To use Service Manager you first have to generate objects in the CMDB. To quickly fill the Configuration Database with lots of objects from good quality, SM12 offers different connectors. This concept is not new to SM12, but there are new functionalities and even two new connectors. This blog post will demonstrate how to configure and use connectors.

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The complete SCSM SM12 (Beta) Series:
#1 – Service Level Objectives (SLO)
#2 – Service Requests
#3 – Automation of Service Requests
#4 – Enable Self-Service for Service Requests
#5 – Parent/Child Incidents
#6 – Release Management
#7 – Connectors
#8 – Permissions for triggering System Center Orchestrator runbooks
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First, the ADDS connector was updated. We now have much more detailed configuration options available to get exactly those objects to the CMDB that we really need. And SM12 brings also two completely new connectors to System Center Orchestrator (SCO) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) go bring objects from these surrounding systems to the CMDB to drive automation to the next level. So let’s create some connectors!

ADDS Connector

First give it a name and meaningful description. It’s possible that you need multiple ADDS connectors to different forests and environments. So make sure you know where a connection goes to.

Now select the domain or OU you want to get objects from. To read objects from the directory service, prepare a user account that has read permissions on those objects that should be imported in the CMDB. Test the connection using the button to make sure everything is OK.

In the next step you can configure in very detail what objects you want to import. If you want to get all objects from the selected domain or OU use the first option.

Instead of importing all objects you can also manually select objects. You can browse and select those directly in the directory service.

For advanced import scenarios you can build your own ldap queries. With this it’s possible to set a specific value on objects in Active Directory that you want to import.

After the creation process is complete, start the synchronization of the connector manually. After a little bit, the objects are visible in the Configuration Items area.

SCO Connector

To import Runbooks from System Center Orchestrator and use them to trigger Runbooks from your Change Requests or Service requests, create a new Runbook connector.

Runbooks are imported by communicating with the SCO Web Service. Ask your SCO Admin for the exact information of the web service. Normally the web service runs on port 81 on the Server that hosts the Orchestrator web components (web service and web console). Use a connection account that has enough permissions to read the runbooks that you want to import. Test the connection to check if everything is OK.

If the connection is successful you can now select the folder that contains the runbooks that you want to import.

As a last step enter the URL of the Orchestrator Web Console. This URL is later needed if you want to display detailed information about Runbooks in the Service Manager Console. Again, ask your SCO Admin. The Orchestration Console is running on port 82 by default.

After the wizard completes start a manual synchronization. The imported Runbooks are visible in the library. Use the “View Runbook” task to display detailed information about the selected Runbook. It will then open in the Web Console.

SCVMM Connector

The last new connector is the SCVMM Connector that allows you to import information from the virtualization fabric. This information can be needed to deploy new virtual machines of services from the Service Manager Portal – cool! Give the connector a name and define a description.

Enter the name of your SCVMM12-Server and use an appropriate connection account. Test the connection.

Check the summary message, it describes that you should configure a SCOM connector. If you have SCOM up and running, this makes sense. SCVMM will push information about new VMs directly to SCOM and will be imported to SM using the SCOM connector. But you can still use the SCVMM connector without SCOM.

When synchronization is complete, you will not see new objects in the CMDB. You first have to create the needed views to display those objects. Just create a new view and select the appropriate class for the objects you are interested.

To make sure you get all kind of objects from VMM, you should import the SCVMM Management Packs into Service Manager to extend the data model. You can find the Management Packs in the VMM Installation Directory on the VMM Server.

That’s it. The new connectors gives our CMDB additional benefits, especially for deployment and automation scenarios. Imagine what can be done by combining those new CMDB objects together with Service Request, Runbook Automation and Self Service? You got it!

regards
Marcel