BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Supporting BMC Impact Manager 7.3 BMC Impact Explorer 7.3 BMC Impact Portal 7.3 February 2009

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Contents Chapter 1

Understanding service model concepts

13

Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . Service component status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How component status is computed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service consumer and provider relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How component status is propagated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service component priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How component priority is computed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service components service agreement status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14 14 15 16 17 20 20 21 22

Chapter 2

25

Using BMC Impact Explorer for service monitoring

BMC Impact Explorer Services View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monitoring business services in BMC Impact Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opening an Impact/Cause View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing service component instances through the navigation pane . . . . . . . . . . Finding service component instances to view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing information about a service component. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing the events associated with a component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the service impact management event collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Filtering service component instances in the Impact/Cause View by status. . . . Searching for related service components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status. . . . . . . . . . Searching for provider and consumer components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analyzing a failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resolving an event problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing a service component’s SLM agreements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manually setting a service component’s status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing property and performance data about a cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The General subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Workload subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Components subtab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manually setting component status or maintenance mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-launching to and from other consoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26 27 28 28 30 31 32 33 34 34 35 36 37 46 47 49 49 50 51 52 52 54

Chapter 3

55

Editing Service Model data in BMC Impact Explorer

Managing Service Model components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Creating Service Model components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Contents

5

Editing Service Model components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Deleting Service Model components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Managing Service Model component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Adding Service Model component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Editing Service Model component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Removing Service Model Component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Managing alias formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Chapter 4

Monitoring and managing services with BMC Impact Portal

71

Accessing service information in the BMC Impact Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 BMC Impact Portal Status tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 BMC Impact Portal Events tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 BMC Impact Portal business dashboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Monitoring service components and their status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Viewing the properties of a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Viewing summary information for a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Viewing the events associated with a component instance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Viewing the providers for a component instance or group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Viewing the status of consumers of a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Viewing impacted components by component type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Viewing the costs of a component failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Viewing status with BMC Desktop Status Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Configuring service component information and status monitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Setting properties for a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Configuring the displayed general properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Setting the status determination method for a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Adding and editing comments about a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Contacting the owner of a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Changing notification methods for BMC Desktop Status Indicators . . . . . . . . . . 101 Chapter 5

Using the SIEM Dashboard view

105

About the Service Impact and Event Management (SIEM) dashboard view . . . . . . 106 Creating the SIEM dashboard view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Editing the SIEM dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Copying the SIEM dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Deleting the SIEM dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 User groups and permissions in the Dashboard view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Appendix A

Troubleshooting

117

Error messages and possible causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Troubleshooting configuration-related problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Appendix B

Service model component types

127

Appendix C

User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view

133

User groups and possible operations in BMC IX Services View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Index

141

Contents

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Figures Service component status indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 BMC Impact Explorer Impact/Cause View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 BMC Impact Portal Providers subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 BMC Impact Explorer Services View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 BMC Impact Explorer Services View - Impact/Cause View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Services View navigation pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Service component with associated events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 MC_SMC_EVENTS collector definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Related components cause search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Related components - providers search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Root cause analysis - diagram depicting the example scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Impact Manager Information dialog box - General subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Impact Manager Information dialog box - Workload subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Impact Manager Information dialog box - Components subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Alias Formulas Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Add Alias Formula dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Example of match attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Navigation tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Location of panes and elements in the SIEM Dashboard view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Figures

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Tables Service component status levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Status icons for service components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Impact relationship line styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Relationship depiction of BEM and SIM components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Status priority icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Compliance target status icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Agreement calculation intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Description of elements in the Services View navigation pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Services View service component information subtabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Different scenarios for root cause and possible cause analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Create component fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Description of conditional operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Task instructions for each type of content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Choosing a procedure for adding a type of table content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 General options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Notification options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Configuration of alarm sounds for BMC Desktop Status Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Description of elements in the SIEM Dashboard View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 User groups and Dashboard permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Error messages and possible cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Service model component types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 User groups and permissions for the Services view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Tables

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Chapter

1

Understanding service model concepts 1

This chapter explains the concepts of service model component status, priority, and relationships. This chapter presents the following topics:

Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . Service component status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How component status is computed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service consumer and provider relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How component status is propagated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Service component priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How component priority is computed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter 1 Understanding service model concepts

14 14 15 16 17 20 20 21

13

Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships

Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships Each service model consists of one or more service components that compose the business service. A service component relationship is a link between a component that provides a service and a component that consumes the service. The status of the provider has an effect (impact) on the consumer due to this relationship.

Service component status A component is characterized by its status just as an event is characterized by its severity. Figure 1 shows the status indicators associated with a single service component in the BMC Impact Explorer Services View. Figure 1

Service component status indicators primary status color

component icon

substatus color status

priority

component label

Primary status color

Component icon

Substatus color Priority

Status

SLA target status

Component label

Each component has a primary status value expressed as an icon color that reflects its current state. Components that are related to at least one provider component also have a secondary status value, called the substatus, expressed as a color. The primary status value is expressed by the foreground color of the component icon. The substatus value appears as a shadow color offset behind the icon. In the BMC Impact Portal, the navigation tree icons indicate the component status. In the Status tab, the right pane shows the status and priority indicators for the selected service component.

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Service schedules

Table 1 lists the possible component status values and the associated color. Table 1

Service component status levels

Color

Component status Meaning

red

Unavailable

The component has a failure and is unable to deliver service.

dark orange

Impacted

The component’s delivery of service is significantly affected.

light orange

Minor

The component’s delivery of service is slightly affected.

yellow

Warning

The component is delivering service normally but some problem might affect it.

blue

Info

There is information available about the component.

green

OK

Nothing has occurred that affects the component’s normal delivery of service.

light gray

Unknown

The status of the component has not yet or cannot be determined.

dark gray

Blackout

The status of the component does not impact any other components or any of its own historical measurements.

none

None

There is no status.

Service schedules A service schedule indicates when it is important for a service component to meet availability or performance goals. The schedule defines availability with the following criteria: ■

■

During Schedule - Periods when a component instance is in high demand or when it is considered important that the component meet its availability and performance goals. Off Schedule - Periods when a component instance is in low demand or when it is less important that the component meet its availability and performance goals. Note that any undefined time is considered Off Schedule.

Chapter 1 Understanding service model concepts

15

How component status is computed

Service schedules are built of timeframes. Timeframes are user-defined blocks of time that can be added to a schedule which can specify the times that are During Schedule or Exceptions Within During Schedule. Exceptions Within During Schedule timeframes are periods within During Schedule time spans that are counted as Off Schedule time. Service

component attributes such as cost or base priority might have different values depending on whether the component is in high demand (a During Schedule period) or in low demand (an Exceptions Within During Schedule or Off Schedule period). These priority changes are discussed in more detail in “Service component priority” on page 20 Each service component instance is associated with a service schedule. A service schedule can be associated with multiple service component instances. Service managers create and edit service schedules, and the timeframes on which they are built, in the BMC Impact Service Model Editor. Service operators can view the schedule associated with a service model component instance in the BMC Impact Explorer Services View Schedule tab or in the BMC Impact Portal Status Summary tab.

How component status is computed The status of a component is computed automatically by the cell when new conditions occur, such as ■

A new event is received that has a direct impact relationship with a component.

■

The severity of an event changes that has a direct impact relationships with a component.

■

Another component’s status change is propagated to the component.

■

The state of an inbound relationship changes, altering the status propagation from another component.

■

The service schedule associated with the component changes.

Whether the status of a component is influenced directly by events, by other components’ status changes, or both, depends on the component’s type and its relative position in a particular service infrastructure. For example, the status of an IT component often reflects the receipt of associated events that directly impact its status. Its status may also depend on other components. In contrast, logical components frequently rely on their functional dependencies (relationships) to provide their current status. You can also set a service component’s status manually.

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Service consumer and provider relationships

Table 2 lists the component status icons that indicate a component’s status when it is in high demand (During Schedule) and in low demand (Exceptions Within During Schedule). Table 2

Status icons for service components

Exceptions During Schedule Within During Schedule status During Schedule manual status icon icon Component status status icon

Exceptions Within During Schedule manual status icon

Unavailable Impacted Minor Warning Info OK Unknown Blackout None

For more information about component status computation and status computation models, see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration.

Service consumer and provider relationships Service model relationships make it possible to know which business services are affected when an IT asset fails. The status of a provider component impacts the status of the consumer component through the service impact relationship.

Chapter 1 Understanding service model concepts

17

Service consumer and provider relationships

A single component can function as both a consumer and a provider to other components in the hierarchy as shown in Figure 2: Figure 2

BMC Impact Explorer Impact/Cause View

In the BMC Impact Explorer Impact/Cause View, each impact relationship is a directed link from one component to another. The component from which the relationship starts provides a service and is the provider component. The component at which the relationship ends consumes that service and is the consumer component. The style of the line representing the link between components indicates the state and true impact status of the relationship between the components, as shown in Table 3. Table 3

Impact relationship line styles

Line style

Relationship thick solid

The consumer component has an impact relationship with its provider. The status of the provider impacts the status of the consumer.

thin solid

The consumer component has an impact relationship with its provider, but the status of the provider does not affect the status of the consumer.

thin dashed

The consumer does not depend on the provider, or the dependency is unimportant. No impact relationship exists.

In addition, you can create provider/consumer relationships between BMC Event Management (BEM) components and BMC Service Impact Management (SIM) components. The relationships are depicted by gray and black lines in the Services View, as described in Table 4 on page 19: 18

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Service consumer and provider relationships

Table 4

Relationship depiction of BEM and SIM components

Provider

Consumer

Relationship depiction (line style)

SIM component

SIM component

solid black line

SIM component

BEM component

solid gray line

BEM component

BEM component

solid gray line

BEM component

SIM component

solid black line

The Providers subtab and the Consumers subtab of the BMC Impact Portal Status tab shows the status of the related consumer and provider components for the selected service component instance, as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3

BMC Impact Portal Providers subtab

In the BMC Impact Portal, you view the hierarchical service component relationships in the navigation tree; the provider components are listed under the consumer in the tree.

Chapter 1 Understanding service model concepts

19

How component status is propagated

How component status is propagated Status propagation is the passing of a status or a modified status through a relationship. A provider component propagates its status to a consumer component. A consumer component is impacted by the status of its provider component or components. The cell automatically propagates the status of a provider component through its outbound impact relationships as new conditions occur, such as ■ ■

the component’s status changes the state of an outbound impact relationship changes, altering the status propagation from the provider component

Whether and how the status of a provider component is propagated through an outbound impact relationship is controlled by the status propagation model assigned to the relationship. The service model ensures that each impact relationship instance is associated to a valid status propagation model. For more information about status propagation and status propagation models, see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration.

Service component priority The service component priority indicates how important a component is to the business should that component fail. Table 5 lists the icons that are displayed below the service component to represent its service priority: Table 5 Icon

Status priority icons Status priority Priority 1 (highest) Priority 2 Priority 3 Priority 4 Priority 5 (lowest)

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

How component priority is computed

How component priority is computed To help you determine what problems to work on first, dynamic prioritization calculates a service component’s priority based on either the current status of the component or its impact (its base priority, worst SLA state, or cost). The final priority of a component is determined by comparing the component’s self priority to the impacts priority. The greater value becomes the final priority value of the component.

Self priority The self priority of a component is determined from its base priority and its status. Each component has dual base priority values—one value for when it is in high demand (During Schedule) and another for when it is in low demand (Off Schedule). The base priorities are static priority values that act as a baseline to determine self priority. Self priority is a dynamic priority that changes depending on the status of the component. The self priority is determined by mapping the base priority against the status value of the component. This mapping is configured in BMC Impact Service Model Editor. For more information, see the BMC Impact Solutions Service Modeling and Publishing Guide.

Priority propagator A component that is a priority propagator is considered an “important component” because it sends its self-priority value back to its causal component. As a result, the priority value of the causal component becomes higher due to the inheritance of the priorities of the important components it is negatively impacting. The highest of all self priorities that is propagated from impacted CIs becomes the impact priority of the causal CI. This impact priority contributes in understanding the impact of the causal CI up the hierarchy of the service model.

Impacts priority The impacts priority of a component reflects the urgency of resolving a problem based on the components it impacts. The impacts priority is based on the components it is impacting that are marked as priority propagators. Thus, the impacts priority is a dynamic value that changes as the self-priorities of the impacted components change.

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21

Service components service agreement status

Service components service agreement status With BMC Service Level Management installed, you can view the status of a component’s compliance target in BMC Impact Explorer or BMC Impact Portal. You can also launch BMC Service Level Management from BMC Impact Explorer to define an SLA on a configuration item that is part of service model. (Configuration items (CIs) are known as service components in Service Impact Management.) For SLM installations and configuration information, see BMC Service Level management 7.1 Installation Guide and BMC Service Level Management 7.1 Configuration Guide. BMC Service Level Management uses contracts, agreements, and service targets to monitor the performance of a service, other configuration items, or infrastructure process. Service targets define individual goals. Depending on their type, a service target has terms and conditions or expressions using key performance indicators (KPIs) that contain the data used in measuring whether the service target has met its goal. A compliance target tracks the performance of an agreement to see the percentage of time the agreement was met over a review period. For example, IT commits that an SLA is met 90 percent of the time between January and December of 2008. Table 6 lists the icons that are displayed below the service component to represent its SLA status. Table 6 Icon

Compliance target status icons Compliance status

Service target status

Description

At Risk

Warning

The service target compliance has reached a point that is nearing a breach state and should be identified as a potential risk.

Breached

Alarm, Missed or Unavailable

At least one of the service target goals for the component has been missed.

Compliant

OK, Met, or Available

The service target is in compliance.

No SLM agreement defined (blank)

No SLM agreement defined (blank)

Compliance with the agreement is calculated at the intervals listed in Table 7. Table 7

22

Agreement calculation intervals

Review period

Automated calculation interval

Daily

Every hour (5 minutes after the hour)

Weekly

Every 4 hours (00:05:00, 04:05:00, and so on)

Monthly

Every day at the time of the review period

Quarterly

Every day at the time of the review period

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Service components service agreement status

For complete information about compliance targets and review intervals, see the BMC Service Level Management 7.1 User’s Guide.

Chapter 1 Understanding service model concepts

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Service components service agreement status

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Chapter

2

Using BMC Impact Explorer for service monitoring 2

This chapter presents the following topics: BMC Impact Explorer Services View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monitoring business services in BMC Impact Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opening an Impact/Cause View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing service component instances through the navigation pane . . . . . . . . . . Finding service component instances to view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing information about a service component. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing the events associated with a component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the service impact management event collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Filtering service component instances in the Impact/Cause View by status. . . . Searching for related service components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status. . . . . . . . . . Searching for provider and consumer components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analyzing a failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resolving an event problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing a service component’s SLM agreements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manually setting a service component’s status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viewing property and performance data about a cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The General subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Workload subtab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Components subtab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manually setting component status or maintenance mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-launching to and from other consoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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26 27 28 28 30 31 32 33 34 34 35 36 37 46 47 49 49 50 51 52 52 54

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BMC Impact Explorer Services View

BMC Impact Explorer Services View The Services View of BMC IX is the view that service managers and IT operations staff use to monitor business services. Service managers can view the service models that represent a company’s business services. Service models are created in the BMC Impact Service Model Editor by organizing service model components into hierarchical relationships that can then be navigated by operators and service managers from the Services View. In the Services View, a service manager can see whether a service model component consumes the services of another service model component (consumer) or whether it provides service to another component (provider). The status of the provider component impacts the status of the consumer component through the service relationship. The relationships in which a service model component participates are displayed in the Related Components tab of the Services View. Service managers and IT operations staff can determine the root cause of a problem or the impact that a service model component has on a business service in the BMC Impact Explorer Services View, as shown in Figure 4 on page 26. Figure 4

26

BMC Impact Explorer Services View

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Monitoring business services in BMC Impact Explorer

From the service model component, IT operations staff can view and manage the underlying events in the BMC Impact Explorer Events View.

Monitoring business services in BMC Impact Explorer You monitor published service models that represent your business services in the BMC Impact Explorer Services View Impact/Cause View. The Impact/Cause View provides a graphical representation of the service component instances and how they relate to each other. Figure 5 shows an example of an Impact/Cause View. Figure 5

BMC Impact Explorer Services View - Impact/Cause View

Impact relationship lines

Consumer component Provider components

Depending on whether the default setting is set to horizontal or vertical expansion, the consumer components are displayed on the left or at the top and the direct provider components expand to the right or toward the bottom. A direct consumer or provider component is a component immediately linked to another component. The status of the provider has a direct impact relationship with the consumer component. The lines between the service component instances represent the state and true impact status of the relationships between the components. For details about component status and relationships, see “Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships” on page 14.

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Opening an Impact/Cause View

Opening an Impact/Cause View 1 Click the Services View at the top of the navigation pane in BMC Impact Explorer. 2 Open an Impact/Cause View by using one of the following methods: ■

From the navigation pane, select a service component instance. See “Viewing service component instances through the navigation pane” on page 28.

■

Click and drag the service component instance from the Results list to an empty area of the Impact/Cause View. See “Finding service component instances to view” on page 30.

■

Right-click a service component instance and choose View Service Impact Graph.

3 Double-click a service component instance to open or close its related service component instances. If you double-click a node that does not have any providers and consumers, the message This object does not have any consumers/providers is displayed.

Viewing service component instances through the navigation pane Use the navigation pane to view the components associated with a service in the Impact/Causes View. Service managers create the navigation pane tree in BMC Impact Service Model Editor.

NOTE If the navigation pane tree does not reflect published changes, log out and log back in to BMC Impact Explorer.

The navigation pane tree contains service component instances associated with a production cell. To view service component instances associated with a test cell, use the Find tool. For instructions, see “Finding service component instances to view” on page 30.

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Viewing service component instances through the navigation pane

The Services Group tab navigation pane is shown in Figure 6. Figure 6

Services View navigation pane

Table 8 describes the elements in the Services view navigation pane. Table 8

Description of elements in the Services View navigation pane (part 1 of 2)

Name

Description

Services Group tab

shows the available service groups

My Services group

the top level for locally-defined service groups Note: The ability to update the My Services group is disabled in this release.

