CMDB | What is a configuration management database ?

What is a configuration management database (CMDB)?

A configuration management database (CMDB) is a central repository that acts as a data warehouse, storing information about your IT environment and it is a purpose-built database for configuration management.

配置管理数据库 （CMDB） 是充当数据仓库的中央存储库，用于存储有关 IT 环境的信息，并且是专门用于配置管理的数据库。

How does a CMDB work?

A CMDB provides a common place to store data associated with IT assets and configuration items (CIs). The fundamental building block of a CMDB is the CI. A CI represents an item under configuration management, such as a router, a server, an application, a virtual machine, a container, or even a logical construct such as a portfolio. Data import tools are usually used to identify CIs in the environment, and transfer them to the CMDB. Some IT teams may also use manual tools to keep their CMDB updated but this is not a good practice as it cannot scale and it introduces errors - duplicates and un-necessary CIs. Once all of the information is gathered and unified, it must be reviewed for accuracy and consistency, and any data-gaps should be identified and resolved.

CMDB 提供了一个用于存储与 IT 资产和配置项 （CI） 关联的数据的常用位置。CMDB的基本构建块是CI。CI 表示处于配置管理之下的项，例如路由器、服务器、应用程序、虚拟机、容器，甚至是逻辑构造（如产品组合）。数据导入工具通常用于识别环境中的 CI，并将其传输到 CMDB。一些IT团队也可能使用手动工具来保持其CMDB更新，但这不是一个好的做法，因为它无法扩展并且会引入错误 - 重复和不必要的CI。一旦收集并统一了所有信息，就必须对其进行准确性和一致性的审查，并应查明和解决任何数据差距。

For a CMDB to function optimally, it must remain highly accurate, necessitating constant updating and ideally automated updates.

为了使CMDB以最佳状态运行，它必须保持高度准确，需要不断更新和理想的自动更新。

What are the benefits of CMDB?

CMDB有哪些好处？

At its core, one of the most significant benefits of CMDB is that it takes all the siloed data across the enterprise required to run IT , and it brings it all together in a single place giving IT Operations visibility into all the IT resources in the enterprise. It prevents data from being scattered across multiple different locations. A CMDB helps IT teams in a number of ways, here are just a few: it helps eliminate outages, significantly reduce the time it takes to remediate an outage, remain in compliance, avoid security and audit fines, understand important service contexts when making decisions, which benefits risk assessment and reporting, and track software license and cloud costs.

从本质上讲，CMDB最重要的好处之一是，它获取整个企业运行IT所需的所有孤立数据，并将其全部集中在一个地方，使IT运营部门能够了解企业中的所有IT资源。它可以防止数据分散在多个不同的位置。CMDB以多种方式帮助IT团队，这只是其中的几种方式：它有助于消除中断，显着减少修复中断所需的时间，保持合规性，避免安全性和审计罚款，在做出决策时了解重要的服务环境，这有利于风险评估和报告，并跟踪软件许可证和云成本。

Planning 规划

CMDB helps technology managers plan at both a detailed level with asset management and at a high level with enterprise architecture.

CMDB帮助技术经理在资产管理的详细层面和企业架构的高级层面进行规划。

Operating经营

Core ITSM practices are improved by CMDB, including incident, change, and problem management.

CMDB can improve risk assessment in change management by anticipating which systems and users might be impacted the most. It also aids compliance by helping teams manage audit trails and controls.

CMDB affects incident management by identifying the changes and root causes of an incident, and moving toward a faster resolution. Incident records are associated with their CIs, which helps teams track incidents over time in conjunction with the assets impacted by the incident.

Problem management benefits from CMDB in that it helps with root-cause analysis, which helps teams get to the source of a problem more quickly. It also supports proactive management by assisting teams with identifying assets that are in need of an upgrade to reduce service costs and downtime.

1. CMDB 改进了核心 ITSM 实践，包括事件、变更和问题管理。
2. CMDB可以通过预测哪些系统和用户可能受到的影响最大来改进变更管理中的风险评估。它还通过帮助团队管理审计跟踪和控制来帮助合规性。
3. CMDB 通过识别事件的更改和根本原因并朝着更快的解决方案迈进来影响事件管理。事件记录与其 CI 相关联，这有助于团队结合受事件影响的资产跟踪一段时间内的事件。
4. CMDB使问题管理受益匪浅，因为它有助于根本原因分析，从而帮助团队更快地找到问题的根源。它还通过协助团队识别需要升级的资产来支持主动管理，从而降低服务成本和停机时间。

Accounting 核算

It’s important to have application and service codes in IT finance, as it helps allocate billing statements and manage other finances.

在 IT 财务中拥有应用程序和服务代码非常重要，因为它有助于分配帐单和管理其他财务。

Characteristics of CMDBs cmdb特性

Seamless dashboards 无缝仪表盘

Integration of dashboards with CI metrics and analytics make it easy to track the health of data, the impact of changes, patterns that lead to incidents or problems, and the health of the CIs. It gives the operations team real-time insights into the previous incident, problem and change related to a CI which significantly reduces the time it takes to remediate an issue.

