Differences between auditing and the compare dataset activity
Auditing allows you to get information on changes to the data in the BMC CMDB as soon as they happen.
Auditing is not the only way to track changes to configuration items (CIs) and relationships. If you use BMC CMDB, you could instead track changes with the Compare Dataset reconciliation activity.
You must have the Sandbox dataset (BMC.ASSET.SANDBOX) enabled in Remedy Asset Management, so that user edits to a CI are saved to the Sandbox dataset. Then you can create a reconciliation job with a Compare Dataset activity that compares the Sandbox to BMC Asset, looking for the particular differences that you want to catch. You could then perform custom workflow against instances found by the comparison.
Keep these considerations in mind when deciding which method to use for tracking the changes to your CIs and relationships:
- Audits give you access to information about changes to your data as soon as they happen, whereas comparisons are usually run daily.
- Audits take a small amount of processor and disk time at the moment a change occurs, slightly slowing down real-time performance for users, whereas comparisons concentrate that performance hit during a non-peak window.
- If you have auditing enabled on your production dataset, it can increase the time required for reconciliation because Merge activities that write to the dataset trigger audits.
- Audits provide a better long-term view of the history of a CI than do comparisons.
- Comparisons are better when you need to track changes to multiple attributes because this has a larger performance cost, and the cost can be absorbed during a non-peak window.
- Comparisons provide flexibility in executing workflow when a change occurs.
Given these considerations, audits are usually better for keeping a history, and comparisons are better for alerting you to changes that require investigation.
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