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Finding service component instances to view

Table 8

Description of elements in the Services View navigation pane (part 2 of 2)

Name

Description

subgroup icons

identifies user-created subgroups of components

service component icons

identifies individual components and subcomponents

Global Services group

the top-level node for globally-defined service groups

Find Service Components box

searches for service component instances that match specific criteria Use the Show Find button in the toolbar to view or hide the Find Service Components box.

In Impact Manager list box

specifies the BMC Impact Manager cell to the search for components

Of type list box

specifies the component type for the object of the search For a list of component types, see Appendix B, “Service model component types.”

Whose name contains text box

specifies all or part of the target component name This field is case sensitive.

Propagates Priority check select this check box to show the Priority Propagator service component box instances that pass their priority to a causal component when it is impacted These components are considered the important components for your business. For further information, see “Priority propagator” on page 21. In SLM Agreement check select to show the service components that are associated with a Service Level box Agreement Note: This feature requires the BMC Service Level Management product to be installed. Results list

displays the results of the component search

Finding service component instances to view Use the Find tool to locate a particular component in a BMC Impact Manager cell and view it in the Impact/Cause View.

To search for a service component instance 1 If the Find Services Component section of the navigation pane is not open, click the Show Find button on the toolbar of the Services View.

2 From In Impact Manager, select the production or test cell to be queried.

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Viewing information about a service component

3 From Of type, select a component type, such as Computer System, application service, database, and so on. If you select Base element, all service component instances for all types are returned. For a list of component types, see Appendix B, “Service model component types.”

4 In Whose Name Contains, enter a comparison value. NOTE If you leave Whose Name Contains or Of Type blank, the search could take a long time, depending on the number of service component instances. Also, the Results list could be very long. You should refine the search by specifying values in one or both of these fields.

5 To find only those components that propagate their priority to causal components, select Priority Propagators.

6 Click Find. All components matching the search criteria appear in Results.

7 Drag the service component to the Impact/Cause View. TIP To uniquely identify each component listed in Results, you can hover the cursor over each component name to display its unique mc_udid slot value.

Viewing information about a service component To view information about a service component, click the component in the Impact/Cause View and then select one of the tabs in Table 9. Table 9

Services View service component information subtabs

Tab

Purpose

General

shows the value of slots that contain basic information about a service component

Status

shows the value of slots that contain status information about a service component

Priority and Cost

shows the value of slots that contain priority and impact information about a service component

Related Components

provides search capabilities to find components that are ■ causing impact to the selected component ■ impacted by the selected component ■ consumers of the selected component ■ providers of the selected component

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Viewing the events associated with a component

Table 9

Services View service component information subtabs

Tab

Purpose

SLM

shows information about the service level agreement associated with the component Note: This tab is visible only when BMC Service Level Management is installed. shows the schedule associated with a component

Schedule

For more information about service component schedules, see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration. shows attribute values specific to the class of the selected component type, such as a Computer System, Database, Application Service, and so on

Other

These classes and attributes are defined by the BMC Atrium CMDB Common Data Model (CDM). For information about the CDM structure and for details about classes and their attributes, see the Common Data Model Diagram and the Common Data Model Help, both available in CMDB_Installation_Folder\sdk\doc\cdm. shows the value of slots that contain creation and security information about a service component

Advanced

Viewing the events associated with a component Use the Impact/Cause View to locate the events affecting the status of a component, as described in the following procedure. Components that have associated events appear as icons with a blue disk in the upper right corner, as shown in Figure 7. Figure 7

Service component with associated events

To access event information associated with a component 1 From the Impact/Cause View, find a component with associated events. 2 Right-click the component and select View Events => Impacts. A floating event list pane is displayed, showing the related events for the component.

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Using the service impact management event collector

Using the service impact management event collector The service model requires only the MC_SMC_Events collector node. This collector tree is used by the Services View to retrieve the events of a specific component, based on its type and its logical ID, stored in the mc_udid slot. Figure 8 shows the MC_SMC_EVENTS collector definition. Figure 8

MC_SMC_EVENTS collector definition

collector MC_SMC_Events: { r['Full Access', 'Service Administrators'] w['Full Access', 'Service Administrators'] x['Full Access', 'Service Administrators'] } END collector MC_SMC_Events.*: EVENT where [$THIS.mc_smc_id != ""] create cond($THIS.mc_smc_type == '', "Unknown", $THIS.mc_smc_type) END collector MC_SMC_Events.*.Impacts: EVENT where [$THIS.mc_smc_impact == 1] END collector MC_SMC_Events.*.History: SMC_STATE_CHANGE END

An example query issued by the collector is shown in the following example: select open events from collector MC_SMC_EVENTS.component_type where [$THIS.mc_smc_id equals component_mc_udid]

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Filtering service component instances in the Impact/Cause View by status

This query varies depending on the menu command selected in the Services View: Menu command Query type All Events

any open or acknowledged event associated to the component

Impact Events

any open or acknowledged event associated to the component

History Events

any open or closed event of class SMC_STATE_CHANGE for that component

Filtering service component instances in the Impact/Cause View by status Use the Status Quick Filter to display only the components at and above the status that you specify.

To use the Status Quick Filter 1 Click the down arrow to the right of Status Quick Filter

.

2 From the status list, select a status and only objects with that status and above will be shown. For information about service component status, see “Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships” on page 14. The selected status level is applied to the Impact/Cause View and the service component instances are filtered accordingly.

3 To toggle between the filtered view and the original view, click the left portion of the Status Quick Filter

.

Searching for related service components Use the Related Components tab to help determine the cause and impact of service outages and to view the service component instances that provide a service or consume a service. For information about component status, see “Understanding service component status, priority, and relationships” on page 14 To view the related components, perform the following tasks: ■ ■

34

“Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status” “Searching for provider and consumer components” on page 36

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status

Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status 1 Click a component in the Impact/Cause View. For instructions on how to view a component, see “Opening an Impact/Cause View” on page 28.

2 Click the Related Components subtab below the Impact/Cause View. 3 Select one of the following Relationship types: Select

To view

Causes of this component’s status

searches beyond the immediate, direct relationships to find the component whose status was propagated to this component to cause the impact

Possible Related Provider Problems

shows providers with a negative status but those that are not the cause of the selected component’s status

Provides - All

shows all the providers to this consumer

Providers - Direct

shows provider components that directly impact the status of the consumer

Impacted Consumers - Direct

locates the components impacted by the selected component that are in the level above this component

Consumers - All

shows all the consumers to this provider

Consumers - Direct

shows components that directly consume the services of the provider component

4 To search for related components of a specific type, select a Component type from the drop-down list. To view all related components regardless of type, leave the Component type set to Base Element. For a list of component types, see Appendix B,

“Service model component types.”

5 Click Search.

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Searching for provider and consumer components

Components matching the search criteria are displayed in the Components list, as shown in Figure 9. Figure 9

Related components cause search

6 To view a component in the Components list, select the component, right-click, and then select View => Service Impact Graph.

7 To view the impact or history events associated with a component in the Components list, select the component, right-click, and then select one of the

following commands:

■

View => Events View => History

■

View => All

■

Searching for provider and consumer components 1 Click a component in the Impact/Cause View. For instructions on how to view a component, see “Opening an Impact/Cause View” on page 28.

2 Click the Related Components tab below the Impact/Cause View. 3 To view impacts or causes, select one of the following Relationship types:

36

Select

To view

Providers - All

all providers to this consumer

Providers - Direct

provider components that directly impact the status of the consumer

Consumers - All

all consumer components associated with the provider component

Consumers - Direct

components that directly consume the services of the provider component

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Analyzing a failure

4 Select a Component type from the drop-down list. To view all related components regardless of type, leave the Component type set to Base Element. For a list of component types, see Appendix B, “Service model component types.”

5 Click Search. Components matching the search criteria are displayed in the Components list, as shown in Figure 10. Figure 10

Related components - providers search

6 To view a component in the Components list, select the component, right-click, and then select View=>Service Impact Graph.

7 To view the impact or history events associated with a component in the Components list, select the component, right-click, and then select one of the following commands:

■

View => Events View => History

■

View => All

■

Analyzing a failure When a component is unavailable (or otherwise seriously impacted), you must determine the root cause of the problem (the causal component) and fix it in order to return your service to normal operations. Depending on the rules that were established when your service impact management environment was configured, a component might be in failure from a single cause or from the accumulation of a number of individually less significant causes. It is the job of the user with operator privileges or greater to determine the cause of the failure and assign the root cause event to someone who can fix the problem.

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Analyzing a failure

Using the tools in either BMC Impact Explorer or BMC Impact Portal, you can determine whether there is a failure or other significant alarm in your service model. After determining that there is a problem, you use BMC Impact Explorer to identify the root cause and manage the resolution of the problem. The process of analyzing and resolving the failure is described below as a series of procedures. Exactly how you identify the root cause is a matter of experience and personal preference, so the following description focuses on the tools that you use, rather than precise instructions for using those tools.

To search for the root cause of a failure using BMC Impact Explorer 1 In the BMC Impact Explorer Services view, expand the navigation tree. For more information, see “Viewing service component instances through the navigation pane” on page 28.

2 Drill down to locate the component that is unavailable. 3 Display the Impact/Cause View for this component. Look for the event that is making the component unavailable. For more information, see “Viewing the events associated with a component” on page 32.

4 If this event is not the root cause of the problem, use the root-cause-event search function to identify the root cause event in an upstream component. For more information, see “Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status” on page 35.

5 After you have determined which event is the root cause, you might want to identify all components affected by this event. For more information, see “Searching for the cause of or impact to a service component’s status” on page 35.

NOTE Remember that an event in a failed component can be caused by the impact of another event. How the major event is triggered depends on the rules that are defined for your environment.

To update the business service status 1 Confirm that the event problem has been resolved.

38

■

If the root cause event and the events on the impacted unavailable component are closed automatically, the status of affected components will return to normal.

■

If the events are not updated automatically, the person who was assigned the event must notify you that the problem has been resolved.

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Analyzing a failure

2 Close all relevant events that do not close automatically. 3 For all affected components that do not update status automatically, update component status manually. For more information, see “Manually setting a service component’s status” on page 49.

Querying an impacted component for root cause and possible cause Root cause and possible cause are the analytics of the service modeling feature of SIM. They report the source or sources of a component’s impact status. When looking at a service model in IX, you can search for related components of an impact component by clicking the Related Components tab. Its Relationship Type list box displays the following options: ■

Causes of this component’s status

■

Possible related provider problems

BMC IX initiates a simple query on a configuration item (service model component) to retrieve pre-compiled lists of root causes. These root cause lists are compiled by the following propagation algorithm available to the 7.x cells: ■

When a service model component’s status exceeds the OK status, and if its status changes so that its computed status has a greater severity than its impact status, the previous root causes of the component’s status are now possible causes and the root cause list is set to the component itself. (Its own computed status shows a greater severity than any impact status propagated to it.)

■

When a service model component’s status exceeds the OK status, and if its status changes so that its computed status no longer has a greater severity than its impact status, previous root causes of the component’s status are now possible causes and the root cause list is set to null.

Any changes to the root causes of a component’s status are propagated through all the component’s true impact relationships in which the component is the provider. When a relationship between components becomes a true impact relationship, the root causes of the provider component’s status are added to the root causes of the consumer component’s status. When a true impact relationship between components no longer exists, the root causes of the provider component are removed from the root causes of its consumer component.

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Analyzing a failure

Because the list of causes is precompiled, the new query retrieves results faster than the previous one (smcomps). The query can cross multiple cells of the service model to retrieve root causes immediately, and the query does not require as many cell resources.

Example: Root cause and possible cause analysis This example explains how root cause analysis and possible cause analysis work in a multi-cell service model for different scenarios.

Definitions ■

name = component name

■

udid = mc_udid of the component

■

cell = cell name for the component

■

ms = system name

Scenario description

40

■

The star next to the cell name indicates that the component is impacted with a critical, major, or warning event. The event severity is represented by a color. Red is for critical, orange is for major, while yellow is for warning and green is for components that are not impacted.

■

Cells 1 to 4 are on system1 while cell 5 is on system2

■

For cases 1 to 7 all cells are up

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Analyzing a failure

Figure 11

Root cause analysis - diagram depicting the example scenario

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Analyzing a failure

Table 10 explains the results for root cause and possible cause analysis in various scenarios and the analysis of how those results were derived. Table 10

Different scenarios for root cause and possible cause analysis

Case

Selection

Selection details

Root cause analysis result

Case 1

Select component A3 of cell 1 on system1 to find the root cause

This component is not Result: no components displayed impacted directly or by its providers Analysis: No impacted components are found. components that are not impacted directly or by their providers do not give root cause analysis result, and their color remains green.

Case 2

Select component B5 of cell 2 on system1 to find the root cause

This component is Result: Component B5 impacted by itself and not by any of its providers Analysis: If components that do not have any providers are impacted with an event of any severity, they appear in the root cause analysis result because they are the root cause for their own component.

Case 3

Select component B3 of cell 2 on system1 to find the root cause

Result: Component B5 This component is not impacted directly but due to its providers Analysis: Root cause analysis lists the component that has a higher severity than the consumer (B3 here). If two such components have the same severity, the component at the end of the provider tree is listed.

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Table 10

Different scenarios for root cause and possible cause analysis

Case

Selection

Selection details

Root cause analysis result

Case 4

Select component E1 of cell 5 on system2 to find the root cause

This component has Result: Component E3 many impacted providers Analysis: ■

E1 is not directly impacted.

■

E2 is directly impacted as major.

■

E3 is directly impacted as major.

■

E4 is impacted with warning.

As per the logic used in root cause analysis: E1 does not appear in the list of components as it is not impacted directly. E2 has a higher severity than E4, so ideally E2 Should be listed while E3 should not be., but, if there are two components of the same severity, the provider at the end of the path is listed. Hence, instead of E2, E3 is listed. Case 5

Select component A1 of cell 1 on system1 to find the root cause

Result: Component A1 This component is impacted with the highest Analysis: This component has the highest severity in the service severity along all the provider paths for model which it is a consumer.

Case 6

Select component B2 of cell 2 on system1 to find the root cause

This component is Result: Components B4 and B7 impacted by its providers along two separate paths Analysis:

Chapter 2

■

B2 is not directly impacted.

■

B7, B6, and B4 are directly impacted with a MAJOR severity and are in different paths.

■

Other impacted components do not have a severity MAJOR or higher.

■

B7 and B6 have the same severity, but B7 is the farthest along the path, so B7 is listed.

■

B4 has the same severity as B7 and B6, but it is along a different path, so even that is listed.

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Analyzing a failure

Table 10

Different scenarios for root cause and possible cause analysis

Case

Selection

Selection details

Root cause analysis result

Case 7

Select component B1 of cell 2 on system1 to find the root cause

This component is impacted by providers along multiple paths and components on different cells

Result: Components B7, B4, and D1

Case 8

Select component B1 of cell 2 on system1 to find the root cause when cell 4 is down

This component is impacted by providers along multiple paths and components on different cells. One of these cells is down.

Analysis: ■

B1 and B2 are not directly impacted.

■

B7, B6, and B4 are directly impacted with severity MAJOR and are in different paths.

■

Because B7 and B6 have the same severity along the same path, B7 is listed as it is the farthest along that path.

■

B4 has the same severity as B7 and is in a different path, so B4 is listed.

■

D1 is directly impacted and is a provider to B1. It is in a different path and has the same severity as B7 and B4, and hence D1 is listed.

Result: B4, B7, and no name available for the third component as cell 4 is down Analysis: ■

B1 and B2 are not directly impacted.

■

B7, B6, and B4 are directly impacted with a severity MAJOR and are in different paths.

■

As in case 7, D1 should be listed in the result, but because BMC IX cannot get the name for cells that are down or are unreachable, only the UDID of D1 is listed. Instead of the name in the component column, the following message is displayed: No name available cell_4 cell is unreachable.

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Analyzing a failure

Table 10

Different scenarios for root cause and possible cause analysis

Case

Selection

Selection details

Root cause analysis result

Case 9

Select component B1 of cell 2 on system1 to find the possible cause

This component is not directly impacted and is not a root cause for any impacted components.

Result: 0 components Analysis: ■

Possible cause is shown for only those components that are directly impacted and are shown in the root cause list for a component in the service model.

■

Possible cause component always has a lesser severity than the root cause component's severity.

■

As B1 itself is not a root cause for any component including itself, no result for possible cause is listed.

Case 10

Select component E3 of cell 5 on system2 to find the possible cause.

Result: Component E4 This component is impacted directly and is its own root cause compo- Analysis: E3 is impacted directly and is its own root cause component. Its provider is nent. impacted and has a lower severity, and hence that is a possible cause component.

Case 11

Select component A1 of cell 1 on system1 to find the possible cause.

Result: Components A2, B4, B7, D1, and This component is E3 directly impacted with the highest severity in the Analysis: service model and has many providers along different path and on differ- ■ A1 is directly impacted and is its own ent cells. root cause component. It has the highest severity along all the paths and the other components (on different cells) along the different paths are impacted with a lower severity.

Chapter 2

■

All those components along the paths that have the same severity that is lower than that of A1 are listed.

■

While listing the components, their origin cell does not make a difference.

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Resolving an event problem

Table 10

Different scenarios for root cause and possible cause analysis

Case

Selection

Selection details

Root cause analysis result

Case 12

Select component A1 of cell 1 on system1 to find the possible cause when cell 4 and cell 5 are down.

This component is directly impacted with the highest severity in the service model and has many providers along different path and on different cells, two of which are down.

Result: 5 components. A2, B4, and B7. For the other two components, BMC IX displays the following: No name available cell_4 cell is unreachable. No name available cell_5 cell is unreachable. Analysis:

Case 13

Select component A1 of cell 1 on system1 to find the possible cause when cell1 is down.

■

A1 is directly impacted and is its own root cause component. It has the highest severity along all the paths and the other components (on different cells) along the different paths are impacted with a lower severity.

■

All those components along the paths that have the same severity that is lower than that of A1 are listed.

■

For the cells that are down, the name of the component cannot be listed, but the udid of the component is displayed.

In this case, cell 1 is down. No analysis is possible because the cell The component A1 is on itself is down and the service model cancell 1 not be seen.

