HP Universal CMDB 9.02 What's New
for the Windows and Linux operating systems
Software version: 9.02 / October 2010
This file provides information about new features and enhancements to HP Universal CMDB (HP UCMDB) 9.02.
Release Highlights
Key Operational Improvements in Data Flow Management
Copying Data and Resources Between UCMDB Instances
There are various scenarios where data or resources must be copied from one instance of UCMDB to another. These scenarios may involve:
These scenarios are now better supported.
- The scheduled export of CIs and relationships (Push data flow) from a UCMDB 9.02 instance with the new BTO Data Model to a UCMDB 8.0x instance with the old data model has been greatly improved.
- The scheduled import of CIs and relationships (Population data flow) by a UCMDB 9.02 instance from a UCMDB 9.0x instance no longer requires filtering unsupported CI types and valid relations.
When the source instance has an extended data model with private CI types, the requesting instance automatically ignores these classes.
This is a valuable solution if you have deployed Business Service Management (BSM) 9.00 and want a central UCMDB instance supporting the Configuration Management process to regularly consume data that gets recorded in the Run-time Service Model of BSM.
- It is now possible to deploy a package from a UCMDB 9.02 instance to another UCMDB instance (9.02 or higher) without having to log into the remote machine. This is done directly from the Integration Studio as an integration point referencing the remote UCMDB instance.
If you have queries, views, or other resources that you need to move from one UCMDB to another, this is a faster solution than previously available.
Simplified Setup for Integration Adapters
The Integration Studio in UCMDB 9.02 adds a new wizard to easily create the trigger CI or trigger CI topology (the "context") that is needed by all integration adapters that are based on Jython scripts.
You can now build your integration adapter using a custom Jython script and very simply define its context in the Integration Studio when associating the adapter to a new Integration Point. This is useful if you need to populate data in UCMDB 9.02 from a Management Data Repository but do not want to develop a Java adapter and cannot use a Generic DB adapter.
Analyzing Execution Results and Logs
- The Integration Studio now provides easily accessible information on whether the last data exchanges between UCMDB and some other Management Data Repository have been successful. This information is available for the Population and Push data flows and includes:
- For Discovery, UCMDB 9.02 comes with a new out-of-the-box, customizable report that displays any errors that occurred during the execution of a Discovery job. This new report can be consumed from the reports manager and enables conveniently spotting many issues that could affect job execution, including incorrect credentials.
- UCMDB 9.02 introduces a new JMX console with the ability to download all the logs from a probe without having to manually access the node where the probe resides.
Population and Push data flows and Discovery activities are implemented by adapters, and most of these adapters are hosted on a Data Flow Probe in 9.0x. To properly troubleshoot problems, the administrator needs to know whether there are any probe-level issues and can now more easily browse the logs of a remote probe and diagnose a problem affecting the data flows.
Improving the Security of Credentials
UCMDB 9.02 consolidates the management of Discovery and Integration credentials by formally integrating the Data Flow Probe infrastructure with the Confidential Manager service introduced in version 9.00.
The Data Flow Probe now embeds a Confidential Manager client that can securely obtain from the Confidential Manager server the credentials needed by the Probe. The probe no longer relies on its own storage and encryption mechanisms. Client caching and server failover can also be configured (restrictions apply).
Credentials management in UCMDB 9.02 is completely controlled by the Confidential Manager both on the UCMDB server and across the Data Flow Probe infrastructure, thus improving the overall security of Data Flow Management.
All the necessary information about credentials management has been updated and is available in the UCMDB 9.02 Deployment Guide, under the hardening section.
Running the Data Flow Probe on Linux for BSM Integrations
UCMDB 9.02 adds partial support for the Data Flow Probe on Linux (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5).
If you have deployed BSM 9.00 or higher and want to integrate the Run-time Service Model of BSM with a UCMDB 9.02 instance supporting the Configuration Management process, you can host the BSM adapter on a Data Flow Probe running either on Windows or on Linux.
Efficiency Gains at the User Interface Level
Smart Exploration of CI Topologies with Get Related Function
UCMDB 9.02 enhances the Get Related CIs pane in IT Universe Manager with the ability to select one or more CIs and to explore their topology using perspectives. If you have a complex environment, this new approach enables dynamically assembling functional or technical "views" out of the larger graph.
Rapid Development of Template-based Views
UCMDB 9.02 adds a wizard in the Modeling Studio for creating multiple, template-based views for which you can import parameter values from a CSV file. This saves time by giving you the ability to create "series of template-based views". These series could each cover a different part of your organization, and each view in the series could target a particular user function (or vice versa).
Enabling Template-based Reports
UCMDB 9.02 enables you to consume templates as a report and change the parameter values from within the report itself. In previous versions, only views could be consumed as reports. Now you can leverage your templates, significantly expanding your reporting options at no cost.
Enable External Applications to Cross Launch into UCMDB with a Parameterized URL
UCMDB 9.02 enables third party applications to embed template parameters for consumption in a URL aimed at opening a UCMDB view or a UCMDB report over the web. The final URL is assembled by UCMDB and the result returns to the requesting application with the parameters already embedded in the view or the report.
Your management applications can now automatically leverage all UCMDB template-based views and template-based reports, providing a better user experience.
Tracking Deprecated Entities in UCMDB
UCMDB 9.02 automatically identifies deprecated entities like CI Types, Relationship types, and attributes. A visual clue alerts you if you try to use them to create new data or edit existing data that depends on them. This is a useful warning/reminder to administrators.
Faster UI Client Startup
UCMDB 9.02 introduces a new client installation mode where jar files get downloaded in parallel. As a result, the applet load time is significantly reduced and you can start working on the UI more quickly. If your network link to the server has adequate bandwidth, you should see a noticeable difference.
Documentation Refresh with 3 New Video Guides
The product guides have been updated to reflect functional changes in the product. Also UCMDB 9.02 introduces three new educational videos, with audio and annotations demonstrating use cases and real world examples, on the following topics:
These videos are available as links from the documentation and under the root/Product_Feature_Movies folder. That directory also contains feature overview movies from previous versions.
The educational videos will be expanded to cover additional functionality in the future.
Reduced TCO for UCMDB
UCMDB 9.02 is officially supported on Oracle 11g Standard Edition and MS SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition, in addition to the Enterprise Editions that were previously supported for these databases.
By deploying the Standard Edition of a database, you can significantly reduce your database licensing costs (especially if you have multiple instances of UCMDB).
Note: UCMDB 9.02 does not require any of the database features attached to the Enterprise Editions of Oracle 11g and MS SQL Server 2008. However future versions of UCMDB may officially depend on such features for a specific operating mode or to achieve specific capacity and performance goals.
Content Pack 7 for UCMDB/DDM 9.0x
Content Pack 7 which was first made available for UCMDB/DDM 8.0x is now officially bundled with UCMDB 9.02. It contains the following new or updated Discovery and Integration capabilities:
- DNS Zones
- Solaris Zones
- Import from Excel Workbook
- IBM HMC
- High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP)
- HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM) Integration
- HP Partitioning Solution
- Sun Cluster
- Database Connections by Host Credentials
- XEN
- Hyper-V
- Network Node Manager i (NNMi) Integration Enhancements
- Application Signatures for following products:
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