What is a configuration management database (CMDB)?什么是配置管理数据库（CMDB）？

A configuration management database (CMDB) is a central repository that acts as a data warehouse, storing information about your IT environment and it is a purpose-built database for configuration management.

配置管理数据库（CMDB）是一个中央存储库，充当数据仓库，存储有关 IT 环境的信息，它是专门构建的用于配置管理的数据库。

How does a CMDB work?

A CMDB provides a common place to store data associated with IT assets and configuration items (CIs). The fundamental building block of a CMDB is the CI. A CI represents an item under configuration management, such as a router, a server, an application, a virtual machine, a container, or even a logical construct such as a portfolio. Data import tools are usually used to identify CIs in the environment, and transfer them to the CMDB. Some IT teams may also use manual tools to keep their CMDB updated but this is not a good practice as it cannot scale and it introduces errors - duplicates and un-necessary CIs. Once all of the information is gathered and unified, it must be reviewed for accuracy and consistency, and any data-gaps should be identified and resolved.

CMDB如何工作？

CMDB提供了一个通用的地方来存储与IT相关的数据资产和配置项（CI）。的基本构建块 a CMDB 是 CI。CI 表示配置中的项管理，例如路由器、服务器、应用程序、虚拟机器、容器，甚至是投资组合等逻辑结构。数据导入工具通常用于识别环境中的 CI、并将它们传输到CMDB。一些 IT 团队也可能使用手动工具保持他们的CMDB更新，但这不是一个好的做法，因为它不能缩放，它会引入错误 - 重复和不必要的 CI。一次所有信息都已收集并统一，必须对其进行审查准确性和一致性，以及任何数据差距，以及解决。

For a CMDB to function optimally, it must remain highly accurate, necessitating constant updating and ideally automated updates.

为了使CMDB发挥最佳功能，它必须保持高度准确，需要不断更新，最好是自动更新。

What are the benefits of CMDB?

At its core, one of the most significant benefits of CMDB is that it takes all the siloed data across the enterprise required to run IT , and it brings it all together in a single place giving IT Operations visibility into all the IT resources in the enterprise. It prevents data from being scattered across multiple different locations. A CMDB helps IT teams in a number of ways, here are just a few: it helps eliminate outages, significantly reduce the time it takes to remediate an outage, remain in compliance, avoid security and audit fines, understand important service contexts when making decisions, which benefits risk assessment and reporting, and track software license and cloud costs.

CMDB有什么好处？

从本质上讲，CMDB最重要的好处之一是它获取整个企业运行 IT 所需的所有孤立数据，以及它将所有功能集中在一个地方，为 IT 运营提供了解企业中的所有 IT 资源。它可以防止数据分散在多个不同的位置。一个CMDB 以多种方式帮助 IT 团队，这里只是其中的几个：它有帮助消除中断，显著减少修复所需的时间中断，保持合规性，避免安全和审计罚款，在做出决策时了解重要的服务上下文，其中好处风险评估和报告，并跟踪软件许可证和云成本。

Planning

CMDB helps technology managers plan at both a detailed level with asset management and at a high level with enterprise architecture.

规划

CMDB帮助技术经理在两个详细的层面上进行规划资产管理，并处于企业架构的高层次。

Operating

Core ITSM practices are improved by CMDB, including incident, change, and problem management.

经营

核心ITSM的CMDB 改进了实践，包括事件、变更和问题管理.

CMDB can improve risk assessment in change management by anticipating which systems and users might be impacted the most. It also aids compliance by helping teams manage audit trails and controls.

CMDB可以通过预测哪些系统和用户可能受到的影响最大来改进变更管理中的风险评估。它还通过帮助团队管理审计跟踪和控制来帮助合规性。

CMDB affects incident management by identifying the changes and root causes of an incident, and moving toward a faster resolution. Incident records are associated with their CIs, which helps teams track incidents over time in conjunction with the assets impacted by the incident.

