Asset and CI integration
This chapter provides information to help you integrate assets and CIs. It has integration steps and describes why you would want to do this integration in your environment. It explains the benefits of integration and also has a case study of a fictional company.
This chapter does not cover installation details of these environments. These details are in the Tivoli products manuals and other IBM RedBooks publications.
This chapter contains the following topics:
17.1 Differences between assets and CIs
An asset, according to ITIL is any resource or capability, such as management, organization, process, knowledge, people, information, applications, infrastructure, and financial capital.
Configuration items (CI), according to the ITIL, are components of an infrastructure that currently are, or soon will be, under the control of a configuration management system. In other words, a CI is any component that must be managed to deliver an IT service.
CIs can be single modules, such as a monitor or tape drive, or more complex items, such as a complete software system. Typical groups of CIs are as follows:
•Models
•People
•Procedures
•Hardware
•Software
•Formal documentation (such as process documentation)
For example a server in production can be both an asset and a CI. A building is typically an asset, but software documentation usually defined as a CI, but not an asset.
Use assets in your environment in the following situations:
•If no requirement exists to implement configuration management, so you do not need to view CIs and their relationships
•If you do not need asset relationships in any of the process implementations (for example, change, incident, problem)
Use only CIs in your environment in the following situations:
•If you want to manage only the operational assets, not the entire life cycle
•If the license compliance is not needed
The term configuration items is used in the context of configuration management with an emphasis on how they are physically and logically related. The term assets is typically used in the context of financial management with an emphasis on financial attributes.
To understand the difference between assets and CIs we need to understand the life cycle of an asset.
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ITIL definition of a life cycle: Life cycle refers to the various stages in the life of an IT service, configuration item, incident, problem, change, and so on. The life cycle defines the Categories for Status and the Status transitions that are permitted. For example:
•The life cycle of an application includes requirements, design, build, deploy, operate, optimize stages.
•The expanded incident life cycle includes detect, respond, diagnose, repair, recover, restore.
The life cycle of a server can include ordered, received, in test, live, disposed, and so on.
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Assets have a life cycle that spans procurement and development through operations and retirement. After an asset is in operation within the IT infrastructure, it may also be considered as a configuration item.
For instance, software can be requested and procured. At that stage, it is considered an asset. Later when is becomes operational within the IT infrastructure it will also be considered as a CI.
Figure 17-1 explains the intersection of a CI in the asset life cycle.
Figure 17-1 Life cycle of an asset and of a CI
After the useful lifetime, this CI is removed from operational status and becomes part of a set of spares or possibly retired and disposed. Thus, an asset has a longer life cycle than a CI.
17.2 Scenario overview and products involved
To make this integration, you must have at least the following products and product components (Figure 17-2 on page 480):
•IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database V7.2.0.1
•IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT V7.2.0
•IBM Maximo Base Services V7.1.1.6
•IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery V7.2.0
We can create defined rules to integrate the asset you discovered in your environment with the asset you already have in the environment.
We use Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (TADDM) as a product for automatic discovery but you can use other product if you want to.
Figure 17-2 Integration overview
17.3 Benefits
CCMDB and IBM Tivoli Asset Manager for IT are complementary products that can be combined to give an organization the most streamlined, cost-effective, and efficient infrastructure that can be deployed to achieve competitive advantage.
Basically, the integration can help ease the work of all employees of your company because, when an asset and a CI are related, fewer fields must be filled, therefore you can improve the environment control because your environment also becomes more consistent.
17.3.1 The challenge of controlling assets and CIs
Many companies make big investments in physical assets and other resources in all their sites. Globalization demands that investments be competitive with other companies and always deliver a good service and product to customers.
However, at the same time that investment is important, economy is important and there is no way to economize if you do not have a technology to manage these thousand of assets with a more meticulous, granular view, and with attention to every detail in the company.
All investment decisions are affected by economic changes, whether or not those decisions have anything to do with buying and selling. If you have control of your environment, knowing where you can invest and which area needs more attention becomes easier.
Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB) and IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT working together have the mechanism to improve the comprehensive management of assets from end to end.
17.3.2 Integration advantages
After implementing the asset and CIs you can more easily manage certain operational aspects of your environment.
With assets, you can create the following items:
•Incidents, problems, service requests, change, and release
•Comparisons of discovered and managed attributes by using assets and deployed assets
•Service level agreements (SLAs)
•Auditing of discovered and managed attributes
CIs provide the following features:
•A vast number of CI types and their relationships can be discovered by TADDM and imported into CCMDB 7.2. This data provides support for impact analysis that can aid in change management, incident management, release management, and problem management processes.
•Configuration management can be used to reconcile CIs and actual CIs. A customer can define which CIs and attributes are to be reconciled. Automated tasks can be scheduled for these audits and reports can be generated.
•CIs can be used for configuration management and operational management, but not for financial management.
