Simple Service Modeling FAQs TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)

Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
QUESTION: Where on the BMC Communities site can I find best practice guidance for creating custom
KMs and importing them into BPPM 9.5 CMA?
ANSWER: https://communities.bmc.com/docs/DOC-31482
QUESTION: Is a license migration necessary to move from BPPM to TrueSight Operations Manager?
ANSWER: Yes. Please contact your BMC Sales team for assistance.
QUESTION: Where can I found out about Pentaho?
ANSWER: Check the Pentaho web site at: http://www.pentaho.com
QUESTION: With CMDB and discovery in the environment, what are the tools available for building the
service models (Impact models) and how complicated it is building service models without the CMDB
and discovery?
ANSWER: The Impact Model Designer (IMD) is used to manually edit and build models if you are using
the CMDB. IMD comes with the CMDB. The Discovery solution (ADDM) is used to discover data for
service models and it includes a Collaborative Application Mapping (CAM) functionality that helps you
automatically generate impact relationships. Therefore the combined capabilities of ADDM/CAM and
IMD are used to build service models if you are using the CMDB and discovery tools. The models are
published to TrueSight (BPPM) after being built and edited in the CMDB. One major intent of the best
practice material covering Simple Service modeling is to provide high-level guidance for making this
decision. The complexity and/or simplicity of using the CMDB and discovery versus using a method that
does not depend on the CMDB varies on a case by case basis. It depends on the data, the availability of
the data and processes (human workflow) that are available in the customer environment. The decision
to use one method over the other has to be made based on the customer environment and uses cases.
One major advantage of CMDB and discovery is that discovery will automatically discover service model
related data from the environment for you. Therefore, if you do not already have the data somewhere
else discovery becomes very valuable. Please keep in mind that BMC does not consider direct data feed
capabilities as an overall best practice for service modeling. It is simply an option when the CMDB and
impact service model related data in the CMDB is not available.
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
QUESTION: How does failover get represented?
ANSWER: There is not an out of the box failover mechanism for direct data feed methods. If you
instrument an automated direct data feed method, and you desire failover support, you will need to
determine how to accomplish that and set it up. All aspects that are external to the product of the
direct data feed methods for building service model is custom work and custom configuration. Service
models are included in the high availability and disaster recovery scenarios supported with the TrueSight
(BPPM) server.
QUESTION: When we talk about the Data Stores, or Application Services, or Web Services, or any service
are we implicitly referring to KM attributes which are going to alert?
ANSWER: In general yes. Monitor Instances of KMs are associated with CIs (Configuration Items) in the
service model. When an event is generated through monitoring by a KM the event causes the impact
status of the associated CI(s) in the service model to change. The impact status also automatically and
appropriately propagates up stream depending on the impact relationships in the service model and the
way the service model is configured.
QUESTION: Does the introduction of direct data feed capabilities mean that we are moving away from
recommending Atrium CMDB as the source of data for service models?
ANSWER: No. We are just providing guidance for the different methods of creating service models when
the CMDB is not available. In general usage of the CMDB is BMC's overall best practice for managing
service models.
QUESTION: Is there no Probable Cause Analysis (PCA) without a service model? Old PNET used groups,
etc.
ANSWER: Not completely. PCA will physically run without service models, however the results may or
may not be accurate. In order to be accurate the PCA process needs to leverage data that defines which
devices are related to each other and which ones are not related. There are two ways to facilitate this.
One, leverage service models. The PCA process is designed out of the box to leverage service models for
this. Two, use groups where monitored devices are organized into logical groups so that all the devices
in a group are associated with each other technically, for example they all support a specific application.
If you leverage groups the groups have to be defined and the devices have to be associated to the
proper groups. Similar to service models, these groups should be like the application CIs that are
referenced as a "bucket of servers" in the service model example in the Simple Service Modeling best
practice content. Additionally all users would have to manually filter on the correct group(s) each time
they run PCA if the group approach is used, and they have to know which groups to filter on.