CMDB影响事件管理通过识别事件的变化和根本原因，并朝着更快的解决方案迈进。事件记录与其 CI 相关联，这有助于团队结合受事件影响的资产跟踪一段时间内的事件。

Problem management benefits from CMDB in that it helps with root-cause analysis, which helps teams get to the source of a problem more quickly. It also supports proactive management by assisting teams with identifying assets that are in need of an upgrade to reduce service costs and downtime.

CMDB使问题管理受益匪浅，因为它有助于进行根本原因分析，从而帮助团队更快地找到问题的根源。它还通过帮助团队识别需要升级的资产来支持主动管理，以降低服务成本和停机时间。

Accounting

It’s important to have application and service codes in IT finance, as it helps allocate billing statements and manage other finances.

会计学

在 IT 财务中拥有应用程序和服务代码非常重要，因为它有助于分配账单和管理其他财务。

Characteristics of CMDBs

Seamless dashboards

Integration of dashboards with CI metrics and analytics make it easy to track the health of data, the impact of changes, patterns that lead to incidents or problems, and the health of the CIs. It gives the operations team real-time insights into the previous incident, problem and change related to a CI which significantly reduces the time it takes to remediate an issue.

CMDB的特征

无缝仪表板

仪表板与 CI 指标和分析的集成使其变得简单跟踪数据的运行状况、变化的影响、导致的模式事件或问题，以及 CI 的运行状况。它给出了运营团队实时洞察上一个事件、问题以及与 CI 相关的更改，这大大减少了所需的时间以修正问题。

Access controls

Access controls provide the ability to give access levels to different individuals or teams as is needed, and trace any changes back to their source in the event of incidents or questions.

访问控制

访问控制提供了将访问级别授予根据需要不同的个人或团队，并追溯任何更改在发生事件或问题时，到他们的来源。

Compliance

You’ll get detailed records for the sake of visibility that will help with audits. Insights into records include the state of CIs, historical changes, checks and balances, and incidents.

合规

为了提高可见性，您将获得详细的记录，这将有助于与审计。对记录的见解包括 CI 的状态、历史变更、制衡和事件。

Creation of CIs and data population

This is supported across three different types of methods: integrations, discovery tools, and manual input that all scan IP addresses within an organization’s network to find software and hardware information. This process creates an inventory of all assets and devices within a company, including cloud resources.

创建 CI 和数据填充

这支持三种不同类型的方法：集成、发现工具和手动输入，所有扫描 IP 组织网络中用于查找软件和硬件的地址信息。此过程将创建所有资产的清单，并公司内的设备，包括云资源。

Federated data sets

Support for federated data sets Includes reconciliation and normalization of CIs and their relevant data.

联合数据集

支持联合数据集包括 CI 及其相关数据的协调和规范化。

IT service mapping

A physical representation of relationships and dependencies related to an IT service.

IT 服务映射

与 IT 服务相关的关系和依赖关系的物理表示形式。

Challenges of CMDBs

Despite the obvious advantages of CMDB, many organizations fail to generate value from their CMDB solutions and these are just a few of the reasons: manual processes used to build the CMDB, lack of people and process in place to identify the critical data that should be moved into the CMDB or the automated tools to ensure the data is put in the right place in the CMDB. However, this does not mean that the technology itself is flawed; by identifying the factors at play, it is possible to prepare for and prevent issues that might hamper CMDB effectiveness.

CMDB的挑战

尽管CMDB具有明显的优势，但许多组织未能做到从他们的CMDB解决方案中产生价值，这些只是其中的一小部分原因：用于构建CMDB的手动流程，缺乏人员和确定应移入的关键数据的流程 CMDB或自动化工具，以确保数据被放在正确的位置放置在CMDB中。然而，这并不意味着该技术本身是有缺陷的;通过确定起作用的因素，可以准备并预防可能妨碍CMDB有效性的问题。

Accuracy

It can be difficult to maintain the accuracy of a CMDB—some of these difficulties include discovery tools not running frequently enough, an absence of automation protocols, or too much reliance on data input. By focusing on and optimizing discovery within your CMDB, you will improve accuracy.