Resolving an event problem After you have identified the root cause of the problem impacting your service, you must assign someone to fix the problem (for example, by rebooting a computer or freeing up disk space). Assigning an event is described in “To assign an event to an individual” on page 47. When the problem is resolved, the event must be closed. Depending on the rules used in your environment, this might happen automatically. Your rule definitions might also determine that fixing the root cause event automatically updates the condition of the unavailable component. If not, you must close the event and change the status of the affected component. Closing an event is described in “To close an event” on page 47. Manually changing component status is described in “Manually setting a service component’s status” on page 49.

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To assign an event to an individual 1 From the event list, select one or more events to assign. 2 Choose Edit => Event Operations => Assign to. 3 In the Assign to dialog box, select the person to whom you want to assign the event and then click OK.

NOTE The list of users in the Assign to dialog box contains only users who are in the same account as the logged-on user.

To close an event 1 From the event list, select one or more events to close. 2 Choose Edit => Event Operations => Close Event. 3 Click Yes. A confirmation dialog is displayed.

NOTE If Ack/Close Event Confirmation is not selected in the Events View subtab of the Edit Configuration dialog box, the confirmation dialog will not be displayed when you close an event.

Viewing a service component’s SLM agreements You can view the status of an SLM compliance target for those components associated with an service agreement. The SLM Target indicator appears below the service component icon, as shown in Figure 1 on page 14. You can launch the Service Level Management Console by right-clicking on a component and selecting the task that you want to perform.

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Viewing a service component’s SLM agreements

To find components with an associated SLA 1 If the Find Service Component section of the navigation pane is not open, click the Show Find button on the toolbar of the Services tab.

2 In In Impact Manager, select the production or test cell to be queried. 3 In Of Type, if you want to select components of a specific type, select a component type, such as Computer System, application service, database, and so on. If you select Base element, all service components for all types are returned. For a list of component types, see Appendix B, “Service model component types.”

4 In Whose name contains, to select a subset of components by name, enter a comparison value.

5 Select In SLM Agreement to find the components associated with an SLA. 6 Click Find. All components matching the search criteria appear in Results.

7 Drag the service component to the Impact/Cause View. The SLA target status indicator shows the component’s compliance status, as described in Table 6 on page 22.

To view components impacted by provider component’s SLM status 1 Click a component in the Impact/Cause View with an SLM status indicator. For instructions on how to view a component, see “To find components with an associated SLA” on page 48.

2 Click the SLM tab below the Impact/Cause View. To view or modify an SLA associated with a component 1 Click a component in the Impact/Cause View with an SLM status indicator. For instructions on how to view a component, see “To find components with an associated SLA” on page 48.

2 Click the SLM tab below the Impact/Cause View. 3 To view SLM information, click Compliance Details.

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The component Compliance View Dashboard is displayed, which is view only. The component Compliance View shows all configuration items (CIs) associated with an Agreement. For each component, you can view the Service Target measurement status and the Agreement compliance status related to the component. If you want to modify or view a SLM agreement or a service target when you are viewing the Dashboard, click the SLM Console tab in the SLM application, then select an agreement from the list to view in the Agreement form.

Manually setting a service component’s status You can manually set the status for a component. This is particularly useful if you want to avoid having a component’s downtime affect any service level agreement associated with the component.

To manually set a component’s status 1 Locate the service component by using the procedure in “To search for a service component instance” on page 30.

2 Right-click on the component and choose Manual Status. 3 In the Status dialog box, select the appropriate status from the list box. 4 Enter a comment in the comments section (required). 5 Click OK. The status icon changes to indicate it has been set manually. For a list of status icons, see Table 2 on page 17.

Viewing property and performance data about a cell Property and performance information for a cell is maintained in the Impact Manager Info dialog box. To access this information

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The General subtab

1 Right-click a cell in the BMC IX navigation pane. 2 Choose View Manager Info from the menu.

The General subtab The General subtab of the Impact Manager Info dialog box is displayed. This subtab displays information about the cell property data such as the cell name, description, release and build versions, service address, port number, and platform information. In a high availability (HA) environment, use the General subtab to determine whether the server is one of a failover server pair. You can also learn whether the primary server or the secondary server is active. The following fields provide you with the required information. ■

Currently Active Server—This field displays the active server and indicates whether

it is a primary or secondary server. ■

Server Status—This field displays the status of the server and indicates whether it is

active or is in a standby mode. The General subtab also provides you information about the IP address and ports for the primary and secondary servers.

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The Workload subtab

Figure 12

Impact Manager Information dialog box - General subtab

The Workload subtab The Workload subtab displays performance statistics for the cell, including how much data the cell has received, the number of errors, and how much data has been stored, removed, and propagated. Figure 13

Impact Manager Information dialog box - Workload subtab

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The Components subtab

The Components subtab The Components subtab displays service performance data specifically pertaining to the number of service model components associated to the cell, such as the type of components and the relationships. Figure 14

Impact Manager Information dialog box - Components subtab

NOTE To refresh the contents of the Impact Manager Info dialog box, click the

(Refresh) icon.

Manually setting component status or maintenance mode You can set the status of a service component manually by using a remote action. You can also put a component in maintenance mode by using this feature. When you use the manual status feature, you must enter a comment that explains why the status was changed. To remove the manually set status or to return a component to operation, you must use another remote action to clear the manually set status.

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To manually set the component status 1 Select the required component from the Impact/Cause view and right-click to select Manual Status. The Manual Status dialog box opens.

2 Select Set Manual Status. 3 Select an appropriate status from the Status list. 4 Type a comment about the status change. 5 Click OK. The color of the component icon changes to reflect the changed status.

To clear the manually set component status 1 Select the required component from the Impact/Cause view and right-click to select Manual Status. The Manual Status dialog box opens.

2 Select Clear Manual Status. 3 Click OK. The color of the component icon reverts to the original (cleared) status.

To set the component maintenance mode 1 Select the required component from the Impact/Cause view and right-click to select Set Maintenance Mode. The Set Maintenance Mode dialog box opens.

2 Select an appropriate status from the Status list. 3 Type a comment about the status change. 4 Click OK. The color of the component icon changes to reflect the changed status.

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Cross-launching to and from other consoles

Cross-launching to and from other consoles Use the Launch button in the Impact/Cause View to start or switch to the console of another BMC Software product so you can view additional information or perform tasks on the currently selected service component. The Launch menu command is available only if you have sufficient permission to perform the launch. Other BMC Software consoles can cross-launch into the BMC Impact Explorer Services view. The component from which they cross-launch is displayed in the Impact/Cause View and its immediate consumers and providers are displayed.

NOTE The BMC Software product must be registered in the BMC Atrium CMDB. The class BMC_FederatedProduct in the BMC.CORE.CONFIG namespace holds the unique registry value for products.

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Chapter

3

Editing Service Model data in BMC Impact Explorer 3

This chapter provides procedural information about how to work with your service model and its components. It presents the following information: Managing Service Model components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Service Model components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Service Model components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deleting Service Model components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Service Model component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adding Service Model component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Service Model component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removing Service Model Component relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing alias formulas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Managing Service Model components

Managing Service Model components If your user role has the correct permissions, you can create the individual components that compose your service model. Service model components can represent anything, such as a hardware device, an application, a service, or a business entity. For the various user roles and permissions, see the BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration. For information about the operations possible for various users, see Appendix C, “User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view”.

Creating Service Model components To create a Service Model component 1 Create a component by using one of the following methods: — From the menu bar, choose Edit => Create Component. — On the toolbar, click Create Component. The Create Component dialog box opens.

2 Use Table 11 to specify the appropriate settings. .

Table 11

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Create component fields

Field

Description

Name (required)

specifies the name for the component. Enter a name meaningful to your organization.

ID

specifies the unique logical ID for the component, which is how the component is identified in the service model or in event data

Class

specifies the type of component (its data class). Select the appropriate value from the list.

Home Cell

specifies the cell that will receive events for the component

Site

specifies the site where the cell is, if applicable

Description

briefly describes the component

Owner Name

specifies the individual responsible for the component

Owner Contact

specifies the contact information for the owner of the component

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Table 11

Create component fields

Field

Description

Impact Cost Per Second During Service Schedule

specifies the cost associated with the component during service schedule timing

Impact Cost Unit

the unit of cost specified in Impact cost per second during service schedule

Status Model

specifies the status computation model to use for the component. Values are: ■ ■ ■

Standard (default) Cluster Weighted_cluster

Account ID

account ID

Category

category

Company

company

Aliases

Each component instance must have a unique Alias. If more than one component instance has the same alias, publishing will fail. For detailed information about aliases and their event associations, see the BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration guide.

Department

department

Floor

floor

Impact Cost Per Second Off Service Schedule

specifies the cost per second associated with the component during off-schedule time

Item

item

Manufacturer Name

name of the manufacturer

Model

model number and details, if available

Notes

additional information about the model

Priority - During Service Schedule

specifies a priority value that you assign to the component. This value can be between one and five, with five being the lowest priority and one being the highest.

Priority - Off Service specifies a priority value that you assign to the component when for Schedule the off-schedule time. This value can be between one and five, with five being the lowest priority and one being the highest. Propagates Priority

specify if you want the priority to be propagated to the causal components. The value can be Yes or No.

Read Users

specify user groups that have read permissions. Type user groups in square brackets, each separated by a comma. While creating a component from BMC IX, if you do not enter any value in the Read Users and Write Users fields of the component properties, by default these fields are populated with a value Full Access when you save the properties

Region

region

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Creating Service Model components

Table 11

Create component fields

Field

Description

Room

room

Schedule ID

By default, the value is 24X7X365 (always in schedule)

SelfPriorityFunction SelfPriorityFunctionParam Short Description

Default value is n/a

SiteGroup Type

type

Version Number

version number

Write Users

specify user groups that have write permissions. Type user groups in square brackets, each separated by a comma. While creating a component from BMC IX, if you do not enter any value in the Read Users and Write Users fields of the component properties, by default these fields are populated with a value Full Access when you save the properties

Comment

Enter comments, if any

Schedule Status

Specify if ■ ■

During Schedule Off Schedule

Default value of this slot is During Schedule

Once you have specified all the mandatory fields, BMC IX enables Apply and OK.

3 Click Apply and click OK. NOTE For detailed information about the component properties, status computation methods, and other attributes, see the BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration guide.

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Editing Service Model components To edit a Service Model component 1 To edit a Service Model component use one of the following methods: — select a component and choose Edit => Edit Component from the menu bar. — right-click a component and choose Edit Component from the menu. — select a component and click Edit Component on the toolbar.

2 Modify any of the component settings listed in Table 11, except for the following fields, which you cannot edit: — ID — Class — Home Cell — Schedule ID

3 Click Apply to save the changes, or click OK to save and exit the dialog box.

Deleting Service Model components To delete a Service Model component 1 To delete a Service Model component use one of the following methods: — right-click a component and you want to delete and select Delete Component. — select a component and click Delete Component on the toolbar. The Delete Confirmation message box is displayed with the following message: Do you really want to delete this component?

2 Click Yes.

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Managing Service Model component relationships

Managing Service Model component relationships After you have created the component instances that participate in a service model relationship, you can define their relationships. For each component instance for which you are creating relationships, you must know ■

whether it is a consumer or a provider for the related component

■

its relationship state value (active or inactive)

■

its status propagation model value (relationship policy)

■

whether the relationship links a BMC Event Management or Service Impact Management component

Adding Service Model component relationships To add a Service Model component relationship 1 Open a component relationships pane in the Services view by using one of the following methods: — On the navigation pane, select the component. — On the navigation pane or from Results, right-click a component and choose View Service Impact Graph. — Drag and drop the component from either the navigation pane or Results onto the relationships pane.

2 On the Services view navigation pane or from Results, right-click a component and select Add Relationship. The Find Service Components dialog box opens.

3 From the In Impact Manager list, select the cell to which the component is associated. 4 From the Of Type list, select a data class. 5 In the Whose Name Contains field, enter a comparison value. 60

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6 Select the Propagates priority check box if you want the priority to be propagated to the causal components.

7 Select the In SLM Agreement check box if required. 8 Click Find. All components matching the search criteria appear in the Results pane.

9 From the Results pane, select the appropriate component and click OK. 10 Optionally, instead of steps 2 to 9, drag and drop the component from either the navigation pane or Results into the relationships pane on the component to which you want to add the relationship to. The Edit Relationships dialog box opens.

11 Specify which component should be the consumer and which component should be the provider by selecting the required arrow direction.

12 Specify the type of relationship: — Direct, Increasing, or Decreasing ■

Direct—the status of the consumer component may be identical to that of its provider component, depending on the events directly affecting the consumer’s status, which is also taken into account.

■

Decreasing—the status of the consumer component is less critical than that of the provider component by one level. For example, if the provider status is WARNING, the consumer status is INFO.

■

Increasing—the status of the consumer component becomes more critical than that of its provider component by one level. For example, if the provider status is WARNING, the consumer status is MINOR.

— Active or Inactive ■

Active—An active relationship is an impact relationship and indicates that the status of the consumer instance depends in some measure on the status of the connected provider instance.

■

Inactive—An inactive relationship means that no dependency exists or that the dependency is irrelevant to the model. The components are only logically and visually linked.

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Editing Service Model component relationships

13 In the Status Weight box, accept the default value or enter a number for the consumer object. (Status weight is used in the WEIGHTED_CLUSTER status computation model. For more information about component status computation, see BMC Impact Solutions Service Modeling and Publishing Guide.)

14 Optionally, in Description, type a description for the relationship. The default description changes based on the relationship type that you select as follows: — DIRECT relationship (linear impact) — DECREASING relationship (reducing impact) — INCREASING relationship (increasing impact)

15 Click Apply and click OK. NOTE To be able to add a relationship between two components from two different cells, you must create an entry of both the cells in the mcell.dir file for both the cells and then restart these two cells.

Editing Service Model component relationships To edit a Service Model component relationship 1 Open a component relationships pane in the Services view by using one of the following methods: — On the navigation pane, select the component. — On the navigation pane or from Results, right-click a component and select View Service Impact Graph. — Drag and drop the component from either the navigation pane or Results into the relationships pane.

2 From the component details pane, click the Related Components tab. 3 Select the required component and click Edit Relationship. Alternatively, from the menu bar, choose Edit => Edit Relationship. The Edit Relationships dialog box opens. A list of components appears under Relationships.

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4 If required, select the required relationship and click Add Relationship. For details about adding a relationship, see “To add a Service Model component relationship” on page 60.

5 If required, select the required relationship for deleting and click Remove Relationship. For details about removing a relationship, see “To remove a Service Model component relationship” on page 64.

6 If required, select the required relationship for editing and click Edit Relationship. The Edit This Relationship dialog box opens.

7 Specify which component should be the consumer and which component should be the provider by selecting the required arrow direction.

8 Specify the type of relationship: — Direct, Decreasing, Increasing ■

Direct—the status of the consumer component may be identical to that of its provider component, depending on the events directly affecting the consumer’s status, which is also taken into account.

■

Decreasing—the status of the consumer component is less critical than that of the provider component by one level. For example, if the provider status is WARNING, the consumer status is INFO.

■

Increasing—the status of the consumer component becomes more critical than that of its provider component by one level. For example, if the provider status is WARNING, the consumer status is MINOR.

— Active or Inactive ■

Active—An active relationship is an impact relationship and indicates that the status of the consumer instance depends in some measure on the status of the connected provider instance.

■

Inactive—An inactive relationship means that no dependency exists or that the dependency is irrelevant to the model. The components are only logically and visually linked.

9 Optionally, in Description, type a description for the relationship. The default description is DIRECT relationship (linear impact).

10 Click Apply and click OK.

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Removing Service Model Component relationships

Removing Service Model Component relationships To remove a Service Model component relationship 1 Open a component relationships pane in the Services tab by using one of the following methods: — On the navigation pane, select the component. — On the navigation pane or from Results, right-click a component and choose View Service Impact Graph. — Drag and drop the component from either the navigation pane or Results into the relationships pane.

2 From the component details pane, click the Related Components tab. 3 Click Edit Relationship. The Edit Relationships dialog box opens. A list of components appears under Relationships.

4 Select the required component and click Remove Relationship. The Remove Relationship dialog box opens and it displays the following message: Do you really want to remove this relationship?

5 Click Yes. The relationship is removed and the BMC IX Services view is refreshed.

Managing alias formulas You can add and edit alias formulas across all views (Dashboard, Events, Services, and Administration) of the BMC IX console provided you ■ ■

belong to the Full Access or Service Administrators group have at least one cell connection to the BMC IX console

The procedure for adding and editing alias formulas in the BMC IX console is very similar to the procedure used in the BMC Impact Service Model Editor.

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Several default alias formulas are provided out-of-the-box. For example, default aliases for the BMC Patrol product are offered for PATROL events of class PATROL_EV. These aliases can be used by the BMC Impact Integration for PATROL product. For background information about defining component aliases and event alias associations, see the BMC Impact Solutions Service Modeling and Publishing Guide.

To Work with Event Alias Formulas 1 From the menu bar, choose Tools =>Event Alias Formulas. The Alias Formulas Editor window is displayed. It lists the connected cells in the Cell drop-down list. It displays all current alias formulas for the selected cell in the drop-down list. Figure 15

Alias Formulas Editor

The menu bar at the top of the window contains the following icons:

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Managing alias formulas

Icon

Purpose to edit a selected alias formula

to create a new alias formula

to copy an existing alias formula to use as a template for creating a new alias formula to delete a selected alias formula

to copy an existing alias formula

to paste an alias formula

2 In the Cell drop-down list, select the cell you want to work on. 3 To add a new alias formula, click the New Alias Formula icon. The Add Alias Formula dialog box is opened. Figure 16

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Add Alias Formula dialog

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4 In the Formula Name text box, enter a name for the alias formula. 5 Under the Event Match Criteria label, in the Event Class box, select an event class from the list. When an event arrives at the cell, its event class has to match the event class or a subclass of the event class before the alias formula is even considered.

6 (optional) In the Match Attributes box, choose attributes and enter values to refine which events (within the event class) will generate aliases. For each attribute you choose, select one of the conditional operators, as described in Table 12, and enter a value in the text box to further define the events that are used to generate aliases using this formula. Table 12

Description of conditional operators

Conditional operators

Description

anything

the attribute can contain any value and is not used as a selection criteria If every attribute listed has anything that means that every incoming event that belongs to the event class will pass through alias formula processing

contains

the characters you enter in the text box occur someplace in the value

has prefix

the value starts with the characters you enter in the text box

has suffix

the value ends with the characters you enter in the text box

equals

the value exactly matches the characters you enter in the text box

If you use more than one attribute, each condition must test true (the Boolean operator between the selection criteria phrases is AND) before the alias formula process is performed. For example, in Figure 17 on page 68, the search phrase would read: Hostname contains SALLOG and IP address equals 555.22.19.105. Both conditions must be true for the event to be selected for alias processing.

