ITSM Connector

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Contents 1 Installation Prerequisites 2 Installation 3 Preparing the ITSM application 3.1 HP Service Desk 4.5 3.2 BMC Remedy 6.3/CMDB 1.1 3.3 BMC Remedy 7.x/Atrium CMDB 2.x 3.4 Service-Now.com 3.5 BMC Service Desk Express 9.x 4 Configuration File 4.1 HP Service Desk 4.5 Options in the Configuration file 4.2 BMC Remedy 6 Options 4.3 BMC Remedy 7 Options 4.4 Service-Now.com 4.5 BMC Service Desk Express 9 Options 5 Mapping File 5.1 Specify the versions of HP Service Desk and Auditor models used 5.2 Specify CI mapping: <ci> 5.3 Specify attribute mappings for a CI mapping: <attribute> 5.4 Specify reconciliation rules 5.5 Specify relationships between CIs 6 Data Reconciliation 7 ITSM Change Management 8 Known Issues/Best Practices

Installation Prerequisites

• IIS 5 or later
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
• Microsoft WSE 3.0
• If HP Service Desk 4.5 is the target ITSM application, then the JRE 1.4 or higher should be installed.
• Ecora Auditor 4.5

Installation

Run EcoraItsmConnectorSetup.exe. During installation, choose the target ITSM application: HP Service Desk 4.5, BMC Remedy 6.3/CMDB 1.1, BMC Remedy7/Atrium CMDB 2, or Service-Now.com. After the installation, there is a configuration file and a mapping file which should be completed.

Preparing the ITSM application

Following is a check list of tasks to do to prepare the ITSM application for the ITSM Connector.

HP Service Desk 4.5

1. Determine which Service Desk user account the ITSM Connector will use.

The Connector needs credentials for a Service Desk user account which has access to:

• read, create and edit CIs and attributes in the CMDB
• read, create and edit change tickets

2. Determine which Configuration Items, attributes and relationships will be mapped.

The Connector can reconcile data between Auditor and the ITSM CMDB. You will need to determine which Configuration Items from Auditor you will reconcile/import into HP Service Desk. Chapter 5 explains the mapping file.

Note: The CMDB model for HP Service Desk defines some CIs but only a limited number of attributes. A pool of attributes are available to be named and associated with CIs. If these attributes have not already been associated with CIs, you will need to configure these based on what data you will be reconciling from Auditor.

3. Determine which Configuration Item templates the Connector will use.

If you are using the Connector to create CIs based on data collected by Auditor, then you will need to determine which Configuration Item templates you want the Connector to use to create the CIs. The templates should provide the values for required attributes of the CI which are Service Desk specific and therefore, not information which is collected by Auditor. For example, configuration items in Service Desk have a required attribute Status.

4. Add an attribute to the change form.

The Connector will create and edit change tickets, and in these tickets provide links for accepting the changes. It needs a string attribute allowing up to at least 4K of text. Add the attribute to the change form and making note of the name of the attribute.

5. Create a shared directory.

In order to attach reports to change tickets, the Connector must have access to a shared directory to which the Service Desk server also has access. You will need to create a shared directory and give a user account write access to it.

Note: If the ITSM Connector service is running with a user account other than LocalSystem (see Chapter 4 for reasons), then it is recommended that you give this same user account access to the shared directory. Otherwise, you will need to give the user account which the ITSM Connector service is logged on as, “Act as part of the operating system” rights.

BMC Remedy 6.3/CMDB 1.1

1. Determine which Remedy user account the ITSM Connector will use.

The Connector needs credentials for a Remedy user account which has access to:

• read, create and edit CIs and attributes in the CMDB
• read, create and edit change tickets

For the initial run of the Connector, a user account with Administrative privileges will be needed so it can create a new tabbed page and fields in the CHG:Change form.

2. Determine which Configuration Items, attributes and relationships will be mapped.

The Connector can reconcile data between Auditor and the ITSM CMDB. You will need to determine which Configuration Items from Auditor you will reconcile/import into BMC Remedy CMDB. Chapter 5 explains the mapping file.

Note: If any of the data you are reconciling from Auditor is not provided in the Remedy CMDB model, then you will need to extend the Remedy CMDB model. See the Remedy CMDB best practices documentation.

