Configuration management database

A configuration management database (CMDB) is a repository of information related to all the components of an information system. Although repositories similar to CMDBs have been used by IT departments for many years, the term CMDB stems from ITIL. In the ITIL context, a CMDB represents the authorized configuration of the significant components of the IT environment. A CMDB helps an organization understand the relationships between these components and track their configuration. The CMDB is a fundamental component of the ITIL framework's Configuration Management process. CMDB implementations often involve federation, the inclusion of data into the CMDB from other sources, such as Asset Management, in such a way that the source of the data retains control of the data. Federation is usually distinguished from ETL (extract, transform, load) solutions in which data is copied into the CMDB.

The CMDB records configuration items (CI) and details about the important attributes and relationships between CIs. Configuration managers usually describe CIs using three configurable attributes:

1. Technical
2. Ownership
3. Relationship

A key success factor in implementing a CMDB is the ability to automatically discover information about the CIs (auto-discovery) and track changes as they happen.

CMDBs contain metadata, and thus the concept overlaps with that of a metadata repository which are both used in running large IT organizations. Configuration management addresses how the data is to be kept up to date, which has historically been a weakness of metadata repositories.

References

• Office of Government Commerce (OGC), ed.: Service Support. IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The Stationery Office, Norwich, UK (2000)
• OGC, ed.: Introduction to ITIL. IT Infrastructure Library. The Stationery Office (2005)

See also

• ITIL

External links

• Level of interest about CMDB on the internet according to Google
• How to build a CMDB with open source software

Components for software/hardware/network/users configuration management

• ZENmetrics, an agentless software component for collecting and integrating CMDB data with 3rd party and bespoke applications.

CMDB vendors

• Tacit Systems Orchestra® patent pending CMDB, CDB for small and medium business
• CMDB CMDB from IT Governance Ltd

• ASG's BSPASG's Business Service Platform: Business service management and CMDB
• Numara Footprints Enterprise Service Desk, CMDB and ITIL for medium to large business
• Configuresoft, Federated CMDB
• CMDB.info, Virtual Guests of open source CMDB components now available for download. Including Nagios, Oreon / Centreon, Nmap2Mysql, OCS Inventory, Open Project, OWL Doc Centre and Change Calendar under the Post Nuke Content Management System.
• N(i)², Network Infrastructure Inventory The N(i)² CMDB provides a complete mapping of IT infrastructures — including applications, network and supporting resources — and how they relate to business services
• AixpertSoft GmbH - AixBOMS Advanced CMDB incl. Business Rule concept and Workflow Engine
• Planet IRM a comprehensive visual CMDB for government and enterprise applications
• BPMspace for ITIL an open-source CMDB written in Java with Browser Frontend including ITIL Processes like Incident, Problem, SLM, Configuration and Change Management
• Axios Systems - assyst
• KBOX Systems Management Appliance by KACE
• LANrev
• infra Corporation, Federated CMDB within infraEnterprise
• BMC Software - Atrium CMDB 2.0
• Compuware Corporation's Xpediter/DevEnterprise
• FrontRange Configuration Management
• LiveTime Federated CMDB and Configuration Management
• Oracle Enterprise Manager Configuration Management Pack and CMDB
• easy CMDB
• I-DOIT OpenSource CMDB
• Mobina, MSD (Mobina Service Desk)
• HP Universal CMDB
• Managed Objects CMDB 360
• Tideway Foundation Application Dependency Mapping for CMDB
• EMC CMDB - Smarts ADM
• ProcessWorx CDMB
• NetDirector An Open Source CMDB using Java and Ajax
• Zenoss An Open Source CMDB and Systems Management Plaform
• CA CMDB Product Solution
• Interlink Software
• OneCMDB an open-source CMDB implementation in Java
• IBM Tivoli Change & Configuration Management Database
• Escape-K an open-source CMDB written in Java using the Eclipse platform
• Service-now.com On-Demand CMDB and integrated asset and service management
• Altiris CMDB Advanced CMDB for repository and configuration management
• Altiris CMDB User Community A Community for Altiris CMDB Users
• Caimit Software Universe 7 Independent and object-oriented CMDB for IT data center services and MSPs
• FMX Solutions IT infrastructure management platform Building One to manage Moves Adds and Changes, optimizing infrastructure usage
• CMDBuild, flexible and granular, completely cutomizable, object-oriented, web-drive, open source (GPL license)
• ScienceLogic EM7 Advanced and integrated CMDB repository for IT management