Import CI Items with Cireson Asset Import Tool

With my previous post about importing data, I showed you how to use the built-in CSV connector to do this task and how to create the required Projection Classes. However if you are looking for a quicker more automated to achieve this, enter Cireson and their Asset Import Tool. It takes all the guess work out of the import process and handles the Projection Classes for you.

The installation of the application is easy and requires the copying a DLL file to the Service Manager Installation folder and the import of a Management Pack ( a management Pack Bundle in this case). The instructions provided with the application are very clear and concise.

As usual with the Cireson applications, the settings for the applications can be found and tweaked in the Administration | Settings. This time, this is where the License Key will need to be entered

So now, onto the “meat”. Let’s actually use the application and see how it works. The application works pretty much the same way as the CSV Connector. It is classified as a connector, and as such to use it, a new connector would need to be created. Connectors are found under Administration | Connectors

If you have any Projection or Combinations classes you would like to use the application does allow the use of this.

For this demo, I have used the Windows Computer Class, additional information around the Projection classes can be found here, this will allow to see the information (headers) used by the required class. The Windows Computer class has the following information.

Name	Type	MinLength	MaxLength	AutoIncrement
PrincipalName	string	0	256	FALSE
DNSName	string	0	256	FALSE
NetbiosComputerName	string	0	256	FALSE
NetbiosDomainName	string	0	256	FALSE
IPAddress	string	0	256	FALSE
NetworkName	string	0	256	FALSE
ActiveDirectoryObjectSid	string	0	256	FALSE
IsVirtualMachine	string	0	256	FALSE
DomainDnsName	string	0	256	FALSE
OrganizationalUnit	string	0	256	FALSE
ForestDnsName	string	0	256	FALSE
ActiveDirectorySite	string	0	256	FALSE
OffsetInMinuteFromGreenwichTime	int (range: [-2147483648, 2147483647])	0	256	FALSE
LastInventoryDate	datetime	0	256	FALSE
ObjectStatus	enum:System. ConfigItem.ObjectStatusEnum	0	256	FALSE
AssetStatus	enum:System. ConfigItem.AssetStatusEnum	0	256	FALSE
Notes	richtext	0	4000	FALSE
DisplayName	string	0	256	FALSE

So, for this, I will bulk import a few computers with only a few simple parameters.

I am simply adding two machines

 

The Asset Import Tool also allows you to test your configuration first.

Now we can map the Headers to the Projections, you will see I kept them the same, however if you are getting a file from the IT Department or any other department, this step here allows to map these correctly.

Next, you can set your frequency, allowing you to automate the import. I have configured mine to run Every Hour.

Then you can create the connector.

Final Connector completed.

Now lets run it!!!!

Since we enabled the option to “Test”, the results were written to a log file allowing us to test before running in a production environment.

All looks good, let’s run it to bring in the data. A simple change needs to be made. We just need to remove a checkbox.

Ok, change made. let’s import the data. So now, let’s re-run the import process.The Connector has now re-run, now we can check the data. This time without the testing.

Now, we can see the new imported data. We can check here under Configuration Items | Computers | All Windows Computers

And there we have it, importing nice and easy.

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Importing data into Service Manager–CSV import and XML

So, just recently I was asked by a customer to import data from an “old” SCSM system. The customer is moving to new hardware within the organization and is using this opportunity to clean up Service Manager and re-import only clean data.

So, the challenge is the following.

The customer wants to import Change Requests from the “old” Service Manager to the “new” Service Manager. Ok, so after some research and confirmation, it is NOT possible to simply move data from one Service Manager installation to another. I decided the best way to handle this would be to import the data using a CSV file. As a start I used the following links

http://www.netiviaconsulting.com/2012/05/04/importing-work-items-in-bulk-into-scsm2012-via-csv-import-connector/

http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2009/05/26/using-the-csv-import-feature.aspx

So, now onto the “meat” of the work, it is entirely up to you what data you would like to import.

Below is a sample of my XML file. It caters for the basic information on the Change Request form and for my customers needs, it caters for SIX Manual Activities and ONE Review Activity. I will break this down into smaller pieces in a moment.

The Appendix “A” here is key to the import process.

XML Code

<CSVImportFormat>
<Projection Type="System.WorkItem.ChangeRequestProjection">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.ChangeRequest">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="Notes"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
<Property ID="Description"/>
<Property ID="ContactMethod"/>
<Property ID="Priority"/>
<Property ID="Impact"/>
<Property ID="Risk"/>
<Property ID="Reason"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="CreatedBy">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ReviewActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>
</Projection>
</CSVImportFormat>
<code>

Okay, so now time to break it down into smaller easier to manage bits.