•The change and release process can provide automation of implementation tasks, for example, software distribution tasks. Infrastructure services are provided so that customers can develop their own automation.
•Change management provides impact analysis.
•Incident and problem management processes provide launch-in-context to TADDM, which helps in resolution.
•The configuration management process helps audit and control updates to CIs.
When you have an asset and CI integration, you can have all these features and functions, and you will be implementing a complete service management solution.
An advantage of this integration is that all the relationships of CIs are mapped, and therefore, the CCMDB is an invaluable basis for service management processes such as incident, problem, and change management.
If a user raises an incident ticket about an outage on a CI, the CCMDB can provide easy identification of other applications and appliances affected, which services are affected, which other users are affected, and more. This advantage clearly assists in faster incident resolution, clear communication to users and proactive problem anticipation in the services provided.
17.4 Case study: Fictional IBM RedBooks Company A
“Fictional IBM RedBooks Company A” is a multinational corporation headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The company employs 500 people in its operations. The IT department manages the operating systems of each of the 500 computers that are currently being used by the employees for data entry. The company also has more than 30000 assets from various customers.
IBM RedBooks Company A has offices in Brazil, United States, Canada, and Europe.
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Note: All names and references to company and other business institutions used in this chapter are purely fictional. Any match with a real company or institution is coincidental.
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Figure 17-3 shows the management environment in IBM RedBooks Company A. We use this environment to integrate the assets and configuration items.
Figure 17-3 IBM RedBooks Company A topology
In this integration, the first thing is to configure is the link rules, so that we can import the CIs into the Tivoli Process Automation Engine (Maximo) Server.
17.4.1 Linking assets to CIs using GUID
This scenario for linking CIs to assets uses the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), which is generated for both deployed asset data and actual CI data that is imported into Asset Management for IT. We have to use the GUID because at IBM RedBooks Company A, the CIs are imported using TADDM.
When discovered data is imported from TADDM into CCMDB through Integration Composer, a GUID is assigned to the actual CI records. When discovered data is imported from TADDM into Asset Management for IT through Integration Composer, a GUID is assigned to the deployed asset records.
This scenario automates the link between CIs and assets based on the GUIDs of the associated actual CIs and deployed assets, respectively.
Linking CIs to assets with a GUID involves the following steps:
1. Configuring the reconciliation, which includes the following tasks:
a. Creating a link rule.
b. Creating a reconciliation task.
c. Specifying the relationship between the actual CI and the deployed asset.
d. Configuring the escalation that will add the asset number of the asset to the CI.
2. Configuring the escalation, which includes the following tasks:
a. Creating the action that specifies how to add the asset number.
b. Creating the escalation that schedules and performs the action.
Configuring the reconciliation for linking CIs to assets with a GUID
To configure the reconciliation for linking assets to deployed assets, create a link rule and a reconciliation task.
Use the Reconciliation module applications in Tivoli Asset Management for IT to evaluate data about information technology devices and networks and view the results of the evaluation. You use these applications to configure a background process that reconciles objects from one data set (Data Set 1) with objects in another data set (Data Set 2).
The reconciliation process identifies successful matches and discrepancies and variances between the two sets of data. You can use these applications to reconcile data about assets or data about configuration items.
Perform the following steps:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → Administration → Reconciliation → Link Rules. See Figure 17-4.
Figure 17-4 Accessing Link Rules application
Figure 17-5 New Link Rule
3. In the Link field, type the name that you want to assign to the link rule, for example ASSET2DPA_SERIALNUM. This name must be unique.
4. In the Description field, type a brief description of the link rule.
5. In the Type of Reconciliation table window, in the Data Set 1 field, click Select Value and select ASSET.
Figure 17-6 Link Rules window
7. To add a link rule clause, in the Link Clauses table window, click New Row. See Figure 17-7 on page 485.
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Note: The application generates a sequence number for each new row that is created. By default, the application creates sequence numbers in increments of ten in ascending order. You may modify the numbers as needed or add new clauses with sequence numbers that fall between already-existing numbers. When you save the record, the application sorts the clauses in ascending numerical order.
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Figure 17-7 Link Clauses
8. If appropriate, in the (... field (open parenthesis), enter an open parenthesis character.
9. In the Data Set 1 Object field, click Select Value and select ASSET. The value ASSET populates the Data Set 1 Object field. See Figure 17-8.
Figure 17-8 Data Set 1 Configuration
10. In the Data Set 1 Attribute field, click Select Value and select the attribute that is appropriate for the asset. The value selected populates the Data Set 1 Attribute field, and the application displays the title of the attribute in the Data Set 1 Attribute Title field.
11. In the Data Set 2 Object field, click Select Value and DEPLOYEDASSET from the Select Value dialog box. The DEPLOYEDASSET value populates the Data Set 2 Object field.
12. In the Data Set 2 Attribute field, click Select Value and select the deployed asset attribute that corresponds to the attribute you selected for the ASSET. The value selected populates the Data Set 2 Attribute field, and the application displays the title of the attribute in the Data Set 2 Attribute Title field.