3. Create a dataset for the Connector to use to create and edit Configuration Items. If none is provided, the Connector will create a dataset named ECORA.IMPORT.AUDITOR.

Note: The Connector will automatically create the required attributes in the change form on an additional tab entitled “Ecora ITSM Connector”.

BMC Remedy 7.x/Atrium CMDB 2.x

1. Determine which Remedy user account the ITSM Connector will use.

The Connector needs credentials for a Remedy user account which has access to:

• read, create and edit CIs and attributes in the CMDB Needs either CMDB Data Change or CMDB Data Change All permission.
• read, create and edit change tickets. Needs following permission: Infrastructure Change User.

For the initial run of the Connector, a user account with Administrative privileges will be needed so it can create a new tabbed page and fields in the CHG:Infrastructure Change form.

2. Determine which Configuration Items, attributes and relationships will be mapped.

The Connector can reconcile data between Auditor and the ITSM CMDB. You will need to determine which Configuration Items from Auditor you will reconcile/import into BMC Remedy CMDB. Chapter 5 explains the mapping file.

NOTE: If any of the data you are reconciling from Auditor is not provided in the Remedy CMDB model, then you will need to extend the Remedy CMDB model. See the Remedy CMDB best practices documentation.

3. Create a dataset for the Connector to use to create and edit Configuration Items.

If none is provided, the Connector will create a dataset named ECORA.IMPORT.AUDITOR.

NOTE: The Connector will automatically create the required attributes in the change form on an additional tab entitled “Ecora ITSM Connector”.

4.(optional) Select a change template.

Service-Now.com

1. Determine which Service-Now user account the ITSM Connector will use.

The Connector needs credentials for a Service-Now user account which has access to:

• read, create and edit CIs and attributes in the CMDB
• read, create and edit change requests

2. Determine which Configuration Items, attributes and relationships will be mapped.

The Connector can reconcile data between Auditor and the ITSM CMDB. You will need to determine which Configuration Items from Auditor you will reconcile/import into Service-Now. Chapter 5 explains the mapping file.

BMC Service Desk Express 9.x

1. Determine which SD Express user account the ITSM Connector will use.

The Connector needs credentials for a user account which has access to:

• read, create and update CIs, CI Types, CI Characteristics and CI Relationships
• read, create and update Change Requests.

2. Determine which Configuration Items, attributes and relationships will be mapped.

The Connector can reconcile data between Auditor and the ITSM CMDB. You will need to determine which Configuration Items you will reconcile/import into BMC Remedy CMDB. This includes determining CI Types and CI Categories that you will use. Chapter 5 explains the mapping file.

3. On the system where the ITSM Connector is installed, create a DSN giving access to the Service Desk Express database.

4. On the system where Service Desk Express is installed, create a DSN giving access to the Auditor database.

5. Choose change request options.

The Connector will create and edit change tickets, and in these tickets provide links for accepting the changes. It needs a string attribute allowing up to at least 4K of text. Choose or add the attribute to the change form and making note of the name of the attribute.

Choose the change category which the ITSM Connector should use when creating change tickets.

6. After creating the mapping file as explained in chapter 5 and the configuration file in chapter 4, running the itsmConnector.exe with the –g option will create three packages which need to be imported into Service Desk Express Integration Engine. These files are created in the itsmConnector45\etc directory and named:

EcoraCiImportPackage.xml

EcoraChangeInsertPkg.xml

EcoraChangeUpdatePkg.xml

Once you import these packages into SD Express Integration Engine, you will need to set the passwords for each step in the packages.

Note: If you use the copy and paste functionality during the import to set the passwords, you may encounter an error in the Integration Engine which prevents the package from being saved. If this occurs, you will need to import the package and then set the passwords from the package editor or try installing a newer version of SDE.

Configuration File

In the ITSMConnector45/etc directory, there will be a configuration file, either sdConfig.xml or remedyConfig.xml. There are also sample mapping files : sdSampleMapping.xml or remedySampleMapping.xml.

