NAME

RT::Extension::ReferenceIDoitObjects - Create a ticket in relation to one or more i-doit objects

DESCRIPTION

This extension gives you the opportunity to combine an issue tracker like RT with an IT documentation tool / CMDB like i-doit. It uses i-doit's API to relate a ticket with one or more CIs / objects managed by i-doit. On i-doit's side you are able to view all tickets related to an object. This extension also supports i-doit's multi-mandator functionality.

i-doit ("I document IT") is a web-based tool to document complex IT infrastructures. It provides several modules like a ITIL compliant Configuration Management Database (CMDB). More information about i-doit is available under http://www.i-doit.org/. Its core is Free and Open Source Software. Visit http://www.i-doit.com/ for commercial support and additional services. Please note, that i-doit's API (which is essential for this extension) is currently only implemented in the commercial branch.

INSTALLATION

This extension requires RT 4.x or higher and a running installation of i-doit 1.0.1 or higher.

To install this extension, run the following commands:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install
    make initdb

Executing the last command creates 2 new custom fields, so please do it only once. These fields contain the i-doit mandator and the referenced objects.

Another way to install the latest release is via CPAN:

    cpan RT::Extension::ReferenceIDoitObjects
    $RT_HOME/sbin/rt-setup-database --action insert --datafile /opt/rt4/local/plugins/RT-Extension-ReferenceIDoitObjects/etc/initialdata

The second command is equivalent to make initdb, but is unfortunately not executed automatically. $RT_HOME is the path to your RT installation, for example /opt/rt4.

CONFIGURATION

To enable this extension edit the RT site configuration based in $RT_HOME/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm:

    Set(@Plugins,qw(RT::Extension::ReferenceIDoitObjects));

i-doit has a built-in API based on JSON-RPC. To call this API set its URL:

    Set($IDoitURL, 'http://example.org/i-doit/');

    Set($IDoitAPI, $IDoitURL . '?api=jsonrpc');

    Set($IDoitUser, 'admin');

    Set($IDoitPassword, '21232f297a57a5a743894a0e4a801fc3'); # 'admin'

    Set($IDoitDefaultMandator, 1);

    Set($IDoitDefaultView, 'object'); # 'object', 'tree' or 'item'

    Set($IDoitShowCustomFields, 1); # 1 ('yes') or 0 ('no')

$IDoitURL

It's highly recommended to establish an encrypted connection between RT and i-doit over a network, e. g. TLS over HTTP (HTTPS).

$IDoitAPI

Please be aware of browsers' "Same Origin Policy"! This extension uses AJAX requests access i-doit's API. If RT and i-doit are not available under the same domain name (or IP address), AJAX calls will fail.

To avoid this "problem" (actually this policy is very useful) you can setup an AJAX proxy. This extension already provides such a proxy located under etc/. It's written in PHP, so you have to install PHP 5.2 or higher and the PHP extension curl on the same machine where RT is installed. Make this little script available through your web server and edit the script by setting $l_url to the URL of i-doit's API, e. g. http://example.org/i-doit/index.php?api=jsonrpc. In RT's site configuration $IDoitAPI has to be set to this script, e. g. http://rt.example.org/path/to/i-doit_api_proxy.php.

$IDoitUser

You need a valid i-doit user with reading permissions.

$IDoitPassword

The user's password is encoded as a MD5 hash.

$IDoitDefaultMandator

You need the identifier of a mandator who owns the objects, but this may also be set while creating a ticket. This identifier has be to added to the list of the corresponding custom field. For a list of (activated) mandators and their identifiers see i-doit's admin center.

$IDoitDefaultView

When creating or editing a ticket, this extension adds a so-called object browser to the web interface. The browser gives you three views on objects:

object

Select any object provided by the API and filter them by type.

tree

Select users' work stations and their related sub objects. Each user will be taken by the email address provided by RT's field Requestors if these users are documented in i-doit.

i-doit gives you the possiblity to create relations between users, their work stations and all equipment related to these workstations.

Tip: You may synchronize user information between RT and i-doit via LDAP.

item

View and remove all selected items.

$IDoitShowCustomFields

Sometimes it's better to "clean up" the web user interface. Whenever you only have 1 mandator within i-doit and don't want to edit the object identifiers manually it's recommended to hide the used custom fields.

After all your new configuration will take effect after restarting your RT environment:

    rm -rf $RT_HOME/var/mason_data/obj/* && service apache2 restart

This is an example for deleting the mason cache and restarting the Apache HTTP web server on a Debian GNU/Linux based operating system.

USAGE

Whenever you create a new ticket or edit an existing one you are able to reference this ticket with one or more objects in i-doit. An additional box with the so-called "object browser" will shown up. Just select the objects you need or unselect the objects you don't need.

AUTHORS

Benjamin Heisig, <bheisig@synetics.de>

Leonard Fischer, <lfischer@synetics.de>

SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

    perldoc RT::Extension::ReferenceIDoitObjects

You can also look for information at:

Search CPAN

http://search.cpan.org/dist/RT-Extension-ReferenceIDoitObjects/

RT: CPAN's request tracker

http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=RT-Extension-ReferenceIDoitObjects

AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation

http://annocpan.org/dist/RT-Extension-ReferenceIDoitObjects

CPAN Ratings

http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/RT-Extension-ReferenceIDoitObjects

Repository

https://github.com/bheisig/rt-extension-referenceidoitobjects

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to the authors.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2011-12 synetics GmbH, <http://i-doit.org/>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

Request Tracker (RT) is Copyright Best Practical Solutions, LLC.

SEE ALSO

    RT

cpanm RT::Extension::ReferenceIDoitObjects

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install RT::Extension::ReferenceIDoitObjects