Base Change Request Projection Class. This is the framework for Change Request and this example included the “Created By” extension. All the property id’s can be found in the appendix here. Please note that the example below does NOT include the “Projection” closing XML Brace as this is included further down with the original coding.

XML Code

</pre>
<code></code>

<Projection Type="System.WorkItem.ChangeRequestProjection">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.ChangeRequest">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="Notes"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
<Property ID="Description"/>
<Property ID="ContactMethod"/>
<Property ID="Priority"/>
<Property ID="Impact"/>
<Property ID="Risk"/>
<Property ID="Reason"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="CreatedBy">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>

<code>

So, now after this I have simply “bolted” on as many Manual Activities as I needed for my customer. In this case, it is SEVEN. I have a sample of the XML code below which can be simply copied and pasted as many times as needed. Please note that the example below does NOT include the “Projection” closing XML Brace as this is included further down with the original coding.

XML Code

</pre>
<code></code>

<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ManualActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>

<code>

And now I needed to add a Review Activity, again this is just the simple information needed.

XML Code

</pre>
<code></code>

<Component Alias="Activity">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.WorkItem.Activity.ReviewActivity">
<Property ID="Id"/>
<Property ID="SequenceId"/>
<Property ID="Title"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
<Component Alias="ActivityAssignedTo">
<Seed>
<Class Type="System.Domain.User">
<Property ID="Domain"/>
<Property ID="UserName"/>
</Class>
</Seed>
</Component>
</Component>

<code>

So, all the components together created the XML file for the Projection that I needed.

Ok, so this is ONE piece of the puzzle. In order for the CSV import to work within Service Manager, you need a CSV file as well. Building the CSV file is actually quite easy. Simple use all

   <Property ID =”..”> <code>

tags as CSV headers.

Populate the file as needed. Now lets import the file. By the way, I have noticed that if the file is created in Excel (2013 at least) and saved a .csv, Excle uses “;” and NOT “,”. So simple open the application in Notepad and do a search and replace.

Sample file (CSV)

Headers are based on Property values within the XML File.

CR{0},CR notes,CR Title 1,CR Description 1,CR Contact Method,ChangePriorityEnum.Medium,ChangeImpactEnum.Standard,ChangeRiskEnum.Medium,CR Reason 1,FK,fletcherk,MA{0},0,MA Title 1,fk,fletcherk,MA{0},1,MA Title 2,fk,fletcherk,MA{0},2,MA Title 3,fk,fletcherk,MA{0},3,MA Title 4,fk,fletcherk,MA{0},4,MA Title 5,fk,fletcherk,MA{0},5,MA Title 6,fk,fletcherk,MA{0},6,MA Title 7,fk,fletcherk,RA{0},7,RA Title 1,fk,fletcherk

Please note that the Sequence ID can be changed to sort you needs. Remember that the Sequence Number will start at 0. The MA is the prefix for the Manual Activities and the RA is the prefix for Review Activities, please adjust as needed.

Also, the {0} ensures id are incremented correctly.

pl

Select XML file and CSV file

You can import as many Change Requests as you wish using this method.

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Cireson Risk Calculator

When looking at Change Management, usually the most difficult to decide on, is the “Severity” or “Impact” of the Change. This has been addressed by Cireson with one of their many applications. This one is called the SCSM Risk Calculator and as the name suggests, it is an application to help establish “Change Risk” by asking simple questions. It is designed to ask any set of questions, this is of course configurable. Based on the answers provided by the person logging the change, the “Risk is calculated and nicely added to the Change Request.

The import process and configuration aspect of this application is very nicely covered in the Installation Documentation provided.

Once imported, the settings for this application can be found in the “Administration” Wunderbar under Settings, as like all Cireson applications I have tested thus far.

As seen below, the questions are easy to configure and can be presented in "User” English making this an easy application to present to end-users. The application allows for the configuration of up to 10 questions. A toggle to count “No” instead of “Yes’ is also provided.