The Auditor DSN, credentials and report path must be supplied if the ITSM Connector is installed on a separate system from Auditor 4.5. If the ITSM Connector is installed on the same system with Auditor, it will use the DSN, credentials and report path already created by Auditor. If the Auditor database is remote:

• You will need to create a system DSN specifying the database server name and database name.
• If Windows authentication is used and the database is on a remote server, then you will need to set the ITSM Connector service “Log On As” credentials so the service can access the remote database (By default it logs on as LocalSystem which can only access local databases).

Other options:

• reportPath – the path where Connector reports should be stored.
• mappingFile – the mapping file (full path) How to create the mapping file is described in Chapter 5.
• connectorUrl – replace localhost with the hostname of the system where the Connector is istalled.
• changeOption – indicates how change reports are added to change tickets

• 1 Changes ALWAYS result in the creation of a new ticket.
• 2 Changes result in a new ticket ONLY when there are NO OPEN tickets for that system
• 3 Changes result in additional information ADDED to EXISTING tickets (if any)
• 4 Alternatively a combination of 1 and 3

• staticMappingFile – see Chapter 6 (!!!!!!!!!!)

HP Service Desk 4.5 Options in the Configuration file

• server – the name of the Service Desk server
• port – port to connect to server
• user – Service Desk user name. The user must have access to create and update CIs in the CMDB and to create and update change tickets.
• password – Service Desk password
• changeTemplate – name of template the Connector should use to create new change tickets. The change template should provide default values for any required fields.
• descAttr - name of an attribute in the Change form for the Connector to use to supply information about the changes and accept/reject links. The attribute should be a string field allowing at least 4K of data to be stored.
• attachmentPath – share name at which to place reports to be attached to a Service Desk Change ticket. The Service Desk server must be able to access this share and the Connector must be able to copy files to this share. Example: \\host1\attachShare\reports
• attachmentPathUser – user name with write access to the attachmentPath
• attachmentPathPassword – password of user with access to the attachmentPath

BMC Remedy 6 Options

• server – the name of the Remedy server
• port – port to connect to server
• user – Remedy user name
• password – Remedy password
• dataset – name of dataset in Remedy CMDB to read/write (optional)
• descriptionAttribute – name of an attribute in the Change form for the Connector to use (optional)
• attachmentAttribute – name of an attachment pool attribute in the Change form for the Connector to use to attach change reports from Auditor (optional)

BMC Remedy 7 Options

• server – the name of the Remedy server
• port – port to connect to server
• user – Remedy user name
• password – Remedy password
• dataset – name of dataset in Remedy CMDB to read/write (optional)
• descriptionAttribute – name of an attribute in the Change form for the Connector to use (optional)
• attachmentAttribute – name of an attachment pool attribute in the Change form for the Connector to use to attach change reports from Auditor (optional)
• changeTemplate – name of change template Connector should use when creating a change ticket (optional)

Service-Now.com

• server – the url of the Service-Now server. The Connector defaults to http. To use https, specify it in the server url. For example: https://www.service-now.com/demo
• user – Service-Now user name
• password – Service-Now password

BMC Service Desk Express 9 Options

• DSN – the DSN create on the system where ITSM Connector is installed to access SDE database (See section in chapter 3 on Service Desk Express)
• user – user for DSN
• password – password for DSN
• xmlInitiatorUrl – the url for initiating packages in the SDE Integration Engine. Looks like: http://<hostname>/XmlPostHandler
• descAttr – an attribute in the change request which ITSM Connector will use for link for accepting changes
• changeCategory – category that the ITSM Connector should use when creating new change requests
• packageSDEDSN – the DSN that the Integration Engine should use when executing the packages to access the SDE database. This will be a DSN on the system where SDE is installed
• packageSDEUser - user name for packageSDEDSN
• packageSDEGroup – group for packageSDEDSN
• packageAuditorDSN - the DSN that the Integration Engine should use when executing the packages to access the Auditor database. This will be a DSN on the system where SDE is installed
• packageAuditorUser – user name for packageAuditorDSN

Mapping File

The mapping file describes to the Connector how to map Configuration Items and Attributes from the Auditor CMDB to the ITSM CMDB. The sample mapping files will give you a basis from which to start and can be modified to include additional CIs, attributes and relationships as needed. After the configuration file and mapping file are completed, run the itsmConnector.exe to save the configuration settings:

itsmConnector –g:<configFile> -m:<mappingFile>

Subsequently, the configuration file does not need to be supplied on the command line unless a change is made to the configuration file.

