BMC Helix Discovery Reviews

BMC Helix Discovery was used in the process of discovering data centers. I assisted with planning for migration projects by building out the move groups. I used the BMC Helix tool to discover all the assets and the connectivity between the assets. BMC Helix is an ITSM tool, and it is one of the few tools that will actually discover the server-to-server communications.

The best aspect of BMC Helix Discovery is its flexibility. You can perform scanning at any time, and it provides substantial data for extraction. If there is data it doesn't extract and you understand TPL, you can write your own patterns to pull the data out of it, making it very powerful from that standpoint.

The query language is somewhat challenging to learn as it uses a Berkeley database. However, it has an excellent query building tool, and they have recently released a new visually-based version, which is very beneficial. Extracting data is straightforward through writing queries, running them, and pulling reports. The scanning process and credential setup are also easily manageable. Overall, it is an excellent tool.

We need to discover anything in the network and ensure that the discovered data is moved into the CMDB for asset management.

The best part is that whenever there is an outpost or any particular network, it can identify servers, routers, switches, etc. It immediately understands which component it is, and it provides the exact API details with all the components.

We use the solution for data center like server and discovery system.

The important feature is information capability.

The solution is mainly used to discover the assets in the organization. A new concept called blind spots in BMC Helix Discovery seems to give more insight into which assets were missed. It helps VM managers or data center managers get a good picture of what assets are there and which VMs were deployed but not even touched.

The solution's most valuable feature is service modeling. BMC Helix Discovery already does almost 70% to 80% of the work, and only 20% is left for you to manually create relationships to complete the service model. It is critical for the business to define what services it needs.

Discovery module is the foundation for the Helix platform. Because when you sell ITSM, the first step in the project is to install Discovery. When you install the storage, you discover all the infrastructure, assets, components, and service dependencies. With that, you start to populate the configuration management database, the CMDB. 

When you populate the CMDB with the information you get from Discovery, you have very intelligent and updated information in your CMDB. After that, you proceed to the service catalog, and then you start setting up your workflows and automating the workflows that manage the IT services. 

BMC is a great company because it has transformed the ITSM concept into the ESM concept, enterprise service management. The primary goal is to manage all lines of business. You don't just use ITSM to manage IT services; you also use HR, legal, sales, or any line of business. You can create workflows on the BMC Helix platform to manage any service. 

Discovery module gives the foundation of all this and provides a lot of information. It maintains that information because Helix periodically rediscovers the environment and updates the CMDB and everything integrated with the BMC Helix platform.

I like the artificial intelligence and machine learning that it uses in the solution. Because once the solution discovers all the assets, all the infrastructure, and all the dependencies between services, it learns how it works. So, it learns to predict when a problem is going to happen. It becomes predictive in an autonomous way. 

You don't need a human to do that, and it helps the IT team go to the root cause of the problem. That reduces noise about the exam. Like, when a portal or a system goes down, you have a storm of incidents. 

Everybody opens an incident because they can't access the portal. It's not working, or they access it, and they can't input data into the portal or something like that. So when you have the AIOps — the artificial intelligence and machine learning — you aggregate all these incidents and use information from other solutions like a CMDB, Helix, nonuse, Dynatrace, or Apache Log. It makes the relationship between all this data and helps you go to the root cause of the problem really fast. 

So, AIOps is the most important feature of the BMC Helix platform because it helps a lot. It combines IT operations with business operations. Today, in most enterprises, we have siloed areas.

Business is siloed, and what they're doing in IT is isolated here. But when you deliver the BMC Helix platform to an enterprise, you help them break these silos and integrate all areas. The visibility that the platform gives is for all areas, not just for IT. So, in the portal, you have a collaboration, like social media collaboration, and you have a chatbot, an automated chatbot, and an intelligent chatbot, which helps you understand the problems you encounter. 

And the communication between the areas becomes better. And this is all possible because of the AIOps in the solution.

The tool's accuracy of the results we receive looks promising in general. Its values are more than 95 percent accurate compared to other clients or different tools. I would say that Discovery offers a valuable mechanism to discover information.

The new features of the blueprint open doors for platform teams within organizations. In manufacturing or service industries, specific platform levels of networks are available, and the product simplifies finding that information. Modeling is also easier.

Apart from these, there are many other features, but the most promising factor is user-friendliness. It's straightforward: scan it, and you'll get the result. Another important aspect is security. BMC Helix Discovery's visualization may not be available in other tools. Compliance metrics and results from Tenable and Splunk are promising, but they usually filter information. BMC Helix Discovery provides a holistic view, which is valuable.

I consider BMC Helix Discovery easy to learn, especially with proper training or one month of good mentorship.

The product falls short compared to storage discovery mechanisms offered by Tenable or ServiceNow ITOM. In the market, there are various applications available that provide different sets of features. Its drawback is that it doesn't give the database configuration customers need out of the box. Additionally, the classification of storage virtualization is relatively lacking. Therefore, there is room for improvement, particularly in the database areas.

BMC Helix Discovery is very intuitive. All of BMC's products are intuitive and simple to look at from a look-and-feel perspective. They have tabs like "discover," which means to discover something, "managing," which means you can manage something. They are very intuitive. If you know the language, you understand what it does.
Another thing is that it is easy to implement because BMC is a virtual appliance you can use in your environment. It's not like you have to install an operating system. Instead, you must install the binaries or dependencies before installing the application. It's a complete package in one bundle as a virtual appliance. You don't have to provide a machine or libraries or install dependencies or verifications. The solution is agentless and non-intrusive.

It's very easy to use the solution if you are configuring a domain-based Windows environment. Still, if you want to discover some Linux-based environments, it's a little tricky. BMC Helix Discovery needs more customization options.