CMDB Presentation from keynote at ITSMF Pittsburgh Local Interest Group.
Topic: CMDB as a Corporate Asset
Presenter: Abbas Haider Ali, VP Product Strategy at Managed Objects
Agenda: * CMDB 101 - What is it, What ins't it, and Why should you care about having one? * Selecting what goes with your CMDB asset management, performance management, discovery data, IT management * Monolithic vs. Disctributed CMDBs - One to rule them all? * Practical guide to implementing a CMDB (customer case studies) * Use cases and ROI realized * Whiteboard / Discussion with audience suggestions on CMDB topics
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Transcript
Transforming the CMDB intoTransforming the CMDB into a Corporate Asset
Abbas Haider Ali, VP Product StrategyOctober 2nd 2008
– ITIL v2: “A database that contains all relevant details of each CI and details of the important relationships between CIs.”
– ITIL v3: “A database used to store Configuration Records throughout their Lifecycle. The Configuration Management System maintains one or more CMDBs, and each CMDB stores Attributes of CIs, and Relationships with other CIs.”
It depends...Source of truthSource of truthEncyclopedia for IT, and services it offersDNA map of IT environmentDecision support toolSelf-service application for IT knowledge….
How up-do-date are the Visio diagrams on your walls?How many people are involved in SWAT meetings for P1 issues?y p p gDo many of your planned changes result have unexpected impacts?How well do you know the relationships between IT infrastructureHow well do you know the relationships between IT infrastructure elements and IT / Business servicesDo you spend a lot of time generating reports from different systems and stitching them together?systems and stitching them together?How effectively can you verify that IT services meet design/regulatory standards? e.g. DR, license usage ratios, etc.Are you concerned about impact of rapidly changing technologyAre you concerned about impact of rapidly changing technology in your environment? Virtualization, Green IT, <insert buzzword here>
Requires a homogenous environment for integration – Vendor lock-in anyone?y
Configuration management system by day, CMDB by night– Not an unusual claim from element configuration management systems
Only supports Extract-Transform-Load to populate a CMDBOnly supports Extract Transform Load to populate a CMDB– Someone quickly inherits data entry as a 2nd job
Inflexible schemaDon’t get talked out of having information you need in your CMDB It’s– Don t get talked out of having information you need in your CMDB – It s your asset!
Limited Federation capabilitiesData sources WILL evolve over time; CMDB must be able to do the same– Data sources WILL evolve over time; CMDB must be able to do the same
Belief that the CMDB is just a big database– It’s not. It’s an application.
Who has an operational CMDB (even if you don’t call it that) ?Who has an operational CMDB (even if you don’t call it that) ?Are you happy with your CMDB? Why?Who’s looking at a CMDB right now? Why?What is the root of your CMDB?– Service Desk?– Asset / Inventory?– Discovery?– Application dependency mapping?
Have a clearly defined objective– No definition = No recognizable value
Select specific metrics wherever possible– Select specific metrics wherever possiblePrioritize services for initial phase– Don’t try to tackle everything at once
Id tif t k h ld / f f CMDBIdentify stakeholders / scope of users of CMDBKeep an eye on what you want to CMDB to support in the future– Service oriented monitoring– Service Catalog– Automated impact analysis
Examples (good and bad):– Minimize impact of changes to top 5 business apps– Merge asset management, application discovery data into single database– Reduce MTTR by capturing multi-system and tribal knowledge into broadly
• Not a DBA More like an application architectNot a DBA. More like an application architect.Data providers / Contributors– Select just enough data to meet the requirements
Choose SMEs who know both front and back end of selected data sources– Choose SMEs who know both front and back end of selected data sourcesUsers / Consumers– Identify the parties who MUST be able to use the CMDB for
strategy/objectives to become realitystrategy/objectives to become reality– Clearly note the backgrounds, skills, time available, etc. for user community
Keep objectives in mind and select minimum amount of data for persistence in CMDB, rest should be federatedBuild CI and CI attributes layout– Physical configuration– Location
Internet CustomerOrdering System
– OS version and patches– Next planned change– Trouble tickets
Take Orders ProductAvailability
Build CI relationship layout– Physical– Logical
Create anAccount Verify Credit Credit Card
Processing
Logical– Business services and processes
Identify requirements for CI statePerformance availability
Governance– Reconciliation rules– Which relationships should be prioritized
Use layouts to identify data sourcesTest integrations earlyTest integrations earlyRecord currency information for each source– How frequently is this data updated?
Identify gapsIdentify gaps– Need discovery, or is asset database complete?– Application dependency mapping?
