Monitor system foundations in the CSDM and the CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Monitor system foundations in the CSDM and the CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards

    The ServiceNow CSDM and CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards store app provides comprehensive dashboards that offer insights into key foundational metrics of your Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and Common Service Data Model (CSDM). These dashboards help ensure your CMDB and CSDM are correctly configured for optimal performance and risk mitigation. They are delivered via thecom.snc.cmdb.getwellplugin, which is activated by default in base systems.

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    Note that these dashboards do not support domain separation.

    Accessing the Dashboards

    You can access the dashboards through the following methods:

    • Within CMDB Workspace: Navigate to Workspaces > CMDB Workspace, select Management in the menu bar, and then choose either the CMDB Data Foundations Dashboard or CSDM Data Foundations Dashboard under Management tools in the Optimize section.
    • Via navigation: Go to All > Configuration, then select the desired dashboard.

    You can toggle between the two dashboards using the change dashboard icon on either dashboard’s title bar.

    Key Features

    • CMDB Data Foundations Dashboard: Evaluates CMDB configurations and customizations, verifies data validity and setup, and highlights potential risks. It supports proactive issue prevention and continuous CMDB health management.
    • CSDM Data Foundations Dashboard: Displays critical CSDM metrics in a single view, enabling you to maximize the benefits of ServiceNow AI Platform products.

    Managing Dashboard Performance

    To maintain dashboard responsiveness, especially in large or complex environments, you can control the performance impact of metrics through these methods:

    • Deactivate Metrics: Disable any CMDB or CSDM metrics that are not required or are resource-intensive. Deactivation stops data collection and refresh for associated dashboard tiles. This setting persists across upgrades.
    • Limit Specific Metrics: Certain metrics have configurable thresholds to limit their performance impact, including metrics related to CI processing, relationships, and serial numbers for CMDB, and relationship-based metrics for CSDM.

    Key configurable parameters for limiting metrics (found in the CMDB/CSDM Get Well Metrics [sngetwellmetric] table) include:

    • Aggregate limit: Caps the number or percentage of non-compliant CIs processed per metric run; once reached, counting stops and the metric score is set to zero.
    • Fail count threshold: Specifies how many consecutive metric runs can fail (e.g., due to exceeding runtime thresholds) before automatic metric deactivation.
    • Runtime threshold: Defines the maximum allowed runtime in seconds for a metric before it is considered failed.

    Metrics that repeatedly exceed runtime thresholds are automatically deactivated but can be manually reactivated by setting their Active status to true.

    Practical Benefits

    • Gain clear visibility into the health and configuration of your CMDB and CSDM.
    • Receive actionable recommendations to optimize your data model and reduce implementation risks.
    • Manage dashboard performance proactively to ensure timely insights even in large-scale environments.
    • Facilitate continuous improvement of your ServiceNow AI Platform products through accurate foundational data.

    The ServiceNow® CSDM and CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards store app contains dashboards which provide insights into the key foundational metrics of your CMDB and Common Service Data Model (CSDM). This app provides recommendations to ensure that the CMDB and CSDM are properly configured for optimal usage and to mitigate any potential risks.

    Note:
    CSDM and the CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards don't support domain separation.

    For an introduction, watch the ServiceNow Data Foundations Dashboards for CSDM and CMDB video.

    Request apps on the Store

    Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.

    The CSDM and CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards store app provides dashboards that complement each other. See the respective sections for each of the following dashboards:

    CMDB Data Foundations dashboard

    Evaluates various configurations and customizations in the CMDB. This dashboard checks that important data is valid and properly configured, and identifies and provides visibility into potential risks in the implementation. Use the CMDB Data Foundations dashboard to prevent issues and support continuous effective functioning of the CMDB.

    CSDM Data Foundations dashboard

    The CSDM Data Foundations dashboard displays key CSDM metrics on a single page to assist you in getting the full benefit from your ServiceNow AI Platform® products.

    The CSDM and the CMDB Data Foundations dashboards capability is provided by the com.snc.cmdb.getwell plugin, which is activated by default in base systems.

    Access the dashboards

    Use either of the following steps to access the CSDM and the CMDB Data Foundations Dashboards:
    • In CMDB Workspace:
      1. Navigate to Workspaces > CMDB Workspace.
      2. Select Management in the CMDB Workspace menu bar.
      3. Select CMDB Data Foundations Dashboard or CSDM Data Foundations Dashboard in Management tools, in the Optimize section.
    • Navigate to All > Configuration, and then select CMDB Data Foundations Dashboard or CSDM Data Foundations Dashboard.
    You can toggle between the two dashboards by clicking the change dashboard icon (Change dashboard.) on the title bar of either dashboard.

    Manage performance

    It might be useful to manage the performance impact of some metrics that are greatly affected by, for example, a large CMDB or a high number of non-compliant CIs. You can use any of the following methods to manage performance of those metrics to improve the overall performance of the dashboards:
    Deactivate a metric

    Deactivate any CMDB or CSDM metrics that aren't needed or that require extensive resources and affect performance. The active/non-active settings for metrics are preserved across family release upgrades.

    To deactivate a metric:
    1. Access the CMDB/CSDM Get Well Metrics [sn_getwell_metric] table where all CMDB and CSDM metrics are stored.
    2. Navigate to the list view of the table [sn_getwell_metric].
    3. Locate the metric that you want to deactivate and set its Active column to false.

    Tiles on the dashboards that are associated with inactive metrics stop collecting data and aren't refreshed.

    Limit a metric
    For the following metrics, you can use metric-specific settings to limit their performance impact:
    • CMDB metrics:
      • CIs Processed via IRE
      • CIs with Relationships to Parent and Child
      • Hardware CIs with Serial Numbers
    • CSDM metrics:
      • Application Services with 'Consumes::Consumed By' Relationship to Business Application
      • Application Services with Business Application Relationships
      • Business Application with Application Service Relationship
    The following columns in the CMDB/CSDM Get Well Metrics [sn_getwell_metric] table are set with default values per metric that limit performance impact, some of which can be fine tuned. Review those settings for example, when there is a large number of non-compliant CIs for a metric. Another example is having a large CMDB where a small number of compliant CIs for a metric is already a sufficient indication of health and there is no need to process the rest of the CIs for that metric.
    • Aggregate limit: The maximum number or percentage of non-compliant CIs that are reported for the metric. Once that threshold is reached, counting for the metric stops for the run and the score for the metric is set to 0 (you can't customize the default value).
    • Fail count threshold: The threshold of the number of consecutive metric runs that failed due to exceeding the metric's Runtime threshold. When that threshold is reached, the respective metric is automatically deactivated.
    • Runtime threshold: The time threshold in seconds that is considered too long for a metric run. When exceeded, the current metric run is considered failed.
    For most metrics, when the number of consecutive runs that fail because the runtime exceeds Runtime threshold, is greater than the Fail count threshold, the system automatically deactivates the metric. You can manually reactivate a deactivated metric by setting its Active column to true. An exception to those column definitions and usage is the CMDB CIs Processed via IRE metric. For details, see CMDB Data Foundations dashboard.