13. If appropriate, in the ...) field (close parenthesis), enter a close parenthesis character. See Figure 17-9.
Figure 17-9 Link Clauses configuration
14. If you want to add more link rule clauses to the link rule, perform the following steps:
a. In the Sequence Operator field, click Select Value. A Select Value dialog box opens (Figure 17-10 on page 487).
b. In the dialog box, click to select the appropriate sequence operator. The Select Value dialog box closes, and the selected operator populates the Sequence Operator field.
When more than one link rule clause exists, the sequence operator is required. It specifies how the current clause relates to the next clause in the sequence.
Figure 17-10 Adding a new condition
15. If appropriate, create additional clauses to define the link rule for CI-to-asset linking.
Figure 17-11 Saving the Link Rule
Creating the reconciliation task
The reconciliation task combines the elements required for the reconciliation into a specific task that you can execute. A task consists of three possible components:
•A task filter (optional)
•One or more link rules (required)
•One or more comparison rules (optional)
For the CI-to-asset linking, only a link rule is required.
In the reconciliation task, you also define the schedule for running the reconciliation, and you activate the schedule:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → Administration → Reconciliation → Reconciliation Tasks. See Figure 17-12.
Figure 17-12 Reconciliation Task application
2. On the toolbar in the Reconciliation Tasks application, click New Reconciliation Task icon. See Figure 17-13.
Figure 17-13 New Reconciliation Task
3. In the Reconciliation Task field, type the name that you want to assign to the reconciliation task, for example ASSET2DPA_RECONTASK. This name must be unique.
4. In the Description field, type a brief description of the link rule.
5. In the Type of Reconciliation table window, in the Data Set 1 field, click Select Value and select ASSET. See Figure 17-14.
Figure 17-14 Setting the Data Set
6. In the Data Set 2 field, click Select Value and select DEPLOYEDASSET.
7. In the Link Rules table window, click Select Link Rule and, from the Select Link Rule window, select the link rule that you created for linking assets to deployed assets. See Figure 17-15.
Figure 17-15 Selecting a Link Rule
8. To schedule execution of the reconciliation task, complete the following steps:
a. In the Schedule field, click Set Schedule.
b. In the Select Value window, set the schedule for executing the reconciliation task, and click OK. See Figure 17-16.
Figure 17-16 Set the Schedule
c. Save the record.
d. Click Save Reconciliation Task.
9. To activate your Reconciliation Task, perform the following steps:
a. Click Go To → System Configuration → Cron Task Setup, and then look for ReconciliationCronTask.
b. In the Cron Task Instance find the appropriate name for the Reconciliation Task you have just created. If it is not Active, select the check box (to set it to Active). See Figure 17-17 on page 491.
Figure 17-17 Checking the Cron Task Instance
Figure 17-18 Reload Request window
Figure 17-19 Click OK to Reload the Request
Specifying the actual CI to deployed asset relationship
This task creates a relationship between the actual CIs and deployed assets in the database. A relationship between actual CIs and deployed assets is required when you create the action to use in the escalation that links CIs to assets. This relationship is based on the GUID from both objects.
Perform the following steps:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → Database Configuration. See Figure 17-20.
Figure 17-20 Acessing the Database Configuration application
Figure 17-21 Object list
Figure 17-22 Database Configuration Relationships window
4. In the Relationship field, specify a relationship name, for example DPA_GUID.
5. In the Child Object field, click Select Value and specify DEPLOYEDASSET.
6. In the Where Clause field, specify the following clause (and see Figure 17-23):
guid = :guid
Figure 17-23 Where Clause in Database Configuration
7. Optional: In the Remarks field, enter additional remarks about the relationship.
8. Click Save Object.
Configuring the escalation to link CIs with IT assets
To configure the escalation for linking CIs to assets, create an action in the Actions application and an escalation in the Escalations application. You use the Escalations application to automatically configure a response to events.
For example, you can create an escalation to change the status of a record in the receiving application if the item received has passed inspection.
For CI-to-asset links, create an escalation that links CIs to assets if the appropriate conditions are met:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → Actions. See Figure 17-24.
Figure 17-24 Actions application
2. On the toolbar in the Actions application, click New Action.
3. In the Action field, specify a name for the action. If your enterprise automatically numbers the actions, specify text that identifies the type of action in the Description field, for example LINK_CI2ASSET_GUID.
4. In the Object field, click Select Value and specify CI (Configuration Item table).
Figure 17-25 Actions application
6. In the Value field, specify the following value:
:actualci.<relationship_name>.reconlink.assetnum
The <relationship_name> is the name of the relationship that you defined in step 2 of “Specifying the actual CI to deployed asset relationship” on page 492.
7. In the Parameter/Attribute field, click Detail Menu and select ASSETNUM from the Select Fields window. See Figure 17-26.
