Phase 2 - Discovery
A variety of tools are available for software discovery. Users can use discovery tools provided by BMC like BMC BladeLogic Client Automation (BBCA) for desktop discovery or BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping (BMC Atrium Discovery) for server discovery. They can also use other popular discovery tools like Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).
Calbro Systems has implemented BBCA to discover the data. They follow the steps below to transfer data from the discovery source to BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
- Install the integration for the discovery source with the CMDB — Install BBCA's Configuration Discovery Integration (CDI) component. This component manages the integration between BBCA and BMC Atrium CMDB.
For additional information about installing CDI, see the CDI installation documentation. For other discovery sources install the appropriate integration component to transfer discovered data to the CMBD. - Identify the dataset to work with the discovery source — BBCA uses the BMC Configuration Import dataset which is installed as part of the CDI install. Verify that the discovery source dataset (BMC Configuration Import) exists in the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_Dataset form. All discovery sources need to have a a dataset corresponding to the discovery source. If the dataset is not installed as a part of the discovery source and CMDB integration, manually create the dataset that corresponds to the discovery source in the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_Dataset.
- Set the Company attribute for all CIs created in the BMC Atrium CMDB — BBCA does not map the Company attribute to the discovered data. Perform the following steps to use the default company setting in BMC Asset Management:
On the Custom Configuration tab of the Application Administration console, choose Asset Management > Advanced Options > Asset Management Settings.
Asset Management Settings form
On the Asset Management Settings dialog box, set the Tenant Company to Calbro Systems, if the value has not already been set. Tenant companies are stored in the COM:Company form. The Type of these companies is Operating Company.
This sets the Company to Calbro Systems for all CIs without an associated company. Ensure that all CIs include the Company attribute. The Company attribute in BMC Atrium CMDB for computer system, product, other classes should be mapped and populated. Perform these steps if the company attribute is blank. If the Company is blank in the CMDB, Software License Management (SWLM) does not see those CI's because contracts are for a tenant and operate on the CI's belonging to that tenant.
- Load the discovered data into BMC Atrium CMDB — BBCA has several predefined AIE mappings in terms of Data Exchanges to load the data into CMDB. Select the Data Exchanges from the AIE console and make the ones that need to run as Active:
- Data Exchanges prefixed with Pull_ars_inv_ have the main record for the actual CI, which can be a machine, product, component. For example, Pull_ars_inv_machine loads the discovered computer systems. Pull_ars_inv_application loads the discovered Products
- Data Exchanges prefixed with Pull_Keys_ars_inv_ have mappings that delete the existing data to bring in refreshed data. This is used only during subsequent runs.
Data Exchanges suffixed with _Relationship bring in all the relationships between computer and product, computer and people. For example, Pull_Machine_Person_Relationship brings in Machine and People relationship records, while as Machine-Application Relationship brings in Machines and Products relationship records.
AIE console with Data exchanges installed with BBCA
Usually the AIE process is installed in Auto mode. This is the correct option to be up and running 24x7 to serve the end users to get their data into BMC Remedy AR Server or the CMDB. Data Exchange is either triggered by an event or can be scheduled on a timely basis.
Verification process
After the AIE Data Exchanges are run and the discovered data is in the CMDB, query for instances of the software and related hosts and processors in the BMC Configuration Import dataset to verify the discovered data has been populated correctly.
To verify discovered data
- On the Asset Management console, select the following data filters to get the list of Product CI's in the discovery dataset:
- By Other Criteria > Products from the Filter By menu
- Dataset = BMC Configuration Import
Company = Calbro Systems
Using the Asset Console to verify discovered data
To view all the Computer Systems in the discovery dataset, select By Computer by Status > All from the Filter By menu.
Viewing discovered Computer Systems
- Perform a qualified search of the Microsoft products to verify that all the products and related System CIs are in the CMDB.
- On the BMC Asset Management console click Manage CI's.
- Select the product class from the CI Type Menu > System Component > Product and search for Product CIs where Company = Calbro Services and Manufacturer = Microsoft Corporation for Microsoft products.
- Click Search to view all the related products for Microsoft Corporation.
- Further qualify the search by Product Names listed in the Phase-1-Planning. Product CI's should have the following attributes populated:
- Categorization tier 1
- Categorization tier 2
- Categorization tier 3
- Product Name
- Manufacturer
- Version
- Company
Market Version — Version Normalization uses the MarketVersion attribute to set a common market version with which licenses are associated. This enables you to store a simpler string version, such as 5.0 or 2007. You can then associate a license with the market version rather than with individual full version numbers.
This value may not be populated by discovery. However, it is an important attribute needed for SWLM. Use the Normalization Engine's Version roll up capability to set this attribute after discovery.
For more information about configuring Version roll up, see Setting-configuration-options-for-normalizing-data.
For more information about Normalization Engine's Version roll up, see Normalization and software license management.
Product CI with the relevant attributes
- It may be useful to perform spot checks to verify that products have the related desktop or laptop associated to them, by viewing the CI relationships tab. The computer should show as a parent CI of the product CI's. The following information should be populated for desktops:
- Company
Site — This information is required for the Per Site license Model
Product CI - The Relationship tab showing related host
- If you are managing usage-based licenses (such as those covered by the "Per Copy" license model), verify that the users associated with the desktops are created.
The desktop users should show in the Asset People tab, related as users of the desktop. The users should also exist in BMC_Person class in CMDB and should be related to BMC_ComputerSystem.
- Repeat the search and verification steps for the Adobe products.
For Adobe products, ensure that the primary users of the system are in the CMDB and are related to the computer system. User relationships are important because the licensing for Adobe Acrobat is charged based on the unique users regardless of the devices the software is installed on. Query the people from the BMC.CORE:BMC_Person form for related users. - If you are managing licenses which are measured on a per-CPU or per-core basis, verify that the Processors related to the Computer System are present. This step is not required for the license model described in this use case. However, this data should be discovered as it may be required by other license models.
Verify that the Processor Type, Categorization tiers, Product Name and Manufacturer values are populated for the Processor. This information is required for certain server based licensing, but is not be used by all licensing types.
Computer System – with related Processors
After the planning stage is complete, Calbro Systems moves to Phase-3-Managing-data-in-CMDB.