准确性

保持CMDB的准确性可能很困难，其中一些困难包括发现工具运行频率不够高，以及缺乏自动化协议，或过于依赖数据输入。由专注于并优化CMDB中的发现，您将提高准确性。

Centralization

While a CMDB is a centralized place to view data, this does not necessarily mean that all asset data needs to live exclusively in the CMDB. A best practice is to take data from other tools so that the most relevant tool is used to support each case.

集中

虽然CMDB是查看数据的集中位置，但事实并非如此必然意味着所有资产数据都需要专门存在于 CMDB中。最佳做法是从其他工具获取数据，以便最相关工具用于支持每个案例。

Multiple data sources

While a CMDB does act as a centralized repository for IT asset information, there can sometimes be too many sources of data that are feeding into the CMDB. This can create confusion and muddled data that may be difficult to categorize.

多个数据源

虽然 CMDB 确实充当 IT 资产的集中存储库信息，有时可能有太多的数据源馈入CMDB。这可能会造成混乱和混乱的数据可能难以分类。

Process

Some organizations function under the perception that CMDBs are for mapping legacy infrastructure and software rather than the new stack of cloud and software infrastructure. It’s important to not let the conversation around semantics prevent you from tracking the value of your CIs in a tool that provides a wide view of your technical ecosystems.

过程

一些组织认为CMDB是映射遗留的基础设施和软件，而不是新的堆栈云和软件基础架构。重要的是不要让围绕语义的对话会阻止您跟踪您的CI在一个工具中，提供您的技术的广泛视图生态。

Relevancy

Some companies treat their CMDBs as the singular source of truth, and this can lead to organizations trying to combine all of their data into that location without considering use cases and what is relevant to their needs. A CMDB should contain only useful and focused data that supports processes—ensure that it defines value, objective, owner, and ways to update all of the data.

关联

一些公司将其CMDB视为唯一的事实来源，并且这可能导致组织试图将其所有数据合并到该位置，而不考虑用例和与之相关的内容他们的需求。CMDB应该只包含有用且有针对性的数据支持流程 — 确保它定义了价值、目标、所有者和更新所有数据的方法。

Team commitment

Team commitment is one of the most important factors in the integration and use of new technologies and processes, and whether or not they are successful. If your organization and the people involved are not fully committed to the success of your CMDB solution, then it likely will not succeed.

团队承诺

团队承诺是新技术和新流程的整合和使用，以及是否或不是他们成功了。如果您的组织和相关人员没有完全致力于CMDB解决方案的成功，那么它可能不会成功。

Tools

It’s crucial to choose the right tool if you want to avoid failure. Some CMDB tools are simply asset repositories that are fixed on legacy infrastructure discovery tools with a slow reaction to change. The best CMDB tools are those that are able to pivot quickly, and that account for new types of assets.

工具

如果您想避免失败，选择正确的工具至关重要。一些CMDB工具只是固定在遗留设备上的资产存储库基础架构发现工具，对变化反应缓慢。最好的 CMDB工具是那些能够快速调整的工具，并且该帐户对于新型资产。

ITAM vs. CMDB

IT asset management (ITAM) is the process of accounting for assets during their lifecycle. This includes procurement and purchasing, software license management, technology refresh, and asset valuation. ITAM oversees more financial and contractual components of assets. CMDB is centered around the data used to manage assets during the period of time in which they are live and present within your IT environment. This includes understanding what comprises a service or asset, how it is used, and how it is related to other assets and services.

ITAM与CMDB对比

IT 资产管理（ITAM）是资产会计的过程在其生命周期中。这包括采购和采购，软件许可证管理、技术更新和资产评估。 ITAM负责监督资产的更多财务和合同组成部分。 CMDB以在此期间用于管理资产的数据为中心它们在 IT 环境中活动和存在的时间。这包括了解服务或资产的组成，以及它是如何构成的使用，以及它与其他资产和服务的关系。

Choosing what to manage in your CMDB

Each organization has different use cases and goals with CMDBs, and that should determine the extent of their setup.

选择要在CMDB中管理的内容

每个组织都有不同的CMDB用例和目标，这应该决定其设置的范围。

Technical entities

This includes application software, containers, virtual machines, databases, operation systems, hardware, ports, business services, technical servicers, and networks.