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Managing alias formulas

Figure 17

Example of match attributes

7 In the Alias Formula area, use the Attribute, Text, and Function buttons in any order and as many times as needed to build the formula:

A To insert an attribute in the formula, click the Attribute button. The attributes shown are those that belong to the event class you selected in the Event Definition area. When an attribute is selected, the control shows the attribute name, and the preview area is updated to show the syntax of the formula as it currently exists.

TIP If your formula for a component instance (CI) contains the mc_host slot with a host name value, then the mc_host slot of the matching event definition should also contain the host name value, not the IP address, of the CI. For example, if you assign the mc_host slot in your formula the value mycomputer.abc.com, then the mc_host slot of the incoming event should contain the same host name value, not the IP address. You can check with your system administrator for the correct Domain Name System (DNS) resolution if the object represented by the component instance experiences host name resolution errors.

B To insert literal text (for example, a period, semi-colon, the word Oracle), click on the Text button. In the text box, type the literal text that you want in the alias formula. Literal text appears in the first part of the alias formula with data type definitions.

C To insert a function that defines the data type and an expression in the formula, click on the Function button. Type the function and choose the data type. For a list of functions you can use, see BMC Impact Solutions Knowledge Base Development Reference Guide.

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D (optional) To change the order of the elements in the alias formula, select the part of the formula you want to move and click the Move arrow button as appropriate.

E (optional) To delete one of the elements in the alias formula, select the part of the formula you want to delete and click the Delete button.

8 When the alias formula is complete, click Save. To edit an event alias formula 1 Choose Tools => Event Alias Formulas. 2 In the Alias Formulas Editor window, select an existing alias computing formula. 3 Click the Edit Alias Formula icon. 4 In the Edit Alias Formula dialog box, make changes as needed. 5 When your changes are complete, click OK. To delete an event alias formula 1 Choose Tools =>Event Alias Formulas. 2 In the Alias Formulas Editor window, select an existing alias computing formula. 3 Click the Delete Alias Formula icon. To add/edit an alias formula associated with a component instance 1 Open a service model in a View window of the Services tab. 2 Select a component instance, right-click to display the pop-up, and choose Event Alias Formulas to open the Alias Formulas Editor window.

3 Refer to the procedures described in this topic, “To Work with Event Alias Formulas” on page 65.

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Chapter

4

Monitoring and managing services with BMC Impact Portal 4

This chapter presents the following topics: Accessing service information in the BMC Impact Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 BMC Impact Portal Status tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 BMC Impact Portal Events tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 BMC Impact Portal business dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Monitoring service components and their status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Viewing the properties of a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Viewing summary information for a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Viewing the events associated with a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Viewing the providers for a component instance or group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Viewing the status of consumers of a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Viewing impacted components by component type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Viewing the costs of a component failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Viewing status with BMC Desktop Status Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Configuring service component information and status monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Setting properties for a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Configuring the displayed general properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Setting the status determination method for a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Adding and editing comments about a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Contacting the owner of a component instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Changing notification methods for BMC Desktop Status Indicators . . . . . . . . . 101

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Accessing service information in the BMC Impact Portal

Accessing service information in the BMC Impact Portal You access information about your services in the Status tab, the Events tab, and business dashboards.

BMC Impact Portal Status tab The Status tab provides a snapshot view of the current status of the selected object or group, whose name is shown at the top of the main viewing pane. Status icons, colors, and other graphical cues enable you to quickly view the status of any selected object.

Status tab navigation tree The navigation pane on the left side of the page uses a tree view to display your components and groups hierarchically. With the Status tab selected, when you select an object in the tree, the information about that object appears in the main viewing pane. When you select groups that contain objects, the tree expands to show the components in the selected group. You can then select a component and navigate to its providers and view service information, such as availability measures, status, and events, for that component. Your ability to view objects depends on your user group. If you do not have permission to view a particular object, that object will not be displayed in the navigation tree when you are logged on.

NOTE Objects placed in the Console Navigation Tree in the BMC Impact Service Model Editor do not appear in the BMC Impact Portal until they have been published to a production cell.

To view services and components in the navigation pane 1 Click the Status tab. 2 In the navigation pane, click Business.

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BMC Impact Portal Status tab

Services and components are displayed in the navigation tree, as shown in Figure 18. Figure 18

Navigation tree

Status tab subtabs The Status tab organizes the information by using subtabs, depending on your selection in the navigation tree. If you select a component instance, the available subtabs are as follows: ■

Summary: provides a summary of current information for the component,

including — component name — component type (class) — component description — the current status — the substatus — priority — propagates priority — SLM status (available only if BMC Service Level Management is installed) — schedule — the owner of the component instance — comments that have been entered for the component instance

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BMC Impact Portal Status tab

— a list of objects that are impacted by this component's status — a table of possible root causes — a cost graph if there is a cost object and the object is in a down state ■

Image: provides access to the provider image view for the component

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Providers: provides access to the status for the provider components

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Consumers: provides access to the status for the consumer components

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SLM: provides access to the service level management information for the

component If you select a folder or group from the navigation tree, the available subtabs are as follows: ■

Group Members: provides access to the member components of the group

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Image: provides access to the provider image view for the group

To view status information for a component instance 1 In the navigation pane on the Status tab, select the component instance for which you want to view status information.

2 Click the appropriate subtab for the type of information that you want to view. To view status information for a component instance within a folder or group 1 In the navigation pane on the Status tab, select the folder or group that contains the component instance.

2 Click the Group Members subtab. 3 From the list of group members that is displayed, select the component instance, and then click the appropriate subtab for the type of information that you want to view.

Changing the Status tab image for an object Status tab images comprise one or more icons that represent the components (providers) that provide functions to the object and the background on which those icons are arranged. Objects can use the default image or custom images of your own design. You can use the Image View Editor to change the image that represents an object in the Status tab.

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You can change ■ ■

the location and attributes of the provider image or images the background on which the providers are placed

To edit the Status tab image 1 From the navigation tree, select the object to change. 2 Click the Configure tab. The Status Tab Image View section displays uncolored icons that represent the images that will be displayed for that object in the Image subtab.

3 Click Edit Status Image View. 4 In the Image View Editor, in the right pane Type of Image View, select Custom. 5 From the top left of the Image View Editor pane, drag the providers that you want to include in the Image subtab onto the canvas below.

NOTE To remove an image from the canvas, select the image and click Remove from image above the list of image information.

6 To change the image of an individual provider, select a provider on the canvas and on the Selected object tab, change the appropriate parameters.

7 To change the background, in the right pane, click the View tab and change the appropriate parameters.

8 Click Save custom image & close.

BMC Impact Portal Events tab The Events tab lists occurrences of objects that are changing state or severity or are having some action performed against them. You can view events for a selected object or group. The default event list shows a minimum of 5 events (provided that 5 events exist) and a maximum of 50 events, but you can change the number of events displayed.

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BMC Impact Portal business dashboards

The Events tab shows the following information for each event: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

the current status of the selected component or group the current priority and severity the date and time that the event was received the owner of the event any message associated with the event the identifier of the component

To configure the number of events displayed 1 Use a text editor to open the application.properties file, located in the following path: BMC_PORTAL_KIT_HOME\tools\jboss\server\all\conf\properties\smsIwc\application.prope rties

2 To change the minimum number of events shown in the Events tab, edit the value for com.bmc.sms.iwc.event.table.minimumevents.

3 To change the maximum number of events shown in the Events tab, edit the value for com.bmc.sms.iwc.event.table.maximumevents.

4 Save the application.properties file. WARNING Save as type All Files to preserve the .properties suffix. Do not save as a .txt (text) file, because the configuration changes may not be recognized.

5 Restart the BMC Impact Portal.

BMC Impact Portal business dashboards You can also access service information through business dashboards, which are customizable views that you create for your business objects. In these dashboards, you can add up to six sections, and in any section you can place the following items:

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status history, quality measure, or financial losses report (from the Reports tab)

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an image view (a graphical format of the status)

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the contents of a status table for an object or a group: — an object and its providers or consumers — an existing group of objects — a static group of objects (the members do not change over time) — a dynamic group of objects (the members of the group change, based on query rules)

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a web page

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content from another BMC Portal plug-in

For example, if you had a component group that contained all of your database servers that were located in one geographical region, you could create a dashboard that showed the availability data for the servers in that group, the image view of where those servers are located, and the status of those servers. With all of this information in one view, you can avoid navigating to the Status tab, its Image subtab, and the Events tab to see everything of interest.

Viewing dashboards Dashboards are available for viewing from the Status tab, the Events tab and the Reports tab. In the navigation tree on any of these tabs, under Dashboards, click the dashboard you want to see.

Causal component dashboards A causal component is a provider component that “causes” a problem for a related consumer component when the provider component is not functioning properly. When a provider component is in a less than OK state, you need to know what consumer components are impacted and how important those consumer components are, because they affect the importance of the provider component. For example, a router goes down. The e-mail service that the router enables is critical to your business. The importance of the e-mail service makes the router important. How quickly should that router be fixed? If more than one provider component has a problem, which one should be fixed first? You can create dashboards that present information about selected provider components and their related consumer components. You can also choose to list those causal components that are related to important consumer components. An “important” consumer component is one that propagates its priority back to the provider component. For a provider component with multiple consumer components (a causal component that impacts multiple components), a causal component

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dashboard displays a final calculated priority for the causal component based on the priorities of the individual consumer components. When the dashboard includes multiple causal components, you are presented with a list ranked in the order they should be fixed. You define a consumer component as important in your service model. For further information, see “Service component priority” on page 20. Best practice: Limit the number of components that you flag as priority propagators to

the most critical business services, and verify that performance is not adversely affected before you add others.

Default causal component dashboard When you create an account in the BMC Impact Portal, a default causal component dashboard is created. The default dashboard lists components that negatively impact important consumer components. You can modify the default dashboard and create additional causal component dashboards as needed.

Viewing the default causal dashboard Causal component dashboards present status information in a table format. You define what is displayed and how it is displayed when you create the dashboard. You can also filter the specific provider components by priority, status, SLM status, type (component type), and group, as needed. The components causing a problem are sorted by their priority (first column) as defined by the number and significance of the components they are impacting. This sorting provides you with a list of problem components in the order they should be fixed. The Events column provides a link to the default Events tab page for the causal component. The Impacts column displays a link that show a pop-up page with a subset of the selected components that are impacted by the causal component in the current row. If the causal dashboard contains selected component instances (rather than all those defined as “important”), the top dashboard shows a listed of the selected components and each one is linked to its status page.

Modifying the default causal dashboard You can choose to list all priorities, all statuses, all component types, and all groups, or you can choose to list a subset of each.

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Creating and editing dashboards When you create a dashboard, you first decide on the content that you want to see displayed in the dashboard. Then, you create an empty dashboard with the number of sections that you need. Finally, you fill each section with the type of content that you want. The following procedures describe how to create and edit a dashboard and refer you to the procedures for adding content.

To create a dashboard and add sections for business objects 1 In the main BMC Impact Portal window, click the Configure tab. 2 Under Tasks in the navigation pane, select Dashboards. 3 On the Dashboards page, click Add. 4 On the Dashboards – Add – Properties page, specify the properties for the dashboard, as follows, and then click Next:

A In Name, type a text string that identifies the dashboard. B Type a description of the dashboard. C Under Layout, select the page layout for the dashboard. D Select the object type under which you want the dashboard to be listed in the navigation tree: ■ ■ ■

Business Dashboards Infrastructure

5 Click Next. 6 On the Dashboards – Add – Contents page, for each section of the dashboard, select the type of content that you want, and then click Next. The page that appears next depends on your selection of content type for the first section of the dashboard. After you specify content for the first section, you specify content for the second section, and so on until you have specified content for the whole dashboard. Table 13 refers you to the appropriate instructions for each type of content.

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Table 13

Task instructions for each type of content

Type of content

See

Web Page

“To add a web page to the dashboard” on page 81

Report

“To add business reports to the dashboard” on page 81

Image

“To add an existing image view to a dashboard” or “To add a custom image view to a dashboard” on page 83

Table

“To add table content to a dashboard” on page 84

7 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to modify the dashboard.

To search for components when adding a dashboard section Some of the content types offer a search function to help you find the component instances that you want to include in a dashboard section. Use this procedure when you are selecting content for the dashboards in the procedures on the following pages.

1 From the list on the Select page for the type of content you want to add, select Search for Components.

2 (optional) In Name, enter ■ ■ ■

a specific component name a partial component name with the wildcard asterisk (*) before, after, or both the wildcard asterisk alone (*)

3 In Types of Components, select one of the following options, and then click Next: ■

Any type of component

■

These selected types of components, and then select one or more of the available

component types The search results are listed in the Results table.

4 (optional) If you want more information about a component, click Properties on that component's row in the Results table. To exit search and select from the tree, change the drop-down list back to Select From Tree. To return to the previous page, select Back.

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To edit a dashboard 1 In the main BMC Impact Portal window, click the Configure tab. 2 Under Tasks in the navigation pane, select Dashboards. 3 On the Dashboards page, select a dashboard from the services tree and click Edit. 4 To edit the general properties of the entire dashboard, click the Edit button located nearest the General heading.

5 To edit a specific section of the dashboard, click the Edit button corresponding to the section that you want to change under the Contents heading.

6 See Table 13 on page 80 for a reference to the appropriate steps for the section of the dashboard that you are editing.

7 On the Dashboard – Edit – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

Adding content to dashboards The most effective dashboards are those that contain the most information that is of interest to you so that you do not have to navigate to other locations in the BMC Impact Portal to see the data. You can decide which data to display, the order in which the information is displayed, and the type of presentation of some of the information. The following procedures assume that you have reached step 5 in “To create a dashboard and add sections for business objects” on page 79.

To add a web page to the dashboard If you selected Web Page on the Dashboards – Add – Contents page, BMC Portal displays the Dashboards – Add – Web Page. In the URL: field, type the URL for the web page and then click Next.

To add business reports to the dashboard If you selected Report on the Dashboards – Add – Contents page, BMC Portal displays the Dashboard – Add – Report – Select Report Component page.

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1 On the Dashboard – Add – Report – Select Report Component page, select an object to be shown in the report by performing one of the following actions, and then click Next. ■

From the list, select Select from Tree and expand the services tree; then, select the appropriate object.

■

From the list, select Search for components and specify a component name, component type, or both; then select the appropriate component from the Results table. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80.

2 Click Next. 3 On the Dashboards – Add – Report – Select Report Type page, select the Report Time Span that the report will cover.

4 Select the Report Type. Reports in dashboards show the same data as reports on the Reports tab.

5 On the Dashboards – Add – Report – Select Table Size page, select the table layout of the report section. If the report is too large for the selected section size, scroll bars appear in that section so that you can view the entire report.

6 On the Dashboards - Add - Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add an existing image view to a dashboard Use this procedure to select an existing image that is associated with a component and add that image to a dashboard. If you want to create a custom image, see “To add a custom image view to a dashboard” on page 83.

1 On the Dashboards – Add – Image View – Select a Method page, select Select an Existing Image.

2 On the Dashboards – Add – Image View – Select an Existing Image page, select an object from the services tree. The object that you select must have providers to have an image.

3 Click View Selected Image. 4 In the new window, click Edit Status Image View, and follow the steps in “Changing the Status tab image for an object” on page 74. 82

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If the window does not appear, ensure that pop-up blockers are disabled. When you are finished modifying the image, or if you do not want to modify the image, close the new window.

5 On the Dashboards – Add – Image – Select an Existing Image page, click Next. 6 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add a custom image view to a dashboard Use this procedure if you want to ■

use an alternate image for a component that has an existing image associated with it

■

create an image for a new group of objects that is specific to the dashboard view and that will not exist in the navigation tree

To use an existing image, see “To add an existing image view to a dashboard” on page 82.

1 On the Dashboards – Add – Image View – Select a Method page, select Create a New Image View and click Next.

2 On the Dashboards – Add – Image View – Select Objects for Image page, specify a Group Name for the image.

3 Select an object in one of the following ways, and then click Next. ■

From the list, select Select from Tree and expand the services tree; then, select the appropriate object.

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From the list, select Search for Components and specify a component name, component type, or both; then select the appropriate component from the Results table. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80.

4 On the Dashboards – Add – Image View – Create Image View page, click Open Editor.

5 In the Image View Editor, click Use Custom. 6 Drag the providers that you want to include in the dashboard image from the top pane of the editor into the canvas below the top pane.

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NOTE To remove an image from the canvas, click Remove from image above the list of image information.

7 (optional) To change the image of an individual provider, select a provider on the canvas and change the appropriate parameters in the Selected object column at the right of the page.

8 (optional) To change the background, click the View tab in the right pane and change the appropriate parameters.

9 Click Save custom image & close below the canvas. The Image View Editor closes and the new image is displayed. To continue making changes to the image, click Edit Image, and go back to step 6 on page 83.

10 To edit the image to use on the Status tab, click Edit Status Image View. For instructions, see “Changing the Status tab image for an object” on page 74.

11 When your changes are complete, click Next. 12 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add table content to a dashboard 1 On the Dashboard – Add – Table - Select Table Contents page, select the type of table content that you want to add to the section of the dashboard, and then click Next.

2 Based on your selection, go to the task indicated in the following table: Table 14

Choosing a procedure for adding a type of table content (part 1 of 2)

Type selection

Procedure and location

An object and its providers “To add table content for an object and its providers to a dashboard” on page 85

84

An object and its consumers

“To add table content for an object and its consumers to a dashboard” on page 85

Existing Group (folder) of objects

“To add table content for an existing group (folder) of objects” on page 86

Static New collection of objects (members don’t change over time)

“To add table content for a static new collection of objects to a dashboard” on page 86

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Table 14

Choosing a procedure for adding a type of table content (part 2 of 2)

Type selection

Procedure and location

Dynamic New collection of “To add table content for a dynamic new collection of objects to objects a dashboard” on page 87 Causal Components

“To add table content for causal components to a dashboard” on page 88

To add table content for an object and its providers to a dashboard 1 On the Dashboards – Add – Table – Select object to Show page, select an object in one of the following ways, and then click Next: ■

From the list, select Select from Tree and expand the services tree; then, select the appropriate object.

