Xtraction for CA Service Management is a real-time, ad hoc dashboard and reporting tool that lets you create interactive dashboards and reports that you can share with the broader user community.

Xtraction Dashboard and Reporting Tool lets you create private and shared folders. Private folders can be viewed and used by only the user that created the folder. Shared folders can be configured to be viewed by specific individuals, groups, or both. Xtraction lets you organize users into groups and then specify permissions to the shared folders to those groups. Thus, you can manage the groups of users that want to allow access to specific shared objects. For example, dashboards, reports, and documents.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Xtraction.
2. Create a folder and define the folder as a shared folder.
3. Create a group, and add the appropriate users to that group.
4. Apply the appropriate group permissions to the shared folder that you created.

Repeat the above steps to create different folders for different departments. Next, place the dashboards created specifically for the different departments into their shared folder, and then allow the group to access the folder that contains the dashboard. With this approach, you prevent users from other departments from accessing the data contained in the folder.

Note: Be aware that groups created using Xtraction are not related to Service Desk groups or the groups created using other Service Management products. As such, the groups are not created automatically and do not coincide with each other. Using Xtraction, you manually create the groups that you need and then manually add the appropriate users to those groups.

For more information about Xtraction, see the Xtraction for CA Service Management website.

The CA Service Desk Manager installation requires various ports and port ranges to be opened on your firewall. This port information helps your site and security administrators install and configure CA SDM, as well as integrations with other CA Technologies solutions and third-party products.

The ports that you need to open on your firewall depend on settings in the NX.env file. By default, CA SDM chooses the appropriate port based on availability. The system reserves ports less than 1024, but can request a port number as high as 65335.

The following list displays default and recommended ports for CA CMDB, Visualizer, and Support Automation:

CA CMDB

- Visualizer: 9080
- Visualizer Apache Tomcat Shutdown: 9085
- CA Cohesion ACM: 9000
- CA Cohesion ACM Tomcat Shutdown: 9005

Visualizer

- Apache Tomcat: 9080
- Apache Tomcat Shutdown: 9085

Support Automation

- Main Server (Socket Server) Internal: 7005
- Main Server (Socket Server) External: 10443
- Socket Proxy Server (Socket Configuration Main Server) Internal: 7005
- Socket Proxy Server (Socket Configuration Main Server) External: 10444
- Message Routing Server (Socket Configuration) External: 10444
- Apache Tomcat: 8070
- Apache Tomcat Shutdown: 8075

You can create a CA SDM ticket from the Support Automation Analyst Interface, such as an incident.

Follow these steps:

1. Open an active assistance session.
2. Provide live assistance to the end user.
3. Select a template, such as SA-Open or SA-Resolved, from the Status drop-down list.
4. CA SDM creates the ticket when you close the assistance session by selecting a status.

Note: Your administrator configures the ticket status types available in Live Assistance.

The Change Advisory Board (CAB) is responsible for reviewing all major changes to production systems. CAB members are notified that a change request requires their approval, and they do the following:

1. List change requests that the CAB must review.
2. Open the CAB Console and view the information contained in the request.
3. View the business justification, implementation plan, configuration items, and supporting documentation associated with the request and decide to approve it or reject it.
4. Approve or reject the change order, and the next change order in the list appears automatically.The person requesting that the change is notified automatically that the CAB status is updated for the change request.

For more information, see the article CAB Responsibilities and CAB Groups on the CA Answer Bar,

With CA Service Desk Manager, Change Managers are responsible for monitoring change orders to the operational environment to ensure that the operation team members comply with business policies and processes. The Change Calendar can facilitate resolution of issues such as change order conflicts by scheduling black-out dates and freeze periods during which a CI or a set of CIs can be changed. Change Managers also do the following:

1. Oversee the CAB Console from which online and quick approvals of change orders and requests for changes are managed.
2. Organize CABs with members appropriate for the change orders under consideration and conduct regularly scheduled CAB meetings to review incoming change orders.
3. Create reports with details about the proposed requests for changes ready for CAB review and electronically distribute the reports to all CAB members.
4. Perform a real-time review of each request for change and update the record with the CAB decision during the CAB meeting.
5. Use BusinessObjects InfoView to manage Compliance, Forecast, Trend, and Volume reports and create on-demand reports.
6. Represent their respective areas and communicate the impact of high-level risk changes at CAB meetings.
7. Evaluate the risk of each change and ensure that the appropriate risk level is assigned to the change.

For more information, see the article Configuration Audit and Control Facility (CACF) on the CA Answer Bar.

With CA Service Desk Manager, you can provide live assistance to end users by using the Support Automation Analyst Interface. You monitor queues, manage multiple end-user assistance sessions, and interact with end users to resolve their computer problems.

You access Live Assistance from a ticket page, such as an incident, issue or request, or the Support Automation tab. You can also open a CA SDM ticket from Live Assistance.

Important! Analysts without read access to their tenant cannot launch the Support Automation analyst client, and a warning message appears in CA SDM, such as from the main Support Automation tab or a ticket.

Use the following tools to provide live assistance to end users in your support environment:

Chat

Launches instant message to the end user or to use preset text and URLs.

Automated Tasks

Runs predefined diagnostic or repair scripts on the end-user computer.

File Explorer

Browses files on the end-user computer and create, modify, rename, or delete files and directories.

File Transfer

Copies and transfers files and folders to the end-user computer. You can also copy and transfer files from the end-user computer.

Remote Registry

Creates, edits, deletes, exports, or imports registry records on the end-user computer.

Screenshot

Captures screenshots of the end-user computer when connection quality is not sufficient for remote control assistance.

Remote Control

Controls the end-user computer remotely.

Remote System Tools

Restarts or shuts down the end-user computer.

Run Program

Launches a program on the end-user computer without using the Remote Control tool.

Impersonate

Impersonates authentication credentials on the end-user computer, such as a privileged user.

Important! Your system administrator or tenant administrator configures access levels, your role permissions, and can disable any of the Live Assistance tools.

For more information about Administering Support Automation, see the article Administering Support Automation on the CA Answer Bar.

CA Service Desk Manager lets you use queues to help manage live assistance sessions. End users join queues where you have access to assist them, and you provide live assistance as follows:

1. End users request live assistance and are forwarded to the appropriate queue.
2. The administrator determines your queue access.
3. Select users from the queue and begin assistance sessions.
4. Use the Support Automation Analyst Interface to provide live assistance.
5. Close or transfer assistance sessions as necessary.

For more information about managing Live Assistance, see the article Support Automation Analyst Administration on the CA Answer Bar.

With CA Service Desk Manager, change verification helps to ensure that Change Orders execute according to change specifications. Verification occurs after Change Orders enter a change management state, such as Verification In Progress and when any kind of CI update occurs. At this time, when data from any MDR or web client user imports into the configuration management database (CMDB), Configuration Audit and Control Facility (CACF) compares the incoming attribute data with active change specifications. When the configuration item (CI) attribute data matches, CACF verifies the change. when the inbound data does not match the Change Order specifications, actions to remediate the variance can occur based on policy. As a result, any or all of the following actions can occur when policies execute:

1. Rejects a single attribute update from the transaction.
2. Rejects the entire transaction, including all attributes and value pairs.
3. Loads the entire transaction to the transaction work area (TWA) for deferred processing after approval and verification of the transaction.
4. Creates an Incident that describes each variance. This action can trigger existing notification and automation. To prevent multiple incident creation, rogue change detection only creates a single incident for all rogue changes to a single CI.
5. Accepts the transaction unconditionally when accepting data from authorized source MDRs.

Example: 

The CA CMDB Administrator can define a policy that creates an Incident when a change to a production server executes incorrectly. When imported data from an authorized MDR does not match a pending change specification, CACF creates an Incident. The policy can allow or reject a CI update by the nonmatching import data. In addition, the Change Manager can have the opportunity to accept the newly discovered value, even if the value does not match the planned change specification exactly.

Note: When multiple discoveries occur during change specification verification, discovery data can invalidate a previously verified change. At the end of verification, the CI is in the state that all the change specifications want.

With CA Service Desk Manager, Change Management is a set of features for Change Managers and Change Advisory Board (CAB) members to coordinate the review and approval of change requests for configuration item (CI) components and services. For example, Change Managers can review and approve all changes to CI components and services to verify that no new security vulnerabilities are introduced into the production environment. The Change Manager leads the CAB and is responsible for the ultimate approval of change requests. Change Management includes the following components:

Change Calendar

Displays a graphical view of change events, including all scheduled, failed, and in-progress change requests for CIs and services in a configurable calendar view. The calendar also displays black-out dates, which are freeze periods. Users can create a change order from the context menu on the daily, weekly, and monthly calendar views. The Change Manager, Level 2 Analysts, and CAB members use this feature.

Change Scheduler

Displays scheduled time periods during which CI changes can or cannot occur in the Change Calendar. The Change Manager uses this feature to view and create change schedules and CI associations during the time period.

Conflict Analysis and Collision Detection

Analyzes change orders to help identify potential implementation conflicts that could increase risk of failure. The Change Manager uses this feature.

Workflow Visualization

Displays the approval process for change requests. The Change Manager uses this feature.

CAB Console and Reporting

Displays a dashboard that facilitates quick online approvals of change orders that require CAB approval.In CA SDM, the Change Manager can generate a report with details about the proposed requests for changes ready for CAB review and electronically distribute the reports to all CAB members.

Note: Users with appropriate privileges can display Compliance, Forecast, Trend, and Volume predefined reports for change management in BusinessObjects InfoView with CA Business Intelligence.

Risk Assessment

Provides the ability to attach risk assessments for each change request submitted. The Risk Survey Option lets you create surveys to evaluate risks, and associate them with change categories. The risk survey lists a series of single or multiple choice questions.

Impact Explorer

Displays CI-to-CI relationships for CIs that are attached to a change order. Impact Explorer is launched from the Change Order Detail page to facilitate on-demand impact analysis. The Change Manager uses this feature.

Change Verification

Verifies that changes execute accurately and no unauthorized changes occur, so that CMDB contains an accurate and current representation of all managed CIs.

With CA Service Desk Manager, all actions that you perform during the assistance session, such as chat dialog (excluding Whisper conversations), automated task results, and using a specific Support Automation Analyst Interface tool update the Session Log.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the active session view.
2. Select the Session Log from the toolbar or Sessions menu.
3. Click Refresh Now.
4. Select the Auto-Refreshing check box.
5. Click Save Log to Disk.
   Note: You can save the session log locally as an HTML file.

For more information about chat sessions, see the article Chat Preset Administration and Session Log Administration on the CA Answer Bar.

With CA Service Desk Manager, the analyst, administrator, or tenant administrator creates chat presets that you can use in assistance sessions, such as greetings. You can chat with end users during live assistance sessions. While you can use live assistance concurrently with telephone conversations, the interactive chat tool lets you communicate using instant text messages.

The chat displays directly inside both the end user and Support Automation Analyst Interface windows. The chat notifies you that someone joined your session, someone is initiating a new chat, someone left a session that is still in progress with other participants, and someone has ended a session.

You can also use the following chat functionality:

Whisper Messages: Sends private messages to selected members. Analysts you invited to your assistance session cannot see these messages.
Note: Whisper messages do not appear in the Session Log. You can only use whisper messages when more than one analyst handles the session.

Push URL: Directs the end user to a specific URL. The administrator sets whether the URL opens automatically or if the end user must open the URL manually.

Chat Presets: Sends preconfigured text messages to commonly asked questions and common situations. Presets can consist of text messages or commonly pushed URLs. Chat presets display in the Preset Tree area of the Chat Tool view. Chat presets include greetings and typical answers that can be populated automatically with information specific to the current assistance session, such as the names of the participants.

The CA Service Desk Manager Configuration Audit and Control Facility (CACF) combines Change Management, Configuration Management (CMDB), and Discovery Management to provide change verification. Change verification helps to ensure that the CMDB reflects any changes accurately, and the Discovery Management tools verify the changes.

You administer the CACF components in the Configuration Control node in the CA CMDB section of the Administration tab and define and view CACF change specifications from the Change Order, CI and Incident forms.

As a best practice, administrators should consider allowing standard changes, defining authoritative and trusted sources of data, and defining which CIs and CI attributes are under CACF management. If an incorrectly executed change or rogue change occurs (also referred to as a variance), CA SDM can accept the new value, create an Incident, or copy the data to the TWA for later processing. CA SDM can also use any combination of these actions.

For detailed information about using the Configuration Audit and Control Facility, see the article Configuration Audit and Control Facility (CACF) on the CA Answer Bar.

Did you know that CA Technologies has a YouTube channel? There are many “How to” videos targeted directly to using CA SDM. Here are just a few of the many YouTube videos that describe how to perform various tasks using CA SDM:

CA Service Desk Manager – BOXI Post Installation
CA Service Desk Manager – CABI Adding a Custom Column
CA Service Desk Manager – Mobile Collaboration
CA Service Desk Manager – Mobile Task Approvals
CA Service Desk Manager – Mobile Ticket Create
CA Service Desk Manager – Support Diagnostic Tool
CA Service Desk Manager – Tomcat Debug Logging

If you have not already done so, subscribe to the CA Technologies YouTube channel and watch for great new content!

If there is a “How to” video that you would like to see created, please let us know!

CA Service Desk Manager DM RESTful Web Services (RWS) is a web service interface (tool) that you can use as an alternative to the existing SOAP-based web service.

Example:
It was brought to our attention that in various environments where CA SDM is migrated or upgraded from a previous release, the following error can occur during the process of deploying the REST API:

The system is out of resources
Consult the following stack trace for details
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

CA SDM logs the error in the JREST.LOG file. However, when you deploy REST manually, the above message displays in the command prompt window after you run the pdm_rest_util command.

This error can occur when you migrate your CA SDM environment and CA SDM is configured to use an older version Java. Previous releases of CA SDM were packaged with Java 1.6.0_00. Service Desk Manager r12.7 is packaged with Java 1.6.0_30 and is required for REST. During the process of migrating to CA SDM r12.7, the newer version of Java may be installed on the server, however, CA SDM was not configured to use the newer version of Java. As a result, the migration process uses the older version of Java to perform the migration process.

Follow these steps:

1. Determine the version of Java that is installed and in use on the server. To do this, go to the Service Desk Manager NX_ROOT location, back up (copy) the NX.ENV file and then open the backup file with a text editor. Locate the following information in the backup file:
   @NX_JRE_INSTALL_DIR=
   The path should resemble the following (based on the location of where the JRE is installed on the server):
   C:/Program Files (x86)/CA/SC/JRE/1.6.0_30
   If the path resembles the following:
   C:/Program Files (x86)/CA/SC/JRE/1.6.0_00
   Change the path manually in the original file to the correct value.
   Note: Before you change the value, verify that the 1.6.0_30 directory is valid on the server.
2. After you make the change in the original NX.ENV file, restart the CA SDM service and then run the “pdm_rest_util -deploy” command to complete the REST deployment process.
   You can now use RESTful Web Services with CA SDM r12.7.

Note: To help developers get started, CA SDM provides sample programs. The samples vary from a functional mobile sample UI application written using jQuery Mobile and JavaScript to many Java sample programs which demonstrate the different capabilities of CA SDM RWS.

For more information about using the REST API, see the article CA SDM REST API on the CA Answer Bar.

CA Remote Engineer is a utility that is designed to gather logs and information from a server where CA Technologies products are installed. CA Remote Engineer supports CA Service Desk Manager implementations.

CA Remote Engineer helps to simplify the manual process of gathering detailed information to provide to CA Support engineers. The utility helps to save you time and effort and help CA Support engineers resolve your problem faster. CA Remote Engineer gathers the following types of information:

- Version of CA SDM that is installed on the server
- CA SDM logs and configuration data
- Integrated CA Technologies and third party products
- Details about the operating system and the hardware that is installed on the CA SDM server

You download CA Remote Engineer from the CA Remote Engineer Product Page at remoteengineer.ca.com. After you download the utility, extract the contents of the .zip file (Windows) or tar.gz file (UNIX and Linux) to any location on the CA SDM server.

To collect information on Window platforms, use the RE.cmd command from the Command Line or the RemoteEngineer.cmd graphical user interface.

To collect information on UNIX and Linux platforms, use the RE.sh command from the Command Line, or the RemoteEngineer.sh graphical user interface. Note that on Linux platforms, RemoteEngineer.sh requires GLIBC++3.4.9 or higher.

For more information, see the CA Remote Engineer “How To” website.

CA Service Desk Manager lets you use Role Management to change the way users access the user interface. When you change the access levels for a role, the user interface shows only objects, pages, and menu items based on the access level. For example, if a role can no longer create contacts, the File menu omits New Contacts.