Figure 17-26 Selecting Parameter / Attribute
8. Click Save Action.
Configuring the escalation for the CI-to-Asset link
Complete the following steps to create an escalation for the CI-to-Asset link process:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → Escalations. See Figure 17-27.
Figure 17-27 Escalation Application
2. On the toolbar in the Escalations application, click New Escalation.
3. In the Escalation field, specify a name for the escalation. If your enterprise automatically numbers escalations, specify text that identifies the escalation in the Description field, for example CI2ASSET_GUID.
4. In the Applies To field, click Select Value and specify CI (Configuration Item Table).
5. In the Condition field, specify assetnum is null.
6. In the Schedule field, click Set Schedule and specify a schedule for running the escalation. See Figure 17-28.
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Note: Set the escalation schedule to an interval greater than the reconciliation task schedule.
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Figure 17-28 Configuring the Escalation
7. In the Escalation Points section, click New Row.
8. In the Escalation Point Condition field, specify an escalation point condition, for example:
1 = 1
Figure 17-29 Escalation Points window
10. On the Actions subtab, click New Row.
11. In the Action field, click Select Value and select the name of the action that you previously created for this escalation. See Figure 17-30.
Figure 17-30 Actions tab
12. Click Save Escalation.
13. To activate the escalation, click Select Action → Activate/Deactivate Escalation. See Figure 17-31.
Figure 17-31 Activate the Escalation
17.4.2 Importing CIs to the CCMDB using Tivoli Integration Composer
Perform the following steps:
1. Create a CI type schema in the database:
a. Start the Tivoli Integration Composer application. For example, in the following folder, run startFusion.bat (for Windows) or startFusion.sh (for UNIX-based systems):
<ITIC_root_dir>in
b. Log on to the Tivoli Integration Composer.
2. Create a TADDM data source (see Figure 17-32 on page 500):
a. Start the Tivoli Integration Composer application. For example, in the following folder, run startFusion.bat (for Windows) or startFusion.sh (for UNIX-based systems):
<ITIC_root_dir>in
Figure 17-32 Tivoli Integration Composer menu
b. Click Define New Data Source.
Figure 17-33 New data source
Figure 17-34 New data source
e. Make the following selections:
• Select Connection Method: IBM Configuration and Tracking API
• Host name: Type the host name for the TADDM server (not the database).
• Port: Type the RMI port for the TADDM server. The default value is 9530. If you are using SSL, the default value is 9531.
• Trusted Location: Fully-qualified path of the SSL certificate file to use to connect to a server such as the Configuration Discovery and Tracking Server, for example, c:Integration Composer...jssecacerts.cert (Not a required field).
• User name: Type the user name for a TADDM account with administrator privileges.
• Password: Type the password for the TADDM use.
Figure 17-35 shows the completed fields.
Figure 17-35 New data source
f. Click Test Connection. If an error occurs, check the values you entered.
g. Click OK and then click Finish.
3. Create CI type mappings:
a. Go to Tivoli Integration Composer home.
b. Select Create New Mapping.
c. On the next window, select the following values (Figure 17-36):
• Source: TADDM72CIType
• Target: CCMDB72citype
• Name: taddm-2-ccmdb-ci-types
Figure 17-36 New mapping
d. Complete the password field and verify that the other required data from TADDM server is correct. It is similar to step “Make the following selections:” on page 501.
Figure 17-37 Test succeeded
f. Fill in the appropriate data for your environment:
i. Connection Method
• DB2: IBM DB2 JDBC Driver
• Oracle: Oracle JDBC Thin Driver
• SQL server: i-net OPTA JDBC Driver for Microsoft SQL Server 7/2000
• Host name: Type the host name for the CCMDB database server.
• Port: Type the port number for the machine. The default values are:
• DB2: 50005
• Oracle: 1521
• SQL server: 1433
• Database: Type the name of the database: maxdb71.
• User name: Type the user name for the user who created the Maximo tables in the database.
• Password: Type the user's password.
• Table owner: Type the user name for the user who created the Maximo tables in the database.
Figure 17-38 Test Connection
h. At the confirmation message, saying the information is OK, click Finish.
A window showing the relationships will be displayed.
i. Make any other changes you want and then click Select Action → Save. When you are done, click Select Action → Close.
4. Execute the CI type mapping:
a. Go to the command (cmd) prompt.
b. Change directory (cd) to the integration composerin directory.
c. Run the following command, where <password> is the password for the Maximo database user:
taddm-2-ccmdb-ci-types maximo password administrator collation maximo password
An error message is generated because we did not define an expression yet (Example 17-1).
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Note: The commandline.bat/sh parameters are case-sensitive.