■

From the list, select Search for Components and specify a component name, component type, or both; then select the appropriate component from the Results table. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80.

2 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Table Layout page, choose a size for the table, and then click Next.

3 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add table content for an object and its consumers to a dashboard 1 On the Dashboards – Add – Table – Select Table Contents page, select an object in one of the following ways, and then click Next: ■

From the list, select An object and its consumers and click Next.

■

From the list, select Search for Components and specify a component name, component type, or both; then select the appropriate component from the Results table. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80.

2 On the Dashboards – Add – Table – Select object to Show page, select an object in one of the following ways, and then click Next: ■

From the list, select Select from Tree and expand the services tree; then, select the appropriate object.

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From the list, select Search for Components and specify a component name, component type, or both; then select the appropriate component from the Results table. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80.

3 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Table Layout page, choose a size for the table, and then click Next.

4 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add table content for an existing group (folder) of objects 1 On the Dashboards – Add – Table - Select Table Contents page, select Existing Group of Objects, and then click Next.

2 On the Dashboard - Add - Table - Select Group page, select the group that you want to display in the Status table and click Next.

3 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Table Layout page, choose a size for the table and click Next.

4 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the modified dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add table content for a static new collection of objects to a dashboard In this procedure, you name a new object group and populate the new group with objects. The new group is displayed in this section of the dashboard, but it is not displayed in the navigation tree.

1 On the Dashboards – Add – Table – Select Table Contents page, select Static New collection of objects (objects don’t change over time) and click Next.

2 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Object for Group page, enter a name for the new dashboard group.

3 Select objects to add to the new group in one of the following ways, and then click Next:

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From the list, select Select from Tree and expand the services tree; then, select the appropriate object.

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From the list, select Search for Components and specify a component name, component type, or both; then select the appropriate component from the Results table. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80

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4 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Table Layout page, choose a size for the table and click Next.

5 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

To add table content for a dynamic new collection of objects to a dashboard In this procedure, you name a new collection of objects and select criteria for the components that populate the group. The new group is displayed in this section of the dashboard, but it is not displayed in the navigation tree.

1 On the Dashboards – Add – Table – Select Table Contents page, select Dynamic New collection of objects and click Next.

2 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Define Dynamic Member Rules page, enter a Collection Title.

3 Specify any of the following criteria to define the objects that belong to this group: ■

Name: Specify a name (full, or partial using the wildcard asterisk *) that the

object must have. ■

Status: Specify a status threshold that the object must meet or exceed.

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Priorities: Specify a priority level (1–5) that the object must meet.

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Substatus: Specify a substatus threshold that the object must meet or exceed.

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Types of Components: Select These selected types of components and select a component type from the list, or select Any type of component.

For an object to become a member of the group, it must meet all the specified criteria.

4 When you have completed the filtering criteria, click Next. 5 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Table Layout page, choose a size for the table and click Next.

6 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

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To add table content for causal components to a dashboard 1 On the Dashboards – Add – Table – Select Table Contents page, select Causal Components and click Next.

2 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Potential Impacted Objects, select the components that you want to see, and then click Next. ■

All objects that propagate their priority to their causal objects indicates consumer

components that are important (those that propagate their priority to their provider components; they are flagged as Priority Propagators in BMC Impact Service Model Editor). ■

Only these selected objects indicates the objects you specifically choose from the navigation tree. Navigate to the objects you want or use the search feature to find them. See “To search for components when adding a dashboard section” on page 80.

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To include a list of the selected objects at the top of the dashboard, select Show a list of these selected objects at the top of this dashboard.

3 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Define Causal Components Default Filters, choose the criteria for selecting a subset of the causal components, and then click Next. ■

Priorities: Specify a priority level (All, 1–5) that the object must meet.

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Status: Specify a status threshold that the object must meet or exceed.

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SLM Status: Specify the service level management status for the object.

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Type: Select All types of component or select Only this type of component and its subtypes and select a component type from the list.

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Group: Select All components - ignoring groups or select Only members of this group and its subgroups and select a group from the list.

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To list the selection criteria (filters) in the dashboard, select Show these filter controls in the final dashboard so users can filter the causes list.

For a causal component to be included in the dashboard, it must meet all the specified criteria.

4 On the Dashboard – Add – Table – Select Table Layout, choose the layout of the table that displays priority information for causal components, and then click Next. The Narrow Table includes the following information:

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Impacts Priority: represents the calculated importance of all the impacted

consumer components (available only if you chose the table with priority propagators) ■

Impacted Components: counts of important impacts, grouped by self priority of the components (available only if you chose the table with priority propagators)

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Cost USD: the cost of downtime for the impacted component

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Name: the name assigned to the component instance

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Events: link to the Events tab, which lists the events generated for this component instance

The Wide Table displays all of the columns in the narrow table plus the following columns: ■

Last Status Modification: the most recent date and time that the component’s

status changed ■

Description: a user-specified description of the provider component instance

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Owner Name: the owner of the component

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Owner Contact: a method of contacting the owner of the component

5 On the Dashboards – Add – Finish page, review the new dashboard and click Finish, or click Back to edit your dashboard.

Monitoring service components and their status Using the BMC Impact Portal and BMC Desktop Status Indicator, you can monitor various aspects of components: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

“Viewing the properties of a component instance” on page 90 “Viewing summary information for a component instance” on page 90 “Viewing the events associated with a component instance” on page 92 “Viewing the providers for a component instance or group” on page 94 “Viewing the status of consumers of a component instance” on page 95 “Viewing the costs of a component failure” on page 96 “Viewing status with BMC Desktop Status Indicator” on page 96

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Viewing the properties of a component instance

You can modify the display in the BMC Impact Portal, as well as perform other actions. These tasks are discussed in “Configuring service component information and status monitoring” on page 97.

Viewing the properties of a component instance You can view the properties page for a selected component by clicking the Configure tab. From the properties page, you can view the default component properties that were set up by your administrator. The following list shows the default component properties: ■

General Properties

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Comment

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Group Memberships for the selected component

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Service Level Management Agreements (appears only if BMC Service Level

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Management is installed) Report Goals for each report

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Status Determination Method - Calculated, Manual, or In Maintenance

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Status Tab Image View

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Blackout Periods

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Tags

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Schedule

For more information about changing property values, see “Setting properties for a component instance” on page 97.

Viewing summary information for a component instance You can view the summary information for a selected component on the Status tab by clicking the Summary subtab. The following information is displayed:

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name of the component instance

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component type

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description of the component instance

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current status

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substatus

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priority

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propagates priority setting

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SLM (service level agreement information is available only if the SLM Integration is installed)

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schedule (name, definition, and whether it currently applies)

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owner of the component instance

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cost graph if a cost value is assigned and the component instance is in an unavailable state

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comment regarding the component instance

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list of objects that are impacted by this component's status

You can choose which of the following object types to display by using the list in the Show box: ■ ■

a list of components that are causing this component's status a list of components that are related to the cause of this component's status

Also, you can perform the following tasks: ■ ■ ■

“Viewing the events associated with a component instance” on page 92 “Setting properties for a component instance” on page 97 “Adding and editing comments about a component instance” on page 100

NOTE ■

You can click any component instance name to view additional information about that component.

■

You can update the properties for the selected component instance by clicking Properties.

To view the status summary for a component instance 1 Select a component instance from the object tree. 2 Click the Status tab. 3 Click the Summary subtab.

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Viewing the events associated with a component instance

Viewing the events associated with a component instance BMC Impact Portal events are displayed on the subtabs of the Events tab: ■

This Component subtab

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Causal Components subtab

This Component subtab Events displayed in the This Component subtab come from only the component that is currently selected in the navigation tree. The subtab does not show events coming from subcomponents of the selected component. The page contains the following information areas: ■

event status filters: Using the filters on the This Component subtab, you can filter events based on impacting events, event severity, or priority.

■

event state area: The event state area contains the name of the selected component, a

status icon, a Properties link, and a component icon. If the selected component is in an alert state, a colored bar corresponds to the severity of the state of the selected component. For example, a red bar could indicate that the selected component has a critical alert. Click the Properties link to display the properties of the selected component. You can also display the properties of the selected component by clicking the Configure tab. ■

events table: The events table contains the following columns:

— Status: information about the status of the event The possible values in the status column are Open, Closed, Acknowledged, Assigned, and Blackout. — Date_reception: the date and time the event was received — Owner_name: the name of the owner of the event — Msg: a brief message indicating the nature of the event — impact_cost: cost of downtime of that component. This cost is displayed only if a cost is defined for the component and a cost is associated with the component. You can sort the information in a column by clicking the column heading.

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Causal Components subtab Events displayed on the Causal Components subtab come from elements that are causing the current state of the selected component. You can view the events of the selected component by selecting the This Component subtab. The Causal Components subtab page contains the following information areas: ■

event status filters: You can filter events based on impacting events, event severity,

or priority. ■

component identification area: The component identification area displays

information about the component that is causing the state of the selected component. This area displays the following information: — component state icon — component status tab image icon — component name — date that the component was added to the service model — component type — component owner and location — component contact information ■

event state area: The event state area contains the name of the causal component, a status icon, a Properties link, and a component icon. If the causal component is in an alert state, a colored bar is displayed corresponding to the severity of the state of the selected component. For example, a red bar could indicate that the causal component has a critical alert.

Click the Properties link to display the properties of the causal component. You can also display the properties of the selected component by clicking the Configure tab. ■

events table: The events table contains the following columns:

— Status: information about the status of the event

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Viewing the providers for a component instance or group

Possible values of the status column are Open, Closed, Acknowledged, Assigned, and Blackout. — Date_reception: the date and time the event was received — Owner_name: the name of the owner of the event — Msg: a brief message indicating the nature of the event — Impact_cost: the cost of downtime of the causal component You can sort the information in a column by clicking the column heading.

Viewing the providers for a component instance or group The following procedures describe how to view the providers of services for a component instance.

To view the provider image view for a component instance or group 1 In the navigation tree on the Status tab, select a component instance or group. 2 Click the Image subtab. The image for the selected component instance or group is displayed.

NOTE ■

Objects can use the default image or use custom images of your own design. For more information about changing an image, see “Changing the Status tab image for an object” on page 74.

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You can view the properties for the selected component instance by clicking Properties.

To view the status of the providers for the selected component 1 In the navigation tree on the Status tab, select a component instance. 2 Click the Providers subtab. The providers for the selected component instance are displayed.

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NOTE ■

You can view the properties for the selected component instance by clicking Properties.

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Even though a component provides functions to this component, it may not affect the status of this component. The components that do affect the status of this component are shown by the thin gray arrows on the left.

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For information about configuring the columns, see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration.

Viewing the status of consumers of a component instance In a service model component relationship, the component that uses a service provided by another object (the provider) is called a consumer. The following task describes how to view the status of the consumers of a component instance.

To view the status of consumers for a component instance 1 In the navigation tree on the Status tab, select a component instance. 2 Click the Consumers subtab. The consumers for the selected component instance are displayed.

NOTE ■

You can update the properties for the selected component instance by clicking Properties.

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Even though a component provides functions to this component, it may not affect the status of this component. The components that do affect the status of this component are shown by the thin gray arrows on the left.

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For information about configuring the columns, see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration.

Viewing impacted components by component type When a component in a service model experiences a problem, it can impact other components in the service model. You can display information about all impacted components of that class in a table. In addition, detailed information about any one of the impacted components can be displayed in the Summary window.

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Viewing the costs of a component failure

To specify a component type 1 In the navigation tree on the Status tab, select a component instance. 2 Expand the Impacts section, if it is not already displayed. 3 From the Show list box, select a component type. Impacted components of the type you specified are displayed in a table below the list box.

4 (optional) Click the name of a component displayed in the table. Detailed information about the selected component is displayed at the top of the panel.

Viewing the costs of a component failure When a cost object is displayed in the Status Summary subtab and that cost object is in a down state, a cost graph is displayed automatically. The graph shows the total financial losses associated with the non-functioning component instance and the rate of loss based on the duration of the down period of that instance.

Viewing status with BMC Desktop Status Indicator The BMC Desktop Status Indicator enables you to view the status of objects from your system tray without opening the BMC Impact Portal. Indicators can be configured to make sounds, display screen messages, or use other behaviors to indicate status changes of monitored objects. You install, launch, and configure BMC Desktop Status Indicator from the BMC Impact Portal Configure tab. You can view the status of an object (or an object group) with a BMC Desktop Status Indicator in any of the following ways: ■ ■

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observing the indicator icon in the system tray right-clicking the icon and choosing Show Details to bring up the status page in the BMC Impact Portal for the monitored object group double-clicking the icon to bring up the status page in the BMC Impact Portal for the monitored object group

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Configuring service component information and status monitoring

Additionally, system tray pop-up messages or confirmation windows notify you of status changes if you configure the BMC Desktop Status Indicator accordingly. For more information about defining and installing BMC Desktop Status Indicators, see the BMC Impact Portal online Help or BMC Portal Getting Started. For more information about configuring BMC Desktop Status Indicators, see “Changing notification methods for BMC Desktop Status Indicators” on page 101.

Configuring service component information and status monitoring The topics in this section describe how to alter the information that is displayed in the BMC Impact Portal and configure BMC Desktop Status Indicator.

Setting properties for a component instance For a component selected in the navigation tree, the Configure tab displays the Component Properties page. You can change some of the values for the component by modifying the information on this page. The values in the General Properties and Schedules sections can be changed only by using the BMC Impact Service Model Editor. This page displays the following default component properties: ■

General properties: Contains the component name, type, description, owner, owner

contact information, and service state. You can change the general properties by using the BMC Impact Service Model Editor. ■

Comment: Displays any additional information about the component that a user has entered. You can add or modify this information by clicking Edit comment.

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Group memberships: Lists the groups to which the selected component belongs. To change group memberships, click Edit Memberships.

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Service Level Management Agreements: Lists the status, name, and review frequency

for the agreements that the component impacts. ■

Report goals: Lists the values for the goal lines in each report. You can change the value where each goal line is set by clicking Edit goals and entering the new value.

Changing goal values does not affect report calculations.

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Configuring the displayed general properties

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Status Determination Method—Calculated, Manual, or In Maintenance: Shows which

method is used for determining the status of the component. You can change the method by clicking Edit method. ■

Status Tab Image View: Displays the image that represents the selected component in the Status tab. To change the image associated with the selected component, click Edit status image view.

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Blackout Periods: Displays the blackout periods for the selected component. To add,

edit, or delete the blackout period, click the appropriate button. ■

Tags: Lists the user-defined keywords that have been associated with a component. Create tags so you can retrieve objects with those keywords in the Search pane.

■

Schedule: Shows the service schedules associated with a component. Service

schedules indicate when it is important for the component to meet availability or performance goals. You change service schedule properties in the BMC Impact Service Model Editor.

NOTE The types of properties that are displayed on the properties page depend on the level of the object in the navigation tree. For example, the Account blackout periods section is not displayed when a single component is selected.

Configuring the displayed general properties By default, the following information is displayed in the General Properties section on the Configure tab: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

component name class description owner name owner contact information impact cost per second status consumers providers priority

To change which specific general properties are displayed in the General Properties section, use the following procedure.

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Setting the status determination method for a component instance

To configure displayed general properties 1 Use a text editor to open the application.properties file from the path BMC_PORTAL_KIT_HOME\tools\jboss\server\all\conf\properties\smsIwc\application.proper ties.

2 Edit the application.properties file to add or remove property types associated with com.bmc.sms.iwc.component.properties.generalProperties.properties.

3 Save the application.properties file. WARNING Save as type All Files to preserve the .properties suffix. Do not save as a .txt (text) file, because the configuration changes may not be recognized.

4 Restart the BMC Impact Portal.

Setting the status determination method for a component instance The status determination method is how the status of an object is calculated: from itself, from its provider, or from the higher of the two (itself or its provider). The following status determination methods are available: ■

Manual Status: The status of the object is fixed manually. You must enter a note that explains why the status was changed.

If an object is in maintenance, you can choose Manual status to set the status that the object displays while in maintenance, and you can choose to display the text "In Maintenance" during the maintenance period. ■

Calculated Status: The status of the object is determined by the highest status,

whether the status originates from the object itself or the object's provider.

To set the status determination method from the Configure tab 1 From the navigation tree, select the component that you want to change. 2 Click the Configure tab. The Status determination method section of the displayed page shows the current method that is used to determine the component’s status.

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Adding and editing comments about a component instance

3 Click Edit method. 4 Select the status determination method. 5 If you choose Manual Status, enter a note explaining why the status has been changed.

6 (optional) If you choose Manual Status because the object is in maintenance, you can select the Show "In Maintenance" check box to provide the text "In Maintenance" on the Status and Properties views.

7 Click Save. TIP You can also set the status determination method from the Summary subtab of the Status tab. To do so, click Set Status and then, in the Status determination method dialog box, select the method that you want to use. Continue with step 5 of “To set the status determination method from the Configure tab.”

Adding and editing comments about a component instance When you change the status of a component, you must enter a comment describing your actions. You cannot apply the status change unless you add a comment. This task describes how to add or edit comments for a component instance on the Summary subtab of the Status tab.

1 In the navigation tree on the Status tab, select a component instance. 2 Click the Summary subtab. 3 Click the Edit button. 4 Enter comments as needed and click the Save button.

Contacting the owner of a component instance You can send a message to the owner of a component instance if the owner supplied an e-mail address.

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Changing notification methods for BMC Desktop Status Indicators

To contact the owner of a component instance 1 In the navigation tree on the Status tab, select a component instance. 2 The name of the owner is displayed to the right of the Owner heading. If an e-mail address is available for the owner, a letter icon is displayed.

3 Click the letter icon to open a mail client with a message addressed to the component instance owner.

4 Write and send a message.

Changing notification methods for BMC Desktop Status Indicators For each BMC Desktop Status Indicator that you have permissions to modify, you can configure general and notification options. To open the Options dialog box, rightclick the BMC Desktop Status Indicator and choose Options.

NOTE If you change your BMC Impact Portal user name or password, you must change them in the BMC Desktop Status Indicator General Options dialog box.

