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Loading data into CMDB - Best practices for the entire process
Shivraj ChavanAnand AhireBMC Software
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 2
Agenda
Why you should never do CMDB only projectGuidance on – ‘Should this be in the CMDB?’The Life of a CIVarious best practices Q&A
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 3
Typical Failed CMDB Project
“We need to have a CMDB”- Why? … because
Let’s load data into it- What data? … whatever data we have laying around
So, that took a long time!- And the CMDB is big, out of date, and isn’t bringing any value
See, I told you that CMDB thing was complex and useless hype- Another big data store offering no value is obviously not the desire
Avoid doing a CMDB only project
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 4
CONSUMERS vs. Providers
Although providers supply the data for the CMDB, the important players for the CMDB are really the consumers
Consumers do interesting and useful things with the data
Providers simply load data
Without consumers – who cares what data is loaded- In fact, if no one consumes the data, it shouldn’t be loaded
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 5
Have an XYZ project, that includes using the CMDB(for XYZ substitute – Incident, Change, Problem, …)
We need to improve our Change Management process- The CMDB is not an end in itself, it is an enabler for other processes
- You must have a goal and a focus for how you want to USE the CMDB
Change Management needs to know about servers, applications, services, and their relationships - If no one is consuming a piece of data, it should not be in the CMDB
- When in doubt, DO NOT put data into the CMDB until someone asks for it
Look at the improvements in the Change Management process- Failed changes and disruption to service because of change are down
- I can see how the CMDB makes Change Management better
Let’s look at the Incident Management process; how can we improve?- There will be many different XYZ projects that all increase content and use of that
content in the CMDB
The CMDB is a long journey; but there is incremental value at every step along the way
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 6
Choose your data sources wisely
Good data providers do the following:- Provides data for CDM classes you need to populate in the CMDB- Provides data that is not already provided by a different data source- Can populate attribute values which can uniquely identify CI- Periodically updates data- Periodically flags data as no longer present in the environment- Indicates when the data was last updated- Updates, maintains, and deletes relationships as well as CIs
Manual Data entry:- Example: Asset Sandbox in ITSM- There are some classes we expect to populate manually, like Business Service
CMDB provides context NOT content
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 7
Automated Discovery is a Requirement
Without automated discovery processes, data accuracy CANNOT be maintained
Data is inaccurate before you can complete loading it
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Value Path
Applications
Services
Running Software
Virtual Layer: Virtual Machines
Physical Layer: Servers, Network Devices
= CI, CI Attributes, CI Relationships Auto maintained by likes of ADDM in Atrium CMDB
= CI, CI Attributes, CI Relationships Maintained by Atrium CMDB= CI
= Relationship
Atrium CMDBHighValue
Less Value
Incident, Problem, Change, Config
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 9
The Life of a CI
Atrium CMDB
SCCMDataset
MS SCCM
IMPORTDataset
Atrium Integrator
CIs
CIs
Any Data Source
.......
ADDMDataset
ADDM
CIs
• Only load data that you need!
• Define dataset per provider
• Have different plan for Initial vs delta loads
• Run multiple copies of key steps like CMDBOutput step in spoon
• Think about error handling especially for custom jobs
Extract Transform Load Cleanse and Reconcile Consume
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 10
......
The Life of a CI
ProductionDataset
NORMALIZATION
Atrium CMDB
SCCMDataset
IMPORTDataset
ADDMDataset
RECONCILIATION
ProductCatalog
CIs
CIs
CIs
• Normalize before you Identify
• Don’t normalize all classes
• Batch mode – initial or large data, Continuous – steady state
• Use Impact Normalization for Change Mgmt or BPPM
• Use Suite Rollup / Version rollup for SWLM
• Always use Reconciliation, even for a single source
• Keep your data clean, normalized, and identified
• Use qualifications to filter data
• Use Standard Identification and Merge Rules
• Put your most specific identification rule first
Extract Transform Load Cleanse and Reconcile Consume
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 11
The Life of a CI
ProductionDataset
Atrium CMDB
BPPM
SIM
ITBM
ITSM
Dashboards
....
• Do not modify data in production dataset directly.
• Always use sandbox datasets for manual changes
• If no one consumes the data, it shouldn’t be loaded
• Periodically check for duplicates and take remediation action
Extract Transform Load Cleanse and Reconcile Consume
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 12
......
The Life of a CI
ProductionDataset
NORMALIZATION
Atrium CMDB
SCCMDataset
MS SCCM
IMPORTDataset
Atrium Integrator
CIs
CIs
Any Data Source
.......
BPPM
SIM
ITBM
ITSM
Dashboards
....
Extract Transform Load Cleanse and Reconcile Consume
ADDMDataset
ADDM
RECONCILIATION
CIs
ProductCatalog
CIs
CIs
CIs
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 13
Normalization and Reconciliation example
Host Name: John Smith LaptopModel: Apple MacBook Pro 15"Software: Microsoft WordVersion: 11.3.8
Host Name: John Smith LaptopModel: MB134B/A Software: MSWordVersion: 2004
Host Name: John Smith LaptopModel: Apple MacBook Pro 15"Software: MSWDVersion: 11.3.8
Data Source 1
Web Services
Database Host Name: John Smith LaptopModel: Apple MacBook Pro 15“
Software: Microsoft WordVersion: 11.3.8
Reconciled DataHost Name: John Smith LaptopModel: Apple MacBook Pro 15"Software: Microsoft WordVersion: 2004
Normalized Data
Atrium CMDBProduction Dataset
Data Source 2
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 14
Performance considerations
Establish an Integration Server
In many cases when performance is an issue, poor database configuration and / or indexing is the cause
Consider indexing attributes used in Identification rules
Check query plans, review and correct them
Are DB backups happening when Reconciliation jobs are running?
Use qualifications whenever possible to filter your data
“Fine tune” thread settings and use Private Queue
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 15
Summary
Don’t do standalone CMDB project, CMDB is a means to ends
Approach CMDB project from consumer side not provider
Don’t boil the ocean - Start small, prove value and iterate- but there is incremental value at every step along the way
Normalize before you reconcile
Always reconcile and use sandbox for manual editing
Service orientation is where real value lies; model services NOW
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 16
Q & A
Anand AhirePrincipal Product Manager – Atrium Core
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You are Allowed to Extend the CDM – BUT DON’T
Do EVERYTHING possible to design using the CMDB default data model- There is a mapping paper on the web site to help with mapping
decisions- https://communities.bmc.com/docs/DOC-16471
If there is a request to extend, really evaluate whether there is really no existing class that it would be appropriate to map things into
If you do extend the model, make sure you follow best practices- Model for the CONSUMER not the provider- Add as few extensions as possible- Consider that not all consumers can see a new class
© 2013 WWRUG Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved 18
References
Hardware Requirements and Sizing – DocumentationBest Practices for CMDB Design & Architecture – Webinar What CIs should I push into my CMDB? – DocumentationUnderstanding Atrium Integrator – Webinar Understanding Normalization and the Product Catalog – WebinarImporting custom Product Catalog data – Documentation Understanding Reconciliation – Webinar Common Data Model and mapping data to CMDB – Documentation Fine tuning ARS for CMDB applications like NE, RE, etc. – KA https://docs.bmc.com/docs/display/public/ac81/Investigating+CMDB+Data+Issues