The next step is to simply configure the count of “Yes” or “No” answers respectively to qualify as “Low”, “Medium” or “High” risk changes

Ok, so now the configuration is done, now to see the SCSM Risk Calculator in action

Lets create a Change Request

Example of “Low Risk” as per settings

Example of “Medium Risk” as per settings

Example of “High Risk” as per settings

When you click “OK” the information entered above including questions and answers is copied d into the Risk Assessment Plan

All the information is saved in the same place all the time. At the same time you have a tool that can relate to end users and provide an accurate Risk Assessment.

Thank you Cireson, get more information here.

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Cubes Missing from Data Warehouse and throwing error from within the SCSM Console

So, just the other day I opened the SCSM console to look at the cubes and process as needed, since some new reports needed to be built and Excel spread sheets created by our BI person for business. So, I start to process the cubes and the first cube starts processing without issue. However when I attempt to process the second cube (Change and Activity Management cube). It presented an error stating that "Could not find any resources appropriate for the specified culture or the neutral culture".

I have never seen an error like this before, so it was time to do some investigating.

I started by looking at the Data Warehouse Wunderbar and more specifically the “Data Warehouse Jobs” tab. I noticed that all the Cubes which were giving me said error where missing from the “Data Warehouse Jobs” tab.

I then remembered about a Patch Window that occurred while I was on leave and decided to look further. I was digging through the Event Logs, when I found the following error

Event id: 33410

Source : Deployment

And as you can see from the screenshot, there are plenty of these. Clearly the patching window had interrupted a job. So now with at least something to work with, I started looking around some more and remembered that the MPSyncJOB is responsible for Management Pack Synchronization and upon opening the status of this job, I saw that the Management Packs related to the now problematic cubes were disassociated.

So, from here it was time to check and start putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Upon opening the “Management Pack” section of the “Data Warehouse” Wunderbar, I could see that the deployment of these Management Packs had failed.

So, the next step is to “Restart Deployment”

With mine, nothing happened and I found the following error

Fortunately enough the solution is listed within the error message.

Simple, delete the cube and then re-deploy the Management Pack.

1. Open SQL Management Studio on server hosting the SQL Analysis Services

2. Connect to the server type : Analysis Services

3. Expand Databases, expand DWASDataBase, Expand Cubes

4. Select cube from error and delete the Cube.

The deletion of the cube can take some time. Once Deleted, go back to the Console and “Restart Deployment”

This time you will see an Event log like this.

The Cube is now re-deploying.

You can now process your cubes as normal without any errors

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Cireson My Active Work Items

So, Cireson has been hard at work to fill a few gaps present within the Service Manager space. Cireson has created an application called My Active Work Items to bring all information assigned to your user token in one place. For Service Manager 2010, you could create the Work Items assigned to Me view. This was a good start for SCSM 2010 and this continues to work with SCSM 2012. However, with SCSM 2012, there are a few shortcomings of this view. The Work Items assigned to Me, it only shows some very limited information and this view cannot be edited.

Please make no error, this view is helpful and can provide the required information. It is still context driven on the right hand pane.

But now, enter My Active Work Items. Below is a screenshot to give you an idea of how it looks. I will then look at individual aspects.

If you have multiple work items of the Same type, For example, Incidents, they will be grouped together. In the Screenshot below, I have created 2 incidents to demonstrate this.

the pane below the “My Active Work Items” provides all information needed about the highlighted work item at a glance.

All the other features associated to the Highlighted work item are available as a right click context item. I will show a few examples below.

Incident

Review Activity

Problem

Change Request

Also note the “My Active Work Items” context menu which allows easy to the creation of any type of Work Item.

The installation and configuration of My Active Work Items is very simple and quick. The installation instructions provided are clear and concise and the settings, found under Administration –> Settings can be easily tweaked and changed to suit your needs.

If you have looked at my previous Cireson Group Assign post, you will see that the AD Groups leveraged within that Service Manager application can be leveraged again.

All in all, Cireson have a great application with My Active Work Items and I would highly recommend it for any Service Manager 2012 installation. It also work with Service Manager 2012 Service Pack 1.

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Recover System Center Orchestrator 2012 with runbooks export

Just recently in a test environment, a script or some such other gremlin caused some absolute havoc on my system. Before you ask, I had NO Backup in place of this system. This system was System Center Orchestrator. However, once a week, I do a “sort-of” backup. By this, I mean I export all my Runbooks and place a copy on my local machine and a file server and the SCORCH (System Center ORCHestrator) server.

I was planning to perform an upgrade to System Center 2012 Service Pack 1, and as it happens according to the Upgrade Sequencing for System Center 2012 SP1, SCORCH was the first Product that needed to be updated.

