Posts Tagged ‘Remedy 101’

Calculate database size requirements for new AR System Remedy

June 16th, 2010

OVERVIEW:

 Different databases have different requirements for size overhead.

 For example, some databases have transaction logs for permitting recovery, some have rollback segments which allow a current operation to be rolled back in the event of failure, etc. These requirements are database dependent and are in addition to that required to store the Remedy schemas and data. They are not covered here.

 This entry only covers sizing requirements for storing data in the ARSystem schemas.

 SOLUTION:

 1) First determine how many fields there are on the schema.

2) Next determine the datatypes of each of the fields. Do this by looking in the field properties window and recording the type. For character fields, record the field length as well (note: this is not the same as display length !).

3) Next, locate information on these datatypes in the relevant database manuals. Different databases use different storage methods for different datatypes, and therefore, their sizes will accordingly be database dependent. Also, each database typically has some small amount (a byte or two of overhead) for each datatype in addition to their storage requirements. Record this information.

4) Diary fields and fields > 255 characters in length are a special case. They have some additional database overhead associated with them. Find out what that is.

5) Now, for each field on the schema, add up the byte values for each field’s storage requirements (don’t forget to include overhead !). For Varchar(255) or variable length character fields, an estimate of the average length of stored values may be 2/3 of the length. For example, a variable length field which can store a max length of 60 characters can be estimated that the average length of all entries in the field would probably be 2/3 * 60 or a length of 40. So, use a value of 40 bytes for this field. Don’t forget to include any associated overhead. If more precision is necessary, log into the database and issue a “select maxlength” type of statement against each character column in the schema table (this assumes the database supports this sort of operation), and then multiply by 2/3.

6) For diary fields or fields > 255 characters in length, the stored lengths of values tend to be a lot smaller than the maximum length specified. Use the same formula outlined in step 5, but multiply by 1/3. For example, a variable length field which can store a max length of 10000 characters will have an estimated average length of of 1/3 * 10000 or a length of 3.3K. So, use a value of 3.3K bytes for this field. Don’t forget to include any associated overhead ! If more precision is necessary, log into the database and issue a “select maxlength” type of statement against each character column in the schema table (this assumes the database supports this sort of operation), and then multiply by 1/3.

7) Determine if there are any indexes built on any fields in the schema. If so, multiply the value of the storage length of that fields datatype by 1.5. For example, if a character field of length 20 has an index built on it: 20 * 1.5 = 30. Use 30 as the storage length for that field instead of 20. Note that indexes cannot generaly be built on large text fields, so don’t include them. If Full Text Search is being used, those indexes are built outside of the database – not in it.

8) Add up all the byte values determined and recorded in the previous steps. This is the base value for how much space each ticket or record requires in the database.

9) Estimate how many tickets a day will be entered into the system. Multiply that number by the value found in step 8.

 10) Estimate how many days a year the system will be in production. Use a figure of 200 days for normal businesses (taking into account holidays, weekends, etc.) or 365 if operating a 24×7 production system. Multiply this by the value found in step 9.

11) Multiply the value in step 10 by 1.2 (this adds 20% to account for system “slop” and other miscellaneous overhead). This value now represents approximately how much disk storage it will take to accomodate this schema’s growth for the next year. If there are multiple schemas this will need to be calculated for each schema.

Credits – Vishal V. Dhainje

10 Things to know About ITSM – by Jobin Wilson

January 15th, 2010

I have read this post recently which highlights so many important points that are already existing, but not many people use them because few doesn’t know or doesn’t understand them correctly. In this post, Jobin pointed out 10 features/uses which he would have used if he has known their existence. Read for yourself and decide how useful they will be in your implementations.

Original Post By: Jobin Wilson

When someone gets started with ITSM,there are a few points/concepts which if clear would make life much easy :-) .There are couple of reasons for this -something which you think is a ‘customization’ that needs to be built,might be already existing in some form or the other or even there could be some existing functionality that would help you to build your customization very easily or even understanding them would help you to know in detail about how the product behaves
The points below were consolidated so that it can benefit everyone who works on BMC Remedy ITSM.

1.Multi-tenancy
In the BMC Remedy ITSM applications, the multi-tenancy feature is available for Data segregation based on company. Access to data is controlled by a user’s access to a company.
(reading up a little bit about field 112 would be helpful as-well).
This feature is enabled from Application Administration Console>Custom Configuration>Foundation>Advanced Options>System Configuration Settings-System Settings

2.Restricted and Unrestricted access
This is related to multi-tenancy & for restricting data access of individuals to only companies that are relevant for them.Unrestricted users can access data for all companies based on there application permissions (Say a Global Support Manager).This is configured from People form’s Login/Access Tab.Check “Unrestricted Access” for granting such an access to a user.For restricting access to specific companies, add them into “Access Restrictions” Table

3.ITSM in a DSO environment

ITSM Installer now provides more support for DSO (7.5.xx onwards).Another good thing about the installer is that it is consolidated (ServiceDesk,Change Management & Asset Management) & runs on multiple platforms (InstallAnywhere based).Enable user defined prefix from SYS:System Settings.The ‘Custom prefixes’ are one of the most important aspects of a DSO enabled environment for ITSM.Update SHR:SchemaNames in the other server for appropriate application prefix (user defined prefix).Update field default for field ID 1 to match the prefix setup in above step.For additional information,refer ITSM-DSO-Enablement.doc

4.ITSM plug-ins
Another common query is regarding the plugins used by ITSM.Below is a list of few important ones
4.1ARDBC Plugin : Provides Overview console functionality, a view of work assigned across multiple applications. Query on the Vendor form triggers the plug-in

4.2Command Automation Interface (CAI) – libcaieventcmd/caiventcmd.dll :P rimarily used by Requestor Console ,SRMS,TMS etc. CAI subsystem provides a common infrastructure that can be shared across applications for integration. It is a filter API plug-in

DVF Plug-ins ( These are for data visualization to provide graphical representation of data)

1.Task Viewer – Provides a graphical representation of tasks, task groups and their sequencing
2.Change/Release Calendar – Provides a calendar representation of changes/releases within the Organization.This is very important for scheduling changes /releases. Similar to outlook calendar view

5.Approval mapping & Integration with approval server

in ITSM,there is tight integration with approval server.Applications like change management have this integration because critical changes done to the production infrastructure needs to be following the approval process of the enterprise so that sufficient “what-if” scenarios can be thought about & appropriate sign-offs can be obtained.

Approval Mappings for Change Management Application is done from Application Administration Console>Custom Configuration>Change Management>Approval> Approval Mappings

Approval Process Configuration is done from Application Administration console>Custom Configuration>Foundation>Advanced Options>Approval Process Configuration

The approval processes that are configured can be based on CI (Configuration Item) and IA (Impacted Area)

Approval Rules involved in these processes can be viewed/customized from the form AP:Administration console

6.Risk Management

Risk assessment within change management helps to achieve greater productivity by combining qualitative and quantitative criteria for assessing the risk level associated with a change.The computed risk value can be selected, based on answers to a series of predefined questions.Derived risk factors are based on the historical performance of different aspects of a change. For all configured derived risks, a cumulative performance rating is stored

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