Specify the versions of HP Service Desk and Auditor models used

<itsmModelVersionUsed>4.5</itsmModelVersionUsed>
<auditorModelVersionUsed>
<module name="windows" >2_5</module>
<module name="unix" >2_1</module>
</auditorModelVersionUsed>

Specify CI mapping: <ci>

<ci>
<ciMappingName>ServerCI</ciMappingName>
<itsmCiName>Server</itsmCiName>
<baseAuditorModelClass>Windows\Servers</baseAuditorModelClass>
<keyAttributes>
<auditorKey>Computer Name</auditorKey>
<itsmKey>ID</itsmKey>
</keyAttributes>
<attributes>
<attribute>
<itsmAttrName>Searchcode</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>Computer Name</auditorModelAttrPath>
</attribute>
</attributes>
</ci>

Options:

• ciMappingName – name to identify the CI mapping to the Connector
• itsmCiName – name of CI Type in Service Desk
• baseAuditorModelClass – base path in Auditor display model for the CI. (Used so complete display model path does not have to be repeated for each attribute and reconciliation rule)
• keyAttributes – specify attributes from Auditor and from Service Desk which uniquely identify an instance of the CI. One or more Auditor keys may be specified and one or more Service Desk keys may be specified.
• auditorKey - attribute from Auditor
• itsmKey – attribute from Service Desk

Specify attribute mappings for a CI mapping: <attribute>

<attribute>
<itsmAttrName>Searchcode</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>Computer Name</auditorModelAttrPath>
</attribute>

• itsmAttrName – name of attribute in HP Service Desk
• auditorModelAttrPath – either full display model path for an Auditor attribute or the display model path relative to the baseAuditorModelClass specified for the CI mapping

Additional details for <attribute>:

• vectorMapping – single or delimited.

<attribute vectorMapping="delimited" >
<attribute vectorMapping="single" >

• <attribute vectorMapping=”single” > means map multiple values from Auditor to a single value in Service Desk. IP Address is a good example for this. A system may have multiple IP addresses, but for HP Service Desk this attribute contains a single value. The Connector will consider the attributes match as long as the value from Service Desk matches one of the values from Auditor
• <attribute vectorMapping=”delimited” > means map multiple values from Auditor to a single comma delimited attribute in Service Desk. In this case, the IP Address attribute in Service Desk would look like: 192.168.1.1,192.168.28.5,192.168.3.105

• countAttr – if vectorMapping is used for the attribute, then an attribute that specifies the count for the vector attribute can be specified. A good example is CPU speed. A server may have 4 processors all the same speed. The speed is listed once in Service Desk (rather than repeated 4 times in a comma delimited list).

<itsmAttrName countAttr="CINumber1" >CIText5</itsmAttrName>

• reportHeadingKey – if true, specifies that the attribute should be shown in a discrepancy report to identify the CI instance.

<attribute reportHeadingKey="true" >

Computed Attributes

In some cases, attributes may not match exactly between Auditor CMDB and ITSM CDMB. Computed attributes can be used to handle these cases.

Example:

<auditorToItsmComputedAttribute>
<itsmAttrName>CI Text 3</itsmAttrName>
<auditorComputedAttr>$ System\Memory\Total Memory $ + " B"</auditorComputedAttr>
</auditorToItsmComputedAttribute>

Syntax: <expression> <operator> <expression>

Where:

<expression> := ( <expression> ) | <attribute> <operator> <attribute>

<attribute> := <auditorAttribute> | <itsmAttribute> | <constant>

<operator> := + | - | * | /

<constant> := „ <constant>‟ | constant

<auditorAttribute> := $ <attributeName> $

<itsmAttribute> := # <attributeName> #

And the only operator allowed for attributes of type string is +. For example:

$Domain$ + „\‟ + $Hostname$

Enumerations

In some cases, an attribute may be represented with different values in the ITSM CMDB. Enumerations allow the Auditor value and the ITSM CMDB values to be specified.