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
Consequently the group method may become impractical in large environments. In general we
recommend leveraging service models to drive accuracy with PCA because the PCA algorithms are
designed to leverage service models, it provides greater accuracy, it streamlines the process for the user
and it facilitates all the other BSM capabilities that leverage service models.
QUESTION: Can I build Service models for servers that are not monitored by TrueSight (BPPM) but
TrueSight (BPPM) is receiving the events from other monitoring tools?
ANSWER: Yes. The proper hostname should be in the mc_host slot of the events and you should create
a device for each managed server.
QUESTION: What is the path and file name of the Perl script discussed in the best practices for bulk
direct data feed?
ANSWER: The Perl script discussed in this best practice is a custom script and is not delivered with
TrueSight (BPPM). All scripts used to facilitate direct data feed capabilities are custom scripts and are
not delivered with the product.
QUESTION: Does reference to leveraging the CMDB require implementing ITSM with Remedy and so on.
Or is there a way to have a CMDB with a simplified installation?
ANSWER: The CMDB is dependent on installing a Remedy AR server, but not the ITSM application.
Service modeling is not dependent on ITSM. Instead, ITSM leverages data and events from service
modeling to generate Intelligent Tickets. Remedy ITSM is needed if you are going to use IBRSD and
Intelligent Ticketing. If you are not going to use those then you can just implement the CMDB with the
Remedy AR server.
QUESTION: What is the recommendation regarding the creation of multiple types of simple service
models (i.e. Topology, Impact, and Data Flow)? I ask this because different business units would
undoubtedly want to understand their 'impact' in these different ways.
ANSWER: The right way to create a service model is to have good collaboration between the different
business units and construct a common service model. You could create a different model for each
business unit, however that would mean lots of work and potentially some confusion due to different
impact computations across the different models.
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
QUESTION: Should service models be created in the CMDB and then brought into BPPM 9.5 or created
in BPPM 9.5 alone?
ANSWER: BMC generally recommends leveraging the CMDB for storing and building service models.
However, if this is not possible or not desired for process or project reasons the service models can but
created in TrueSight (BPPM) alone either manually or by leveraging a direct data feed method.
QUESTION: Can a service model be imported from CMDB and if required edited in TrueSight (BPPM), or
do we need to modify it in CMDB only?
ANSWER: Service model CIs and relationships that are created in the CMDB and published to TrueSight
(BPPM) can only be edited in the CMDB. They are locked so to speak in TrueSight (BPPM) and the UI will
not allow you to edit them. You could add additional CIs and relationships in TrueSight (BPPM) to a
service model that was published to TrueSight (BPPM) from the CMDB, however this is not advised. It is
a best practice that you manage all creation and editing of a service model in one place following
consistent methods.
QUESTION: What is the advantage of publishing the service model from the CMDB, when the CMDB
does not have any information of monitor instance that are in TrueSight (BPPM)?
ANSWER: The CMDB contains the common dataset designed to support multiple BSM related functions
including Impact Service Models for service oriented monitoring, Intelligent Incidents, Change
Management, and Asset Management in ITSM. The CMDB provides a single source of truth for all these
BSM functions and includes reconciliation to manage data accuracy and prevent duplicates. Assuming
proper configuration and data the association of monitored instances to CIs in service models is
automatically handled for you. A service model is a representation of the impact and interconnection
between components of the infrastructure. In a complex environment, it would be very difficult for an
end user to create a model manually. With CMDB and ADDM in place the model is mostly built
automatically. The service model is then edited in the CMDB and published to TrueSight (BPPM) where
the correct monitor instances are automatically associated to the right CIs in the model.
QUESTION: In multi-client monitored environments using TrueSight (BPPM) as a service provide, how do
I restrict the service models of each client, so that each client can see only their service model(s) and not
see other client’s service models?
ANSWER: There is an attribute on each CI that determines which user group(s) can view that CI.
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
QUESTION: Can we install CMDB only (and AR server, of course) without Remedy Mid-Tier, and use it
with ADDM and TrueSight?
