Using Service Discovery › How to Create Automatic Relationship Policies

How to Create Automatic Relationship Policies

As an administrator, you use the Service Discovery Policy Editor to create and manage policies that automatically create relationships based on policy criteria.

Automatic relationship policies are based on the following:

Relationship

Defines the type of relationship to create.

Source CI

Defines the CI type to use as the source of the relationship with optional attribute-based criteria.

Target CI

Defines the CI type to use as the target of the relationship with optional attribute-based criteria.

Match Criteria

Defines how the source and target CIs must relate (based on attribute values) for the policy criteria to match and create a relationship between the CIs.

Scope

Defines under which services the relationships are created.

The automatic relationship policy creates a new relationship in the service that automatically adds the target CI to the service. Only the source CI needs to pre-exist in the service.

A CI can become part of the service through various ways; for example:

• Imported service already includes the CI in it.
• CI is manually added to the service.
• Another Service Discovery policy (for example, a dynamic service policy) adds the CI to services.

Note: When a policy specifies a class name (for example, class=ComputerSystem), the policy applies to the CIs of that class and also to its subclasses (as defined by the USM Schema Type hierarchy). For example, in the case of ComputerSystem, the policy would also apply to VirtualSystems.

When the specified source CI appears in a service and the policy criteria are met, Service Discovery adds a relationship to all the specified target CI in the service. You can scope the policies to a subset of service models or apply them to all service models in which the source CI exists.

For example, you can create an automatic relationship policy that creates relationships between ComputerSystem CIs and all RunningSoftware contained on the ComputerSystem based on matching ComputerSystem's and RunningSoftware's IP addresses.

You can create one policy at a time for a relationship. Multiple policies for each relationship are supported, but you must create them in separate operations.

Note: Service Discovery policies support only USM-Core CIs.

Use this scenario to guide you through the process:

1. Launch the Wizard.
2. Define the Relationship and Source CI Criteria.
3. Define the Target CI Criteria.
4. Define the Match Criteria.
5. Define the Relationship Scope.
6. Confirm the Automatic Relationship Policies Creation.

You can also read a scenario that provides an example for creating automatic relationship policies.