General options Use the General Options to change the BMC Desktop Status Indicator user. Changing the user causes the desktop status indicators associated with that user to become active. Table 15

General options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator

General option

Description

BMC Impact Portal User name

name of the user with access to BMC Impact Portal and BMC Desktop Status Indicator The user name and password must be recognized by the BMC Impact Portal.

BMC Impact Portal Password

authentication of the BMC Impact Portal user The user name and password must be recognized by the BMC Impact Portal.

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Table 15

General options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator

General option

Description

Poll Interval

list of intervals from which you choose how often the BMC Desktop Status Indicator polls the BMC Impact Portal for status information

Autostart After Login

when selected, causes the BMC Desktop Status Indicator to start after login

Notification options Use Notification Options to customize the behavior of the BMC Desktop Status Indicator for each status, whether to allow separate confirmation windows to appear for each status, and what, if any, sounds you want to play with each status change. Note that you can change the notification option for every status at once by clicking the top check box in each column. Table 16

Notification options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator

Notification option

Description

Blink

When selected, this option causes the BMC Desktop Status Indicator to blink when the designated status is reached.

Sound

When selected, the sound specified in the Sounds To Use For Each Type of Alarm pane plays when the designated status is reached. For more information, see “Configuring alarm sounds.”.

Tray popup

When selected, an informational message similar to that which is displayed on a mouseover appears above the BMC Desktop Status Indicator icon when the designated status is reached.

Confirmation window

When selected, a confirmation window displays information when the designated status change occurs.

Configuring alarm sounds Although the BMC Desktop Status Indicator comes with default sounds, you can customize the sounds that play with each status change. Table 17 describes how you can configure the alarm sounds.

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Table 17

Configuration of alarm sounds for BMC Desktop Status Indicator

To

Do this

play the same sound for all status changes

Click the Copy Top Sound To All button. The sound file that is assigned to the top status (Critical) will be associated with all other statuses below.

turn sounds on or off for particular status changes

Select or clear the appropriate boxes in the Sound column under Notification Options

assign a prepackaged sound to a status

Choose a sound from the drop-down list. The prepackaged sound files include files ending with the word tone or voice. Voice tones are female voice recordings. The files are in .wav format. Bad_alerts.wav is a tone that can be used for all unfavorable statuses (such as Critical). Good_alerts.wav is a tone that can be used for all favorable statuses (such as OK).

assign your own sound to a status

Click the browse button on the appropriate status line and navigate to a sound file on your system. Click OK. The sound file is used when the monitored object enters the designated status. BMC Desktop Status Indicator supports .aiff, .au, .midi, and .wav sound formats.

hear the sound assigned to a status

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Click the speaker button next to the sound file that you want to hear.

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5

5

Using the SIEM Dashboard view This chapter presents the following topics: About the Service Impact and Event Management (SIEM) dashboard view . . . . . . Creating the SIEM dashboard view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing the SIEM dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copying the SIEM dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deleting the SIEM dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . User groups and permissions in the Dashboard view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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About the Service Impact and Event Management (SIEM) dashboard view

About the Service Impact and Event Management (SIEM) dashboard view When the Impact Manager cell that your important components reside on is a BMC IM cell, clicking the BMC IX Dashboard tab displays an SIEM dashboard. Similar to the Services tab, the Dashboard tab is not visible to service operators. The SIEM dashboard view is a consolidated view that enables service administrators and managers to easily monitor and detect problems in the most important services and prioritize actions. Using the various panes of the Dashboard view, you can quickly get the details about: ■ ■ ■ ■

■

important components—components that you want to monitor causal components—components that have impacted the monitored components event list—event details for the selected component service impact graph—displays the service components and their relationships for the selected important components component homepage—detailed information or troubleshooting tips about the selected component

Figure 19

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Location of panes and elements in the SIEM Dashboard view

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Table Table 18 on page 107 describes the elements in the Dashboard View. Table 18

Description of elements in the SIEM Dashboard View Name

Description

Dashboard group tab

provides access to the various components and panes in the Dashboard view

Important Components pane

Displays a list of the most important components that are relevant to the user

Causal components pane

Displays a list of the components that have impacted the selected important component

Events pane

Displays all the associated events or events that have impacted the selected causal component based on the administrator settings. By default, only the events that have an impact are displayed.

Homepage for the selected object

Displays an HTML page that is linked to the selected object. Administrators can configure and use this HTML page to provide troubleshooting information or procedure for fixing the impacted components

Dashboard list

Enables you to select a dashboard for monitoring related components and events

Edit Dashboards icon

Opens a dialog box to create, edit, copy, and delete dashboard views

Creating the SIEM dashboard view The Full Access and Service Administrator user roles can create a new dashboard in BMC IX. For default user groups and the operations that they can carry out in the Dashboard view, see Table 19 on page 114.

To create an SIEM dashboard 1 Click the

(Edit Dashboards) icon from the toolbar.

The Dashboard Views dialog box opens.

2 Click the

(New Dashboard) icon.

The New Dashboard dialog box opens.

3 Type a name for the dashboard in the Name of Dashboard View field. 4 Type a relevant description for the dashboard view that you want to create. Chapter 5

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5 To make the dashboard immediately available to the selected user roles after saving, select the Public check box. If you do not select the check box, the dashboard is saved in your dashboard views till you make it available to all relevant user roles by selecting Public.

6 Select the user groups that the dashboard should be available to from the list of user groups. You must select at least one user group to proceed. The default user groups are: — Admins — Full Access — Operators — Read Only — Service Administrators — Service Managers — Service Managers - Senior — Service Operators — Service Operators - Senior — Supervisors

NOTE ■

The default user groups are defined in the \conf\group_roles.xml file.

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One user group can contain multiple user roles. Each role, in turn, can have different permissions.

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The default permissions for each role are defined in the \conf\default_role_permissions.xml file. BMC strongly recommends that you do not modify this file, but add or modify the required permissions in the \conf\role_permissions.xml file.

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Users that belong to each user role are defined in the \conf\user_definitions.xml file. The user ID, user group, and encrypted password for that user are stored in this file. Full Access users and Service Administrators can add, delete, or modify user credentials such as user ID and user group using this file. After making changes to this file, you must restart the Administration server for the changes to take effect.

■

The Operators, Service Operators, and Service Operators - Senior group roles cannot view the Dashboard tab.

7 Click Next. 8 From the Impact Manager (cell) list, select the Impact Manager cell that contains the components that you want to monitor using the new dashboard.

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NOTE In the BMC IX Dashboard view, when the Full Access users log on for the first time, all the cells in the cell_info.list file are auto-connected. If you add any cells to this file while you have BMC IX running on your computer, you must manually add the cell name to the Selected Impact Managers list using the Edit Configuration dialog box.

This list contains only those BMC IM cells that you can select for the user groups that you specified earlier. To add permission for a user group to access a BMC IM cell that is not in the list, edit the \conf\cell_info.list file. A typical entry in the cell_info.list file has the following format: “user role1, user role2,....” ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

All fields are tab-separated. The first field must start with the word “cell”. Cell type can be appended after “cell”. The available cell types are: SIM, EM and Admin. The second field is the cell name. This name must match the definition in the mcell.dir file. The third field is the encryption key. The fourth field is the location of the cell, that is, the host name. If this cell has a failover cell, then it must be defined as the fifth field. Otherwise, the fifth field can be omitted. The environment can be either “Production” or “Test”. If the cell can be accessed by all users, use “*” to indicate all the user groups, otherwise, type the user group names separated by commas. If the user group name contains space, this field must be surrounded by double quotes.

For example: cell.IAC Admincell mc compname.company.com:1828 production “Full Access, Admins” Where: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

cell type—IAC (Impact Administration Cell) cell name—Admincell encryption key—mc host name—compname.company.com port number—1828 environment—production user groups that can see this cell—Full Access and Admins

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9 To specify how the important components and causal components panes will be displayed, use one of the following options: — To display the Important Components pane above the Causal Components pane, select Important Components Status. — To display the Causal Components pane above the Important Components pane, select Troublemakers (Causal components).

10 Click Next. 11 Select a Components Selection Method. Static list of components—Search components based on the criteria that you require and add the selected components to the Components to show in Top Pane list.

A To see the component names that contain a specified string, type a name or part of a name in the Name contains field.

B To see the components owned by a particular user, type the user name in the Owner name contains field.

C To see the components of a certain type, select a type from the Type of component list.

D To see the components with an impact cost above a certain limit, specify the cost limit per second in the Cost greater than/equal to field.

E To see the components belonging to a particular location, select the location type and then type the location name in the Location field.

F Click Find. The Results list displays all the components that match the specified criteria.

G Select required components and click Add. You can add multiple components using the Ctrl and Shift keys.

H Optionally, to remove a component, select it and click Delete. Dynamic Filter—Specify components using a dynamic filter which BMC IX will use

at runtime. The selected components pane will display components that match all the filter conditions. Because the dynamic filter is used at runtime, if component properties change, the selection of components will change too.

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A Under Available Filters, select the filter name, filter condition, and type or select a value to match.

NOTE BMC IX inserts an AND condition for different filter names that you select. For the same filter name, if you want to specify different values, it inserts an OR condition. For example: NAME contains EM OR NAME equates SIM AND Status equals Impacted OR Status equals Warning

B To preview the components that this filter will select, click Test Filters. C Check the components in the Test of Filters window and click Close. D Optionally, to remove a selected filter from the list, select it and click Delete. 12 Specify the content to be optionally displayed as follows: — Events Pane—select this check box to display the events pane on the dashboard. — Graph Pane—select this check box to display the Services Impact Graph pane on the dashboard. — Causal Component Homepage—select this check box to display the causal component homepage on the dashboard.

13 To make this a default dashboard for the selected user roles, select the Default Dashboard check box.

14 Click Save to save the new dashboard. If you are a Full Access or Service Administrator (Admin) user, and if you have created the dashboard yourself, you can see the dashboard once you refresh the BMC IX window. If a dashboard is created for your user role by the Admin users and is made public, you must log out of BMC IX and log on again to see the dashboard.

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Editing the SIEM dashboard

Editing the SIEM dashboard Only the Full Access and Service Administrator users can edit a dashboard in BMC IX. Rest of the users can only edit the dashboards that they have created.

To edit an SIEM dashboard 1 Select the dashboard for editing and click the

(Edit Dashboards) icon from the

toolbar. The Edit Dashboard dialog box opens.

2 Edit the following if required: — Name of the dashboard — Description of the dashboard — Public—whether the dashboard should be inserted in the users’ dashboard list once edited or not.

NOTE You cannot edit the following settings: ■

Groups that see the dashboard

■

Impact Manager (Cell)

■

Type of the dashboard (Important components/Causal components)

3 Change the Components Selection Method if required. For more information, see step 11 on page 110.

4 Click Save to save the changed dashboard settings.

Copying the SIEM dashboard Only the Full Access and Service Administrator users can copy and/or edit a dashboard for all user groups in BMC IX. Rest of the users can only copy and edit the dashboards that they have created.

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To copy an SIEM dashboard 1 Click the

(Edit Dashboards) icon from the toolbar.

The Dashboard Views dialog box opens.

2 Select the dashboard for copying and click the

(Copy Dashboard) icon from

the Dashboard Views toolbar.

3 The dashboard details open in a new window titled Copy of . You can rename the dashboard as is, or edit it.

4 Edit the following if required: — Name of the dashboard — Description of the dashboard — Public—whether the dashboard should be inserted in the users’ dashboard list once edited or not.

NOTE You cannot edit the following settings: ■

Groups that see the dashboard

■

Impact Manager (Cell)

■

Type of the dashboard (Important components/Causal components)

5 Change the Components Selection Method if required. For more information, see step 11 on page 110.

6 Click Save to save the changed dashboard settings.

Deleting the SIEM dashboard Only the Full Access and Service Administrator users can delete a dashboard for all user groups in BMC IX. Rest of the users can only delete the dashboards that they have created.

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User groups and permissions in the Dashboard view

To delete an SIEM dashboard 1 Click the

(Edit Dashboards) icon from the toolbar.

The Dashboard Views dialog box opens.

2 Select the dashboard for deletion and click the

(Delete Dashboard) icon from

the Dashboard Views toolbar. BMC IX displays the following message: Are you sure you want to delete the selected Dashboard(s)?

3 Click Delete. The dashboard is no longer displayed in the list of dashboards in the Dashboard Views dialog box.

User groups and permissions in the Dashboard view Permissions to access, view, add, edit, and delete dashboards depend on your user group. The following table details the default user groups and permissions that each user group has. Table 19

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User groups and Dashboard permissions

User group

Permissions

Admins

View and edit permissions for all public dashboards as well as own dashboards

Full Access

View and edit permissions for all public dashboards as well as own dashboards

Operators

Cannot see the Dashboard tab

Read Only

View- only permissions for all public dashboards

Service Administrators

View and edit permissions for all public dashboards as well as own dashboards

Service Managers

View- only permissions for all public dashboards

Service Managers - Senior

View- only permissions for all public dashboards

Service Operators

Cannot view the Dashboard tab

Service Operators - Senior

Cannot view the Dashboard tab

Supervisors

View- only permissions for all public dashboards

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User groups and permissions in the Dashboard view

NOTE ■

The default user groups are defined in the \conf\group_roles.xml file.

■

One user group can contain multiple user roles. Each role, in turn, can have different permissions.

■

The default permissions for each role are defined in the \conf\default_role_permissions.xml file. BMC strongly recommends that you do not modify this file, but add or modify the required permissions in the \conf\role_permissions.xml file.

■

Users that belong to each user role are defined in the \conf\user_definitions.xml file. The user ID, user role, and encrypted password for that user are stored in this file. Full Access users and Service Administrators can add, delete, or modify user credentials such as user ID and user group using this file.

■

The Dashboard tab is not visible to the Service Operators and Service Operators - Senior group roles.

Chapter 5

Using the SIEM Dashboard view

115

User groups and permissions in the Dashboard view

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Appendix

A

A

Troubleshooting When BMC IX displays an informational message or an error message, for troubleshooting the message, refer to the relevant information in this appendix.

Error messages and possible causes This table provides information about the error and information codes, the possible causes, and resolutions, if any.

NOTE The informational message codes have a suffix I and the error message codes have a suffix E.

Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010001I

The Event Selection for Closure Events cannot be blank.

The Events to Close field is empty in the Closure Policy while you try to add or edit the closure policy.

BMC-BIX010010I

Remove any blank spaces from the name.

Remove blank spaces from the name.

BMC-BIX010011I

Remove any blank spaces from the name.

Remove blank spaces from the name.

BMC-BIX010012I

Empty names are not allowed.

The Policy Name field is empty while you try to add or edit the policy.

BMC-BIX010013I

Empty names are not allowed.

The Selector Name or Selector Group field is empty while you try to add or edit the selector.

BMC-BIX010014I

At least one Cause Event needs to be defined.

While adding or editing the Correlation Policy, not even a single Cause Event is enabled.

Appendix A

Troubleshooting

117

Error messages and possible causes

Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010015I

Cannot enable Causal Events in Cause Event {0} if the Event Criteria is blank.

While adding or editing the Correlation Policy, the Causal Events field is blank.

BMC-BIX010016I

Base Event Class selection cannot be empty.

Select a base event class.

BMC-BIX010017I

The specified Base Event Class was not found. Please specify or select an existing event class.

Select an existing event class.

BMC-BIX010018I

The maximum length of the name cannot exceed {0}.

Type a name shorter than the maximum allowed length.

BMC-BIX010019I

The maximum length of the name cannot exceed {0}.

Type a name shorter than the maximum allowed length.

BMC-BIX010020I

The maximum length of the Group cannot exceed {0}.

Type a group name shorter than the maximum allowed length.

BMC-BIX010021I

Replace the 'Event Selection Criteria' with Event Class {0} to match the Base Event Class {1}.

BMC-BIX010022I

The value of 'Number of Duplicate Events' has to be greater than 0.

BMC-BIX010023I

When 'Number of Duplicate Events' is greater than 0, the timespan has to be greater than 0.

BMC-BIX010024I

Select at least one Notifica- Select at least one notification service tion Service. from the list.

BMC-BIX010025I

Add at least one user to 'Users to Notify', otherwise policy will not be updated.

Add at least one user.

BMC-BIX010026I

Select at least one check box.

Select at least one check box.

BMC-BIX010027I

This is a duplicate entry.

This is a duplicate entry

BMC-BIX010031I

Dynamic Collector with no name found... named it [Unknown].

BMC-BIX010032I

Please limit your event selection number to {0}.

Close some event lists.

BMC-BIX010033I

You have exceeded the maximum allowed number of open event lists. Maximum={0}

.

BMC-BIX010034I

Invalid class {0} supplied to editor Cancelling {1} Operation

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Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010035I

Invalid cell {0} specified to editor Cancelling {1} Operation

BMC-BIX010036I

The criteria contains these slots: {0} that are not present in {1}. You must manually remove these references in order to change to this class.

BMC-BIX010037I

Error reading criteria {0} Cancelling Edit Operation

BMC-BIX010038I

Error parsing criteria {0} Cancelling Edit Operation

BMC-BIX010039I

Unexpected NOT in{0} Cancelling Edit Operation

BMC-BIX010040I

Unbalanced parentheses in {0} Cancelling Edit Operation

BMC-BIX010041I

Invalid logical operator in {0} Cancelling Edit Operation

BMC-BIX010042I

Invalid conditional operator in {0} Cancelling Edit Operation

BMC-BIX010043I

Bad response from Event Help URL, trying backup...

The web server where the Help is stored or the backup URL points to is not responding properly. Check if the web server response is proper for other http URLs.

BMC-BIX010044I

Unable to connect to Event Help URL, trying backup...

Check if the web server is down and if you have proper connection authorization.

BMC-BIX010045I

Event Help URL is malformed, trying backup...

Either no legal protocol could be found in a specification string or the string could not be parsed.

BMC-BIX010046I

Could not connect to Backup Event Help URL, unable to launch help.

Check if the web server is down and if you have proper connection authorization for the backup URL.

BMC-BIX010047I

Backup Event Help URL is mal- Either no legal protocol could be found formed, unable to launch in a specification string or the string help. could not be parsed.

BMC-BIX010048I

Invalid Help URL:

Appendix A

Troubleshooting

119

Error messages and possible causes

Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010049I

Unable to launch browser:

Check if the browser launch executable file is available and the path is set properly for it. Default path in BMC IX for the default browser is C:/Program Files/Internet Explorer/IEXPLORE.EXE

BMC-BIX010051I

Action Ping cannot be executed against event .

