Hi All Is exporting data into spreadsheets and cleaning it, then importing really the best way to migrate configuration data between servers? As applications become more and more data-driven, the task of migrating configuration data on an ongoing basis becomes as important as migrating changes to workflow objects. It needs the same planning, controls and processes.
If you set up new SLAs, milestones and notifications on your test server for example, you need to be able to transfer that new configuration to your production server easily and with confidence that it will work properly. The same if you set up new support teams or roles, menu values, approval processes, etc. etc. I know this is not much comfort for those of you already committed to the ITSM7 route, but ESS addresses this problem by providing a separate configuration data management application that allows you to compare configuration data between servers, highlights the differences, and allows you to transfer it from one server to the other by simply selecting it and clicking a button. It seems to me that ITSM7 is crying out for a similar solution. Without it it's not really a mature application that you can manage on an ongoing basis. Perhaps it's time some of you put in an enhancement request to BMC for a proper application to manage you configuration data changes. For those not yet committed to moving to ITSM7, get in touch and we'd be pleased to show you an alternative that will allow you to leverage your investment and experience in Remedy and provide you with an application that will work on an on-going basis. Regards David Sanders Remedy Solution Architect Enterprise Service Suite @ Work ========================== ARS List Award Winner 2005 Best 3rd party Remedy Application tel +44 1494 468980 mobile +44 7710 377761 email [EMAIL PROTECTED] web http://www.westoverconsulting.co.uk ________________________________________ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of McClure, Don Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 9:40 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: Question: ITSM 7 (patch 6) - Migration This is a 'rest-of-the-story' addendum to Christopher Strauss' answer below: - Data for the items mentioned were extracted by pertinent reports (from user client, via *.csv), then loaded into BMC FDMT spreadsheets - Some normalization/'vetting' was also performed during such process, with spreadsheet columns providing good reminders as to 'required' vs 'optional' fields - Company, Location, People Locations were loaded first, staged then promoted, basically in one pass-- then contents were re-checked for proper laydown - Support Group, Business Time, Business Holidays were loaded next, with similar re-check after importation/promotion - Operational/Product Catalogs were loaded in third pass--and rechecked - Support Staff were then loaded, declared as support staff--but without allocation to support groups or roles (would require pre-declaration of specific template, counter-productive in our environment -- ca 270 support staff filling over 100 combinations of roles/groups, so 'template creation' would double the effort) - Support staff were associated to Support Groups, roles, and application permissions by hand--and assignment/ownership rules built by hand as well. Chris Strauss' observation is most appropriate--best advantage over by-hand loading is replicability in case of database rollback, at least in for our data profile. Batch-loading probably does same some time over repetitive single entriesalthough quantification may be difficult. The spreadsheets do provide useful 'scripts' for data normalization/fusion --a process which needs to happen for proper ITSM feeding, whether many organizations will admit such or not. I envision that the penalties for NOT performing careful normalizing/fusion increase greatly if CMDB is utilized--'unwashed' data makes reconciliation much more difficult. Rick, we did not succeed in executing the Effective Datalink tool through all its paceswould not run from client workstation, at least in our environment but I have successfully used the BMC tool for post-initial-run addenda. The file handling is roughly equivalent for both environments, given that one must follow approximately the same path with both tools (again, in our environment): --prepare spreadsheets on client desktop, with converion to *.csv files for arimportcmd --transfer *.csv files to server, to arimportcmd.exe can find them --execute arimportcmd-based batch file, importing data to staging forms --examine data in staging forms --validate/promote when satisfied with content. Quick and easy? Not by any stretch. But process is replicable, with numerous checkpoints. Don W. McClure, P.E. Data Administrator & System Engineer University of North Texas Computing & IT Center dwmac_at_unt.edu _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org Platinum Sponsor: www.rmsportal.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"
