Configuration Management

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configuration Management

    The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) application provides a centralized source for full visibility into your IT environment. It enables monitoring of your organization's infrastructure, ensuring stability and optimal performance through the management of configuration items (CIs) such as computers, servers, and services.

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    Key Features

    • Common Service Data Model (CSDM): Standardizes data terminology and modeling across the ServiceNow AI Platform for consistent data management.
    • Application Services: Allows for the creation of application service CIs that represent interconnected applications and hosts, facilitating better management of IT services.
    • Data Integration: Utilizes Service Graph and connectors to import and adapt third-party data into the CMDB, ensuring data compliance with CMDB structures.

    Key Outcomes

    By effectively utilizing the CMDB, customers can analyze trends, reduce incidents, and handle problems by monitoring the relationships between CIs. The integrity of the CMDB is maintained through robust identification and reconciliation processes during third-party data integrations. This ultimately supports the seamless operation of various ServiceNow applications and enhances overall IT service management.

    The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) application is a centralized source that gives you full visibility into your IT environment. By storing information about your organization's infrastructure and how it is configured, this system allows you to monitor your network and ensure stability and best performance. Other ServiceNow® applications enhance the effectiveness of the CMDB application or closely overlap to enable needed business goals.

    Overview of CMDB

    Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

    Create models of your infrastructure using Configuration Management. Store your infrastructure data, represented by configuration items (CI)—all the computers, servers, routers, database instances, and services in your network. Analyze trends, reduce problems, and handle incidents by monitoring relationships between CI.

    Common Service Data Model (CSDM)

    Ensure your data is consistent across every database and ready for every ServiceNow product. The CSDM provides standard terms and definitions for your CI, and any IT services you use. Map your data to CMDB tables clearly using this modeling to provide it to the apps that use it, across the entire ServiceNow AI Platform.

    Application services

    Use application services to represent and manage operations of various ServiceNow business units and products. An application service is a set of interconnected applications and hosts which are configured to offer a service to the organization such as an organization's internal email system. The various CIs and the relationships between them comprise an application service and are stored in the CMDB.

    Data integration

    Populate the CMDB by importing and integrating third-party data into the CMDB, in bulk. Use Service Graph connectors to specify process parameters and any needed conversions to be applied to the imported data. Such integrations utilize robust CMDB processes, such as Identification and Reconciliation, to ensure the integrity of the CMDB after third-party data integrations.

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