<attribute>
<itsmAttrName>IsAvailable</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>IsAvailable</auditorModelAttrPath>
<enum>
<enumValue>
<auditorEnumValue>1</auditorEnumValue>
<itsmEnumValue>Yes</itsmEnumValue>
</enumVaue>
<enumValue>
<auditorEnumValue>0</auditorEnumValue>
<itsmEnumValue>No</itsmEnumValue>
</enumVaue>
</enum>
</attribute>

Specify reconciliation rules

There are some general reconciliation settings. If none of these are specified, then no creation or deletion of CI instances in the ITSM CMDB will take place, only updating existing CIs.

<reconciliation create="CreateIfNotReconciled" itsmTemplate=”Create Server” delete=”Delete” >

Options:

• create – if the Auditor CI instance is not reconciled to an ITSM CI instance, create a new CI instance in ITSM CMDB
• itsmTemplate – if the ITSM application supports templates, the template to use when creating a new CI instance
• delete – can be “Delete” or “MarkAsDeleted”
• itsmMarkAsDeletedAttribute – if the ITSM application does have a MarkAsDeleted attribute (BMC Remedy does, Service Desk does not), you can specify an attribute to use for this purpose.
• itsmMarkAsDeletedValue - if the ITSM application does have a MarkAsDeleted attribute, and itsmMarkAsDeletedAttribute is specified, then this describes the value the MarkAsDeleted attribute should take on (example, might be “true” or “1”)

Multiple reconciliation rules can be specified per CI.

<reconciliationRule order="1" >#Searchcode# = $Computer Name$</reconciliationRule>

Reconciliation rules define how the Connector will reconcile instances from Auditor with instances in Service Desk.

• order – the priority of the rule or order in which the rules will be applied to reconcile instances

The rule can have the following format:

Rule syntax: <expression> <unionOperator> <expression>

Where:

<expression> := ( <expression> ) | <expression> <compareOperator> <expression> | <attribute> <operator> <attribute>

<attribute> := <auditorAttribute> | <itsmAttribute> | <constant>

<unionOperator> := AND | OR

<compareOperator> := = | != | < | > | <= | >= | LIKE | NOT LIKE

<operator> := + | - | * | /

<constant> := „ <constant>‟ | constant

<auditorAttribute> := $ <attributeName> $

<itsmAttribute> := # <attributeName> #

Strings can be concatenated with the + operator

Specify relationships between CIs

Auditor CMDB has built in relationships – the hierarchical model. You must specify the name of the ITSM relationship that corresponds.

A sample mapping file with a relationship:

<mapping>
<itsmModelVersionUsed>6.3</itsmModelVersionUsed>
<auditorModelVersionUsed>
<module name="windows" >2_4</module>
<module name="unix" >2_0</module>
</auditorModelVersionUsed>
<cis>
<ci>
<ciMappingName>ServerCI</ciMappingName>
<itsmCiName>BMC:BMC_ComputerSystem</itsmCiName>
<baseAuditorModelClass>Unix\Solaris</baseAuditorModelClass>
<unique>true</unique>
<keyAttributes>
<auditorKey>Software\Operating System\Computer Name</auditorKey>
<itsmKey>InstanceId</itsmKey>
</keyAttributes>
<attributes>
<attribute reportHeadingKey="true" >
<itsmAttrName>Name</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>Software\Operating System\Computer Name</auditorModelAttrPath>
<constraints>
<constraint operator="IS NOT NULL" />
</constraints>
</attribute>
<attribute >
<itsmAttrName>IPAddressList</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>General\IP Address</auditorModelAttrPath>
</attribute>
</attributes>
<reconciliation create="CreateIfNotReconciled">
<reconciliationRule order="1" >#Name# = $Software\Operating System\Computer Name$</reconciliationRule>
</reconciliation>
</ci>
<ci>
<ciMappingName>ServerDiskDriveCI</ciMappingName>
<itsmCiName>BMC:BMC_DiskDrive</itsmCiName>
<baseAuditorModelClass>Unix\Solaris\Hardware\Disk</baseAuditorModelClass>
<unique>true</unique>
<keyAttributes>
<auditorKey>Computer Name</auditorKey>
<auditorKey>Disk Name</auditorKey>
<itsmKey>InstanceId</itsmKey>
</keyAttributes>
<attributes>
<attribute reportHeadingKey="true" >
<itsmAttrName>Name</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>Disk Name</auditorModelAttrPath>
<constraints>
<constraint operator="IS NOT NULL" />
</constraints>
</attribute>
<attribute>
<itsmAttrName>Size</itsmAttrName>
<auditorModelAttrPath>Total Disk Capacity</auditorModelAttrPath>
</attribute>
</attributes>
<reconciliation create="CreateIfNotReconciled">
<reconciliationRule order="1" >#Name# = $Disk Name$ AND #SystemName# = $Computer Name$</reconciliationRule>
</reconciliation>
</ci>
</cis>
<relations>
<relation>
<mappingName>ServerDriveRelation</mappingName>
<itsmRelName>BMC:BMC_HostedSystemComponents</itsmRelName>
<sourceCiMappingName>ServerCI</sourceCiMappingName>
<destinationCiMappingName>ServerDiskDriveCI</destinationCiMappingName>
</relation>
</relations>
</mapping>

