Quick Start Guide: Fresh Installation of BMC Helix Service Management

Before you begin deploying BMC Helix Service Management on your on-premises environment, it’s essential to understand the overall deployment process. This topic will walk you through the key steps to ensure a smooth and efficient setup.

The on-premises installation of BMC Helix Service Management uses a containerized architecture, allowing you to run both BMC Helix Innovation Suite and Service Management applications as containers within your infrastructure. This containerization simplifies the deployment process, enabling a fully automated installation while giving you complete control over the environment. It also reduces complexity, making it easier to scale and manage over time.

To streamline the setup, BMC provides ready-to-use deployment pipelines that automate installing BMC Helix Innovation Suite and Service Management applications. These pipelines help you deploy the entire architecture quickly and efficiently.

Scenario

Apex Global recently decided to implement BMC Helix Service Management to leverage its containerized architecture, enabling BMC Helix Innovation Suite and Service Management applications to run as containers in their on-premises environment. This approach offers flexibility, scalability, and better control over deployment. Jonnie, the System Administrator, starts the process by using BMC provided Jenkins pipelines, setting up two Kubernetes namespaces—one for BMC Helix Platform Common Services and another for BMC Helix Service Management and its applications. They ensure the Kubernetes cluster, load balancer, ingress controller, and Jenkins server meet all prerequisites before initiating the deployment pipeline.

After the deployment is complete, the Administrator steps in to handle post-installation tasks like setting up user accounts, applying license keys, and configuring the deployed applications. They also manage user permissions and access controls, ensuring a secure and fully operational environment. Together, the team successfully deploys BMC Helix Service Management, streamlining Apex Global's service management processes.

Process Overview

Using the Jenkins pipeline, you can deploy BMC Helix Innovation Suite and Service Management applications in your on-premises environment. This deployment process is designed to be simple and flexible, aligning with your business needs and licensing entitlements. The following five-step workflow will guide you through the process.

1. Plan for Installation

Review and plan your installation based on system requirements, sizing, scaling, and security needs. This step will fall under day-0 activities, and it must be performed before starting the actual installation. Here's what you'll need to do:

• Review the deployment architecture.
  Review the deployment architecture to understand the infrastructure, including the service tier components, data tier components, platform tier components, and application tier components.
   
• Plan container environment sizing.
  Check the sizing guidelines for the products you intend to deploy (such as ITSM, Smart IT, Digital Workplace, and so on). Also, check the license requirements based on the products you want to install.
   
• Plan and set up your Kubernetes cluster
  Review the supported orchestration platforms and set up your Kubernetes cluster. You’ll need to create the necessary namespaces and configure master and worker nodes to install the BMC Helix Platform and BMC Helix Innovation Suite.
   
• Set up a load balancer and Ingress controller
  Review the necessary load balancer SSL settings and set up your Ingress controller as per the requirements.
   
• Set up hardware for BMC Deployment Engine
  Make sure your Jenkins server meets the requirements for the BMC Deployment Engine.

Refer to the Planning topic for more details about planning.

2. Prepare for installation

Now it’s time to prepare your environment for installation. This step will fall under day-0 activities, and it must be performed before starting the actual installation:

• Download files and access Key
  Download the installation files and container image access keys from the Electronic Product Download (EPD) site.
   
• Create Harbor repository
  Set up a Harbor repository and synchronize it with the BMC Docker Trusted Registry (DTR).
   
• Prepare your database
  Choose the database (SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL) you’ll be using and set it up accordingly.
   
• Set Up BMC Deployment Engine
  Configure the BMC Deployment Engine to call the relevant pipelines for deploying your platform and applications.
   
• Deploy BMC Helix Platform Services
  Ensure the environment is ready by deploying the BMC Helix Platform services to the correct namespace.

Refer to the Preparing for installation topic for more details about preparing.

3. Install BMC Helix Service Management

Once everything is prepared, use the HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT Jenkins pipeline to install the BMC Helix Service Management platform and applications.

The HELIX_ONPREM_DEPLOYMENT Jenkins pipeline runs various deployment pipelines sequentially and configures the BMC Helix Innovation Suite platform and service management applications. The pipeline will handle all the deployment tasks and configuration for you. From here following steps will fall under day-1 activities.

Refer to the Performing the BMC Helix Service Management installation topic for more details about installation.

4. Post-installation tasks

​​After the installation, you'll need to complete the following post installation tasks:

• Obtain license keys
  License keys are required for the platform and applications you intend to use. These must be applied within three days of installation.
   
• Activate licenses
  Apply the license keys to the platform and applications. You'll need to have the appropriate licenses to use the applications and perform administrative tasks.
   
• Configure post installation settings
  Once licenses are applied, complete any additional configurations needed to finalize the setup. This could include setting up access control, user permissions, and application-specific settings.

Refer to the Obtaining license keys, Activating application licenses, and Performing the post installation configurations for more details about post installation tasks.

5. Perform basic configurations

Lastly, perform any necessary basic configurations, such as setting up users and assigning permissions. Once this is complete, you can start using BMC Helix Service Management applications to implement ITIL processes like incident management, service desk, case management, and more.

Refer to the Setting up and going live for more details about the performing basic configurations.

After the installation is completed, make sure to validate that all services are running as expected and perform any necessary post-upgrade configurations, such as setting up users, assigning permissions, and configuring access controls.

By following these steps, you’ll have a fully functional BMC Helix Service Management environment ready to use.