Action failed. Please check the errors. (In the Local Action Results window Errors tab)

BMC-BIX010052I

No action trace defined for impact manager .

No action by the name is defined in etc/event_op/mc_actions.xml for the BMC Impact Manager.

BMC-BIX010053I

Action Ping cannot be executed against data mc_udid123.

Action failed. Please check the errors. (In the Local Action Results window Errors tab)

BMC-BIX010054I

Errors for the actions performed are Errors written to C:\Progra~1\BMCSOF~1\Impact\s written to the errors.txt file erver\tmp\\result.1.err

BMC-BIX010055I

Output written to C:\Progra~1\BMCSOF~1\Impact\s erver\tmp\\result.1.out

Output of the actions performed, say Local Action execution environment, is written to result.1.out file at the path displayed.

BMC-BIX010056I

Action Modify Slot value against event mc..1 executed.

The given action is successfully executed for the event identified by the displayed event ID.

BMC-BIX010057I

The executable for the Local Action was Action Ping EVENT mc_host_address against event not found. Please check the path. .1 Could not launch action C:\Progra~1\BMCSOF~1\Impact\s erver\etc\\kb\bin\w4\mc_ping.cmd

BMC-BIX010058I

Error in parsing Local Actions. Please check local action file.

Error while parsing the Local Action. Check in the etc/event_op/LocalActions.xml file.

BMC-BIX010059I

Unable to load actions. Buttons will not be available.

BMC IX was unable to load saved state of hot buttons from persistent storage.

BMC-BIX010060I

Toolbar action button not available! Cannot find action Ping EVENT.

BMC-BIX010071I

Help/Contents unavailable for this session. URL is invalid:

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Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010072I

Help/Contents unavailable for this session. File type is unrecognized:

BMC-BIX010073I

Unable to launch web browser: Unable to launch web browser

BMC-BIX010074I

Unable to launch WebHelp, no web browser specified in Help Configuration.

BMC-BIX010075I

I/O error when creating file

BMC-BIX010076I

AM

BMC-BIX010077I

PM

BMC-BIX010078I

Event List frozen [{0} {1}]] - primary server for cell is down.

The primary cell of the failover server pair is down and the data/events are coming to the secondary server which is in standby mode. Either activate the secondary server or repair and start the primary server to get rid of this message.

BMC-BIX010079I

You have exceeded the limit of {0} open Event Groups.

If more than 10 [default] event group view windows are open, BMC IX displays this message. Keep total opened event group view windows less than 10.

BMC-BIX010080I

Unable to open Event Group; check the Login server connection.

BMC-BIX010081I

frozen [{0}]

BMC-BIX010082I

Duplicate Name:

BMC-BIX010083I

You do not have default.filters.xml file.

BMC-BIX010084I

You do not have default.eventview.xml file.

BMC-BIX010085I

You can only drop a SlotOrder over a filter.

BMC-BIX010086I

The destination is the same as the source.

BMC-BIX010087I

You can not have 2 duplicate slot orders for one filter.

BMC-BIX010088I

You can not drop a slot order over a filter group.

BMC-BIX010089I

You do not have sufficient role to take the action.

Specify a web browser in the Help configuration.

Filter name that you are creating for the Event columns in the Event list is duplicated.

Appendix A

Troubleshooting

121

Error messages and possible causes

Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010090I

Only a global SlotOrder can be added to a global filter.

BMC-BIX010091I

The name can not be empty.

BMC-BIX010092I

This character is illegal for XML format.

BMC-BIX010093I

Please type in an event class name or use the class browser to select one.

BMC-BIX010094I

Exception in EventViewEditor:

BMC-BIX010095I

Exception in SlotOrderEditor:

BMC-BIX010096I

Exception in FilterEditor:

BMC-BIX010097I

Error in retrieving data from event view property file.

BMC-BIX010098I

Fail to parse xml data for user.

BMC-BIX010099I

File can not be found:

BMC-BIX010105E

I/O error on export file: {0}.

While creating XML format events export file, I/O error occurred. Check the file path specified for saving this XML file.

BMC-BIX010106E

Export file not found or I/O error on export file: {0}.

File not found or I/O error occurred while exporting a CSV or Baroc format file.

BMC-BIX010107E

Provider parse error, please check extdetails.xml file.

The extdetails.xml file is incorrect.

BMC-BIX010108I

No write permission for event: {0}.

If the event’s owner or the collector does not have write permissions, BMC IX displays this error.

BMC-BIX010109E

Error in retrieving global.extdetails.xml: {0}.

extdetails.xml file not found. The file is located at Installation_Folder\server\data\extdeta ils

BMC-BIX010110E

Error in retrieving global.extdetails.xml.

extdetails.xml file not found. The file is located at Installation_Folder\server\data\extde tails

BMC-BIX010111I

Current Access Control List allows read-only access.

Not editable due to read-only access permission.

BMC-BIX010114I

No manager selected

No BMC Impact selected for adding to the Impact Manager list.

BMC-BIX010117I

Cannot add Impact Manager {0} to the selected managers.

If a new node is not able to be added in the cell tree, BMC IX displays this message.

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Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX

Possible cause and resolution

BMC-BIX010118I

No group name entered.

While adding a cell group, if you do not type a group name, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010119I

Group {0} does not exist.

While editing or deleting the requested cell group from the selected cell tree, if the group does not exist, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010120I

Group {0} already exists.

While adding the requested cell group to the selected cell tree, if the group exists, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010121I

Group {0} added.

When the cell group addition is successful, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010122I

Group {0} removed.

When the cell group deletion is successful, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010123I

Group {0} changed to {1}.

When the cell group renaming is successful, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010124I

Selection cannot include backup manager.

While changing the order of cells within a cell group, if the selected group is a backup manager, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010131I

The current user does not have read access to the Business folder to load the Global Services part of the navigation tree.

If the user role does not have the permission to read the global navigation tree file from BMC IAS while BMC IX starts, BMC IX displays this message.

BMC-BIX010132I

Error retrieving global {0}. {1}

Check that the global.smcnav.xml file in BMC IAS or in the BMC Portal has a proper XML format and that tags are missing.

BMC-BIX010133I

Error retrieving user {0}. {1}

Check that your personal smcnav.xml file in BMC IAS or in the BMC Portal has a proper XML format and that tags are missing.

BMC-BIX010134I

Do you really want to remove this Service Link?

BMC-BIX010135I

Do you really want to remove this Group?

BMC-BIX010136I

You have exceeded the maximum If more than 10 [default] event group allowed number of open serview windows are open, BMC IX vice views. Maximum={0} views displays this message. Keep total opened event group view windows less than 10.

Appendix A

Troubleshooting

123

Error messages and possible causes

Table 20

Error messages and possible cause

Error or Information code Message displayed in BMC IX BMC-BIX010137I

Service view only supports cause and impact mode!

BMC-BIX010138E

SMO mc_udid {0} could not be retrieved from cell {1}

BMC-BIX010139E

Error in open service view! mc_udid or cell name is not available.

BMC-BIX010140I

Service Component with id {1} from cell {0} is not available.

BMC-BIX010171I

does not exist. It will be removed from the event view(s)

BMC-BIX010172I

{0} does not exists for {1} and the event view is removed.

BMC-BIX010174I

Cannot launch ix...

BMC-BIX010175I

Could not talk to service

BMC-BIX010176I

Remote server is not enabled.

BMC-BIX010177I

Remote server disabled

BMC-BIX010178I

Socket contended, will try again.

BMC-BIX010179I

Error connecting to remote server.

BMC-BIX010180I

Connection Error

BMC-BIX010181I

Failed to start

BMC-BIX010182I

You do not have permissions to access collector {0}: {1}

BMC-BIX010183I

No Change Possible - primary server for cell is down.

BMC-BIX010184I

error in request

BMC-BIX010185I

Data addition failed.

BMC-BIX010186I

No read permission for event:

BMC-BIX010187I

Event will not be printed.

BMC-BIX010188I

Event will not be exported.

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Possible cause and resolution

Primary server is down.

Troubleshooting configuration-related problems

Troubleshooting configuration-related problems Setting the environment variable on a Linux computer for running the telnet command on BMC IX launched through BMC Impact Portal Problem description When you launch BMC Impact Explorer through Webstart on a Linux system from BMC Impact Portal and try to run the telnet command as a local action, BMC IX does not run the telnet command. In this scenario, the BMC Impact Portal is installed on a Solaris or Windows computer and launched on a Linux computer using Webstart.

Resolution For the telnet command to work, you must set the environment display variable in the /etc/profile file on the Linux operating system where BMC Impact Portal is launched. This file is not installed by BMC IX or BMC Impact Portal. Use the setenv command depending on the console used. For example, for an XManager console, use setenv DISPLAY systemname

where systemname is the name of the Linux computer.

NOTE When you do not want to perform any local actions on the BMC IX console, comment out the setenv command.

Appendix A

Troubleshooting

125

Troubleshooting configuration-related problems

126

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Appendix

B

B

Service model component types Table 21 lists the component types, the superclass of the component, the icon that represents the component in BMC Impact Service Model Editor and in the consoles, and the class of the component as defined in the data model. These classes are derived from the class BMC_BaseElement. For complete information about service model components, see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration.

Table 21

Service model component types (part 1 of 6)

Component superclass

Icon

Component type

Logical Entity

Component class BMC_LogicalEntity

Activity

BMC_Activity

Activity Decision

BMC_Activity ActivityType=ActivityDecision

Activity End

BMC_Activity ActivityType=ActivityEnd

Activity Interaction

BMC_Activity ActivityType=ActivityInteraction

Activity Manual

BMC_Activity ActivityType=ActivityManual

Activity Start

BMC_Activity ActivityType=ActivityStart

Business Process

BMC_BusinessProcess

Business Service

BMC_BusinessService

Database

BMC_DataBase

Appendix B

Service model component types

127

Table 21

Service model component types (part 2 of 6)

Component superclass

Icon

Component type

Collection

BMC_Collection User Community

BMC_UserCommunity

Connectivity Collection

BMC_ConnectivityCollection

IP Connectivity Subnet

BMC_IPConnectivitySubnet

IPX Connectivity Network

BMC_IPXConnectivityNetwork

BMC_LNsCollection

BMC_LNsCollection

LAN Network

BMC_LAN

WAN Network

BMC_WAN

Organization

BMC_Organization

System

BMC_System




128

Component class

Access Server

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Access Server

Application

BMC_Application

Application Infrastructure

BMC_ApplicationInfrastructure

Application System

BMC_ApplicationSystem

Cluster

BMC_Cluster

Communication Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=Communication Server

Computer System

BMC_ComputerSystem

Configuration Management Agent

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=ConfigMgmtAgent

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Table 21 Component superclass

Service model component types (part 3 of 6) Icon

Component type

System

Component class BMC_System




Database Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=DataBaseServer

DNS Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=DNSServer

File Server

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=File Server

Firewall

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Firewall

FTP Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=FTPServer

Gateway

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Gateway

Hub

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Hub

Input/Output Device

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability

JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks)

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=JBOD

Layer 3 Switch

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Layer 3 Switch

LDAP Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=LDAPServer

Load Balancer

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=LoadBalancer

Mail Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=MailServer

Mainframe

BMC_Mainframe

Message Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=MessageServer

Mobile User Device (a handheld personal data assistant (PDA))

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Mobile User Device

Appendix B

Service model component types

129

Table 21

Service model component types (part 4 of 6)

Component superclass

Icon

Component type

System

BMC_System




130

Component class

Monitor

BMC_Monitor

Print Server

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Print

Print Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=PrintServer

RAID Storage Device

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=RAIDStorageDevice

Resource Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=ResourceServer

Router

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Router

SAN Bridge

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=SANBridge

SAN Director

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=SANDirector

SAN Hub

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=SANHub

SAN Router

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=SANRouter

SAN Switch

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=SANSwitch

Security Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=SecurityServer

Server

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Server

Software Server

BMC_SoftwareServer

Storage

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Storage

Switch

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Switch

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Table 21

Service model component types (part 5 of 6)

Component superclass

Icon

Component type

System

Component class BMC_System

Tape Library

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=TapeLibrary

Telnet Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=TelnetServer

UDDI Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=UDDIServer

Virtual System

BMC_VirtualSystem

Web Cache

BMC_ComputerSystem PrimaryCapability=Web Caching

Web Server

BMC_SoftwareServer SoftwareServerType=WebServer

System Service

BMC_SystemService Application Service

System Component

BMC_ApplicationService

BMC_SystemComponent Hardware System Component BMC_HardwareSystemComponent

Media

BMC_Media

CD ROM Drive

BMC_CDROMDrive

Disk Drive

BMC_DiskDrive

Floppy Drive

BMC_FloppyDrive

Tape Drive

BMC_TapeDrive

Uninterruptible Power Supply BMC_UPS (UPS)

Appendix B

Service model component types

131

Table 21

Service model component types (part 6 of 6)

Component superclass

Icon

Component type

System Component

132

Component class BMC_SystemComponent

Logical System Component

BMC_LogicalSystemComponent

File System

BMC_FileSystem

Database Storage

BMC_DataBaseStorage

Local File System

BMC_LocalFileSystem

Remote File System

BMC_RemoteFileSystem

Disk Partition

BMC_DiskPartition

Software

BMC_Software

System Software

BMC_SystemSoftware

Operating System

BMC_OperatingSystem

Virtual System Enabler

BMC_VirtualSystemEnabler

VMware

BMC_VMWare

System Resource

BMC_SystemResource

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Appendix

C

User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view C

This appendix provides information about the various user groups are the configured by Administrators, the operations that those user groups can perform on components, and how the origin of the component affects which operations can be performed. User groups and possible operations in BMC IX Services View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

NOTE For detailed information about the user groups, permissions, and possible operations, see the BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration guide

Appendix C

User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view

133

User groups and possible operations in BMC IX Services View

User groups and possible operations in BMC IX Services View Table 22 provides information about the various user groups and the operations that they can perform in the BMC IX console.

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User groups and possible operations in BMC IX Services View

Table 22

User groups and permissions for the Services view

User group Full Access

Possible component operations ■

Creating, editing, and deleting components

■

Creating, editing, and deleting relationships

■

Viewing Events, viewing Service Impact Graph, Refresh

■

Adding components to My Services and Global Services

Note: Even when you do not type Full Access in the Read Users and Write Users fields of the Create Service Component dialog box, Full Access users can view any components from all the cells even when those components are created by another user or role. For information about how the origin of the component or relationship affects the possible operations, see “Table 23Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX” on page 138. Service Administrators

When the Service Administrator users (Servadm) are given both read and write permissions for components (both the components of a relationship), they can perform the following operations: ■

Creating, editing, and deleting components

■

Creating, editing, and deleting relationships

■

Viewing Events, viewing Service Impact Graph, Refresh

■

Adding components to My Services and Global Services

If the Service Administrator users are given only read permissions for a component, they can perform the following operations: ■

Creating components

■

Viewing Events, Viewing Service Impact Graph, Refresh

If the Service Administrators are not given read access, they cannot view any components. Only if a component is created by Service Administrator users without typing anything in the Read Users or Write Users fields, Service Administrators automatically have a read-write access to it. For information about how the origin of the component or relationship affects the possible operations, see “Table 23Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX” on page 138.

Appendix C

User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view

135

User groups and possible operations in BMC IX Services View

Table 22

User groups and permissions for the Services view

User group

Possible component operations

Service Manager - Senior

When the Service Manager - Senior users are given both read and write permissions for components (both the components of a relationship), they can perform the following operations: ■

Creating, editing, and deleting components

■

Creating, editing, and deleting relationships

■

Viewing Events, Viewing Service Impact Graph, Refresh

■

Adding components to My Services and Global Services

If the Service Manager - Senior users are given only read permissions for a component, they can perform the following operations: ■

Creating components

■

Viewing Events, Viewing Service Impact Graph, Refresh

If the Service Manager - Senior users are not given read access, they cannot view any components. Only if a component is created by the Service Manager - Senior users without typing anything in the Read Users or Write Users fields, they automatically have a read-write access to it. For information about how the origin of the component or relationship affects the possible operations, see “Table 23Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX” on page 138. Service Manager

■

Viewing Events, Viewing Service Impact Graph, Refresh

■

Adding components to My Services

■

Editing a component only when write access is given for the component

■

Editing or removing a relationship only when write access is given for both the components of a relationship

For information about how the origin of the component or relationship affects the possible operations, see “Table 23Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX” on page 138. Service Operators - Senior Cannot see the Services tab, and hence no operations possible in the Services view Service Operators

Cannot see the Services tab, and hence no operations possible in the Services view

Read-only

These users have only read permissions on those components that are added in the Global Services in the navigation tree. If read-write access is given for certain components, they can perform operations such as View Service Impact Graph, View Events, Refresh, and so on, but not edit or delete operations.

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Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view

NOTE ■

No operations are possible for the Impact Administration cell components from the Services view.

■

You can add Impact Administration components to the My Services or Global Services navigation tree nodes if you have the necessary permissions for those components.

■

For a published component, the component icon displays a lock over it.

■

While creating a component from BMC IX: — if you do not enter any value in the Read Users and Writer Users fields of the component properties, by default these fields are populated with a value Full Access when you save the properties. — if you enter a value, say Read Only, in the Read Users and Writer Users fields of the component properties and then save the component properties, the values that get populated for both the fields are [Full Access, Read Only]. — if you type a value Read Only in the Write Users field of the component, by default the Read Users field also gets populated with the value Read Only. Whenever you give write permissions for a particular user group, read permissions are automatically granted to that user group.

For more information see BMC Impact Solutions Infrastructure Administration.

Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view Table 23 details different scenarios for editing the service model in BMC IX. You can use this table to understand which operations are possible for components and relationships that are posted or published as follows: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Component published from CMDB Atrium Relationship published from CMDB Atrium Component posted through pposter Relationship posted through pposter Component posted through mposter Relationship posted through mposter Component created through MRL rule Relationship created through MRL rule Component created in BMX IX by a user Relationship created from BMX IX by a user

Appendix C

User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view

137

Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view

Table 23

Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX

Origin of data Component published from AtriumCMDB (with a Write access)

Information displayed in the General subtab of BMC IX Expected result Master Repository = Atrium CMDB

Even if users belong to a group that has write permissions for the component, they cannot modify or delete the component.

