Tideway Foundation 7.2 Cmdb Population
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The document describes how Tideway Foundation can help populate a CMDB by regularly discovering configuration items (CIs) like servers, software, and dependencies across the IT environment. It captures this information and automatically transfers it to populate and maintain an accurate, up-to-date view in the BMC Atrium CMDB with minimal manual effort. Key benefits include accelerated CMDB deployment, improved data quality through regular updates, and generation of impact analysis reports for change management. The Tideway adapter transfers discovery data to Atrium using its Java API. Example outputs demonstrate the level of configuration data captured for servers and how dependencies are mapped into business services views that can be viewed in both Foundation and Atrium.
Tideway Foundation 7.2 Cmdb Population
- 1. Foundation BMC Atrium CMDB Population Version No 1.0 © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 1 of 12
- 2. 1. Contents 1. Contents ............................................................................................................................ 2 2. Preface............................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Purpose........................................................................................................................... 3 2.2. Document History ........................................................................................................... 3 3. The CMDB Challenge ....................................................................................................... 4 4. How does Tideway Foundation help? ............................................................................ 5 4.1. Key Benefits .................................................................................................................... 5 4.2. How does it work?........................................................................................................... 5 5. Example Output ................................................................................................................ 7 5.1. Server Discovery............................................................................................................. 7 5.2. Highlight Changes Between Discovery........................................................................... 9 5.3. Dependencies ............................................................................................................... 10 5.4. The Atrium Adapter....................................................................................................... 11 5.5. Example Data Transfer ................................................................................................. 12 © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 2 of 12
- 3. 2. Preface 2.1. Purpose This document describes the outputs from Tideway Foundation which are typically used in CMDB population projects. All standard reports within Foundation export as CSV by default. Additionally, a set of generic export adapters and data mapping sets allow the export of any data to CSV and RDBMS. Tideway also supplies an adapter to BMC Atrium CMDB, which includes data mapping for BMC’s Common Data Model. 2.2. Document History Date Version Details 22nd April 2009 0.1 Initial Draft nd 22 April 2009 1.0 Final Draft. M.Wallenstein © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 3 of 12
- 4. 3. The CMDB Challenge Many organisations are in the process of adopting ITIL as a framework for improving their service management processes. For ITIL v2 the CMDB is central to this framework and requires high quality CI and dependency data to drive the ITIL processes. Populating the CMDB can prove difficult for several reasons: • Existing CI data is usually held in many siloed data stores. It is usually inconsistent and rarely includes any dependency data. • Gathering the data and keeping it up to date manually is intensive and very difficult to maintain in the long term. • Poor coverage or stale CI data usually leads to mistrust of the data, resulting in poor adoption of the CMDB. © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 4 of 12
- 5. 4. How does Tideway Foundation help? Through regular agent-less discovery of the IT estate, Tideway Foundation is able to identify servers and their configuration. Foundation will additionally model business applications and map them to its view of the underlying infrastructure components. Through continuous discovery of the estate this mapping is kept up to date. This CI and dependency information is automatically populated into the Atrium CMDB, minimizing initial CMDB deployment time. Subsequently, the accuracy of this information is maintained through regular updates. Newly indexed or changed configuration information is automatically reconciled with pre-existing data. Tideway’s unique Provenance feature allows full traceability of the source of the data; vital for providing confidence when the data is utilised in ITIL processes. 4.1. Key Benefits • Acceleration of CMDB roll-out through the automated population of configuration items and their key attributes in the CMDB • Population of up-to-date service maps into the CMDB, providing business context for any IT component • Generation of accurate impact analysis reports for proactive management of change • Increased data CI data quality in the CMDB at minimum cost, and subsequently accelerated adoption of the CMDB due to increased trust in the data 4.2. How does the integration work? The Tideway adapter communicates directly with the Atrium Server using the BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0.1 Java API to achieve robust data transfer. Tideway Foundation Adapter for BMC Atrium CMDB auto-populates and maintains the Atrium CMDB with configuration items from Foundation - such as networks (switch data from Ciscoworks), servers, software products, and business applications as well as the dependencies between them. The update frequency can be anything from daily to monthly, dependent upon requirements. To ensure only relevant information is stored in the CMDB, the set of exported CIs is fully configurable. Since the Foundation and Atrium data models are customizable, the mapping between the Tideway model and the Atrium data model is fully configurable. As a result, the © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 5 of 12
- 6. adapter supports any modified Atrium data model. Exported sets of dependencies are constructed into service views or impact views to maintain a complete, up-to-date picture of a business application within the CMDB. This provides an instant understanding of the impact of a change or incident to any infrastructure component on any modeled business application. © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 6 of 12
- 7. 5. Example Output The following examples highlight the discovery capability of Foundation and the associated CI data captured. Regular discovery keeps the data up-to-date and is fed on a regular basis into Atrium. 5.1. Server Discovery These views highlight Configuration data captured for servers High level view • Hardware vendor • Services supported • Link to running software Contextual data included by dynamic SQL query or CSV import Full OS details; type, version, patches, packages OS End of Life & Support details © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 7 of 12
- 8. NIC Details, links to switch and port from CiscoWorks HBA Details © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 8 of 12
- 9. 5.2. Highlight Changes between Discovery Foundation retains full history for all nodes in the data model. This allows individual CIs to be tracked; in this example RAM and Patches have changed Track attribute changes over time RAM and patches have changed © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 9 of 12
- 10. 5.3. Dependencies Foundation discovery captures a view of the server and software estate. Dependencies between components are visualised in the context of Business Services: Logical Business Service Software Components Servers Edge network This dependency structure can be pushed to Atrium and used for change impact analysis and improved service management from a business perspective. © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 10 of 12
- 11. 5.4. The Atrium Adapter Foundation Enterprise Edition ships with the Atrium Adapter and data mapping sets. Setup of the adapter is straightforward: One click will confirm that the connection is correct and working. Atrium data mapping sets can be downloaded and edited to suit your requirements: © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 11 of 12
- 12. Data mapping sets are defined in XML format and can be easily extended 5.5. Example Data Transfer This image illustrates a Business Service dependency map presented within Foundation, and following a push to Atrium the same service represented within the dependency viewer. © Tideway Systems Inc., 2008 Page 12 of 12