技术实体

这包括应用程序软件、容器、虚拟机、数据库、操作系统、硬件、端口、业务服务、技术服务商和网络。

Non-technical entities

These are users, organizations, locations, documents, customers, and service agreements.

非技术实体

这些是用户、组织、位置、文档、客户和服务协议。

Why CMDB is critical for effective ITAM

CMDB is only useful for ITAM in the event that it is well integrated with ITAM processes. Most CMDBs act as a central repository of configuration data, or it can be easily integrated with other processes and their datastores. Some store information about the devices connected to a network, as well as information about software contracts and licenses, which are associated with ITAM.

为什么CMDB对于有效的ITAM至关重要

CMDB仅在ITAM集成良好的情况下才有用与ITAM流程。大多数CMDB充当配置数据，或者可以很容易地与其他进程集成及其数据存储。有些存储有关所连接设备的信息到网络，以及有关软件合同和许可证，与 ITAM 相关联。

Storing all of this data within a CMDB allows information to be generated in a single process that can be seen easily by other similar processes—this strong integration enhances those similar, and other associated, processes.

将所有这些数据存储在CMDB中可以使信息成为在单个过程中生成，其他类似过程可以很容易地看到流程 - 这种强大的集成增强了相似的流程，以及其他相关，流程。

Strong integration between CMDB and ITAM reduces risk, as it has the capability to log a server’s CPU, RAM, IP address, MAC address, etc., which provides the opportunity to identify any red flags if this information changes unexpectedly. If a scanning tool finds an application that didn’t go through the approved channels, it can be a rogue or harmful application that may introduce vulnerabilities.

CMDB和ITAM之间的强大集成降低了风险，因为它具有能够记录服务器的 CPU、RAM、IP 地址、MAC 地址等，如果出现这种情况，这提供了识别任何危险信号的机会信息意外更改。如果扫描工具发现未通过批准渠道的申请，可以是可能引入漏洞的流氓或有害应用程序。

CSDM and CMDB

The common service data model (CSDM) is all about doing CMDB the right way. A CSDM is a centralized repository of standard and consistent sets of terms and their definitions. It is an essential best practice framework for CMDB management and modeling, and can provide guidance on modeling with its standardized terms and definitions. In other words, it’s a backbone for configuration that connects a CMDB from a business and technical perspective with recommended mappings and their respective relationships.

CSDM 和 CMDB

这通用服务数据模型（CSDM）就是做CMDB的正确的方式。CSDM 是标准和一致的集中存储库术语集及其定义。这是必不可少的最佳实践 CMDB管理和建模的框架，并可以提供指导使用标准化术语和定义进行建模。换言之，它是连接来自企业的CMDB的配置的骨干和技术角度，包括建议的映射及其各自的映射关系

If done properly, CSDM offers visibility into service and application data from varying domains, combined into a single view, allowing you to configure your IT strategy with a company strategy and the various capabilities. A proper CMDB also provides faster incident resolution, improved security, and a better judgement of the impact of change.

如果操作得当，CSDM 可提供对服务和应用程序的可见性将来自不同领域的数据组合到一个视图中，从而使您能够使用公司战略和各种能力。适当的CMDB还可以提供更快的事件解决速度，提高安全性，更好地判断变更的影响。

Evolution of CMDBs

An IT infrastructure library (ITIL) describes processes for asset and configuration management, with the end goal being maintaining information about configuration items. This information includes lists of items, in addition to their relationship to each other. ITIL also depicts underlying technical capabilities that are needed to support assets and configuration management that may span multiple CMDBs.

CMDB的演变

一IT 基础架构库（ITIL）描述资产和配置管理的过程，最终目标是维护有关配置项目的信息。此信息包括项目列表以及它们之间的关系。ITIL还描述了支持可能跨越多个CMDB的资产和配置管理所需的底层技术功能。

Companies are beginning to embrace Agile and DevOps, which means that CMDB will take on a larger role in allowing IT employees to understand their production environments and make decisions in real-time. SaaS usage is also expanding, and companies need to integrate their external data sources into a CMDB to have a big picture perspective of their hybrid IT environment.