EMC Smarts NCM Connector

EMC Smarts NCM is also referred to as Network Configuration Manager or NCM in the ASM Core user interface.

This section of the documentation contains technical specifications about the connector that is implemented to link ASM Core and EMC Smarts NCM. This connector deals with two main aspects of the Integration Platform, namely Federated Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and Outbound actions. The documentation details the third-party application, that is, EMC Smarts NCM including:

The name of the .NET assembly file
Connection methodology
The resource and link types that can be discovered on the third-party application
The attributes of each resource and link type that can be imported into the ASM Core CMDB
The requirements involved with the management of Outbound actions between ASM Core and EMC Smarts NCM

For compatibility and version support details, refer to the ASM Connector Matrix.

You should familiarize yourself with the information in Installing Connectors before installing any connectors, and read the Integration topics for more information on how to configure them.

Functionalities

An organization uses EMC Smarts NCM to discover resources on their network and to maintain their compliances. The role of this connector is:

To expose the resources to allow for population and consistency checks of the ASM Core CMDB.
To allow for outbound workflow actions to be performed from a ASM Core workflow in order to:
- Retrieve all configuration items (CIs) affected by a specific job already set up in EMC Smarts NCM
- Trigger the execution or cancellation of a EMC Smarts NCM specific job

Use Case Scenario

The functionalities described allow for the running, amongst several other possibilities, of the following use cases:

ASM Core CMDB population with network resources previously discovered by EMC Smarts NCM.
Creation of a new Request for Change in the ASM System.
During the unfolding of the Request for Change, a ASM Core task is sent to an EMC Smarts NCM network administrator. For cross reporting requirement, this task conveys the ASM Core change request identifier.
The network administrator creates jobs in EMC Smarts NCM using the EMC Smarts NCM console. For every new job created, the console generates a Job ID.
The Job ID is manually copied in the ASM Core task and sent back to the RFC workflow.
A ASM outbound action task, including the Job ID specified during the previous step, calls out to EMC Smarts NCM for it to return the list of affected CIs. Job identification is performed by using the EMC Smarts NCM job identified.
ASM Core Change Manager can examine the Business Service dependencies in order to determine impact level before approving or denying a change.
A second ASM Core workflow outbound task calls out to EMC Smarts NCM to either execute or cancel a job, through the Job ID as appropriate.

Updates to the CMDB eventually happen when the next scanning process of EMC Smarts NCM resources is performed.

Connector Description

The table below provides a description of the EMC Smarts NCM Connector.

Information fields

Description

Connector

EMC Smarts NCM v4.1 <-> ASM Core

Third-party application

EMC Smarts NCM

Assembly

Infra.Connector.VMware Service Manager.NCM.VMware Service ManagerNCMConnector

Connector class

VMware Service Manager NCMConnector

Configuration file

Infra.Connector.VMware Service Manager.NCM.icnf

Connection methodology

Web Services

Connection Parameters

When creating a new EMC Smarts NCM source from the Source option of the Integration Platform, some EMC Smarts NCM specific parameters have to be entered.

The credentials of the EMC Smarts NCM analyst related to the Username and password specified below should have adequate rights to trigger, schedule and cancel jobs in EMC Smarts NCM.

The table below provides the connection parameters of the EMC Smarts NCM Connector.

Parameters

Description

Web Service URL

URL of the ASM Core NCM Web Services. For example,

http://<server

name>:8881/ws/api/41/services/ApiService?wsdl

User name

Ionix NCM user name

Password

EMC Smarts NCM password

The Connection Parameters window of EMC Smarts NCM WebService is illustrated below.

Federated CMDB population

Resource Types

This section lists the resource types and their properties that the connector has to discover on EMC Smarts NCM systems. The connector later imports the resource types it has discovered into the ASM Core CMDB.