For CMDB value to be recognized, existing processes have to change– Deployment of new apps/services– Analysis of scheduled changes– Usage / configuration of monitoring systems
CMDB itself should be subject to a review process on a regular basisDon’t let process become a barrier to getting started
Most challenging, and most overlooked part of most CMDB projectsHow is the casual CMDB user going to interact with it?– Avoid software installation as much as possible
Allow everyone to contributeAllow everyone to contribute – Comments, point out errors, inconsistencies, missing information– Mechanical Turk model
Identify mavens in each community of CMDB usersIdentify mavens in each community of CMDB usersExamine company culture, risk, regulatory issues and select editing model for CMDB
Wikipedia like or strict governance/process– Wikipedia-like or strict governance/processRecord all successes and share with CMDB user community– Start a blog or newsletter
Not uncommon to hear about 2nd or even 3rd attempts at CMDBNo clear objectivej– Field of CIs approach: “If we build it, they will come”
Too broad, too deep, or bothPoorly defined roles and responsibilitiesPoorly defined roles and responsibilitiesBad dataInaccessible – only a handful of people know how to use itDoesn’t stay current
Always tempting to grab all data from integrated data sources and store them in a giant database, just in case – Far more susceptible to problems as underlying systems change or get
replaced– Much higher cost to architect, store, and operate – Inflexible and hard to adapt to changing environment
If CMDB usage become pervasive, expect an ecosystem to develop
Specialized CMDBs can be used by individual IT silos, business units, application teamsTop level CMS can unify key information in support of a larger CMDB strategyFederation shouldn’t be limited to traditional CMDB data sources – must be able to link to other CMDBs
• Need to consider multi-vendor federation between different CMDBs
Don’t reinvent the wheelReview experiencep– Should have worked with CMDB software and integration points as well
Ask for referencesIn most cases CMDB vendors have services businessIn most cases CMDB vendors have services businessUsual suspects in systems integrator space– IBM
Challenges– Identify and resolve problems fastery p– Complex problems, cross domains – hard to get to root cause– Poor communication with the business units
Data sources identified for CMDB projectData sources identified for CMDB project– Combination of commercial management tools and 15+ internal databases
CMDB vital statistics– Greater than 2 million CIs– Greater than 2 million CIs– More than 4 million CI relationships
Express dependencies quickly and clearly – for Outages, Break Fix Activities, Maintenance
– e.g. list all hosts for a telco switch, all users for a SANMaintenance InteractionsMaintenance Interactions
– e.g. identify common components between a SAN upgrade and a Switch upgrade. Avoid un-expected interactions during multiple changes.
Diversity and BucketingDiversity and Bucketing– o e.g. take a business flow and prove that their A and B side are diverse and have
no single points of failure. Concentration Risk
– e.g. report on number of critical apps that are dependent on server X or Y.Infrastructure Domain Failures
– e.g. Construct and test theories around processes geographyId tif d di t d th t h BU d d iIdentify dedicated servers that have cross-BU dependenciesEnable targeted infrastructure refresh
– e.g. identify non-standard versions of infrastructure and order by number and criticality of systems dependent on them Provide information to help manage risk
criticality of systems dependent on them. Provide information to help manage risk around upgrade plans.
Case Study of Insurance Carrier – Overview
Challenges– Better understand planned and unplanned changesp p g– Enforce process adherence– Changes frequently had unintended consequences; required multiple
attempts to complete– 60% of incidents resulted from planned changes
Data sources identified for project– Discovery solution (general and server specific)y (g p )– Internally developed asset management system– Service desk
Real-time visibility to planned and unplanned changesClearly understand impact of proposed changesy p p p gLower risk – fewer outagesSuperior, always current documentation Reduced MTTRReduced MTTRMuch lower % of incidents with planned changes as root causeAvailability of additional statistics to drive analytics for IT
Refer back to the original metrics identified during planning– MTTR reduction / shorter outagesg– Mean Time Between Outages (MTBO) increase– Increase in successful change tickets– Less total tickets– Shorter maintenance windows– Increased availability for critical services– Reduction in software licenses– Cost reductions from increased DC density or server consolidation
Softer metrics also count– Process improvementProcess improvement– Increased productivity– Shift from reactive to proactive operations
CIO.com: Managed Objects Adds 'Facebook' Twist to CMDBITSMWatch.com: 10 Tips for a Successful CMDB Projectp jGRIDtoday: Virtual Management, Virtual MessData Center Journal: Myths of the CMDBComputerworld: How Much Is 'Just Enough' for a CMDB?Computerworld: How Much Is Just Enough for a CMDB?Managed Objects Blog - BSM Communique