Configuring Big Cloud Fabric Observer jobs

You configure Big Cloud Fabric Observer jobs to dynamically load data from the Big Cloud Fabric REST interface.

Before you begin

Ensure you have the Big Cloud Fabric service details to hand, such as username, password, hostname and port.

The observer is installed as part of the core installation procedure.

About this task

The Big Cloud Fabric Observer job extracts Big Cloud Fabric resource information via REST. The observer loads and updates the resources and their relationships within the Agile Service Manager core topology service.

You define and start the following job.
LDAP job
Run this job whenever you need Big Cloud Fabric topology data refreshed.
By default, these jobs are one-off, transient jobs that carry out a full upload of all requested topology data when they are triggered.
You can also run these jobs (again) manually from the Observer UI, or schedule them to run at set times when you configure them.
The Big Cloud Fabric Observer loads the following resources and their relationship into the Agile Service Manager core topology service:
Table 1. Big Cloud Fabric resources and relationships loaded by the Big Cloud Fabric Observer LDAP job
Vertex Description
Access Leaf Access Leaf Switch part of DC fabric
Access Port Access Leaf Switch port connected to Compute Node and Spine Switch port
Spine Switch Spine Switch part of DC fabric
Spine Switch Port Spine Switch port connected to Access Leaf Switch and L3 Router Port

Procedure

  1. On the Observer jobs page, perform one of the following actions:
    To edit an existing job
    Open the List of options overflow menu next to the job and click View & edit.
    To create a new job
    Click Add a new job + and select the Big Cloud Fabric Observer tile.
  2. Define or edit the following parameters, then click Save to save your job and begin retrieving information.
    Table 2. Big Cloud Fabric Observer Ldap job parameters
    Parameter Action Details
    Unique ID Enter a unique name for the job Required
    Proxy hostname Specify the proxy server name Required
    Proxy Port Specify the proxy port number for the REST API Required
    Proxy username Specify the proxy username Required
    Proxy password Specify the proxy password Required. Use plain text.
    BCF authentication URL Specify the BCF authentication URL. Required
    BCF Controller Host Name Specify the BCF controller hostname in string format. The hostname is taken from the job parameter. Required.
    Note: The BCF controller hostname value (together with the proxy hostname and username) identifies the source of data for a Big Cloud Fabric Observer job instance. If your BCF controller hostname changes after a job is created, you must create more than one job instance.
    BCF controller hostname changes after job
    Create one job instance for each BCF controller hostname.
    BCF controller hostname DOES NOT change after job
    Create a single job instance with all BCF controller hostnames specified.
    HTTPS or HTTP connection to the BCF authentication server Specify whether the connection to the BCF authentication server should be HTTPS (secured) or HTTP. Required
    HTTPS or HTTP connection to the BCF proxy server Specify whether the connection to the BCF proxy server should be HTTPS (secured) or HTTP. Required
    Trust all certificates Verification Choose whether Trust all certificates Verification is true or false. Required. When set to true, the observer will trust all certificates.
    Delay between two api calls (in seconds) Specify the delay between retries Optional
    Concurrency Level Specify the Concurrency Level, with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5. Optional
    Authentication system certificate Specify the BCF Authentication system certificate to be used (if any). Optional. Required if the HTTPS or HTTP connection to the BCF authentication server parameter is true. To obtain authentication certificates using OpenSSL and store them as secrets, see Configuring observer job security.
    Proxy system certificate Specify the BCF proxy system certificate to be used (if any) Optional. Required if the HTTPS or HTTP connection to the BCF proxy server parameter is true. To obtain proxy certificates using OpenSSL and store them as secrets, see Configuring observer job security.
    SSL Host Name Verification Choose whether SSL validation is true or false. Optional.

    When SSL validation is set to false, the observer will make HTTPS connections without validating the proxy hostname of the provided certificate.
    Connection timeout (milliseconds) Enter the time at which the connection actions time out. Optional. Must be a value greater than 0 (zero), and the default is 5000 (5 seconds).
    Read timeout (milliseconds) Enter the time at which the read actions time out. Optional. Must be a value greater than 0 (zero), and the default is 5000 (5 seconds).
    Access scope

    Enter text to provide a scope for the resources.

    Access scope can help map alerts to resources when resources in different scopes share parameters, such as matchTokens.

    		 Optional.
    Tip: You can define access scope for locations, project names, namespaces, and so on.
    Generate debug support file
    Set the optional Generate debug support file parameter to True to capture the output of the next scheduled job run as a file. This file is stored with an observer's log files and can be used to debug observer issues, for example at the request of your designated Support team, or while using a test environment. For one-off jobs (that is, Load jobs), this parameter reverts to False after the next completed run. To examine the output produced, you can load the generated debug file using the File Observer. The file is saved to the following locations:
    On-premises
    $ASM_HOME/logs/<obs>-observer/
    On OpenShift Container Platform
    /var/log/itsm/<obs>-observer
    		 Optional
    Observer job description Enter additional information to describe the job. Optional
    Job schedule

    Specify when the job should run, and whether it should run at regular intervals.

    By default the job runs immediately, and only once.

    Optionally you can specify a future date and time for the job to run, and then set it to run at regular intervals after that.

    Optional. Transient (one-off) jobs only.

    If you set a job schedule, the run intervals must be at least 90 seconds apart. If you set them at less than 15 minutes, a warning is displayed, as the frequency can impact system performance.