What is our primary use case?
We usually use BMC AMI Ops to automate tasks as described, and there are a couple of batch files running in the tool itself which we monitor for the health of the servers that are being assigned to the agents in BMC AMI Ops.
We can take one example of a job that is being done on BMC AMI Ops, which is a file transfer job. Before file transfer happens, there is one job called file watcher that watches the file at a specific location on the server. Once the file is received at the path, it gives commands to the next job, which is a file FTP job to transfer that file. Once successful transfer is done, it removes the source file and marks the job as completed.
The file watcher and file transfer combination is really helpful to accomplish our tasks. As an SME, we do not know when we are going to receive a file from our offshore clients, so we need to have it monitored to a certain window or time accordingly to process the further steps.
There is a job feature called Azure jobs that we were not aware of earlier. It supports cloud pipelines jobs directly integrated with BMC AMI Ops. We are under exploration of that and have experimented with the jobs to run Azure pipelines, which is almost on the verge of successful completion. It is a new feature, and there are a couple of areas we have not explored yet, but as of now, Azure pipeline is helpful.
There are three different sections in BMC AMI Ops: define mode, monitoring mode, and others. In the monitoring section, there are varieties of things to be monitored on the dashboard itself. You can customize it and get all the information on one panel, which is usually helpful because you can see everything at one glance, reducing the time and allowing you to take action accordingly.
If you are going to check all of the monitoring sections individually, it usually takes around five minutes to check one section, so it would take around fifteen minutes total. However, using it on one dashboard and checking all of the monitoring sections at once lets us save up to half an hour, compared to checking ten monitoring tasks manually.
We usually use automation in day-to-day executions. For example, we have tasks where files are delivered by offshore teams to us, and we can read the files, check for errors, and execute SQL queries to check for the desired output, confirming whether it is successful. If it is not, it presents the error indicating that it is not the desired output we expect. Automation is used daily and helps streamline our processes significantly.
Cost is monitored by the number of job executions, which helps us understand what is really required. Previously, using automation tools, we ran all jobs across all environments, such as dev, test, and production. However, after learning from IR management that we pay for every job execution, we collaborated with SMEs to rectify unnecessary executions and streamline our operations according to necessity.
What is most valuable?
BMC AMI Ops has been in use at our company for more than a year.
We were previously using CA workload automation tool before BMC AMI Ops. There were certain limitations with that tool, and we have been using BMC AMI Ops since a year or more than that. It has broader features, helps streamline our processes smoothly, and it has zero downtime while upgrading and better notification, which is really helpful for us.
Earlier we only had notifications on the failure of completions, but with BMC AMI Ops, we have a couple of features in the notification part that allow us to add the group and assign a couple of team members to that group, and it triggers the notifications accordingly. For example, if a job is getting failed or stuck somewhere during execution and takes longer than expected, it triggers the notifications. We have notification categories, such as notifying within BMC AMI Ops window and email notifications, and these features usually help us.
We have used a BMC AMI Ops AI feature called jet, which usually helps in the monitoring mode, but not in the defined mode. There are certain limitations, and with the help of AI, we can give commands or prompts to get things executed, which has been really helpful so far.
The accuracy and reliability in the monitoring mode of BMC AMI Ops are quite good.
BMC AMI Ops provides a better experience in operations. In terms of system health visibility, we can have the monitoring section in one dashboard, which is quite good and handy for reviewing all of the monitoring aspects in the system and subsystems.
It reduces the time and minimizes the chance of human error that occurs when we monitor things manually. If we correctly prompt the AI and give the right command, it executes the tasks as we want, which has usually been helpful for us.
What needs improvement?
It is really hard to say if there are any improvement areas or not, but every software has improvement areas that should be found out. As of now, I do not have anything in mind, so it would be difficult to specify. I do not have any small improvements or wishes for future updates at this time.
There are a couple of features in BMC AMI Ops, and it has plenty of features, but it is really difficult to understand as a new BMC AMI Ops user. We should go through a couple of training sessions to understand the various features available in the define mode, monitoring mode, agent mode, and all of these aspects. It is a bit difficult to track everything, but there are always certain improvement areas in software.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with BMC AMI Ops since twenty twenty four.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
BMC AMI Ops is stable as of now.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
BMC AMI Ops is scalable. If we encounter any limitations, we contact BMC AMI Ops support team. They provide solutions, and if they do not have one, they contact the development team to address our scaling needs.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is good, but sometimes we receive less interactive solutions, so we occasionally do not get the answers we need. We need to have a couple of conversations and often receive solutions later.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used a different solution before BMC AMI Ops.
We were using CA workload automation tool and I previously shared certain limitations of that tool which was on premises and caused larger downtimes during upgrades. In contrast, BMC AMI Ops is cloud-based and helps us integrate wherever we want in the cloud, which is significantly helpful.
What other advice do I have?
BMC AMI Ops has plenty of features, but it is really difficult to understand as a new BMC AMI Ops user. We should go through a couple of training sessions to understand the various features available in the define mode, monitoring mode, agent mode, and all of these aspects. It is a bit difficult to track everything, but there are always certain improvement areas in software.
It is quite helpful, and I would suggest others use BMC AMI Ops. Use all the features carefully because it has a large amount of functionalities that can help ease tasks and enable error-free execution of automations.
BMC AMI Ops is quite good, and while we have used the tool so far, I can suggest others use it to automate tasks. I would rate this solution an eight overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?