通过将仪表板与 CI 指标和分析集成，可以轻松跟踪数据的运行状况、更改的影响、导致事件或问题的模式以及 CI 的运行状况。它使运营团队能够实时了解与 CI 相关的先前事件、问题和更改，从而显著缩短修复问题所需的时间。

Access controls 访问控制

Access controls provide the ability to give access levels to different individuals or teams as is needed, and trace any changes back to their source in the event of incidents or questions.

访问控制提供了根据需要向不同的个人或团队提供访问级别的能力，并在发生事件或问题时将任何更改追溯到其源。

Compliance 合规

You’ll get detailed records for the sake of visibility that will help with audits. Insights into records include the state of CIs, historical changes, checks and balances, and incidents.

为了便于查看，您将获得详细的记录，这将有助于审计。对记录的见解包括 CI 的状态、历史更改、检查和平衡以及事件。

Creation of CIs and data population

创建 CI 和数据填充

This is supported across three different types of methods: integrations, discovery tools, and manual input that all scan IP addresses within an organization’s network to find software and hardware information. This process creates an inventory of all assets and devices within a company, including cloud resources.

这通过三种不同类型的方法得到支持：集成、发现工具和手动输入，这些方法都扫描组织网络中的 IP 地址以查找软件和硬件信息。此过程将创建公司内所有资产和设备的清单，包括云资源。

Federated data sets 联合数据集

Support for federated data sets Includes reconciliation and normalization of CIs and their relevant data.

对联合数据集的支持 包括 CI 及其相关数据的对帐和规范化。

IT service mapping IT 服务映射

A physical representation of relationships and dependencies related to an IT service.

与 IT 服务相关的关系和依赖关系的物理表示形式。

Challenges of CMDBs CMDB面临的挑战

Despite the obvious advantages of CMDB, many organizations fail to generate value from their CMDB solutions and these are just a few of the reasons: manual processes used to build the CMDB, lack of people and process in place to identify the critical data that should be moved into the CMDB or the automated tools to ensure the data is put in the right place in the CMDB. However, this does not mean that the technology itself is flawed; by identifying the factors at play, it is possible to prepare for and prevent issues that might hamper CMDB effectiveness.

尽管CMDB具有明显的优势，但许多组织无法从其CMDB解决方案中产生价值，这些只是其中的几个原因：用于构建CMDB的手动流程，缺乏人员和流程来识别应移动到CMDB中的关键数据或自动化工具以确保数据放置在CMDB中的正确位置。但是，这并不意味着技术本身存在缺陷;通过确定起作用的因素，可以准备和预防可能妨碍CMDB有效性的问题。

Accuracy 准确性

It can be difficult to maintain the accuracy of a CMDB—some of these difficulties include discovery tools not running frequently enough, an absence of automation protocols, or too much reliance on data input. By focusing on and optimizing discovery within your CMDB, you will improve accuracy.

保持 CMDB 的准确性可能很困难 ， 其中一些困难包括发现工具运行频率不够高、缺少自动化协议或过于依赖数据输入。通过专注于并优化CMDB中的发现，您将提高准确性。

Centralization 集中

While a CMDB is a centralized place to view data, this does not necessarily mean that all asset data needs to live exclusively in the CMDB. A best practice is to take data from other tools so that the most relevant tool is used to support each case.

虽然CMDB是查看数据的集中位置，但这并不一定意味着所有资产数据都需要专门存在于CMDB中。最佳做法是从其他工具获取数据，以便使用最相关的工具来支持每个案例。

Multiple data sources 多个数据源

While a CMDB does act as a centralized repository for IT asset information, there can sometimes be too many sources of data that are feeding into the CMDB. This can create confusion and muddled data that may be difficult to categorize.

虽然CMDB确实充当IT资产信息的集中式存储库，但有时可能有太多的数据源输入CMDB。这可能会造成混乱和混乱的数据，可能难以分类。

Process 过程

Some organizations function under the perception that CMDBs are for mapping legacy infrastructure and software rather than the new stack of cloud and software infrastructure. It’s important to not let the conversation around semantics prevent you from tracking the value of your CIs in a tool that provides a wide view of your technical ecosystems.

一些组织认为CMDB用于映射传统基础设施和软件，而不是新的云和软件基础设施堆栈。重要的是，不要让围绕语义的对话阻止您在提供技术生态系统广泛视图的工具中跟踪CI的价值。

Relevancy 关联

Some companies treat their CMDBs as the singular source of truth, and this can lead to organizations trying to combine all of their data into that location without considering use cases and what is relevant to their needs. A CMDB should contain only useful and focused data that supports processes—ensure that it defines value, objective, owner, and ways to update all of the data.

