Any data that can be saved to a CSV file can be imported using an import ruleset. This is useful for data saved in spreadsheets or any data that can be saved in CSV format, for example output of some barcode scanners or data from other applications . The ordering of the columns can be flexible as the import will assist you in specifying what data you want and don’t want and how that data should be mapped. You must create or import CIs before importing relationships; the CIs to relate have to already exist in the CMDB.
Import CIs
To import CI data from a text file that is in .CSV format:
From the CMDB homepage, select Admin | Imports. The CMDB Import Data page is displayed.
Click the New button. The Data Import | Add New Ruleset page is displayed.
From the Data Source Type drop-down field, choose Text File (csv). The page is expanded to display fields for defining the import.
Complete the fields as follows:
File location—Select one of the radio buttons:
Upload now—Enter the file location that is accessible from the current machine either by typing it directly in the field or by browsing to it. The location could be local, UNC path, or a shared network drive.
Read from FootPrints server—Enter the file location that is accessible from the server either by typing it directly in the field or by browsing to it. The location could be local, UNC path, or a shared network drive.
Retrieve from web—Enter the web address of the file.
Header row—Select one of the radio buttons:
the first row is a "header" row, with column names—The first row is not incorporated into the CMDB as data. The data in the header row will assist later in identifying the columns.
the first row is actual data—
The first row is incorporated into the CMDB as data.
Import type—Select one of the radio buttons:
CIs—The data contains information about CIs, such as attributes.
Relationships—The data contains CI relationship information.
Click the Next button. The CSV File Properties step is displayed.
The CSV File Properties step enables you to perform two simple but important functions. The first is to provide names for the columns of data that you are importing. This is useful if you have columns without header rows, or if you want to rename the name that came from the header row. These names will be used in the next step so making user friendly names here will assist you later. All of your columns must have names and you cannot remove any of them even if you don’t intend on using them. The second is to ensure that Configuration Manager correctly assigned a data type to the columns. For example, you may have a date/time field in one of your columns. Configuration Manager is very likely to consider that text. The CSV File Properties step allows you to correct that property and, in the case of date or date/time fields, specify the format for the data. To check on and modify the CSV file properties:
Highlight a column in the CSV File Columns field.
Click the Column Properties button. Fields are displayed containing the column properties as Configuration Manager was able to determine them.
You must name or change the name of the column by typing into the Name field.
To change the data type, select the correct data type from the drop-down field. A few rows of sample data appear for convenience to help you decide the data type. If you select "datetime", a Date Format drop-down field is displayed. Select the appropriate format from the drop-down field. “[DAY,]” represents that an optional 3 letter day of the week followed by a comma may be present. “MON” represents a 3 letter abbreviation for the month is present.
When you are satisfied with the properties for a column, click the Save Changes button.
When you are satisfied with the properties for all of the columns, click the Next button. The Data Mapping step is displayed.
Default CI Type—Select the CI type that will serve as the default. Any imported CI will be of this type unless it matches the criteria of subsequent CI type rules defined in the next step. It is best to choose the CI type that is most common for the default. The drop-down field will contain a list of all of the CI types in your CMDB. This field is mandatory. You must choose a default CI type.
CI Type Rules—You should create a CI type rule for every CI type you want to import that is not the default. If this import will only consist of 1 CI type, this step can be skipped. Click the Add button to create a rule. When you click the Add button, the CI Type Rule field is displayed. Complete the fields to filter the CI types to be included. Select a column from the CSV file on which to filter, then choose the data that would identify the CI Type in that column. For example, if your import contains mostly Desktops and some Laptops, you will have chosen “Desktop” as the default type in the previous step and will have to create a rule for the laptops. Select a column that would contain information on what type of CI is being imported. There may be a column that specifically has the text “Laptop” in it. You may also want to use some portion of the text from 1 of the columns. For example, you naming convention for your assets could mandate that all laptops have the letters “LAP” as the 1st 3 letters of the name. Lastly choose the CI Type from the list of CI Types you defined in the CMDB. You can change the rules later by returning to this page, highlighting the rule in the CI Type Rules field, and then clicking the Edit button.
Attribute Mapping—Map the columns from the CSV file to CI attributes. This section is mandatory. You must have at least one mapping.
Remove any CSV file columns that you don't want mapped from the list of column names by highlighting the column names and then clicking the Remove button. This allows you to only import the data that you truly want to see as part of the CMDB.
Click the Edit button next to any existing column name, or click the Add button to map a column that was previously removed.. The Attribute Mapping fields are displayed.
Select the column name from the Column drop-down field, then select the Attribute that it so be mapped to that column from the Attribute drop-down field. When the import is performed, the data is extracted from the column field and entered, as appropriate, as that Attribute.
Click the Complete button when you have made your selection. Be sure to map every Attribute that you want to import and to Remove every column that you do not want to import. Removal of unwanted columns is mandatory.