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Example 17-1 Error message
C:Integration Composer>commandline.bat taddm-2-ccmdb-ci-types maximo PASSWORD administrator collation maximo PASSWORD
Integration Composer will now start.
d. View the following log to verify your actions:
<installdir>logfusion.log
17.4.3 Activating the CI types
Next step is to activate the CI Types, because now, you choose what to import from TADDM:
1. Log in to the Base Services/CCMDB application (http://host_name/maximo).
Figure 17-39 CI Types
3. Search for the following files, and others that you want. This step is when you choose what will be imported from TADDM:
– SYS.COMPUTERSYSTEM
– SYS.OPERATINGSYSTEM
– APP. SOFTWAREIMAGE
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Notes:
•For details about how to do this task, see the online help for the CI Types application in CCMDB.
•You must activate the first CI type before importing actual CIs by using the TADDM adapter. When activating the first CI type from the CI type application, if the initial JVM setting in WebSphere Application Server is set to a value less than 2 GB, out-of-memory exceptions can occur, which prevents the CI type from activating.
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Figure 17-40 CI Types
5. Click OK and then click Save.
17.4.4 Setting up the actual CI adapter
Set up the actual CI adapter:
1. Create CI type mappings:
a. Go to Tivoli Integration Composer home.
Figure 17-41 Mapping
c. On the next window (Figure 17-42 on page 507), provide the following values:
• Source: TADDM72CIType
• Target: CCMDB72citype
• Name: taddm-2-ccmdb-ci-types
Figure 17-42 New Mapping
d. Complete the Password field (Figure 17-43) and verify whether the other required data from the TADDM server is correct. This step is similar to the step “Make the following selections:” on page 501.
Figure 17-43 Source data source
e. Click Test Connection. Upon success, click OK and click Finish.
f. Specify the appropriate data for your environment:
• Connection Method:
DB2: IBM DB2 JDBC Driver
Oracle: Oracle JDBC Thin Driver
SQL server: i-net OPTA JDBC Driver for Microsoft SQL Server 7/2000
Oracle: Oracle JDBC Thin Driver
SQL server: i-net OPTA JDBC Driver for Microsoft SQL Server 7/2000
• Host name: Type the host name for the CCMDB database server.
• Port: Type the port number for the machine. The default values are as follows:
DB2: 50005
Oracle: 1521
SQL server: 1433
Oracle: 1521
SQL server: 1433
• Database: Type the name of the database: maxdb71.
• User name: Type the user name for the user who created the Maximo tables in the database.
• Password: Type the user's password.
• Table owner: Type the user name for the user who created the Maximo tables in the database. See Figure 17-44.
Figure 17-44 Target data source
g. Click Test Connection.
h. When a pop-up window indicates that the connection is ok, click Finish.
A window showing the relationships opens.
Figure 17-45 Column expressions
2. Run the CI type mapping:
a. Go to a command prompt.
b. Change directory (cd) to the integration composerin directory.
c. Run taddm-2-ccmdb-actual-ci maximo password administrator collation maximo password where <password> is the password for the Maximo database user. See Example 17-2.
Example 17-2 Command to run
C:Integration Composer>commandline.bat taddm-2-ccmdb-ci-types maximo PASSWORD administrator collation maximo PASSWORD
Integration Composer will now start.
3. View the logs if necessary: <installdir>logfusion.log
17.4.5 Verifying that the data has been imported into CCMDB
Perform the following steps to verify that the data has been imported into CCMDB:
Figure 17-46 Actual Configuration Items
2. Search for items that should have been imported and confirm that they are present. If you find them, you have successfully imported the data.
Now, IBM RedBooks Company A is ready for the Asset and CI integration. This scenario, automated the link between CIs and assets based on the GUIDs of the associated actual CIs and deployed assets, respectively. Every time the condition that is created is met, the Tivoli Asset Management for IT integrates the assets and CIs.
The advantages of this is that IBM RedBooks Company A can save much time because the process is automatic now, even the Actual CIs will be included in this relationship. Promoting the CIs and comparing manually is unnecessary, this integration does it for you.
17.5 Adding a Configuration Item field in the Asset application
Because assets and CIs are implemented in various tables in the database, no association exists between these objects. However, certain applications use the same entity, for instance, a software in the production environment. In the CI application you can link it to an asset.
The default installation of IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT does not display configuration item data in the Assets application. To view a configuration item that is associated with an asset in the Assets application, use the Application Designer application to add a Configuration Item field to the Assets application.
We first have to add a Configuration Item field to the Asset application:
1. On the navigation bar, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → Application Designer. See Figure 17-47.
Figure 17-47 Acessing the Application Designer application
Figure 17-48 Asset application
3. On the Workspace tab, select the Asset subtab.
Figure 17-49 Acessing the Control Palette
5. Drag the Multipart Textbox icon from the Control Palette window to the location in the Details section where you want the new field. See Figure 17-50.
Figure 17-50 Drag Multipart Textbox
6. Close the Control Palette window.
7. Right-click the Multipart Textbox that you added and select Properties in the Multipart Textbox Properties window, specify values in the as indicated in Figure 17-51 and Figure 17-52.