Options:

• mappingName –name to uniquely identify the relationship in the mapping file
• itsmRelName – the name of the relationship in the ITSM CMDB model
• sourceCiMappingName – ciMappingName from the source CI definition in the mapping file
• destinationCiMappingName – ciMappingName from the destination CI definition in the mapping file

Data Reconciliation

Once the configuration file and mapping file have been completed, data reconciliation between the Auditor CMDB and the ITSM CMDB can be performed. This activity can be scheduled using the Windows Task Scheduler.

itsmConnector.exe options:

• e - to create reconciliation and discrepancy reports only with no data transfer from Auditor to the ITSM CMDB run the itsmConnector.exe with the –e option. This overrides the create and delete options for the reconciliation rules in the mapping file.
• m:<mappingFile> - overrides the mapping file specified in the configuration file
• t:<timeUnits> - units for Auditor dataset selection. Values: hour, day, week, month, year. Used with the –c option.
• c:<timeUnitsCount> - number of timeUnits specified in –t option
• s:<selectionSet> - used to limit the systems which are reconciled. Only windows or unix selection sets are supported. The full path to the selection set must be specified. If the ITSM Connector is installed on a separate system from Auditor, you will need to copy the selection set to the system where the ITSM Connector is installed.
• d:<staticMappingFiles> - full paths to static mapping files separated by commas.

A static mapping file can be created for systems with an unreconciled error message in the reconciliation report. The static mapping file (.csv format) must contain: the CI type mapping name from the mapping file in row 1; on row 2, the key attribute names for the CI type for both Auditor and the ITSM application as specified in the mapping file; and all other rows contain data for those attributes (one system per row).

The first few rows of the reconciliation report will contain this information and can be copied to a new file.

Once the static mapping file has been created, run the connector with the following options:

itsmConnector –m:mapping.xml –s:selectionSetFullPathName
–d:staticMappingFileName

Sample mapping file:

ITSM Change Management

To configure Auditor and the ITSM Connector for change management:

• Select datasets in Auditor which are baselines for your systems. It is recommended that you name these datasets in a way that makes them easily recognizable.
• Schedule a baseline comparison report between baseline system in a baseline dataset and other systems for which you wish to manage changes.
• Enable alerting from the File… Settings menu. Enable the ITSM Change alert type.
• Create a new ITSM Change alert. If ITSM Connector is installed on the same system with Auditor then leave the url as is, and no credentials are needed. If the ITSM Connector is installed remotely from Auditor, replace localhost in the url with the name of the host or IP address where the Connector is installed and supply credentials needed to access the web site on that system.
• Create a new trigger. For type, select “Baseline Comparison Report”. Choose the combination of scheduled/non-scheduled reports that you want. For condition, choose “Success”. On the alerts tab, select the ITSM Change alert which you created.

The baseline reports will now be forwarded to the ITSM Connector which will create or update existing change tickets according the the change option specified.

Known Issues/Best Practices

• "Include unchanged data" in the baseline report should be turned off to

prevent reports with no changes being attached to new change tickets.

• Comparisons between Auditor and ITSM attributes in reconciliation rules must

be of the same data type.

• After installing .NET Framework 2.0 and WSE 3.0, ASP.NET must be registered by

running aspnet_iisreg -i. If not registered, the browser will show some of the following errors when the url http://localhost/ITSMConnector/ChangeService.asmx is entered:

The page cannot be displayed
Failed to access IIS metabase