Status—Click one of the radio buttons. You can either apply a single status to every item imported (select the status you want to apply from the drop-down field), or you can use one of the columns that you are importing to specify the status. This section is mandatory.
Contacts—Optionally use one of the columns in the data you are importing to associate the CI with a contact. For example, you may have a unique identifier in a particular column in the CSV file that associates the CI with an individual. This can be mapped to a contact field you have set up in the Address Book, such as User ID. To map the column to the field for the purpose of associating CIs with contacts, select the column from the Columns drop-down field and then select the contact field from the Contact Fields drop-down field.
Unique Key—The Unique Key identifies whether a CI exists for the imported data already. When Configuration Manager performs the import, if the Unique Key for an existing CI matches the data to be imported, a new CI is not created, but the attributes for the existing CI will be updated. If a match is not found for the Unique Key, then a new CI is created. For example, you might designate a CSV file column named "Serial Number" as the Unique Key, assuming all serial numbers are unique. When Configuration Manager performs an update on the CMDB data, if the serial number of a CI that is being imported matches an existing serial number, Configuration Manager updates the attributes of the existing CI in the CMDB with any new data. If, however, a CI is being imported and there is no match between the Serial Number column and an existing CI, Configuration Manager creates a new CI for that data. You can add more than one Unique Key if you need to combine multiple columns in order to uniquely identify CIs.
Click the Next button. The General Options step is displayed.
The General Options step has fields which may be completed as follows:
Save As—Enter a name for this ruleset. Saving the rule is required in order to rerun the rule, either on a schedule or manually. If you save the ruleset, it will be displayed in a list the next time you select Admin | Imports from the CMDB homepage. At that point, you will also be able to edit the ruleset as well.
Notes—Enter any commentary you wish in this field.
Schedule—Define a schedule for running the import. The import will run automatically on the schedule you set here.
Immediately—The import is scheduled to run as soon as you click the Finish button and will start running within 1 minute.
Specific Time/Date—When you click this radio button, a field is displayed for selecting the time and date at which to run the import. Click anywhere in the field or on the icon to display the time and date scheduler. This is a one-time import.
Recurring—Select Recurring to set up an automatic, recurring import of data. When you click this radio button, a Configure button is displayed. Click the Configure button to display the scheduler. Set the recurring import to occur Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, then set the day of the week or month and the time of day on which to perform the import. This option is not available for an uploaded CSV file.
Manual Only—Select Manual Only to perform imports only when the system is instructed to do so from the Admin | Imports page by clicking the Run button.
Email Summary—The email summary sends a summary when the import is finished. The summary contains some basic information about the import, such as how many CIs were created and/or updated, as well as error messages received. Enter the email addresses or agent user IDs of those you want to receive an email summary.
Pop-up Summary—The pop-up summary displays the same information as the email summary, only as a pop-up window. The window is displayed either immediately to agents who are logged in or the first time an agent logs in after the import is performed. Enter the agent user IDs of those you want to receive a summary pop-up.
Enter your password and click the Finish button. The CMDB Data Import page is displayed with the new ruleset listed in the Ruleset column.
Import Relationships
This procedure describes importing relationship data from a CSV file. Some CIs must already exist in the CMDB in order to import relationships between them. The CSV file must contain a minimum of 2 columns that will uniquely identify the 2 CIs being related. Additionally, a column could exist that identifies the type of relationship if 1 ruleset will contain multiple relationship types. Additional columns that help uniquely identify the CIs could also be included if a combination of data from 2 or more columns is needed to uniquely identify the CI.
From the CMDB homepage, select Admin | Imports. The CMDB Import Data page is displayed.
Click the New button. The Data Import | Add New Ruleset page is displayed.
From the Data Source Type drop-down field, choose Text File (csv). The page is expanded to display fields for defining the import.
Complete the fields as follows:
File location—Chose one of the radio buttons:
Upload now—Enter the file location that is accessible from the current machine either by typing it directly in the field or by browsing to it. The location could be local, UNC path, or a shared network drive.
Read from FootPrints server—Enter the path of the file as it exists on the FootPrints web server.
Retrieve from web—Enter the web address of the file.
Header row—Chose one of the radio buttons:
the first row is a "header" row, with column names—The first row is not incorporated into the CMDB as data. The data in the header row will assist later in identifying the columns.
the first row is actual data—
The first row is incorporated into the CMDB as data.
Click the radio button for the Relationships import type. The two Import Type options are:
CIs—The data contains information about CIs, such as attributes.
Relationships—The data contains CI relationship information.
Click the Next button. The CSV File Properties step is displayed.
The CSV File Properties step enables you to perform two simple but important functions. The first is to provide names for the columns of data that you are importing. This is useful if you have columns without header rows, or if you want to rename the name that came from the header row. These names will be used in the next step so making user friendly names here will assist you later. All of your columns must have names and you cannot remove any of them even if you don’t intend on using them. The second is to ensure that Configuration Manager correctly assigned a data type to the columns. For example, you may have a date/time field in one of your columns. Configuration Manager is very likely to consider that text. The CSV File Properties step allows you to correct that property and, in the case of date or date/time fields, specify the format for the data. To check on and modify the CSV file properties:
Highlight a column in the CSV File Columns field.