Figure 17-51 Check the properties from the Multipart Textbox
Figure 17-52 Multipart Textbox properties
8. Close the Multipart Textbox Properties window.
Figure 17-53 Save Application Definition
10. Verify whether the Assets application has the Configuration Item field you just created. See Figure 17-54.
Figure 17-54 Configuration Item field created
Now, every time you want, you can relate the Asset with CIs and you will see it at the same window, making easier the work and management, also.
17.6 Using a link rule to link assets to CIs
IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT maintains two kinds of data about information technology assets or items: authorized IT asset data and deployed asset data.
Using a link rule, linking authorized IT asset data to configuration items automatically is possible.
An authorized IT asset is data, which you recorded about IT assets, such as computers and network printers that you have acquired and installed. This data represents your authorized inventory, how things should be and what you have planned. IT asset records are a subset of asset records. It is the classification of an asset that is used to determine whether or not an asset is an IT asset. To distinguish IT assets from other types of assets, administrators define a top-level IT asset class in the Organizations application. Any asset that belongs to the hierarchy of the top-level IT classification is an IT asset.
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Important: Authorized IT asset data is different from the data you discover when you use an asset discovery tool. That data is called as deployed asset data.
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This scenario for linking CIs to assets uses a link rule to match a configuration item to an authorized IT asset.
Linking CIs to assets with a link rule is accomplished in the following steps:
1. Specify top-level classes for CIs and for IT assets.
2. Specify system properties for the reconciliation.
3. Configure the reconciliation, which includes the following tasks:
– Creating a link rule.
– Creating a reconciliation task.
4. Specify the relationship between the CI table in the database and the reconciliation link that was established during the reconciliation process.
5. Configure the escalation that adds the asset number of the linked asset to the CI.
Configuring the escalation includes the following tasks:
•Creating the action that specifies how to add the asset number
•Creating the escalation that schedules and performs the action
17.6.1 Specifying top-level classes for CIs and for IT assets
The first step to create an automated CI-to-asset linking process, is to verify that the top-level classifications have been defined and that they are accurate.
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Before you begin: Before you can specify top-level classifications for IT assets and software, a classification structure for IT assets and configuration items must exist in the Classifications application. This step is generally performed by administrators as part of the post-installation configuration tasks.
To verify whether you have classifications for IT assets, access the Classifications application (Go To → Administration → Classifications and search in the list table.
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Perform the following steps:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → Administration → Organizations. See Figure 17-55.
Figure 17-55 Organizations Application
Figure 17-56 System Settings
3. Verify whether a top-level IT asset class is specified. If it is not defined, specify the top-level IT asset as follows:
a. In the IT Options section in the Systems Settings window, click IT Asset Top-Level Class → Detail Menu → Classify. If necessary, you can select Clear Classification to clear the value displayed and then click Classify. See Figure 17-57.
Figure 17-57 System Settings window
b. In the Classify window, select the top-level asset class for IT assets by clicking the blue square to the left of the classification name. The application closes the Classify dialog box and populates the IT Asset Top-Level Class field. Let the System Settings window open to check the next settings. See Figure 17-58 on page 518.
Figure 17-58 IT Asset Top-Level Classification
4. Verify whether a top-level authorized CI class is specified. If it is not, specify the top-level CI classification as follows:
a. In the IT Options section in the Systems Settings window, in the Authorized CI Top-Level Class field, click the Detail Menu and select Classify. See Figure 17-59.
Figure 17-59 Authorized CI Top-Level Class
b. In the Classify window, select the top-level class for configuration items by clicking the blue square to the left of the classification name. The application closes the Classify dialog box and populates the authorized CI Top-Level Class field. See Figure 17-60 on page 519.
Figure 17-60 Authorized CI Top-Level Classification
5. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog box.
17.6.2 Specifying reconciliation properties
Before you can create a link rule to link CIs to assets, configure reconciliation properties in the System Properties application:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → System Properties. See Figure 17-61.
Figure 17-61 System Properties application
2. Find the recon.engine.dataset.map.ASSET system property, select the check box for the property, and expand the row. See Figure 17-62.
Figure 17-62 Global Properties
3. In the Global Value field, specify the value DEPLOYED ASSET, CI, and then click Save property. See Figure 17-63.
Figure 17-63 Global Value
4. Select the check box for the recon.engine.dataset.map.ASSET system property, and from Select Action menu, click Live Refresh. See Figure 17-64.
Figure 17-64 Live Refresh
Figure 17-65 Live Refresh window
Now you have the current value DEPLOYED ASSET, CI. See Figure 17-66.
Figure 17-66 Check current value
17.6.3 Configuring the reconciliation for linking CIs to assets with a link rule
To configure the escalation for linking CIs to assets, create an action in the Actions application and an escalation in the Escalations application.
You use the Escalations application to automatically configure a response to events.