ANSWER: No. You will also need to install the Remedy Mid-Tier because it is needed for IMD (impact
model designer).
QUESTION: Can I publish a model I create in TrueSight (BPPM) from TrueSight (BPPM) to the CMDB?
ANSWER: Yes. There is a command line tool named sim2cmdb that will take service model data in
TrueSight (BPPM) and populated it to the CMDB. This should be used as a one-time operation. For
example suppose you have been building service models in TrueSight (BPPM) before the CMDB and
Remedy AR are available to you, but you know you will eventually use the CMDB for managing service
models. In this situation you can build initial service models in TrueSight (BPPM), then populate them to
the CMDB using the sim2cmdb command line tool when the CMDB is ready. After that you should
manage all service model editing and creation in the CMDB. The sim2cmdb command line tool comes
with TrueSight (BPPM). Please refer to the product documentation for additional information.
QUESTION: How would a service model look if you have a database cluster with two servers that each
house multiple different databases instances for multiple applications?
ANSWER: You should have a monitor instance for each database instance and assign each one to the
appropriate CI in the service model. The appropriate servers that the databases run on should be
provider CIs to the database instances.
QUESTION: What is the recommendation for shared servers? Not often do we have dedicated servers
for each application.
ANSWER: The operating system and hardware for each machine should be represented by a single
managed CI. Each application instance should be a separate CI. The appropriate single operating
system/hardware CI should be a provider to each of the application instance CIs that are running on the
operating system instances.
QUESTION: Is there any way to pull out CMA tags for use in building service models?
ANSWER: This could be done but there is no out of the box way to support it and it would require some
complex, custom scripting, etc.
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
QUESTION: Can we leverage ADDM to TrueSight (BPPM) direct feeding of data or service modeling?
ANSWER: Yes, but this requires custom work. For example you would have to create a script or scripts
like the Perl script discussed in these best practices. If you want to automate it you would have to set
up a cron job on UNIX/Linux (or a task scheduler job on Windows) and configure ADDM to update files
that the script(s) leverage(s).
QUESTION: I want to associate 3rd party events with Logical CI's in a service model. For example I am
creating a service model for Retail Store -> Lane -> POS systems monitoring. All are monitored with
different monitoring solutions and events are consolidated at TrueSight (BPPM). I may not have a
matching hostname, object or parameter that I can key off of. But I can create additional slots in events.
For example, I want to map events containing the slot value: Device type="POS Machine component" to
a Logical CI Alias "POS System" with Impact Lane and Store in the service model. Can you please help
me with any document which shows how to manually create Aliases and associate non-TrueSight
(BPPM) Events with these CI's?
ANSWER: You can do this by leveraging alias formulas in the event management cell configuration of
TrueSight (BPPM). Alias formulas are used to assign events to CIs and they are very flexible. You will
have to ensure the events contain data that allows you to map them to the CIs and this can involve your
own custom event slots. Please refer to the product documentation for details regarding alias formulas
here: https://docs.bmc.com/docs/display/public/proactivenet96/Alias+formulae
QUESTION: Is there no mechanism to list a server and the tag(s) that the Agent on that server has?
ANSWER: You can view this data in the UI, but there is not an out of the box way to export this data en
masse. Additionally, exporting the policy information will not give you a list of the agents. It will only
include the agent selection criteria of the policies.
QUESTION: Is there any BMC document which describes or shows, in detail, steps for building a service
model using the direct data feed method and scripts?
ANSWER: Please leverage the information in these best practices and the example provided. If you
need additional assistance please discuss consulting services with your sales representative.
QUESTION: It was stated that Perl is installed with TrueSight. Does that translate back to BPPM 9.5 as
well?
ANSWER: Yes.
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
QUESTION: Are there any posted examples of simple service models and scripts used to create them on
BMC Communities?
ANSWER: Yes in the best practice material. Also BMC Communities is always being added to and
updated. Please search BMC Communities for additional examples.