Editable Here = No Relationship published from AtriumCMDB

Editable Here = No

Even if users belong to a group that has write permissions for the both the relationship components (provider and consumer) they cannot modify or delete the relationship.

Component published via pposter (with a Write access)

Master Repository = Other

Even if users belong to a group that has write permissions for the component, they cannot modify or delete the component.

Editable Here = No Relationship published via pposter

Editable Here = No

Even if users belongs to a group that has write permissions for the both the relationship components (provider and consumer), they cannot modify or delete the relationship.

Component posted via mposter (with a Write access)

Master Repository = Cell -

Only if users belong to a group that has write permissions for the component, they can modify or delete the component.

Editable Here = Yes Relationship posted via mposter (connects two components with a Write access)

Editable Here = Yes

Only if users belong to a group that has write permissions for the both the relationship components (provider and consumer), they can modify or delete the relationship.

Component created via MRL rule (with a Write access)

Master Repository = Cell -

Only if users belong to a group that has write permissions for the component, they can modify or delete the component.

Editable Here = Yes Relationship created via MRL rule (connects two components with a Write access)

Editable Here = Yes

Only if users belong to a group that has write permissions for both the relationship components (provider and consumer), they can modify or delete the relationship.

Component created by IX user A (with a Write access)

Master Repository = Cell -

Only if user B belongs to a group that has write permissions for the component, he or she can modify or delete the component.

Editable Here = Yes Relationship created by IX user A (connects two components with a Write access)

138

Editable Here = Yes

Only if user B belongs to a group that has write permissions for both ends of relationship (provider + consumer), he or she can modify or delete the relationship.

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view

Table 23

Permissions for editing the Service Model data in BMC IX

Origin of data Component created by an IX user (with component alias already used by the published component)

Information displayed in the General subtab of BMC IX Expected result Master Repository = Cell -

Users cannot create the component.

Editable Here = Yes

Master Repository = Component created by an Cell - IX user (with component alias already used by the non-published component) Editable Here = Yes

Appendix C

Users cannot create the component.

User groups and permissions in BMC IX Services view

139

Origin of data and possible operations in BMC IX Services view

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BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Index A Access Server component type 128 Activity component type 127 Activity Decision component type 127 Activity End component type 127 Activity Interaction component type 127 Activity Manual component type 127 Activity Start component type 127 adding comments to a service component 100 content to dashboards 81 custom image view to dashboards 83 Advanced subtab 32 alarm sounds configuring for BMC Desktop Status Indicator 103 file types supported 103 alias formulas conditional operators 67 functions in 68 analyzing business service failures 37 Application component type 128 Application Infrastructure component type 128 Application Service component type 131 Application System component type 128 application.properties configuration file 76, 97 assigning events to an individual 47 Autostart After Login general option 102

B Bad_alerts.wav file 103 Blackout status described 15 indicator 17 Blink notification option 102 BMC Desktop Status Indicator alarm sounds configuration 103 described 96 General options 101 notification methods, changing 101 Notification options 102 BMC Impact Explorer Impact/Cause View, illustrated 18 searching for root cause 38

using to monitor business services 27 BMC Impact Portal configuring general properties 99 Providers subtab illustrated 19 BMC Impact Portal Password general option 101 BMC Impact Portal User name general option 101 BMC Software, contacting 2 BMC.CORE.CONFIG namespace 54 BMC_Activity component class 127 BMC_Application component class 128 BMC_ApplicationInfrastructure component class 128 BMC_ApplicationService component class 131 BMC_ApplicationSystem component class 128 BMC_BaseElement class 127 BMC_BusinessProcess component class 127 BMC_BusinessService component class 127 BMC_CDROMDrive component class 131 BMC_Cluster component class 128 BMC_ComputerSystem component class 128, 129, 130, 131 BMC_ConnectivityCollection component class 128 BMC_DataBase component class 127 BMC_DataBaseStorage component class 132 BMC_DiskDrive component class 131 BMC_DiskPartition component class 132 BMC_FederatedProduct class 54 BMC_FileSystem component class 132 BMC_FloppyDrive component class 131 BMC_HardwareSystemComponent component class 131 BMC_IPConnectivitySubnet component class 128 BMC_IPXConnectivityNetwork component class 128 BMC_LAN component class 128 BMC_LNsCollection component class 128 BMC_LNsCollection component type 128 BMC_LocalFileSystem component class 132 BMC_LogicalSystemComponent component class 132 BMC_Mainframe component class 129 BMC_Media component class 131 BMC_Monitor component class 130 BMC_OperatingSystem component class 132 BMC_Organization component class 128 BMC_RemoteFileSystem component class 132 BMC_Software component class 132 BMC_SoftwareServer component class 128, 129, 130, 131 BMC_SystemResource component class 132 BMC_SystemSoftware component class 132 BMC_TapeDrive component class 131

Index

141

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z BMC_UPS component class 131 BMC_UserCommunity component class 128 BMC_VirtualSystem component class 131 BMC_VirtualSystemEnabler component class 132 BMC_VMWare component class 132 BMC_WAN component class 128 business dashboards See also dashboards described 76 Business Process component type 127 Business Service component type 127 business services identifying root cause of failure 37 monitoring in BMC Impact Explorer 27 updating status 38

C calculated status, described 99 causal component dashboards 77 default 78 viewing default 78 causal components adding table content 88 described 77 searching for 35 Causal Components subtab 93 CD ROM Drive component type 131 changing images views 74 notification methods 101 closing events 47 Cluster component type 128 CMDB product registration 54 collectors defaults for service impact management 33 colors for service components status 15 comments, adding to service component 100 Communication Server component type 128 component classes BMC_Activity 127 BMC_Application 128 BMC_ApplicationInfrastructure 128 BMC_ApplicationService 131 BMC_ApplicationSystem 128 BMC_BMCComputerSystem 128, 129, 130, 131 BMC_BusinessProcess 127 BMC_BusinessService 127 BMC_CDROMDrive 131 BMC_Cluster 128 BMC_ComputerSystem 128, 129, 130, 131 BMC_ConnectivityCollection 128 BMC_DataBase 127 BMC_DataBaseStorage 132

142

BMC_DiskDrive 131 BMC_DiskPartition 132 BMC_FileSystem 132 BMC_FloppyDrive 131 BMC_HardwareSystemComponent 131 BMC_IPConnectivitySubnet 128 BMC_IPXConnectivityNetwork 128 BMC_LAN 128 BMC_LNsCollection 128 BMC_LocalFileSystem 132 BMC_LogicalSystemComponent 132 BMC_Mainframe 129 BMC_Media 131 BMC_Monitor 130 BMC_OperatingSystem 132 BMC_Organization 128 BMC_RemoteFileSystem 132 BMC_SoftwareServer 128, 129, 130, 131 BMC_Sofware 132 BMC_SystemResource 132 BMC_SystemSoftware 132 BMC_TapeDrive 131 BMC_UPS 131 BMC_UserCommunity 128 BMC_VirtualSystem 131 BMC_VirtualSystemEnabler 132 BMC_VMWare 132 BMC_WAN 128 component types Access Server 128 Activity 127 Activity Decision 127 Activity End 127 Activity Interaction 127 Activity Manual 127 Activity Start 127 Application 128 Application Infrastructure 128 Application Service 131 Application System 128 BMC_LNsCollection 128 Business Process 127 Business Service 127 CD ROM Drive 131 Cluster 128 Communication Server 128 Computer System 128 Configuration Management Agent 128 Connectivity Collection 128 Database 127 Database Server 129 Database Storage 132 Disk Drive 131 Disk Partition 132 DNS Server 129 File Server 129 File System 132

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Firewall 129 Floppy Drive 131 FTP Server 129 Gateway 129 Hardware System Component 131 Hub 129 Input/Output Device 129 IP Connectivity Network 128 IP Connectivity Subnet 128 JBOD 129 LAN Network 128 Layer 3 Switch 129 LDAP Server 129 Load Balancer 129 Local File System 132 Logical System Component 132 Mail Server 129 Mainframe 129 Media 131 Message Server 129 Mobile User Device 129 Monitor 130 Operating System 132 Organization 128 Print Server 130 RAID Storage Device 130 Remote File System 132 Resource Server 130 Router 130 SAN Bridge 130 SAN Director 130 SAN Hub 130 SAN Router 130 SAN Switch 130 Security Server 130 Server 130 Software 132 Software Server 130 Storage 130 Switch 130 System Resource 132 System Software 132 Tape Drive 131 Tape Library 131 Telnet Server 131 UDDI Server 131 Uninteruptible Power Supply (UPS) 131 User Community 128 viewing impacted components by 95 Virtual System 131 Virtual System Enabler 132 VMware 132 WAN Network 128 Web Cache 131 Web Server 131 Computer System component type 128 computing

service component priority 21 service component status 16 conditional operators in alias formulas 67 Configuration Management Agent component type 128 Configure tab contents 98 configuring alarm sounds for BMC Desktop Status Indicator 103 component instance properties 97 general properties for BMC Impact Porta 99 status table 95 Confirmation window notification option 102 Connectivity Collection component type 128 consoles cross-launching 54 consumer components adding to dashboard status table 85 Consumers subtab 74 defined 17 searching for 36 status propagation 20 viewing status 95 Consumers subtab 74 contacting service component owner 100 Copy Top Sound To All button 103 costs viewing 96 cross-launching to other consoles 54 customer support 3

D Dashboard view about SIEM dashboard 106 copying SIEM dashboard 112 creating SIEM dashboard 107 deleting SIEM dashboard 113 editing SIEM dashboard 112 user groups and permissions 114 dashboards adding causal components 88 adding content 81 adding custom image views 83 adding dynamic collections of objects 87 adding existing image views 82 adding object and consumer status table content 85 adding object and provider status table content 85 adding object groups 86 adding reports 81 adding sections 79 adding status table 84 adding status tables 84 adding web pages 81 component searching 80 creating and editing 79

Index

143

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z described 76 editing 81 for causal components 77 report sections 76 reports, adding 81 searching for service components to add 80 static collections of objects, adding 86 viewing 77 Database component type 127 Database Server component type 129 Database Storage component type 132 deleting event alias associations 69 determining component impact type 95 component status 16 Disk Drive component type 131 Disk Partition component type 132 displaying events 76 DNS Server component type 129 During Schedule described 15 self priority 21 dynamic collection of objects, adding to dashboards 87 dynamic prioritization, described 21

E editing comments associated with a service component 100 dashboards 79, 81 event alias associations 69 images views 75 e-mail address for service component owner 100 event alias associations deleting 69 editing 69 event severity viewing 76 event state area Causal Component subtab 93 This Component subtab 92 event status filters Causal Component subtab 93 This Component subtab 92 events as a determiner of component status 16 assigning to an individual 47 associated with a component 32 associated with a service component 92 associated with service component indicator 32 closing 47 configuring number displayed in Events tab 76 Events tab 75 resolving problem 46 viewing impact or history 36, 37

144

viewing severity and priority 76 Events tab described 75 layout 75 events table Causal Component subtab 93 columns 92 contents 92 Exceptions Within During Schedule self priority 21

F failures analyzing 37 cost, viewing 96 resolving 46 searching for root cause 38 File Server component type 129 File System component type 132 filtering service component instances by status 34 Find Service Components box 30 finding service components to view 30 Firewall component type 129 Floppy Drive component type 131 FTP Server component type 129 functions in alias formulas 68

G Gateway component type 129 General options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator 101 General subtab 31 Global Services group 30 Good_alerts.wav file 103 Group Members subtab 74

H Hardware System Component component type 131 history events, viewing 36, 37 Hub component type 129

I icons for service component 14 for service component priority 20 for service component status 17 Refresh 52 SLA 22

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z SLM 22 Image subtab 74 image views adding custom images to dashboards 83 adding to dashboards 82 changing 74 editing 75 for folder or group 74 for provider components, viewing 94 for service components 74 in dashboards 76 impact events, viewing 36, 37 impact relationships as a determiner of status 16 described 17 line style 18 status propagation 20 Impact/Cause View filtering service components by status 34 illustrated 18, 27 locating events affecting component status 32 opening 28 impacted components searching for 35 viewing by type 95 Impacted status described 15 indicator 17 impacts priority described 21 In Impact Manager list box 30 indicators for events associated with a service component 32 for service component status 14, 17 illustrated 14 Info status described 15 indicator 17 Input/Output Device component type 129 IP Connectivity Subnet component type 128 IPX Connectivity Network component type 128

J JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) component type 129

L LAN Network component type 128 Launch button 54 Layer 3 Switch component type 129 LDAP Server component type 129 line style, for impact relationships 18 Load Balancer component type 129 Local File System component type 132

Logical System Component component type 132

M Mail Server component type 129 Mainframe component type 129 manual status, described 99 manually setting service component status 49 Media component type 131 Message Server component type 129 Minor status described 15 indicator 17 Mobile User Device component type 129 Monitor component type 130 monitoring business services in BMC Impact Explorer 27 My Services group 29

N Narrow Table options 88 navigation pane illustrated 29 using to view service components 28 None status described 15 indicator 17 notification methods, changing 101 Notification options for BMC Desktop Status Indicator 102

O object groups, adding to dashboards 86 Of Type list box 30 Off Schedule described 15 OK status described 15 indicator 17 opening Impact/Cause Views 28 Operating System component type 132 Organization component type 128 Other subtab 32

P Poll Interval general option 102 primary status 14 Print Server component type 130 priority how computed 21 of service components 20 status indicator 14

Index

145

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z viewing for events 76 Priority and Cost subtab 31 priority propagator described 21 product support 3 Propagates Priority check box 30 propagation of service component status 20 properties comment 97 component, configuring 97 defaults for service components 90 displayed, configuring 98 general 97 general, configuring 99 group memberships 97 report goals 97 service level management agreements 97 Status determination method for this object 98 Status tab image view 98 provider components adding to dashboard status table 85 defined 17 searching for 35, 36 status propagation 20 viewing image view 94 viewing status 94 Providers subtab illustrated 19 purpose 74

R RAID Storage Device component type 130 Refresh icon 52 Related Components subtab described 31 illustrated 36, 37 searching for cause or impact 35 searching for provider and consumer service components 36 Remote File System component type 132 reports adding to dashboards 81 goals 97 in dashboards 76 resolving failures 46 Resource Server component type 130 Results list 30 root cause resolving event problem 46 searching for 38 Router component type 130

146

S SAN Bridge component type 130 SAN Director component type 130 SAN Hub component type 130 SAN Router component type 130 SAN Switch component type 130 Schedule subtab 32 schedules associated with service components 15 searching for provider or consumer components 36 for related service components 34 for root cause 38 for service components to view 30 sections adding to dashboards 79 of a dashboard 76 Security Server component type 130 self priority described 21 Server component type 130 service component viewing SLM agreements for 47 service components accessing through navigation pane 28 adding or editing comments 100 associated events indicator 32 computing status 16 configuring instance properties 97 contacting owner 100 cost of failure, viewing 96 event associated with 32 filtering by status 34 filtering by status in Impact/Cause View 34 finding relations 34 finding to view 30 impact relationships 17 indicators, illustrated 14 priority 20 priority computation 21 priority icons 20 resolving problem 46 schedules for 15 searching for from dashboard 80 searching for providers 36 setting impact type 95 setting status determination method 99 setting status manually 49 states, described 15 status color 15 status indicators 14, 17 types of 127 viewing associated events 92 viewing information about 31 viewing properties 90 viewing status 74

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z viewing status summary 90 service impact management collectors 33 service models types of components 127 service schedules described 15 status indicators 17 services viewing in BMC Impact Portal 72 Services Group tab 29 Services View illustrated 26 navigation pane, illustrated 29 overview 26 subtabs 31 setting status determination method 99 SLA icons 22 SLM icons 22 viewing agreements for a component 47 SLM subtab (Services View details) 32 Software component type 132 Software Server component type 130 Sound notification option 102 static collection of objects, adding to dashboards 86 status BMC Desktop Status Indicator 96 calculated status, described 99 colors for service components 15 computing 16 consumer components, viewing 95 impact propagation 20 indicator 14 manual status, described 99 of providers, viewing 94 of service components 14 searching for cause or impact 35 setting a status determination method 99 setting manually 49 snapshot view 72 updating 38 viewing 74 viewing provider components 94 status determination method, setting 99 status indicators, See indicators Status Quick Filter 34 Status subtabs (BMC Impact Explorer) described 31 status summary, viewing for a service component 90 Status tab (BMC Impact Portal) described 72 layout 72 viewing 74 status tables

adding an object and its consumers 85 adding an object and its providers 85 adding to dashboards 84 configuring 95 in dashboards 77 Storage component type 130 substatus 14 subtab Status (BMC Impact Explorer) 31 subtabs Advanced 32 Causal Components 93 Consumers 74 General 31 Group Members 74 Image 74 in Services View 31 Other 32 Priority and Cost 31 Providers 74 Related Components 31, 35 Schedule 32 Summary 73 This Component 92 Summary subtab described 73 viewing status 90 support, customer 3 Switch component type 130 System Resource component type 132 System Software component type 132

T table content adding for causal components 88 Narrow Table options 88 Wide Table options 89 tabs Events tab layout 75 Status tab 72 Tape Drive component type 131 Tape Library component type 131 technical support 3 Telnet Server component type 131 This Component subtab 92 timeframes described 16 Tray popup notification option 102

U UDDI Server component type 131 Unavailable status described 15

Index

147

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z indicator 17 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) component type 131 Unknown status described 15 indicator 17 updating business service status 38 User Community component type 128

V View Manager Info menu command 50 viewing causal component dashboards 78 cause or impact 35 component failure costs 96 component properties 90 component status 74 consumer status 95 dashboards 77 events associated with a component 32 events associated with a service components 92 failure cost 96 history or impact events 36, 37 service component information 31 service components with find 30 services, in BMC Impact Portal 72 Status tab 74 views, adding to dashboard 83 Virtual System component type 131 Virtual System Enabler component type 132 VMware component type 132

W WAN Network component type 128 Warning status described 15 indicator 17 Web Cache component type 131 web pages adding to dashboards 81 in dashboards 77 Web Server component type 131 Whose name contains text box 30 Wide Table options 89

148

BMC Impact Solutions Service Impact Management Guide

Notes

*97724* *97724* *97724* *97724* *97724*