For example, you can create an escalation to change the status of a record in the receiving application, if the item received has passed inspection. For CI-to-asset links, you create an escalation that links CIs to assets if the appropriate conditions are met.
When you define an escalation, you must associate it with a specific record, in this case CI records. You can then define the conditions for specific attributes of a record and have the system trigger an escalation when those conditions are met. An escalation point represents a condition or threshold that must be met, and you can use one or more of these to define your escalation.
When you create an escalation point, you must associate at least one action or notification to it before you activate the escalation. An action is an event that you want the system to trigger when it finds records that meet the condition (or conditions) defined by the escalation point, such as changing a status or an owner.
For CI-to-asset linking, you define an escalation that adds an asset number to a CI record when a match is found between a CI and an IT asset.
Configuring the escalation for the CI-to-asset link includes the following tasks:
•Creating an action that specifies the action to occur when the escalation is processed
•Creating an escalation that specifies the action to take, the escalation point that triggers the action, and the schedule for processing the escalation
Perform the following steps:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → Administration → Reconciliation → Link Rules. See Figure 17-67.
Figure 17-67 Link Rules application
Figure 17-68 Click New Link Rule
3. In the Link field, type the name that you want to assign to the link rule, for example ASSET2CI_LINKRULE. This name must be unique.
4. In the Description field, type a brief description of the link rule. See Figure 17-69.
Figure 17-69 Link Rules
5. In the Type of Reconciliation table window, in the Data Set 1 field, click Select Value and select ASSET. See Figure 17-70.
Figure 17-70 Setting the Type of Reconciliation
Figure 17-71 Select CI
7. To add a link rule clause, in the Link Clauses table window (Figure 17-72 on page 526), click New Row.
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Tip: The application generates a sequence number for each new row that is created. By default, the application creates sequence numbers in increments of ten in ascending order. You can modify the numbers as needed or add new clauses with sequence numbers that fall between already-existing numbers. When you save the record, the application sorts the clauses in ascending numerical order.
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Figure 17-72 Click New Row in Link Rules application
8. If appropriate, in the (... field (open parenthesis), enter an open parenthesis character.
9. In the Data Set 1 Object field, click Select Value and select ASSET. The value ASSET populates the Data Set 1 Object field. See Figure 17-73 on page 527.
Figure 17-73 Link Clauses
10. In the Data Set 1 Attribute field, click Select Value and select the attribute appropriate for the asset that you want to link. The value selected populates the Data Set 1 Attribute field, and the application displays the title of the attribute in the Data Set 1 Attribute Title field. See Figure 17-74.
Figure 17-74 Click Select Value
11. In the Data Set 2 Object field, click Select Value → CI. The value CI populates the Data Set 2 Object field. See Figure 17-75.
Figure 17-75 Select value for the Data Set 2 Class
12. In the Data Set 2 Attribute field, click Select Value and select the CI attribute that corresponds to the attribute you selected for the ASSET. The value selected populates the Data Set 2 Attribute field, and the application displays the title of the attribute in the Data Set 2 Attribute Title field. See Figure 17-76.
Figure 17-76 Select Value
13. If appropriate, in the ...) field (close parenthesis), enter a close parenthesis.
14. If you want to add more link rule clauses to the link rule, perform the following steps:
a. In the Sequence Operator field, click Select Value. A Select Value dialog box opens (Figure 17-77 on page 529).
b. Click to select the appropriate sequence operator. The Select Value dialog box closes, and the selected operator populates the Sequence Operator field. When more than one link rule clause exists, the sequence operator is required. It specifies how the current clause relates to the next clause in the sequence.
Figure 17-77 Select Value
15. If appropriate, create additional clauses to define the link rule for CI-to-asset linking by clicking New Row.
Figure 17-78 Saving the Link Rule created
Creating a reconciliation task
To create a reconciliation that links CIs with authorized IT assets, you must create a reconciliation task.
To set up a reconciliation, you define a task in the Reconciliation Tasks application.
The reconciliation task combines the elements required for the reconciliation into a specific task that you can execute. A task consists of three possible components: a task filter (optional), one or more link rules (required), and one or more comparison rules (optional). For the CI-to-asset linking, only a link rule is required.
In the reconciliation task, you also define the schedule for running the reconciliation, and you activate the schedule:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → Administration → Reconciliation → Reconciliation Tasks. See Figure 17-79.
Figure 17-79 Reconciliation Tasks application
2. On the toolbar in the Reconciliation Tasks application, click New Reconciliation Task. See Figure 17-80.
Figure 17-80 New Reconciliation Task
3. In the Reconciliation Task field, type the name that you want to assign to the reconciliation task, for example ASSET2CI_RECONTASK. This name must be unique.
