What do YOU think a CMDB is?

Configuration Management Databases or CMDBs are a hot topic of conversation in IT today. Whether you're looking to implement best practice standards like those found in ITIL, or need to find an enterprise solution for meeting compliance obligations, establishing a CMDB is becoming as much of a "must" for how data is managed as grabbing a PS3 is this holiday season for some families. And, just as disappointed as some kids will be to not see one December 25th, there's a similar expectation that a CMDB will magically appear under the corporate tree this year.

This past week, Dennis Drogseth, Vice President of Enterprise Management Associates, shared some timely reminders of what a CMDB is, not what we'd like it to be.

CMDB's are:

• Still in their infancy. Don't try to define them prematurely.
• A foundation and enabler that will continue to grow in importance
• A system that brings politics, culture, organization, technology and products together
• Not something you can buy, although you can purchase software that may be strategically useful in creating a CMDB system.
• Systems that demand a phased approach which requires executive buy-in.

If you are looking to successfully establish a CMDB system, it's important to reject the typical "microwave" solution we seem to favor - especially in America. By its nature, a successful CMDB will take cooperation among diverse groups within your organization. To successfully capture the appropriate information, you will need to plan carefully and involve multiple vendors. Make up your mind now that establishing a CMDB system is a process, not an one-time event.

So, where do you begin this CMDB journey? Drogseth spells it out clearly when he says, "I believe the single most defining thing in creating a CMDB system is identifying trusted sources of information, or sources of record...it's the one [step] aboe all that brings you immediate, intrinsic value."

Establish your objectives for the CMDB, then determine your trusted sources of the information that will meet your objectives. You can't pull up to a drive-thru and order a super-sized CMDB with a side order of compliance or expect to see a guy in a big red suit drop by with your gift-wrapped CMDB.While it's not glamorous or quick, a carefully followed plan will ultimately yield the benefits you're looking for when considering establishing a CMDB system.

Comments

[Mike Paterson]

Many so-called CMDB's are just Configuration databases that are simply a repository developed for a particular application (i.e incident management, change management, service-level management) but have been messed about to try to be all things to all men.

The new breed of federated CMDB's are designed to take advantage of trusted data and CIs that already exist to provide a true enterprise CMDB that can be easily integrated with many aplications and processes.

We recently came across www.ni2.com, which meets all the requirements for a true enterprise CMDB :-

Federation — multi-vendor and multi-sources

Reconciliation — duplication/redundancy

Mapping & Visualisation — hierarchical and peer to peer, service view

Synchronisation — closed loop to change and configuration