Data model
Summarize
Summary of Data model for Telecommunications Network Inventory
The Telecommunications Network Inventory data model in ServiceNow provides a structured representation of your network assets, infrastructure, and services. It enables the provisioning, modification, maintenance, and growth forecasting of your telecommunications network by storing detailed configuration data, port availability, and bandwidth allocations. This model supports automation of network equipment design and connections to fulfill customer service and internal orders effectively.
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The data model leverages Network Inventory (NI) extension classes that expand the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Configuration Item (CI) class hierarchy. These extensions ensure standardization and alignment with telecommunications industry standards such as TM Forum and MEF, allowing consistent storage and management of network inventory information.
Key Components of the Data Model
- Network Site and Location: Records physical network equipment locations, including network centers, buildings, floors, and rooms. They help monitor connection origination and termination points, track operational status, map service topologies, and link physical addresses to network sites for better visualization and fault identification.
- Equipment Holder: Represents physical units like cages, bays, cabinets, and racks that contain telecommunications equipment. These nested holders help manage and track the physical organization of network assets.
- Telco Equipment: Covers devices providing network functionality such as routers, switches, modems, and optical cables. Equipment may have slots, cards, and ports and can reside within equipment holders or standalone.
- Network Interfaces and Cards: Include network ports and interface cards that may be physical or virtual. Each port has an assigned bandwidth value, crucial for network design and resource allocation.
- Connections: Physical connections represent actual port links on interface cards, while logical connections represent virtual or aggregated links over physical connections. Both are vital for accurate network modeling.
- Power Circuits and Facility Hardware: Capture electrical pathways and data center infrastructure elements such as power and HVAC, integrating them into the overall network model.
- Topology: Defines how network elements (nodes, edges, termination points) are organized and interconnected, enabling visualization and management of network structure.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Provides a comprehensive and standardized framework to store and manage detailed network inventory data aligned with industry standards.
- Enables efficient provisioning, maintenance, and modification of network services based on accurate asset and connection information.
- Supports automated design and creation of network equipment and connections, improving order fulfillment speed and accuracy.
- Facilitates network planning and forecasting by leveraging detailed site, equipment, and connection data.
- Enhances fault and outage identification by linking physical locations to network sites and visualizing network topology.
The data model for Telecommunications Network Inventory displays the relationships between your network assets, infrastructure, and services. With this information, you can provision new services, modify existing services, maintain the network, and plan the forecast for the network growth in your organization.
The data model contains the details about your network assets, such as the telco equipment configuration data, port availability of a framework, and bandwidth allocations between your sites and services. This data model enables you to build, manage, maintain, and allocate the network infrastructure and services. Further, this data model provides a for the automation of design and creation of your network equipment and connections that support the customer service orders and internal network orders.
The assets, services, and the relationships of your network inventory defines the infrastructure of your telecommunications networks. With this information, you can plan and forecast your network. You can store the data of the asset in a network inventory record.
The Telecommunications Network Inventory application uses the Network Inventory extension classes that extend the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Configuration Item (CI) class hierarchy. These extensions enable the CMDB to store your network inventory information. Also, these extension classes provide the standardization and consistency that are aligned with the telecommunications industry standards bodies such as TeleManagement (TM) Forum and Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). To learn more about the Network Inventory (NI) extension classes, see Telecommunications Network Inventory extension classes.
The following diagram shows the extension classes in the data model for the network inventory.
Network site and Network location
- monitor from where your network connections originate and terminate
- monitor the network centers, buildings, floors, and rooms where your network assets are located
- track the operational status of your network sites
- map your network sites in your service topology
- link your physical locations to your network sites for a better visualization
- Identify network faults and outages
Telecommunications Network Inventory extension classes
The Telecommunications Network Inventory application uses the generic configuration item (CI) classes that extend the CMDB class hierarchy as shown in the following table. The following table describes the classes that are used within the application.
| Telecommunications Network Inventory class | Extends generic CI class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TNI CI Attributes [tni_entity] | Non-CI class |
Represents a collection of the common Telecommunications Network Inventory attributes. Use the TNI CI Attribute record to create the relevant common attributes relevant for Telecommunications Network Inventory and makes a relationship with the CI record. To learn more, see TNI CI Attributes form. |
| Network Site [cmdb_ci_ni_site] | Site [cmdb_ci_site] |
Captures and maintains the location-specific attributes for each network site, including the network centers, buildings, floors, and rooms where the equipment is located. The network site records enable you to view all the equipment at a location. You can filter the locations by the assigned type, role, or function categories. To learn more, see 68c563dcef8252ff184ef48312229ffcea6ce5cd.dita. |
| Equipment Holder [cmdb_ci_equipment_holder] | Hardware [cmdb_ci_hardware] |
Represents the physical units that contain the telecommunications equipment, including the cages, bays, cabinets, slots, and relay racks. An equipment holder can contain the other equipment holders. For example, the line-ups contain the individual relay racks and each relay rack contains the equipment shelves. Use the equipment holder records to track and manage your network assets. To learn more, see 45493b2eed2106912077ca588435b673ea56616d.dita. To learn more about the extension classes of the equipment holder, see Equipment holder extension classes. |
| Telco Equipment [cmdb_ci_ni_telco_equipment] | Network gear [cmdb_ci_netgear] |
Represents a device that provides the technical functionality in a network. Examples include the routers, modems, mobile devices, optical cables,relays, and switches. The equipment can have slots, cards, or ports. The equipment can exist within an equipment holder or by itself because not all equipment is rack mounted. Use the equipment record to track and manage the details of your telco equipment. To learn more, see Create a telecommunications equipment instance.To learn more about the equipment extension classes, see Equipment extension classes. |
| Network Interface [cmdb_ci_ni_interface] | Network Port [cmdb_ci_ni_network_port] |
Captures and maintains the equipment-specific attributes for the network interfaces. To learn more, see Define the network interface details. |
| Interface Card [cmdb_ci_interface_card] | Network gear [cmdb_ci_netgear] |
Represents the interface cards that are stored in a network. Cards can occupy more than one slot and can contain other cards. They can be the equipment ports that are physical or logical (virtual). Each port is assigned a bandwidth value. The bandwidths are consumed when you use the ports in the network design. To learn more, see Define the card details. |
| Physical Connection [cmdb_ci_ni_physical_link] | Network Link [cmdb_ci_network_link] |
Represents the physical port connections on the interface cards in your network. To learn more, see Define the physical connection details. |
| Logical Connection [cmdb_ci_ni_logical_path] | Network Circuit [cmdb_ci_network_circuit] |
Represents the logical or virtual port connections on the network interface cards. A logical connection typically represents the multiple physical connections on an interface card. To learn more, see Define the logical connection details. |
| Power Circuit (cmdb_ci_circuit) | Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] | Represents the electrical pathway that delivers power in a data center. To learn more, see Define the power circuit details. |
| Topology [cmdb_ci_topology] | Network Topology [cmdb_ci_network_topology] |
Represents the grouping of the network elements such as nodes (equipment), edges (connections), and termination points (interfaces), how they are organized and connected to each other. To learn more, see Network topology. |
| Facility Hardware | Represent power, HVAC, network, and their connectivity in a data center. To learn more, see Network inventory facility classes. |