一些公司将其CMDB视为唯一的事实来源，这可能导致组织尝试将其所有数据合并到该位置，而不考虑用例以及与其需求相关的内容。CMDB 应仅包含支持流程的有用且重点突出的数据，确保它定义了价值、目标、所有者以及更新所有数据的方法。

Team commitment 团队承诺

Team commitment is one of the most important factors in the integration and use of new technologies and processes, and whether or not they are successful. If your organization and the people involved are not fully committed to the success of your CMDB solution, then it likely will not succeed.

团队承诺是集成和使用新技术和流程以及它们是否成功的最重要因素之一。如果您的组织和相关人员没有完全致力于CMDB解决方案的成功，那么它可能不会成功。

Tools 工具

It’s crucial to choose the right tool if you want to avoid failure. Some CMDB tools are simply asset repositories that are fixed on legacy infrastructure discovery tools with a slow reaction to change. The best CMDB tools are those that are able to pivot quickly, and that account for new types of assets.

如果要避免失败，选择正确的工具至关重要。一些CMDB工具只是固定在传统基础架构发现工具上的资产存储库，对更改的反应缓慢。最好的CMDB工具是那些能够快速转向的工具，并且考虑了新型资产。

ITAM vs. CMDB

IT asset management (ITAM) is the process of accounting for assets during their lifecycle. This includes procurement and purchasing, software license management, technology refresh, and asset valuation. ITAM oversees more financial and contractual components of assets. CMDB is centered around the data used to manage assets during the period of time in which they are live and present within your IT environment. This includes understanding what comprises a service or asset, how it is used, and how it is related to other assets and services.

IT 资产管理 （ITAM） 是在资产生命周期内对资产进行会计核算的过程。这包括采购和采购、软件许可证管理、技术更新和资产评估。ITAM负责监督资产的更多财务和合同组成部分。CMDB 以用于在 IT 环境中的资产存在和存在的时间段内用于管理资产的数据为中心。这包括了解服务或资产的组成、如何使用服务或资产，以及它与其他资产和服务的关系。

Choosing what to manage in your CMDB

选择要在 CMDB 中管理的内容

each organization has different use cases and goals with CMDBs, and that should determine the extent of their setup.

每个组织都有不同的CMDB用例和目标，这应该决定其设置的范围。

Technical entities 技术实体

This includes application software, containers, virtual machines, databases, operation systems, hardware, ports, business services, technical servicers, and networks.

这包括应用程序软件、容器、虚拟机、数据库、操作系统、硬件、端口、业务服务、技术服务商和网络。

Non-technical entities 非技术实体

These are users, organizations, locations, documents, customers, and service agreements.

这些是用户、组织、位置、文档、客户和服务协议。

Why CMDB is critical for effective ITAM

为什么CMDB对于有效的ITAM至关重要

CSDM and CMDB CSDM和CMDB

The common service data model (CSDM) is all about doing CMDB the right way. A CSDM is a centralized repository of standard and consistent sets of terms and their definitions. It is an essential best practice framework for CMDB management and modeling, and can provide guidance on modeling with its standardized terms and definitions. In other words, it’s a backbone for configuration that connects a CMDB from a business and technical perspective with recommended mappings and their respective relationships.

通用服务数据模型（CSDM）就是要以正确的方式进行CMDB。CSDM 是标准和一致术语集及其定义的集中存储库。它是CMDB管理和建模的基本最佳实践框架，可以通过其标准化术语和定义为建模提供指导。换句话说，它是配置的支柱，从业务和技术角度将CMDB与推荐的映射及其各自的关系连接起来。

If done properly, CSDM offers visibility into service and application data from varying domains, combined into a single view, allowing you to configure your IT strategy with a company strategy and the various capabilities. A proper CMDB also provides faster incident resolution, improved security, and a better judgement of the impact of change.

如果操作得当，CSDM 提供了对来自不同域的服务和应用程序数据的可见性，这些数据组合成一个视图，允许您使用公司战略和各种功能来配置 IT 战略。适当的 CMDB 还可以更快地解决事件、提高安全性并更好地判断变更的影响。

Evolution of CMDBs cmdb 的演化

An IT infrastructure library (ITIL) describes processes for asset and configuration management, with the end goal being maintaining information about configuration items. This information includes lists of items, in addition to their relationship to each other. ITIL also depicts underlying technical capabilities that are needed to support assets and configuration management that may span multiple CMDBs.

IT 基础结构库 （ITIL） 描述资产和配置管理的过程，最终目标是维护有关配置项目的信息。此信息包括项目列表，以及它们之间的关系。ITIL 还描述了支持可能跨多个 CMDB 的资产和配置管理所需的基础技术功能。

Companies are beginning to embrace Agile and DevOps, which means that CMDB will take on a larger role in allowing IT employees to understand their production environments and make decisions in real-time. SaaS usage is also expanding, and companies need to integrate their external data sources into a CMDB to have a big picture perspective of their hybrid IT environment.

公司开始接受敏捷和DevOps，这意味着CMDB将在允许IT员工了解其生产环境并实时做出决策方面发挥更大的作用。SaaS的使用也在扩大，公司需要将其外部数据源集成到CMDB中，以便全面了解其混合IT环境。

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