWinds instance.
     SolarWinds_User_Password	Enter the password for the user name that you provided.
     SolarWinds_Action_description	Enter the description of the action that is associated with the alert.
     SolarWinds_Action_Enabled	Enter true to create an incident for an alert.
     SolarWinds_Action_title	Enter the title of the action that you want to trigger.
     SolarWinds_Action_type	Enter the type of the action that you want to trigger; for example, enter sendHttpRequest to call the Jitterbit webhook.
     SolarWinds_AlertsNames	Enter the name of the alert for which you want to create an incident. To specify multiple alerts, enter a comma separated list; for example, Alert1, Alert 2, Alert3.
     SolarWinds_Incident_Per_Object	The default value of this variable is false due to which an incident is created for an alert. If you want to create different incidents for different servers generating the same alert, set the value to true.
     SolarWinds_CustomProperty	Add a custom property for the server you want to monitor; for example, IP address, host name.
     SolarWinds_CustomProperty_description	Enter a description of the custom property that you added earlier.

   • BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker project variables:

     Project variable	Action
     MCB_Host	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker host URL to which SolarWinds alerts should be synchronized.
     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 user name.
     MCB_Vendor_Name	Enter the value in the following format for multiple instances of SolarWinds Solarwinds.<Instance name> The instance name in the format is the name you entered in the Instance Name field while configuring vendor metadata.

     The following variables are inputs from BMC Helix ITSM. Either enter values for these variables or map appropriate SolarWinds 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 customer.
     ITSM_Customer_Last_Name	Enter the last name of the customer.
     ITSM_Incident_Type	Enter any of the following incident types for which you want to create a SolarWinds alert: User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure alert Security Incident SolarWinds alerts are generated only for the incidents of the types defined in this variable. The default value of this variable is User Service Restoration.

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 generated in SolarWinds, a corresponding incident is created in BMC Helix ITSM.

(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, select API Manager > My APIs.
2. Open any of the following APIs:
   • BMC_Helix_ITSM_Incident_And_SolarWinds_Alert_MCB_To_Vendor—This API updates an alert from a BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   • BMC_Helix_ITSM_Incident_And_SolarWinds_Alert_Vendor_To_MCB—This API creates a BMC Helix ITSM incident from a SolarWinds alert.
3. Select Enable Debug Mode Until: and set it for the required date and time.
4. Save and publish the API.