So, at this moment in time, I had a non-functioning SCORCH server and a backup of the Runbooks from the server WITHOUT a proper backup. Luckily the use of SCORCH at this moment in time was mainly for timed tasks and Runbooks triggered by folder changes.

So, I had to rebuild the server. These are the steps I followed and it worked out for me.

NB!!!! Please note that is NOT a replacement for a backup, having a proper backup plan is crucial to any environment. Once my SCORCH server was back up and running, I immediately implemented a proper backup procedure using Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager in addition to the backup of Runbooks. I am currently working on a Runbook to backup my Runbooks, more to follow on that soon. To achieve this goal, I will be using an Orchestrator Codeplex runbook.

Anyways, back on topic. Lets “recover” System Center Orchestrator 2012.

1. Reset the computer account in Active Directory.

2. Re-join machine to domain using the same name.

3. Install SQL Server, I used a local instance for this.

4. Install System Center Orchestrator 2012 Service Pack 1. I decided to upgrade as well as part of the rebuild, previous version of Integration Packs are backwards compatible.

5. When installing, make sure to use the same port numbers and user accounts as previously used when installing (this should be documented as part of the original install)

6. Import Runbooks.

7. Once the Runbooks are imported. You will then need to check the Runbooks. You will need to re-register and re-deploy the integration packs.

8. Once all the Runbooks are registered and deployed, your environment will be backup and running.

9. If you have a Connector within System Center Service Manager, you will need to check and ensure that the Run As account is working as expected.

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Cireson Analyst Web Console

I have always heard complaints from some of the analysts in my company about having to install the Service Manager Console on their machines and then complaining about having to learn a new application.

So, I went searching around and found a great application called Cireson SCSM Web Console, this allows analysts to update Incidents via a newly designed web portal for Analysts. Since the console is designed in HTML5, the web console is browser agnostic. This face also helps some companies to adopt this as it allows analysts to use all types of devices to update incidents.

The guide provided to install the application is Comprehensive and easy to follow. Just make sure you do all the steps. I have added some screenshots of errors I got along the way, trying to “jump the gun” and see the new Web Console in action.

“Issues and Errors” I ran into, all of which are easily fixed.

Server error in ‘/’ Application

This error is pretty much self-explanatory, I tried to open the console before the Cireson Management Pack had been imported. A simple fix, import the Management Pack.

Again, this looks intimidating. This is very easy to fix if you look at error. When you are going through the installation guide, it is very easy to miss a step. Like this, when configuring the web.config file with Active Directory Connector information, it is very easy to find the space for the DN Name of your domain. When the above happens, it is simple a case of not adding the full DN for a DOMAIN CONTROLLER.

But now, onto the console in action. Just one side note, for now the Cireson SCSM Web Console handles only incidents, I have heard that plans are in progress for the Cireson SCSM Web Console to be extended to include Service Requests and potentially Problems, WOW!!!!!!

The Cireson SCSM Web Console is really easy to navigate and very easy to understand, anything you can do in the actual console, you can do on the Cireson SCSM Web Console. So, if you make the Cireson SCSM Web Console publically available, your Analysts can update from anywhere with any device as the Web Console is NOT dependent on Microsoft Silverlight.

As you can see below, the Web Console is very nicely put together and gives you all the information you need at a quick glance.

You can click an incident to open it and you will be presented with some detailed information regarding the incident as can be seen below. You can also “Edit Incident” from the Web Console to update it.

From the top Level Tabs, you can see you access all the information you could regarding Incidents

Below are screenshots of each “Section” from the Top Level Menu”

Incidents can also be LOGGED from the Web Console, displaying all information from your SCSM Implementation

The “My Team’s Incidents” leverages the groups and information provided during the installation of the Web Console and provides a consolidated view of the Incidents assigned to the “Support Group” to which the currently logged on user is a member and this works very nicely with Cireson SCSM Group Assign

The “All My Incidents” View provide a view of all incidents assigned to the currently “logged on” user.

The “All Incidents” view provides an overview for all incidents within your Service Manager environment. By default, only active incidents are shown, you can select the checkbox to show resolved incidents.

The “Search Incidents” views allows you to search via a number of different fields, making it really easy to find any incidents you are looking for.

The “Configuration Items” view is the representation of the CI Items within the organization on the Web Console.

The Cireson SCSM Web Console is a great addition to your Service Manager environment. It allows incidents to be updated quickly and easily from any device. I would highly recommend it.

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