4. In the Description field, type a brief description of the link rule. See Figure 17-81.
Figure 17-81 Reconciliation Task name
5. In the Type of Reconciliation table window, click Select Value and select ASSET.
6. In the Data Set 1 field of the Data Set 2 field, click Select Value and select CI. See Figure 17-82.
Figure 17-82 Check the Type of Reconciliation topic
7. In the Link Rules table window, click Select Link Rule and, from the Select Link Rule window, select the link rule that you created for linking CIs to IT assets. Click OK. See Figure 17-83 on page 532.
Figure 17-83 Select Link Rule
8. To schedule execution of the reconciliation task, complete the following steps:
a. In the Schedule field, click Set Schedule.
b. In the Select Value window, set the schedule for executing the reconciliation task, and click OK. See Figure 17-84.
Figure 17-84 Set a Schedule
c. Click Save to save the Reconciliation.
9. To activate this task, perform the following steps
a. Click Go To → System Configuration → Cron Task Setup.
Figure 17-85 Reconciliation Task cron task
c. In the Cron Task Instance, find the appropriate name for the Reconciliation Task you have just created. If Active is not enabled, select the Active check box. See Figure 17-86.
Figure 17-86 Cron Task Instance
d. Click Save Cron Task Definition. After it is saved, click Select Action → Reload Request. See Figure 17-87 on page 534.
Figure 17-87 Reloading the request
Figure 17-88 Click OK
17.6.4 Specifying the CI to reconciliation link relationship
Before you link CIs to assets, in the Database Configuration application, create a relationship between the CI table and the reconciliation link:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → Database Configuration. See Figure 17-89.
Figure 17-89 Database Configuration application
2. In the Objects table window on the List tab, select CI (Configuration Item table). See Figure 17-90
Figure 17-90 Select CI
3. On the Relationships tab, click New Row.
4. In the Relationship field, specify a relationship name, for example CI_RECONLINK.
5. In the Child Object field, click Select Value and specify RECONLINK
6. In the Where Clause field, specify the following clause:
nodeid = :ciid and recontype = 'ASSET' and compset = 'CI'.
7. Optional: In the Remarks field, enter additional remarks about the relationship.
Figure 17-91 Save the Object
17.6.5 Creating the action for the escalation for CI-to-asset link
The next step to have the integration working is to create an action for the escalation that we subsequently create:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → SystemConfiguration → Platform Configuration → Actions. See Figure 17-92.
Figure 17-92 Actions application
Figure 17-93 New action
3. In the Action field, specify a name for the action. If your enterprise automatically numbers the actions, specify text that identifies the type of action in the Description field, for example LINK_CI2ASSET_RULES.
4. In the Object field, click Select Value and specify CI (Configuration Item table).
Figure 17-94 Actions application
6. In the Value field, specify the following value, where <relationship_name> is the name of the relationship that you defined:
:<relationship_name>.assetnum
7. In the Parameter/Attribute field, click Detail Menu and select assetnum from the Select Fields window. See Figure 17-95.
Figure 17-95 Parameter / Attribute field from the Action
8. Click Save Action.
17.6.6 Configuring the escalation to link CIs with IT assets
When you define an escalation, you must associate it with a specific record, in this case CI records. You can then define conditions for specific attributes of a record and have the system trigger an escalation when those conditions are met. An escalation point represents a condition or threshold that must be met, and you can use one or more of these to define your escalation.
When you create an escalation point, you must associate at least one action or notification to it before you can activate the escalation. An action is an event you want the system to trigger when it finds records that meet the condition (or conditions) defined by the escalation point, such as changing a status or an owner.
For CI-to-asset linking, you define an escalation that adds an asset number to a CI record when a match is found between a CI and an IT asset:
1. On the navigation bar in Asset Management for IT, click Go To → System Configuration → Platform Configuration → Escalations. See Figure 17-96.
Figure 17-96 Acessing Escalations application
2. On the toolbar in the Escalations application, click New Escalation.
3. In the Escalation field, specify a name for the escalation. If your enterprise automatically numbers escalations, specify text that identifies the escalation in the Description field, for example CI2ASSET_RULES.
4. In the Applies To field, click Select Value and specify CI (Configuration Item table). See Figure 17-97.
Figure 17-97 Select CI
Figure 17-98 Condition of the Escalation
6. In the Schedule field, click Set Schedule and specify a schedule for running the escalation. Set the escalation schedule to an interval greater than the reconciliation task schedule. See Figure 17-99.
Figure 17-99 Setting the Schedule
8. In the Escalation Point Condition field, specify an escalation point condition, for example:
1 = 1
9. Select the Repeat check box.
Figure 17-100 Check the Repeat
10. On the Actions subtab, in the Action field, click Select Value and select the name of the action that you created for this escalation.
Figure 17-101 Click Save
12. To activate the escalation, click Select Action → Activate/Deactivate Escalation. See Figure 17-102.
Figure 17-102 Activate the Escalation
Now you have automatically configured a response to events. For example, an escalation automatically links CIs to assets if the appropriate conditions are met.
17.7 Summary
See Figure 17-103 for the summary of this integration.
Figure 17-103 Quick summary
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