What is a CMDB?
A CMDB (Configuration Management Database) is a database that holds configuration information about devices and logical constructs within the technical environment. These devices or logical constructs, also called as configuration items (CIs), could be servers, routers, switches, telephones, mobile devices, laptops, PCs, smoke alarms, moisture detectors, or street furniture, or they could be more complex, nonphysical entities such as clusters, virtual machines, or services. A CMDB is used to store the configuration records throughout the life cycle of the configuration items or CIs. The CMDB stores attributes of the CIs and their relationships with other CIs. The biggest value derived out of a CMDB is the relationship information.
An example of visualized configuration information of a service offering
The CMDB brings together data and presents it in a common way such that this data can be used to support processes within the organization. The data can come from automated discovery tools such as BMC Discovery, existing data such as spreadsheets, or data that was manually entered directly into the CMDB via the user interface.
With the information in the CMDB, ITIL processes such as Incident Management and Change Management can be enriched to allow enhanced value from consuming data that is stored in the CMDB.
The following items describe what a CMDB is not:
- A place to store real-time operational information such as how much disk space is being utilized or the current CPU utilization of a server
- An inventory tied to Asset Management
- A data warehouse
- A reporting structure
- An entity that works independently
The value of a CMDB is not in collecting configuration items (CIs) from your environment.
Basic concepts in BMC Helix CMDB
Concept | Description |
|---|---|
Discovery applications | Discovery applications help identify various systems in the network and obtain information about them that is relevant to the CMDB. Applications such as BMC BladeLogic Client Automation Configuration Discovery provide data to the Integrator. Applications such as BMC Discovery provide data directly to the Import dataset. |
Atrium Integrator | The Atrium Integrator is an integration engine with which you can transfer data from external data stores to BMC Helix CMDB classes. |
Import dataset | A dataset is a local grouping of data. An import dataset is data in its unprocessed form and cannot be used for ITIL processes until it is normalized and reconciled. |
Normalization | Normalization is the imposition of standards or regulations as defined in the product catalog. The normalization engine performs the following tasks to standardize, correct, and clean up the data drawn from various discovery sources:
|
Reconciliation | Reconciliation is the process in which data from different discovery sources is checked and corrected to maintain consistency while also making sure there is no duplication of data. |
Production dataset | This reliable data helps you understand the environment and the impact to key business services when changes occur in this environment. |
Sandbox dataset | Any changes that need to be made to the production dataset are first tried out in the sandbox dataset. If the implementation is successful, only then are they moved to the production dataset. The sandbox provides a safety mechanism that prevents unintended changes to your production dataset. |
Federated data | Federated data is data stored outside BMC Helix CMDB, but linked to CIs so that it is accessible through BMC Helix CMDB. The most common types of federated data are related information and detailed attributes. |
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