QUESTION: What is the difference between the CI classes BMC_BusinessService and
BMC_ApplicationService?
ANSWER: The BMC_BusinessService class should be used for logical CIs that represent a true Business
Service, for example "On Line Sales". The BMC_ApplicationService class should be used for logical CIs
that represent Application Services, for example web services, authentication or security.
BMC_ApplicationService CIs are typically providers to BMC_BusinessService CIs and there are typically
multiple Application Service CIs that support a Business Service.
QUESTION: Can a CI be part of more than one relationship?
ANSWER: Yes, and there can be both many-to-one and one-to-many relationships between CIs. In this
way service modeling in TrueSight (BPPM) supports real world situations. Without this capability service
models would not be realistic.
QUESTION: Can we create CI data in the dynamic data editor using IX or the administration console
instead of mposter?
ANSWER: You can create and edit service models in the administrator console. You should leverage the
UI functionality under the Service tab for this and not try to enter the data using the Dynamic Data
Editing capability in the UI. However, deleting CIs in the Dynamic Data Editing is easier because you can
delete large numbers of CIs faster if necessary.
QUESTION: If you have a script running with a cron job do you have to worry about clearing out the
previous models before repopulating them? Do you have to worry about duplicates?
ANSWER: You do not have to worry about cleaning them out and repopulating them. However, you do
need to be concerned about duplicates and ensure they do not get created in certain situations. If you
try to populate the exact same data, duplicates will not be created because mposter and pposter have
built in capabilities to help prevent this. However, if you have different data that is intended to
represent the same CIs and/or you try to populate CIs from external data that represents devices that
were already created automatically from PATROL integrations you could end up with duplicates. When
Simple Service Modeling FAQs
TrueSight Operations Management (BPPM)
versions 9.5 and 9.6
11/31/2014
a device is automatically created by the PATROL integration a CI record is also automatically created for
it. Therefore you should never populate CIs for devices that already exist in the solution and that were
generated automatically from PATROL monitoring configuration. You only need to create relationships
for these. Please refer to the product documentation for details on the command line arguments for
mposter and pposter and the prevention of duplicates.
QUESTION: Is there any option available to verify service models in the CMDB, and in IMD? Also is
TrueSight (BPPM) just a consumer, or is there any copy of models in the TrueSight (BPPM) database?
ANSWER: You can verify models in IMD. When you manage service models in the CMDB, TrueSight
(BPPM) becomes a consumer of the service model data. The service model data is published to
TrueSight (BPPM) from the CMDB and is stored in data tables in TrueSight (BPPM) so that TrueSight
(BPPM) processes can leverage it.
QUESTION: Can we delete unwanted CIs or wrongly created CIs using scripts?
ANSWER: Yes. You can also delete them en masse by selecting a large number of them in the
administration UI in the Dynamic Data Editor and deleting them all in one step quickly.
QUESTION: Is there a list of mandatory attributes required for each CI class, like hostname should be
provided for BMC_ComputerSystem?
ANSWER: Yes. When you add a BMC_ComputerSystem CI using the TrueSight (BPPM) Admin Console,
the fields that are mandatory are marked with an asterisk "*".
QUESTION: If we created a CI with wrong data or would like to delete a group of CIs at one shot can we?
ANSWER: Yes. The easiest way to this is to select the CIs you want to delete in Dynamic Data Editor of
the administration UI and delete them. When you delete them this way all relationships associated to
them are also deleted. Note: You should only use the Dynamic Data Editor to delete CIs and not to add
them. Use the Service Editor in the administration console to create and edit CIs and relationships.
QUESTION: Is Pentaho a separate tool for creating models via a GUI?
ANSWER: No. Pentaho is a third party tool that can be used to import data from a variety of external
sources, and translate that data into the proper format to be populated into TrueSight for service
models, and then finally actually populate the data like a script would. Pentaho does have a GUI
interface, but is used for data manipulation and not to actually build models manually.