Click the Column Properties button. Fields are displayed containing the column properties as Configuration Manager was able to determine them.
You must name or change the name of the column by typing the name in the Name field.
To change the data type, select the correct data type from the drop-down field. A few rows of sample data appear for convenience to help you decide the data type. If you select "datetime", a Date Format drop-down field is displayed. Select the appropriate format from the drop-down field. “[DAY,]” represents that an optional 3 letter day of the week followed by a comma may be present. “MON” represents a 3 letter abbreviation for the month is present.
When you are satisfied with the properties for a column, click the Save Changes button.
When you are satisfied with the names and properties of all of the columns, click the Next button. The Relationships step is displayed. In this step, specify the relationship mapping from the CSV file to the relationships you defined within the CMDB.
Relationship—This is a mandatory selection.
Select one Relationship for the whole import—This option is provided if your CSV file contains information on a single relationship type. For example, the file might have two columns, the first containing the IP addresses of PCs and the second containing the names of printers to which those PCs print. In that circumstance, you can define a single relationship for the data you are importing. Select the relationship that is associated with this import from the drop-down field.
Relationship is specified in an imported column—This option is provided if your CSV file contains information about the type of relationships within one of the columns. This is useful if you are planning to import multiple relationship types within 1 ruleset. Select the column that contains the relationship information from the drop-down field.
From CI Identifier—This field is used to define which column(s) in the file corresponds to which CI attribute in the CMDB. Using our example above, the first column containing the IP addresses of the PCs might be called "IP adds", which could correspond to the attribute "IP Address" in the CMDB. At least one mapping must be defined. To perform the mapping, click the Add button. The Select Identifier fields are displayed.
Column—Select the name of the column that contains data that will uniquely identify a CI that exists in the CMDB for the From relationship from the drop-down field.
Attribute—Select the name of the attribute that contains data that will match the data being imported from the column for the From relationship from the drop-down field.
If two or more columns of data are needed to uniquely identify the From CI, you can add additional identifiers. Only CIs that match all From identifiers will be selected when the import runs.
When you have made your selections, click the Complete button. The mapping is displayed in the From CI Identifier field.
To CI Identifier—This field is used to define which column(s) in the file corresponds to which CI attribute in the CMDB. Using our example above, the second column containing the Names of the Printers might be called "Printers", which could correspond to the attribute "Printer Name" in the CMDB. At least one mapping must be defined. To perform the mapping, click the Add button. The Select Identifier fields are displayed.
Column—Select the name of the column that contains data that will uniquely identify a CI that exists in the CMDB for the To relationship from the drop-down field.
Attribute—Select the name of the attribute that contains data that will match the data being imported from the column for the To relationship from the drop-down field.
If two or more columns of data are needed to uniquely identify the To CI, you can add additional identifiers. Only CIs that match all To identifiers will be selected when the import runs.
When you have made your selections, click the Complete button. The mapping is displayed in the To CI Identifier field.
When you have completed the fields on this page, click the Next button. The General Options step is displayed.
The General Options step has fields which may be completed as follows:
Save As—Enter a name for this ruleset. Saving the rule is required in order to rerun the rule, either on a schedule or manually. If you save the ruleset, it will be displayed in a list the next time you select Admin | Imports from the CMDB homepage. At that point, you will also be able to edit the ruleset as well.
Notes—Enter any commentary you wish in this field.
Schedule—Define a schedule for running the import. The import will run automatically on the schedule you set here.
Immediately—The import is scheduled to run as soon as you click the Finish button and will start running within 1 minute.
Specific Time/Date—When you click this radio button, a field is displayed for selecting the time and date at which to run the import. Click anywhere in the field or on the icon to display the time and date scheduler. This is a one-time import.
Recurring—Select Recurring to set up an automatic, recurring import of data. When you click this radio button, a Configure button is displayed. Click the Configure button to display the scheduler. Set the recurring import to occur Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, then set the day of the week or month and the time of day on which to perform the import. This option is not available for an uploaded CSV file.
Manual Only—Select Manual Only to perform imports only when the system is instructed to do so from the Admin | Imports page by clicking the Run button.
Email Summary—The email summary sends a summary when the import is finished. The summary contains some basic information about the import, such as how many CIs were created and/or updated, as well as error messages received. Enter the email addresses or agent user IDs of those you want to receive an email summary.
Pop-up Summary—The pop-up summary displays the same information as the email summary, only as a pop-up window. The window is displayed either immediately to agents who are logged in or the first time an agent logs in after the import is performed. Enter the agent user IDs of those you want to receive a summary pop-up.
Enter your password and click the Finish button. The CMDB Data Import page is displayed with the new ruleset listed in the Ruleset column.