Adding a BMC Discovery Appliance
- Steven Hicks
If adding a BMC Discovery Cluster ensure that the cluster coordinator is added first - this will automatically populate the added appliances for all cluster members on authentication.
If adding a cloud BMC Discovery appliance some fields will not be required to complete the integration.
To integrate BMC discovery appliances navigate to the Integrations → BMC → Helix Discovery
Click the "Plus" icon at the top of the table to add a new record / appliance
Enter the CLI username and password (Typically the tideway account details)
Enter the IP Address (For appliance setup with HTTPS use the fully qualified hostname for the IP address. Ensure that the uControl server can resolve this address in the /etc/hosts file. The FQDN provided will need to match the hostname of the HTTPS certificate on the BMC Discovery appliance.)
Supply a valid API token taken from a dedicated user account in the BMC Discovery product.
Supply a valid GUI username and password (The GUI account will require permissions to set maintenance mode on the appliance and be able to execute reports)
Select Appliance type
Select "Active" to activate the appliance within uControl
If required select HTTPS.
Click Create
The appliance has now been defined with all the authentication information required to contact and gather data from it. To complete the process we'll need to authenticate and validate the API token.
Test Authentication (SSH)
For an appliance to be fully activated and used in the system - ssh authentication must be setup and activated.
Select the appliance record from the table of appliances
Click the actions menu then "SSH Authenticate" to complete the authentication setup
Test Authentication (UI)
For an appliance to be fully activated and used in the system - UI authentication must be setup and activated.
Select the appliance record from the table of appliances
Click the actions menu then "User Authenticate" to complete the authentication setup
Validating an API token
uControl uses the BMC Discovery API to communicate. There fore the API token must be activated.
Select the appliance record from the table of appliances
Click the actions menu then "Validate Token" to complete the API token setup
Ping Command
The BMC Discovery appliance must respond to a ping request to allow it to be integrated. There are 3 types of ping supported
ICMP Ping
NMAP (TCP-SYN)
NMAP (TCP-ACK)
Appliance Types
Based on this selection uControl will perform / use the appliances in different ways. Details of each are as follows:
Management | Appliances within the management group will show and run all function within uManage. These will also cound towards the uManage license for uControl |
|---|---|
Data Source | Appliance within the Data Source group will import data once scanning is completed. This will also be the appliances that uMap will build the completed uMap applications. |
Subnet Scanner | Appliances within the Subnet Scanner will be available to select when setting up subnet scanning within uManage. |
Connection Settings
These can be set for communication and data management for integrated BMC Discovery appliances. See the below table for details of each of these settings:
Setting Name | Default Value | Details |
|---|---|---|
API Connection Timeout (Seconds) | 10 | Timeout in seconds for the API endpoint connection from uControl to BMC Discovery appliance |
API Read Timeout (Seconds) | 30 | Timeout in seconds for the API endpoint on the BMC Discovery appliance to reply with the initial set of data |
Check Last Scanned (Days) | 11 | Number of days to keep Discovered data - Processes, Services and Discovery Access nodes within the uControl database |
SSH Connection Timeout (Seconds) | 10 | Timeout in seconds for SSH connections from uControl to BMC Discovery appliances to establish a connection. |
Next Steps: