Management Templates and Aspects

Administration > Monitoring > Management Templates & Aspects

Alternatively, click Management Templates & Aspects.

To simplify creating management templates or aspects that are similar to existing management templates or aspects, you can create copies of any existing management templates or aspects by right-clicking the item and selecting Copy Item from the drop-down list.

Right-clicking the item and selecting Paste Item pastes a previously copied item to a new location. If you have copied a single item, you can specify a completely new name; if you have copied multiple items, you can specify only a suffix that will then be added to the original names of the copied items.

You can also move individual items to different locations by dragging and dropping them from one location to another. You can select multiple items by holding down the Ctrl or Shift key while selecting them.

You can generate the following types of reports:

• Inventory Report

  The inventory report lists which management templates, aspects and policy templates are available on the server. To generate the inventory report, go to the Management Templates & Aspects screen and click Generate Inventory Report in the Configuration Folders pane.

  Note: There is only one inventory report. Therefore, the report is the same, no matter which configuration folder is selected when you generate the report. You can only generate the inventory report from the Management Templates & Aspects screen.

• Assignment Report

  Assignment reports list which CIs are assigned to a selected management template, aspect or policy template. To generate an assignment report from the Management Templates & Aspects screen, select a management template or aspect and click Generate Assignment Report in the Management Templates & Aspects pane.

  You can also generate assignment reports, as well as other types of reports, from the Assignments & Tuning screen.

If a newer version of an aspect exists, you can update the related management templates and aspects to the latest version.

1. In the Management Templates & Aspects pane, right-click the aspect for which a newer version exists, and select List Items Requiring an Update from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, click List Items Requiring an Update. The Update to Latest wizard opens at Management Templates and Aspects.

   Note Listing items requiring an update can only be done for one aspect at a time. Selection of multiple aspects is not supported.

2. The Management Templates and Aspects screen displays a list of management templates and aspects that do not contain the latest aspect version and may therefore require an update. Management templates precede the aspects.

   Note The aspects included in the management templates are also listed and are selected automatically if the management template that contains this aspect is selected. If you deselect a contained aspect, it will still be updated with the management template anyway, however, the assignments and automatic assignment rules related to that aspect will not be displayed in the next steps of the wizard.

   The same applies to the nested aspects, that is aspects within other aspects.

   Select the item(s) you want to update and click Next.

3. The Review screen displays a preview of the resulting tree view of management templates and aspects after the update takes place. The items are labeled "(old version > new version)".

   Review the structure and modify it if required, for example, by excluding single items as described below.

   1. Select the item you want to exclude.

   2. Click Exclude From Update. The selected item is now excluded from the update as indicated by the label being followed by the Exclude From Update item.

   3. Click Reload Preview to apply the exclusion. The list of management templates and aspects is refreshed and displays a changed status.

   To include a manually excluded item again, select it and click Include in Update followed by Reload Preview.

   Note Top-level items selected for update at the previous step cannot be excluded from update at the Review screen. To exclude already included top-level items, click Back to return to the Management Templates and Aspects screen and deselect the items.

   When no further changes are required, click the Apply button to start the update.

   A progress bar is displayed showing the information on the update progress. When the update is finished, you are automatically taken to the Summary screen.

4. The Summary screen displays a list of updated management templates and aspects. The columns Old Version and New Version display the original and the latest version the item has been updated to.

   Review the updates. If you want to update the related assignments and/or automatic assignment rules, click Next. If no update is required, click Close to exit the wizard.

5. Optional. The Auto-Assignment Rules screen displays a list of related automatic assignment rules that may require an update. Select the automatic assignment rule(s) that you want to update and click Update Assigned Item. Only the rules of one assigned item can be updated in one step.
   Note that this screen is not available if you are not assigned a role with Full Control permission for a configuration folder in Assignments, and Full Control permission for Automatic Assignment Rules (for details, see Users, Groups, and Roles).

   For more information on updating the automatic assignment rules, see How to Update Automatic Assignment Rules.

   Note The update of the automatic assignment rule triggers the update of the related assignments.

   After the update is completed, click Next to proceed to the Assignments screen or Close to exit the wizard.

6. Optional. The Assignments screen displays a list of related assignments that may require an update. Select the assignment(s) that you want to update and click Update Assigned Item.
   Note that this screen is not available if you are not assigned a role with Full Control permission for a configuration folder in Assignments (for details, see Users, Groups, and Roles).

   For more information on updating the automatic assignment rules, see How to Update Assignments.

   Note You can only update direct assignments. Direct assignments triggered by automatic assignment rules are not displayed. To update direct assignments triggered by automatic assignment rules, update the related automatic assignment rule.

   After the update is completed, click Close to exit the wizard.

If newer versions of a management template or aspect exist, you can update the related assignments and automatic assignment rules to contain any existing version. You can only update direct assignments. However, if you update a parent assignment that triggered indirect assignments, all related indirect assignments are updated as well.

1. In the Management Templates & Aspects pane, right-click the management template or aspect for which newer versions exist, and select List Assignments for Selected Item from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, click List Assignments for Selected Item. A list of all existing assignments is displayed.

2. Select the assignment(s) you want to update and click Update Assigned Item. The Update Assigned Item wizard opens at Update Options.

3. Select the management template or aspect version you want to update the assigned item to (by default, the latest version is preselected) and specify one of the following options:

   • To use parameter values from existing assignments, select Use parameter values from existing assignments.

   • To use default parameter values from the new management template or aspect version, select Use default parameter values from version selected above.

4. Click Next to go to Required Parameters. If you selected Use parameter values from existing assignments, only the new mandatory parameters that do not have a default value are listed. If you selected Use default parameter values from version selected above, all mandatory parameters from the selected management template or aspect version that do not have a default value are displayed. These parameters must be edited before proceeding to the next step of the wizard.

   To change a parameter, double-click it or select it from the list and click Edit. The Edit Parameter dialog opens. Make the required changes and click Next to go to Parameter Summary or Finish to save the changes and close the wizard.

   If there are no mandatory parameters that require editing for this assignment, you are automatically taken to the Parameter Summary screen.

   Click Next to go to Parameter Summary or Finish to save the changes and close the wizard.

5. Optional. Parameter Summary displays the following:

   • All new parameters if you selected Use parameter values from existing assignments.

   • All parameters from the selected management template or aspect version if you selected Use default parameter values from version selected above.

   Review the parameter values and make the required changes by double-clicking a parameter or selecting it from the list and clicking Edit.

   • For standard parameters, the Edit Parameter dialog opens.

     To set a specific default parameter value, specify Value in the range that is valid for this parameter. This value overrides any default values defined in the management template or aspect.

     To use the default value defined in the management template or aspect, select Revert to the initial assignment value.

     Click OK to continue.

   • For instance parameters, the Edit Instance Parameter dialog opens.

     Add instance values and specify dependent parameter values for each instance value. Click OK.

6. Click Finish to save the changes and close the wizard. The assigned item is updated to the specified management template or aspect version.