Creating a custom module is essentially the process of creating a container to hold your customized Discovery jobs.

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1 This blog covers Effectual s best practices for customizing trigger TQL, CI Type inputs and input queries, as well as briefly explaining the rationale for our modifications. Each section will walk the reader through the steps in creating their own customizations using examples. Readers should have some prior knowledge of Discovery, TQL, and how to navigate the Discovery control panel. Examples and directions are taken from HP UCMDB 9.05 but the concepts illustrated are relevant to other versions. We recommend that all preliminary work be performed in a test environment where impact of changes can be observed and unwanted outcomes can be eliminated through an iterative process. Each OTB package has been customized by Effectual to trigger on specific CI types, which have been qualified to target intended nodes with appropriate protocols. The outcome is a Discovery process that can run efficiently and effectively, eliminating false error messaging, wasted effort and unnecessary overhead. Creating a custom module is essentially the process of creating a container to hold your customized Discovery jobs. 1. Click on the icon and select Create New Module. 2. Type in the name of the module (e.g. Africa Europe - Start 1PM End 12AM).

2 It is always a good idea to copy an OTB job and customize it rather than the original which can be used for reference material, backup and/or replacement in case irreparable damage occurs to the copy. 1. Right click the job and select 2. Enter the new job name 3. Right click on the job and select

3 4. Select the Module you previously created and click Customizing Trigger TQL is one of the quickest and easiest ways to extract efficiencies from Discovery. As long as the output node of the Trigger TQL query remains unchanged, this type of customization can be the only one you make. However, if the output node of the Trigger TQL is changed to a different CIT, all of the changes detailed in section 4 through the end of this document are necessary for the proper function of a job.

4 The custom Trigger TQL is more efficient than its OTB counterpart; it saves the time typically spent executing Discovery on qualified nodes and eliminates network overhead created by the additional connections.

5 Break up large numbers of triggered nodes into smaller parts Limit a Discovery job to a subset of the whole Separate jobs by region or time zone Assign a particular job or jobs to a specific probe or set of probes For a full set of instructions on how to customize Trigger TQL, refer to the section. Customizing the CIT input for a specific job can minimize the number of servers or CIs a job targets, eliminating overhead and error messages created by attempts to connect to a node with an inappropriate or incorrect protocol. 1. Select the job you want to modify and under the tab, click 2. In the Input pane, next to Input CI Type, click and select the related to the job.

6 Once the is changed, the and be changed to match the for the related Discovery job to run properly. 1. In the Input pane, click on to edit the Input Query 2. Below is the original Input Query 3. The will always need to be named. The image above reflects the OTB Input Query, which uses the Shell protocol as the SOURCE. To match the Input CIT changed in section 4., double click on the and change the element name to.

7 4. Next, change the name of the to by double clicking on it and changing the element name. 5. Shown below is the Final Input Query. Essentially the SOURCE and HOST element names have switched places. The Triggered CI data must be modified in order to pull the information from the correct nodes in the Input Query. This is how the discovery script gets information for authentication and discovery. Since the nodes in the query have swapped names, the strings in the Triggered CI data fields must be modified to match the changes made in section 5. Below are the OTB strings:

8 1. Change all the values to match the Input Query by changing the strings to point at the correct node, in this case HOST refers to the Shell CIT from 4. E. 2. Click to save the changes. Trigger Queries qualify CIs and focus Discovery by narrowing triggers to desired targets only. By changing the trigger CIT, you are telling the Discovery job to target specific CIs (e.g. Unix only). Trigger TQL will also need to be updated to reflect any changes made to Input CIT from the previous sections. 1. Click on the tab for the job you wish to modify. 2. In the pane, select the, and then click to edit the TQL.

9 3. Below is the original TQL, which has a Shell agent connected to a. This TQL will trigger all nodes that have a relationship to a SSH agent and will include undesired results: 4. To target only Unix servers, we need to change to 5. Click to save the TQL 6. Verify that your trigger CIT is the only CIT in the Trigger TQL that is not hidden; doing so makes it the output node of the Trigger TQL. To hide a CIT, right-click on the CIT and select Hide Element in Query Results

10 7. The box on the right side of the CIT denotes that the CIT is hidden. Customized jobs should be rebuilt any time changes to OTB jobs such as those made by installing a new Content Pack occur regardless of whether or not a Content Pack changes the underlying structures (scripts, etc.) of the customized jobs. Doing so can avoid unintended or unforeseen consequences.