Migrating Netcool configurations to Cloud Pak for AIOps

The Netcool to Cloud Pak for AIOps migration tool is designed to help with the seamless transition of Netcool configurations from IBM Netcool Operations Insight to IBM Cloud Pak for Watson Cloud Pak for AIOps. This solution is critical for organizations who want to take advantage of Cloud Pak for AIOps advanced capabilities while maintaining their existing Netcool investments.

Purpose

The Netcool to Cloud Pak for AIOps migration tool helps you quickly and efficiently migrate filters and runbook trigger policies from IBM Netcool Operations Insight to Cloud Pak for AIOps.

This enables you to:

  • Preserve your investment: Keep the value of your existing Netcool setup. Continue working in a familiar way enhanced with Cloud Pak for AIOps.

  • Accelerate your migration: Automate the conversion of filters and runbook triggers to save time and reduce the effort of manual migration.

Scope

The Netcool to Cloud Pak for AIOps migration tool helps you migrate event filters and runbook triggers policies from (IBM Netcool Operations Insight) to Cloud Pak for AIOps.

  • Filters: Migrate your Netcool event filters to Cloud Pak for AIOps. You can transform and reuse them to keep alert and event processing consistent across both systems.

  • Runbook Triggers policies: The Netcool to Cloud Pak for AIOps migration tool migrates Runbook triggers to Cloud Pak for AIOps policies, providing a best-effort solution for users.

Data mapping & transformation

  • The Netcool to Cloud Pak for AIOps migration tool uses a robust data mapping and transformation method to ensure that Netcool configurations are accurately and efficiently converted to Cloud Pak for AIOps format using JSONATA. This section describes the main aspects of the data mapping and transformation process.

  • The Netcool to Cloud Pak for AIOps migration tool also maps columns from the Netcool alerts.status table to Cloud Pak for AIOps alert properties. This uses the Netcool connector JSONATA mapping by default, but the user can change it before generating the JSON mapping file, which will be used to transform the columns in Netcool filters.

  • In addition to column/properties mapping, it also performs transformations for values for certain columns, as shown below:

Severity 

| Netcool value | Cloud Pak for AIOps Value |
|---------------|---------------------------------------------|
| 1             | 1                                           |
| 2             | 3                                           |
| 3             | 4                                           |
| 4             | 5                                           |
| 5             | 6                                           |

Netcool severity value 0 is converted to state = 'clear' in Cloud Pak for AIOps.

Acknowledged 

| Netcool value | Cloud Pak for AIOps Value |
|---------------|---------------------------------------------|
| 0             | false                                       |
| 1             | true                                        |

Event type 

| Netcool value | Cloud Pak for AIOps Value |
|---------------|---------------------------------------------|
| 2             | resolution                                  |
| 4             | resolution                                  |
| 21            | resolution                                  |

Requirements

The migration tool currently supports filters and runbook trigger policies from IBM Netcool Operations Insight. Support for additional configuration items might be added in future updates.

Configuration options

The migration tool provides contextual help, just like any standard OS-level command:

migrateFilters --help

jsonata2map --help

trigger2policy --help

Error Handling and Logging

The tool includes robust error handling and logging features that helps you identify and resolve issues during migration. This enables quick correction of data discrepancies and inconsistencies.

Installation and deployment

Prerequisites

  • Docker or Podman

Installation steps

The migration tool is released as a Docker image and, like other solutions, is to be made available to users with authorization.

Execution

Do the following steps to run the Netcool filter migration tool on Cloud Pak for AIOps:

  1. Pull the docker image from the registry:

    docker pull --platform linux/amd64 icr.io/cpopen/cp4waiops/noi-tools/migration-tool@sha256:b18429feb133c9ff52850a0dd189301935a37bcd4bae8d8fdaa68b96c8c0c4a8

  2. Run the docker container with the following command:

    docker run -it --platform linux/amd64 -e LICENSE=accept -v./noifiles:/app/output icr.io/cpopen/cp4waiops/noi-tools/migration-tool@sha256:b18429feb133c9ff52850a0dd189301935a37bcd4bae8d8fdaa68b96c8c0c4a8

  3. If you modified the Netcool connector JSONATA mapping for the deployment, it transfers the JSONATA mapping to a file in the /app/output directory. Run the following command to generate the JSON file:

    jsonata2map -j ./output/netcool.jsonata  -d ./output | bunyan

This generates a mapping.json file in the /app/output directory and it can be used for the migration.