Follow these steps:

1. On the Administration tab, select the Security and Role Management, Role Management, Role List.
2. On the Role List, right-click the role name and select Edit from the short-cut menu.
3. Click Edit in List on the Function Access tab.
4. Click a function name to highlight the row.
5. Update the functional access areas with the following access levels as appropriate:
   None
   Denies the role access to the function object.
   View
   Grants read-only capability to the function object.
   Modify
   Grants read/write access to the function object.
6. Click Save.
   A message confirms the change. The role can immediately use the functional access area at the specified access level.
7. Verify the access level, by logging in as the role and checking menus, page options, and buttons.

If you would like to contribute to authoring an article for CA Service Desk Manager, please contact james.bauman@ca.com.

Roles are the primary records that control CA Service Desk Manager security and user interface navigation. Each role defines a focused view of the system by exposing only the functionality necessary for users to perform the tasks typically assigned to the role they perform within their business organization.

A user’s default role determines the system view that is presented upon login. Users with multiple role assignments can switch from one role to another to see different views of the system without having to log out and log back in again.

For more information about CA Service Desk Manager roles, see the topic Predefined Roles in the article Managing Roles on the CA Answer Bar.

If you would like to contribute to authoring an article for CA Service Desk Manager, please contact james.bauman@ca.com.

CA Service Desk Manager uses a separate log4j.properties file for its web components such as Servlets and PDM_RPC. Support Automation, Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Visualizer, and REST also have a separate log4j.properties file. Starting or stopping Tomcat logging does not require you to recycle the Tomcat daemons.

The following list describes how the log4j.properties files of CA SDM components differ:

CA SDM monitors the log4j.properties in the NX_ROOT\site\cfg and in the NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\CATALINA_BASE\webapps\CAisd\WEB-INF for changes.

Support Automation monitors the log4j.properties in the NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\CATALINA_BASE_SA\webapps\SupportAutomation\WEB-INF.

CMDB Visualizer monitors the cmdbvisualizerlogging.properties in the NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\CATALINA_BASE_VIZ\webapps\CMDBVisualizer\WEB-INF\classes.

REST monitors the rest.log4j.properties in the NX_ROOT\site\cfg.

Use the pdm_log4j_config utility only for changing variables in the log4j.properties, cmdbvisualizerlogging.properties, and rest.log4j.properties files. You cannot use the pdm_log4j_config utility to modify the polling interval.

CA SDM checks the log4j properties files for any changes periodically. Configure the time interval by modifying the NX_LOG4J_REFRESH_INTERVAL variable in the NX.env file.

If you would like to contribute to authoring an article for CA Service Desk Manager, please contact james.bauman@ca.com.

The support structure of your service desk consists of the components that users need for resolving problems. You can set up the CA Service Desk Manager support structure to match your support model (internal, external, or both).

You can customize issues, requests, and change orders to best suit the needs of your site.

For more information, see the article Support Structure on the CA Answer Bar.

If you would like to contribute to authoring an article for CA Service Desk Manager, please contact james.bauman@ca.com.

For many sites, the predefined CA Service Desk Manager roles are sufficient. However, there may be situations that warrant you to create custom roles and tailor the roles to meet site-specific business needs within your organization.

The following process outlines the tasks required in implementing a new role. The example shown here describes how you might implement a role for a small group of analysts tasked with reviewing and authorizing change order tickets.

Follow these steps:

1. Create a new role record using the following field values:
   Role Name: Change Analyst
   Code: chg_anal
   Customization Form Group: Analyst
   Preferred Document: Incident
2. Select Service Desk Analyst in the Data Partition field on the Authorization tab.
3. Select the Modify in the Change Orders field on the Function Access tab.
4. Enter the following values on the Web Interface tab:
   Web User Interface Type: Analyst
   Help View: Change Analyst
5. Select the Reports tab – Change Analyst, Service Desk tab – Change Analyst, and Change Calendar tab.
6. Select Active Change Orders Aging by Priority for Status, Active Change Orders at Weeks End, and Change Orders by Failed Service Type for Change Categories on the Report Web Forms tab.
7. Add the Change Order resource on the Go Resources tab, and create a custom help set named Change Analyst that includes all content appropriate for the new role.
8. Create custom tabs using features appropriate for the new role, such as Reports tab – Change Analyst and Service Desk tab – Change Analyst.
9. Create a custom menu tree that includes all nodes appropriate for the new role.

For more information about CA Service Desk Manager roles, see the article Managing Roles on the CA Answer Bar.

If you would like to contribute to authoring an article for CA Service Desk Manager, please contact james.bauman@ca.com.